Escape to Selva Negra (with Clair and Beth)

It has been great to have parents/grandparents Clair and Beth around for the past week, which is also Semana Santa (Holy Week). The kids have off from school for this week and some of next week as well.

Being the hot time of year that it is, we have generally planned all our activity together around staying cool. So far, we've introduced Clair and Beth to the pool, the crater lagoon Laguna de Apoyo, a few air conditioned restaurants with indoor kids' play areas, and varieties of ice cream and smoothies.

But our favorite escape is heading toward the mountains around Matagalpa.  In January we went here with my parents, staying in the city of Matagalpa and traveling one day to hike around the coffee plantation and lodge of Selva Negra. Between the long sleeve pull-overs, the trails, and the restaurant's food, we were fairly confident we'd be back.

With temperatures in the upper 90s every day this past week, we went with Clair and Beth to enjoy the better part of three days, staying in a cabin at Selva Negra this time.  It was great.

New this time: seeing howler monkeys, deer, an agouti, hummingirds, ticks on Clair and Rebekah, a fat lip and knee scrapes on Silas, more delicious food, staying in great little cabin up the hill, reading time, and new trails.  Between our two visits we've now hiked all but one of the trails across their mountainside.  Trail #9, we'll be back for you.

Encounter in Guatemala: Advocacy and Connecting People

At the end of February and the beginning of March, I (Derrick) had the chance to go with our Connecting People Coordinator (Andrew) to Guatemala City for a regional MCC and partners encounter.  It brought together a significant span across Latin America: Bolivia, Colombia, Nicaragua, Honduras, Haiti, Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico, and the U.S. and Canada.

Day 1: as participants trickled in from many different directions, I joined a group organizing a taxi-van riding down to the main square.  Rebekah and I were here back in 2007 and it was interesting to be back.

Ted and Katherine Oswald

Ted and Katherine Oswald

Days 2-4: The first half of the week was partner-focused, sharing experiences and ways of working with advocacy and change among the many different, but often related, contexts.  It is humbling to think about the effort and commitment represented in this group: struggles for rights among indigenous communities, work within the context of war/violent crime/political turmoil, struggle to protect natural resources, risking personal safety to promote understanding, and more.  In addition to the sessions, another highlight for me was evening supper conversations, hearing stories and perspectives from different country contexts.

Anna Vogt

Ted and Katherine Oswald

Ted and Katherine Oswald

Anna Vogt

Ted and Katherine Oswald

Days 5-6:  During the second half of the week we were joined by staff working with Global Service Learning: the SALT, YAMEN, IVEP, Seed, Learning Tours, and other programs. There was opportunity to have some good conversations to improve and close some gaps in some of these processes.  I enjoyed the chance to meet again with some people we had been with in the orientation and others who I had not yet met beyond Skype and emails.  This is really helpful for future conversations that happen at a distance.

Anna Vogt

Anna Vogt

Anna Vogt

Program Evaluation: by the numbers

February (as well as some significant time leading up to now) has included preparing documents, meetings, and logistics for the regular 5-year MCC Program Evaluation.

Here are some numbers:

228: emails (and counting) in my Program Evaluation folder (no number for phone calls)

12: days for the evaluation

 

40: separate meetings

 

15: different meeting locations

3: members of the evaluation team, representing the U.S., Nicaragua, and Switzerland

1972: the year of Managua's historic earthquake, when Jerry, the Program Evaluation team leader, was MCC's Latin America Area Director based in Pennsylvania

1984: the year Moisés and other young medical professionals began the grassroots organization Acción Médica Crisitana, an organization that he would direct for several years.

5: languages that Ilona, MCC Co-rep for Honduras, speaks (6 if she'll let you count Swiss German and German separately)

4: people who traveled 8 hours or more by bus (and/or boat) for meetings during the evaluation (from Costa Rica and Bluefields)

6: early recommendations presented by the team 

It was a joy to work with this group over the past two weeks.  We couldn't have ask for a group with more appropriate experience and wisdom, who also happened to have excellent team chemistry.  We are very thankful to each of them for offering their time and energy during this process. The work they have done will be really helpful to MCC Nicaragua and Costa Rica in the years to come.

  

(Ilona, I acknowledge stealing this picture off your facebook post)

Parents' visit in January

For two weeks in January we enjoyed a visit from my parents, which also meant setting aside the camera.  Dad took some great pictures during their stay and he has shared those in this album. We had the additional surprise of a few bonus days once their connecting flights were cancelled because of the U.S.'s east coast snow storms.  Thanks again for the visit, Mom/Grandma and Dad/Grandpa!

A highlight from our time with my parents was an escape to Matagalpa, where we visited with Ariane, who works with MCC and CIEETS there, and spent a day at Selva Negra where enjoyed their trails and their cool weather. It was great to get out in the woods and the mountains again.

