Salaam and Shalom!

Well, I’ve been home for five days and I squeezed in as much as I could between visits with people and preparing for our next venture. I wish I had a day or two more to see people since the next time I’ll be home will be in October. Lucky for us we have several people coming to visit us in Nicaragua later this summer so that will be a lot of fun.

This afternoon we are embarking on another adventure but this time to Israel and Jordan with a great group of people. Our friends from GCC Indiana (Jeanna Tripp and Jack Magruder), along with my former principal Rob Duckworth and his wife Charlene, Leigh Anne Hickey and Wes from CFC are joining a group from Grace in Atlanta, GA. Our good friends Jamie and Donna Winship are leading the way and I am more than excited for it to begin. 

A couple of years ago, during a five week stay with Jamie and Donna while they were living in Jordan, we made a quick 4 day visit to Israel and let’s just say it was a whirlwind. So I am excited to be able to spend more time there, listening to great teaching, and really absorb my surroundings. Some of the places we’ll be headed are Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Sea of Galilee, Dead Sea, and Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron.

At the end of the trip, a small group of us are traveling over to Jordan to visit with some friends. My world-traveler brother, Michael, who recently returned from a three week adventure trip to Peru and is now in Prague and then going to Budapest, will be joining us in Jordan as we head to Petra and then to the capital of Amman. 

I will be posting updates to Twitter/Facebook along the way. We’ll return to the states for three days before returning to Nicaragua to go to language school for four more weeks.

Pictured above is Dustin and I in the Old City eating lunch and Donna and I at the Red Sea. This was during our 2008 visit.

Comprende?

Well, its the end of our first week in Granada, Nicaragua and I can definitely see an improvement in my spanish. I have a great teacher who is funny and patient with me. It’s exciting to be able to understand almost 100% of what she is saying. Speaking the language, however, it a different story. When I’m practicing on my own or with Dustin, I get it. When it comes time to speak it in class, my brain freezes. But, I’m confident that will change quickly as we continue and my confidence builds.

I don’t think Dustin and I truly realized how much time school would take up between sitting in class, practicing, and the homework. Phew... do they like giving homework! Now that we are settled in and have a good grasp of the town, we’ll be doing more exploring in the weeks ahead. 

Today we are meeting up with the CFC youth team that spent the last week in Puerto Cabezas.  All 42+ people are on there way from Managua, to Masaya Market, then to Granada to eat some lunch and see the town before heading back to catch their early evening flight home. You can see what they did last week on Will Cravens blog. 

Tomorrow Dustin and I will continue to explore the town and study our spanish. We have one more week before I head home on July 9th to get ready for our EPIC trip to Israel/Palestine. Dustin will be staying behind a few extra days to meet up with the Granger/CFC team to take them over to Puerto Cabezas. He’ll be with them a few days before heading back to Virginia for 24 hours before jumping on the plane with me to Tel Aviv!

Have a fun and safe 4th of July weekend!