A Month of Fun

I'm not even sure anyone is even going to read this, since it's been so long since i've posted anything... I bet i've lost whatever attention i've had. but, for those who are by chance still foolishly keeping up on me, the story still hasn't ended or become less eventful.

The spring break was absolutely amazing, and i really loved being able to see some of my friends from back home down here experiencing my favorite place on the planet. it really was a refreshing week of making new friends, playing with kids, working on projects, and just enjoying the fellowship of over a hundred of my peers for a week. The group was so big that we had to split into two. I got to be with the students from Virginia Tech and William and Mary, about 110 in total. The other group consisted of UVA and JMU, and was about 90 strong. My group stayed in the Casa Bernabe orphanage, and the other in a hotel about an hour away. We got to paint the school in the orphanage, dig a water line and lay the pipes for a small community, and got to spend time getting to know the kids, as well as the townspeople in the communities we worked with. It was a challenging time for everyone, myself included, but everybody had a blast and learned a lot about what real life looks like. when i say real life i don't just mean reality, but true living, or what it means to really become alive. We got to spend an evening with Brad Corrigan, and he shared with us some songs and some words of encouragement and inspiration. he really touched me with his message of becoming alive, and punching through the paper thin sheet of fear that so often holds us back from living. I really agree with what he said, and believe that most people never really live because they are too scared to. it's like an analogy my dad told me a long time ago about a kid who had a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast everyday, and when christmas came and there was a wonderful feast of flavorful foods, he was too comfortable with his oatmeal to leave it for the new and unknown dishes. What kind of life is that? Brad's message for us was to leave our comforts behind and follow our hearts. i took his words and put them in another way, stop being safe. doesn't it sound boring to live a "safe" life, never risking anything, but always doing the easy thing because of being too scared of what might happen if you follow your desires?

I believe that God did not make us to live in a box. Maybe that's just me, but i don't think so. I think we were made for so much more than that. just the fact that living in a box sounds so unattractive to us should be a sign that we were created for adventure. we were created with hearts, desires, and dreams, and if we live in a box all those things are useless. I only have a little over two weeks left of this chapter in my life, but i'm excited to see what happens when i turn the page. yes, i'm coming back to the states, back to my comfort zone, and it will be easy to fall back into the same mindset of most of the people in the world, but i've made up my mind not to, and i'm going to trust in God to prevent me from living safe. Brad told us that, even though he was far from a scientist, he thinks that if we try giving a little piece of ourselves to someone else, it might actually feel good. maybe even addictive. imagine if everyone in the world gave something to someone... something that costs something, that has a little sting to it... something that we'd normally be scared to give away... what would happen? I think happiness might happen.

we experienced a little of this on thursday, march 6th, 2008 on a day called the day of light in a place that could easily be mistaken for Hell. i think i've described it quite a few times, but la chureca really can't be portrayed with words, it's just something that has to be seen in order to be experienced. well, on march 6th about 600 people experienced it, over 200 of which did so for the first time. Brad Corrigan, his band Braddigan, and his organization Love Light and Melody, held their second annual day of light concert in the biggest trash dump in Central America. everyone that was participating let a couple of their paper thin brick walls fall down. it's crazy how hard such thin walls crash down. we got dirty, probably the most dirty we've ever been, and we didn't care. love and light filled a pit of hell unlike ever before. dancing and laughter broke out and pierced the dark, empty, lonely place that is home to so many. smiles streaked across the field scaring away any feelings of fear or pain. in their place was warmth and joy as music filled the air and those walls of fear came crashing down. that's how it should be.

So that was a little bit of what i learned with the big spring break trip. needless to say i think i'll be back here quite a few times before the end of things. i underestimated the power of eight months in the hands of such a people and such a God as mine.