Another thing that has been going on over the last few weeks has been the churches' annual assemblies.  One more in Costa Rica coming up in March.  It's been helpful to visit and get to know the churches in a different way through these events.

MCC Team - Spiritual Retreat

The MCC Nicaragua/Costa Rica team has had a tradition of gathering every 3 months for a few meeting days and some relaxing time together as well. Of these gatherings, every 9 months there is a spiritual retreat or a regional retreat.  Last fall when we met the group decided to plan toward a retreat along the southern pacific coast and divided out responsibilities for the logistics and the theme for the time.  As this was our first time through this routine, there was certainly some work involved in helping pull this together, but it was a enjoyable time together with the team, with some great discussion as well.

Andrew was loving this microbus (a 2016 Toyota something) that we rented for the group.

Singing and discussion.  Using Stuart Murray's book "The Naked Anabaptist: The Bare Essentials of a Radical Faith," we focused on three chapters: The Essence of Anabaptism, Following Christ, and After Christendom.

I'm not sure what these birds are, although we were calling them urracas, which apparently is a magpie, but it doesn't look like other magpies I see on the internet.  If anyone knows or can figure it out, let me know. Beautiful bird, but not afraid enough of people. 

Beautiful beach at Playa Coco, a little south of San Juan del Sur, where we were with Nathan not long ago. 

Lia and Silas loved playing with Genesis.  Some of Costa Rica's mountains in the background here.

Playing until the sun goes down, which is around 6:00 or so. 4:00-6:00 is a great time for the beach.

The end-of-our-retreat team picture!

And a quick stop on our way back to Managua at the look-out at Catarina. Nice view over Laguna de Apoyo with the city of Granada off in the distance.

Celebrating Christmas!

There are many things Christians think about when they celebrate Jesus' birth.  A Savior has been born. The Word has become flesh. A child has been born: Emmanuel, God with us. God has remembered the lowly and rejects the mighty in their throwns. A light of revelation for the Gentiles and glory for the people of Israel.

And yet, at Christmas, with food on the table and gifts to share among family, it seems almost impossible to really wrap our minds around the the helplessness and poverty in the scene of a child in an animal's feeding tough. 
 
One aspect of this scene that I'm thinking about this year is that aspect of being pushed out of a hometown or a homeland. Mary and Joseph were first on the move to Bethlehem, which apparently was where their roots were but distant enough that they couldn't find places to stay with distant relatives or inns.  And then the new family fled to Egypt until Herod had died.

Refugees, immigrants, and migrants are on the move every year and this has been a year when refugees have been in the headlines in particular. It is remarkable how quickly Christians become suspicious of vulnerable people.  Although maybe that is not surprising, as the religious leaders and powerful were also suspicious of Jesus, who walked among the vulnerable.

While our circumstances are nothing in comparison to refugees, we are learning what it means to celebrate the meaning of Jesus' birth in a context away from the traditions and gatherings in our homeland this year as well.  At each step we're trying to figure out what is going on around us, what is expected of us, and what we are going to do on our own initiative to celebrate Christmas as a family. While this has taken extra energy, we have been blessed to enjoy good food, music, sharing gifts, several conversations through Skype, and even a visit from my brother Nathan. God has been with us in our vulnerability as well!

Here are some pictures from our Christmas season:

Lia, singing with her Kindergarten class at their Christmas program.

Painting Christmas salt-cookie ornaments.

 Very careful.

Another craft idea of Rebekah's: finger painting the manger scene.

Christmas morning: opening stockings!  (Another note: Lia wanted to wear long sleeves and long pants pajamas so that Christmas would feel cozy.)

Rebekah worked hard to prepare a brunch for our MCC staff and their families who were around on Christmas day, which turned out to be most of the group. Lots of coffee cake, eggs, bacon, fruit, and cookies. (Another note: She did all this without her glasses, which got broken at the beach earlier this week...)

Sharing food.

 Sharing conversation.

Sharing music.

Playing Candyland.

Later in the day we opened presents among our family.  Here, Silas and Lia find Legos from Mommy and Daddy.

Eagerly opening a present from Grandma and Grandpa Good, thanks to our courier Nathan.

 Assembling the Legos as the instructions instruct.  Later we'll disassemble these and get creative.

 Our tech guy with his phone/computer/book.

Our tech guy setting up some new equipment so we can do some recording.  We're a step behind with the Good Charles Family Band project for this Christmas.

 Later in the afternoon we heard music on a loudspeaker coming from the park.  Lia and Silas and I went out to find that the Sandinistas had sent piñatas out to parks across the country.  A line-up of 16 piñatas here in our Linda Vista Norte neighborhood park! 

Sixteen piñatas meant plenty of candy for everyone, even our cautious (but very interested) children who tiptoed around the edge of the candy tackle.