Pictures...

For all curious...I finally got the pictures from the Fiesta up on here. I'm sorry it has taken me so long. Slide.com was not being nice to me! Unfortunately there are no captions with the pictures, but I didn't want to take even more time for that. Hopefully you enjoy the pictures, and once again I apologize for it taking so long to get them posted for you all to see! More soon...

Katty

I want you all to meet Katty. Katty is a 9 year old little girl who comes around each day selling homemade tortillas to help earn money for her family. Each tortilla is one cord. To help you understand how cheap that is...you can get 20 tortillas for right about $1.00. Right now the exchange rate is right abou 20 cords to $1.00. This adorable little girl showed up at my door one day asking if I wanted to buy a tortilla. Most days, I don't, but some days I do. They are good for breakfast, as well as for making tacos. And I will be honest and tell you, the store bought tortillas that we get in the states have nothing on the homemade tortillas you can buy here! They are delicious! So, over time, Katty got used to seeing me each day. One day she asked if she could come in, she wanted to look at the pictures I had out. So we talked about my family and her family. She then headed out the door. School has started now, so I only see her on Saturday's but before school started she made sure to come by each day. One day, she asked if she could come in for a while. She was hungry and had some oranges. I peeled them and cut them up for her. While sitting there we talked more..she had many questions about my family and about the United States. She wanted to see many pictures, on my computer and in a book I brought with me. She also wanted to show me all the names of the people in her family. I let her type them on my computer. You should have seen the smile on her face when she realized I was going to let her type on my computer! I don't know how many times, if ever she has even touched a computer. It took her a long time to find the letters and type, but she was happy to be doing it, so it made me happy. At one point she needed to use the restroom, as she got in the bathroom she saw the shampoo sitting in the bathroom. When she came out, she asked if I could wash her hair for her. Although her hair looked clean to me, I decided if she wanted to wash her hair, that's what we would do. So, I took her outside to the outside sink (less of a mess there), and washed this adorable little girls hair. As I was washing her hair she just kept talking about how good it felt, and how good the shampoo smelled. What to me was a simple and normal occurance, put a huge smile on this little girls face. She was so proud to have her hair washed and smelling good! She ended up staying for about 2 hours. I took a few pictures here and there. This past Saturday she brought her Mom to the house with her. She wanted her Mom to meet me. She was so excited to introduce me to her Mom....it was cute. As they were leaving, she said to her Mom...that's her, that's my friend. She made me feel like a Princess that day! I was happy to hear that something so simple made that little girls day! Please pray for Katty and her family as they deal with the everyday struggle here in Nicaragua of earning money to support and feed their family!

Building A Hut

First, let me apologize for taking so long to update my blog. Not too much has been going on lately. I have been spending some time with new friends, and as the title of this blog might lead you to believe...helping build a hut! So, a couple of weeks ago a friend of mine, Oscar, came by. I was of course in the shower, great timing huh? He was asking if I was willing to go with him and help him and some friends construct a shelter for a new Young Life Bible Study group that would be starting that Saturday. I of course said yes, I would love to help. I was however disappointed that I had just gotten fresh and taken a shower, and was in turn heading out the door to get dirty and nasty. But was ready to help with some work. (I also was rushed out the door, and forgot to crab my camera as well. So, I apologize for not having any pictures. My friend Oscar was telling me I needed to hurry. All of you that know me, will be shocked to hear, I literally jumped out of the shower, ran put on some clothes, brushed my hair, put on my shoes and walked out the door. Yup that's right...no makeup...nothing! Oscar was in a hurry though!) So we arrived at this house and a friend of Oscar's was there and greeted him. Oscar then introduced me and told him that I would be helping them out. He looked a little shocked that Oscar had brought a girl along to help out! It was fine though. A few more guys showed up here and there to help, but no other girls. I ended up having a good time though, and learning how to build something I never thought I would need to learn! When we first got there, they had already gotten big limbs and put them in the ground as the poles for the shelter. From that point we got more limbs to make the outline of the roof. After that was done, I was told I was needed, and was sent following some guys to go do something...at this point I didn't know where I was going or what I would be doing! Come to find out we were going to gather palm branches to make the "roof" of the shelter. At this point I felt very "Survivor" like! Never in a million years did I imagine going and gathering palm branches and thatching a roof together! It was me and three other guys, and well as two little girls who decided they needed to follow me around! On the way there I talked with the girls a little and found out some about their families. How many brothers and sisters they had, etc. They also asked me about my family and where they were. One of the girls even held my hand as we walked. It was cute. All the kids here love Americans for some strange reason...especially female Americans. I love it though. So, the guys cut down a bunch of palm branches for us to carry back to the house. I'm guessing it was probably about 1/3 of a mile or close to 1/2 a mile walk there, and 1/3 mile or 1/2 mile back. I started out with 4 palm branches, most of us were carrying at least 3 or 4. However the two little girls that went with us, each carried two. One of the girls was lagging behind everyone else, so I made sure to stick with her. We were probably about 1/2 way back and she looked at me and said, in spanish, I'm tired! So, I took one of the palm braches from her, and was then carrying 5. When we got back to the house, all the guys were quite surprised to see that I a girl, had been carrying 5 palm branches when some of them had only been carrying 3 or 4. So, we made a big huge pile of palm branches. Then we all needed a drink. I of course had taken water with me, but during the process of our palm branch adventure, they had gotten a coconut as well. They opened it up, and poured the milk/juice (whatever you call it) into a glass. Next thing I know one of the girls is heading my direction with the glass. Well, I will be real honest and say I do not like coconut. I kindly said no thank you, but no was not an option. Everyone was looking at me and expecting me to take a drink of this stuff. So, I kindly took the glass and took a drink. To my surprise, it was not the most disgusting thing I have ever tasted, but it is also nothing I would want to drink again. They were happy I had taken a drink though, and then she moved on to offer a drink to the next person. My friend Oscar also tried saying no thank you, but he too was made to drink. We then began "thatching" the roof. I was in charge of putting the palm leaves up. They would put the palm branch up and wire it in place and I would go and push all the hanging leaves up in a criss-crossing pattern. So, I now feel like I've lived on the Island with the Robinson's and built a shelter on Survivor! But, the good news is...I now know how to build a hut! We got it done though, and it's now used for a Young Life Bible Study group there each Saturday. I have not been back yet to see how it is holding up, but I'm sure with my great construction skills, it's doing just fine! It was nice to get out and help with a worthy cause for the day. Sometime I am going back to join them for one of their studies, and will make sure to take my camera that day. That way you all can see what the "hut" looks like! Also on here I'm adding a picture or two of my friend Oscar. I met him back in December. He works full time with Young Life and deals with a lot of teens who have previously been in gangs and had dealings with drugs and alcohol. I believe he is 22 or 23, I don't remember for sure. He knows a little bit of English, but is trying to learn.