A few more adventures took place in the past few weeks, and i'll take this time to share them with you. in Impacto, my relatively new church (as of january) we had a competition among the young adults group. we split into two teams, each of about 15 people, and had a "Talent Show" competition. each team had a week (March 8th to 15th) to come up with a presentation for the night of the 15th. we all went to work thinking of ideas and came up with some pretty crazy stuff. Carlos, Leo, Edgard, and myself decided to do a couple crazy videos. the first was called Yacas, a rip-off of the mtv show Jackass, where we had a competition of sitting in a cafeteria style roller trash can and racing down a poorly paved street. we had pads and helmets, but it was still painful. the other video we made was footage of us trying to raise money for the upcoming church retreat which would cost $65 a person. we took to the streets to beg for money in the traffic lights. Carlos had a pair of old crutches, and he and leo took turns begging with them. when they would receive a donation, they would pick up the crutches and walk back to us waving the coins in the air. then of course they'd give the coins back to the people who gave them. it was kind of a candid camera sort of thing. i washed windshields with a little boy and we got about 30 cents which i gave to him. in the end, we had a pretty fun time making videos and doing the presentation, and we won the competition. we did not however win any money towards the retreat.

on monday the 17th we headed out for the island of Ometepe, for the church retreat, and spent three days there enjoying the beach and the company of one another. ometepe is always a fun place to go, even if it's just in the fact that it's an island formed by two volcanoes, full of wildlife including monkeys and tropical birds.

we got back from the island on wednesday night, and on thursday i decided to go to la chureca and get some footage of the kids there, since up until then i'd only taken pictures. it had been two weeks since i'd been there (day of light) and the kids were excited to see me, although not happy with me for being gone so long. i got some footage of some of my favorite kids, including Victoria, Manuel, Reynaldo, Julieth, Norland, Bayardo, Jordan, Cris, Ruth, Judith, Miurel, Maryielis, Cindy Paola, and Genesis Belen. i also taped a man named Antonio, who works in the dump collecting iron, aluminum, and whatever else he may find useful. i talked with him for a while about the strike that's been going on for about two weeks, and he explained to me that the trash truck drivers who make a good salary were stealing the trash and selling the best of it before dumping it in la chureca. the people who work in the dump decided not to let the trucks enter the dump, and are hoping that something will change. i don't exactly understand much of what's going on with it, but it may very well be the end of the dump. there are plans to get rid of it, or move it, or completely redo it, and this strike may be the end of it. it's kind of a freaky thing, maybe good, maybe bad, but exciting nonetheless. the people there are on the hearts of so many, and it's all in God's hands, so whatever comes to pass will not be too big for Him to handle.

on friday Carlos and i decided to go on a motorcycle adventure, similar to what esmir and i did in january. i'd lent the bike to Arturo, a friend of mine from the Casa Bernabe orphanage who grew up there but now works for their bakery. he borrowed it during the time of the spring break trip since i didn't need it. i'm going to sell it to him in a couple weeks when i go, but anyways, i lent it to him and got it back in not the best shape. i was a little worried about making such a big journey on it, but decided to go anyways. the trip was very long. we didn't exactly know the route, and ended up going a much longer way than necessary, but finally made it to our destination, which just so happens to be the same place i visited my first week here in nicaragua--Popoyo beach. we went there because two of our friends from church, Jissell and Meilen, were there visiting their uncle and cousins for semana santa (holy week). it turned out that their uncle's house was the next house down the street from the surf camp that i visited back in august on my first ridiculous adventure. i had no idea that that was so foreboding. we had a great time and i got to visit JJ and Craig, two awesome guys who love the Lord and love the people of Nicaragua. we went to the beach with them and enjoyed each other's fellowship for the first time in a while. on sunday we went to church, where jj is the pastor, and experienced a great easter service. we said goodbye and headed out for managua at about three o'clock.

