UPDATE #6

Monday, June 5, 2023

Today was another fantastic day in Nicaragua!  We had a great time working with the students at Veracruz English Academy (VEA).  We worked with four different classes from 8am-5pm.  All together, we saw 66 students ranging in age from 8-28.  Dave, Bethany, and I all took turns being a "Professor" during the day.  Dave's service as a teacher in our church's ESL ministry really paid off.  Each class was different, with students ranging from beginners to advanced students.  We usually started off as a whole group and then in most of the classes we broke off into small groups with each of us working with a different group of students.  It was great to be able to spend some time in the smaller groups so the students could get a lot of practice speaking and working on their pronunciation.  It was also beneficial in our large group times for them to hear three different English speakers.  Many of the students had made notes of words or phrases they had heard in English but didn't understand or were difficult for them to pronounce, so we spent some time in the classes discussing those things that they were curious about. [See Pictures Below] 

Since it has been so long since I have been back to Nicaragua, I only knew a few of the current students or I knew their older siblings.  Dave however, still knows most of them since he has been able to travel back many times by himself since he retired.  It was good for him to see the students again.  Just like with the kiddos at Casa Bernabe Orphanage, once you get to know them, they stay in your heart and you miss them when you are back in the USA.  Bethany noticed how eager the students were to not only attend school, but then to go to another school (VEA) and learn some more, on top of their normal studies.  While a few of these students are shy and reserved, they are all motivated to learn, very smart, and very appreciative of the help.

After we finished at VEA, we went back "home" to change clothes and headed out to a fairly new, lovely open air restaurant just outside of Veracruz for a dinner meeting with the wives and Pastors of the four churches we partnered with for the Outreach events.  It was the first time each of them had eaten at this restaurant so that was a special treat!  Regan had an icebreaker activity planned that was a little like the Newlywed Game (if any of you remember that TV show from many years back) that we did while waiting for the food to arrive.  After eating, we had the business portion of the meeting where we debriefed the activities.  It is always an emotional time because the Lord has always done some amazing things and we get to hear stories that we might not all have known about while they were happening.  When we all come together and share, we each get a little bigger picture of how God has weaved together every piece of everything that happened into the beautiful tapestry that it was. [See Pictures Below]

This is a really special group of Pastors that serve in Veracruz that are working together.  God is so good and He is moving mightily in the Veracruz community!  The Pastors spoke about how Community Bible Study International (CBSI) has changed their churches by transforming the lives of their members as they study the Bible together.  They shared their hearts for reaching the lost.  They discussed the followup that was needed with the men they served this weekend.  They talked about wanting to get back to some of the things that they were doing when they first started their churches that built community and reached out to those who feel unseen.  Our God is a God who sees us and looks after us.  These churches reached out this weekend to a group of people who largely feel unseen and they were fed soup for their bellies and the Word of God for their hearts.  I can't wait to hear the follow up stories from these men and to see how God works in their lives. 

We arrived back "home" a little after 11pm and Dave had to clean his shoes and the floor mat of the car because as we were leaving the restaurant, he stepped in, as he referred to it, "un poco regalo from a perro" and it smelled up the whole car on the ride home.  I put another load of laundry in the wash when we got home and I plan to hang it on the line to dry when I hit "send".  Tomorrow is another day at VEA so we are looking forward to seeing the students again!  More later.  Thank you again for reading and for coming alongside us in prayer.

In Christ, 

Katy, for the team