Nueva Iglesia

This Friday I went to the church to help out with decorating the stage and arranging the chairs for the graduation of the kids from Esperanza, the school in La Chureca. Norman, the teacher that I helped the most (his class is full of 33 preschoolers), and I were responsible for putting the sticky letters on the wall behind the stage, "Promocion 2007 Colegio Cristiano La Esperanza." We did a spectacular job I might add. Afterwards they asked Norman and me to go and buy some sodas for everybody. We hopped on the bike to go, and Norman asked me if I wanted to get some food while we were out. We drove a few blocks to a Comedor and bought Carne Asada (a long, skinny cut of steak), Gallo Pinto (rice and beans), Ensalada (salad), and Tejadas (plantain chips). We brought it back along with the sodas to the church to eat, and everybody else was jealous, so we collected some money and went back to buy for everybody. It was really good, and I finished off some meat that one teacher couldn't put down. The whole time that we were driving and eating, the rest of the city was celebrating the "Purisima," which is a Catholic holiday that lasts about a week and culminates on the 7th of December, where the whole city shoots off fireworks, sings songs to the Holy Virgin, and gives gifts away. I participated in one on Thursday with Dylan and some kids who work in the streets at stop lights washing cars. We just waited in line for 20 minutes to get some goodies, but the kids loved it. It's kind of just something you have to be there for. Anyways, after dinner Norman and I went to a 24-hour market to buy shoes for him. He needed some dress shoes for the graduation which was the next day (saturday) and that was the only place open after 9pm. Since it was the final night of the Purisima, there was a concert in the market and we stayed a while and had a couple drinks. It was a pretty fun night. Followed by a pretty cool day.

Saturday morning I went early to the church to make sure everything was ready. I was plenty early, since the events didn't start till about an hour after they were supposed to. It was great to see all the kids dressed up with some of their parents there as well supporting them. Only the preschoolers and sixth graders were graduating, but that was plenty enough kids. I took some photos, but then lent the camera to Romolo, who took photos for quantity rather than quality, but I was fine with that.

After the graduation I went to La Chureca for a meeting with Ramon Vaca, one of the pastors from the church. He is starting a church in La Chureca, and asked me to be part of the team, since I've been spending so much time there. There was about 25 people at the meeting, all there because they share a heart for the people there and want to see God move. We talked about the vision of the church, and how we don't want to be a clone of the existing church we attend, but want to fit the needs of the people there, allowing God to be creative and shape the church according to His will. We had a time of prayer and worship, and then talked about the first event, which will be a get together this Saturday to have a time of fellowship with the people. I'm really looking forward to that.

Dane had invited me to the Mana Project house for a party, so after the meeting in the dump I went home and changed, and went to the party. It was just a hang out time with the Mana team and their English students, with some dancing, eating, and swimming mixed in. I didn't swim or dance, but grabbed a bite to eat and got to know the guys a little better. Afterwards we went out to a club, and I invited Esmir to come along as well. It was a pretty good time, I danced with a Nicaraguan girl who I'd met before. Esmir of course danced with the Gringas.

Sunday Esmir and I went to church and I was part of a little presentation of the church planting in La Chureca. We turned off the church lights and carried candles throughout the building to represent God's light going into the dark corners of the world. Ramon gave a few words, and we had a time of prayer for the new church. After church I went with Esmir to play some ultimate frisbee with about 30 gringos, only a few of which I'd met previously. It was kind of funny to watch Esmir play, since he had no idea what he was doing. He caught on farily quickly, though, and had a good time.

Today Esmir left for a few days to go on his final university field trip. He went with his classmates to a farm up north, about a half hour from Honduras. He said that there is no electricity there, and that he'll probably be sleeping in a hammock. Can't really say I'm jealous, but I might be a little lonely this week. After Esmir left I went to la Chureca and we finished up the census. I don't know the official count of the total population, but there are 169 families living there, which would probably be about 900 to 1000 people, as most families have a good number of kids. Many more people work there, but only about 900 actually live inside and among it.

I took my bike to the shop again because the case for my headlight cracked. It broke open on its own due to vibration, so I thought that it would be covered by the guarantee. They said it should be covered, so I left it there, only to get a call an hour later saying that i'd have to pay for it. I told them to just leave it and I'm going tomorrow to pick it up. I talked to one of the guys there, who i've gotten to know pretty well now after the 5th time taking it in, and he told me that it's the cheapest bike he's ever seen. He told me that they have more than one of them come in the shop everyday, and told me I should trade it in for a Kawasaki. I'm strongly considering that, but we'll have to see if it fits in the budget. I'm also thinking about just straight up selling it, because it's a pain always taking it in for problems. I should have done more research, but I guess it's just a lesson learned the hard way.

That's about it, everything is going great and I'm still loving it down here. Please pray that the church will really be a success and that people will be brought into the Kingdom. Also pray for me that God will continue to provide and keep me close to Himself.