Carlos and i were on my bike, and we were traveling with one of the girls' cousins, Michel, who was on his mountain bike. we decided to take a way that none of us knew but were told was faster and more direct. we had no idea what we were getting into. michel led the way, and we were off. the first half hour wasn't bad, as we could travel fairly fast as long as we dodged the potholes. once the road turned into dirt things started getting interesting. it was a mountainous road, and had parts that were extremely rocky and others that were entirely dust which made for horrible traction. Michel was going at a pretty good speed, and we were keeping up fine, but when we hit a bad section of 3 inches of pure dust the bike lost traction and we went down. Michel came back to see what happened, and we made some arrangements to try to have more success. carlos went with him on his bike, and i took the bag of our stuff with me. the crash was nothing, we went down soft and did no damage to ourselves, although i did bend my gear shifter a little bit. we continued the journey, but decided that if anything should happen i should honk my horn. about an hour later, after crossing through shin deep streams and herds of cattle, my exhaust pipe came loose. i honked, and we stopped to see what was the matter. i lost the nut that held in the bolt which held up my exhaust pipe, due to the heavy vibration of the road. we found some ribbon in a small pile of trash on the side of the dirt road, and i tied it back in place since i didn't have the nut to tighten it back down with. we were on our way again, but i was in constant prayer that we would somehow make it home. i didn't even care if we got home late, i just wanted to get home with the bike in as good of condition as possible. well, we finally made it out of the dirt mountain road and into a town. i filled up on gas, and we were off. there was a ton of traffic on the main road, because everyone was on their way back from their week on the southern pacific coast beaches. luckily we were on motorcycles and were able to pass the long lines of parked cars. we finally got on the open road, when i felt something funny with the bike. when i looked down i saw that the bolt was about half way out and i honked and honked until michel and carlos pulled over and i pulled over with them.

let me go back a second to tell you about my getting robbed on sunday the 9th. i went to a concert, and stupidly kept my wallet in my back pocket. my friends wanted to go up close for a better view, and so we all went up into the crowed. someone pick-pocketed me and got off with my driver's licence, virginia tech id, motorcycle circulation and insurance cards, debit card, credit card, and about $15. I had to take about a week figuring all of that out, but in the end everything was alright.

so, we pull over, and a cop pulls over with us. the cops had no reason to pull over, but were really hungry and wanted some money for dinner. i didn't have my license, but what i did have was my passport, copy of my insurance, and a document from the police explaining how i was robbed and that the motorcycle was my own, and was insured, and that i was licensed to drive it. the cops had told me that that would work until i could get my license back. well, the cop that pulled us over would not listen to me, and took the document along with michel's license, circulation, and insurance. they said that we had to follow them to the station to clear everything up. we knew that they just wanted money, so we went into the town and pulled over to discuss what we were to do. i still had my passport, and could go to the police in managua to get another copy of the document no problem. michel had to go to the police to get his stuff back, but did nothing wrong, so would have no problem doing so. thus, carlos and i went to the center park of the town to wait for him, and he went to the police alone. he told them that we had a problem with the motorcycle and went to the mechanics. he said that he had met us at the beach and was just driving home with us. they gave him his stuff back, but made a call out to the officers in the town to look for two young men on a small red bike driving around with no papers. so, michel came back to us in the center park. while he was gone, however, i had the bike parked on the side of the road behind a truck. the truck reversed out of its parking spot without looking behind and crashed into the bike. the bike fell over and busted it's left mirror, along with the kick-stand and the foot pedal. the man drove off, thinking no damage was done, but the kick-stand no longer functioned and it was now very difficult for me to change gears. michel gets back and tells us that the cops are looking for us, so i take off my shirt and put on a tank-top. carlos gets back on the bike with michel since they were looking for two guys on a smaller bike, and i trade helmets with michel. so we take off, me on the now very shaky bike and carlos and michel leading the way. it all ended up happily, but i now have to put who knows how much money into repairing the bike. my prayer was answered, however, and we got back to managua only about four hours delayed with the bike in more or less one piece. my adventures to Popoyo never cease to amaze.

with now just two and a half weeks left in Nicaragua, i'm trying to spend as much time as possible with the people most important to me. it might be hard without the motorcycle for a while as i'm taking it to the shop, but hopefully i can get the most out of my last 17 days here. i'll see you guys back at home april 10th.