Almost home!

I know, I know..it's been about a year since my last update....oops. Things have been a little busy here! At the beginning of April, my parents came for a two-week visit!They stayed here in Chinandega with me
for the first week, and then we went on vacation to Granada the next week. Their first night here happened to be Kristin and Jeremy's bachelorette/bachelor parties! Kelly and Jayne also came down to celebrate with us! All the girls headed out on a bar crawl around Chinandega while the boys went to Leon. Us girls had the time of our lives and Kristin was the best sport. She had a long list of many tasks she had to complete throughout the night. My personal favorite was when she sang "You've Lost that Lovin' Feeling" a capella to a random Nicaraguan man! It was hilarious!! Other tasks included break dancing in the gazebo in central park, singing karaoke at a bar, convincing a security guard to let her hold his gun, receiving kisses from ten guys, and many unspeakable others. There was a big group of us, including: Jayne, Kelly, Rossanna, Rossanna's mom, Marierling, Iris, and Katie. We had a great time and my mom really got a good taste of the Chinandega nightlife!
My dad on the other hand is still sworn to secrecy about his night in Leon with the guys. All I know is that he didn't get home until the wee hours of the morning. I think it's better we all don't know about that.
That next week was a hot work week for us all! We had a group of 60+ people in the house from Georgia. They were a very fun group full of many of my friends from Atlanta. That week we worked on painting the school in Los Rotarios and also held the inauguration for the spiritual center in Villa Catalina. My mom and I worked on Bead Amigas and went out with the medical team as well. I was happy that my parents got to experience for themselves a lot of the Amigos project areas and participate with the employees.


This is mom working with Dr. Dinorah in a rural community called Villa Esperanza. We visit this community once a month in our mobile medical van bringing medicines and medical attention to those who otherwise would go without.
On the right is a picture of my dad putting his painting skills to work! This was the first day of painting the school at Los Rotarios and we were putting on the white primer. The next couple days we painted the school yellow and orange. It really looks great these days!







After an exhausting week of work, we took a vacation to Granada, Nicaragua, about 3 hours south of Chinandega. Granada is a very beautiful city with a lot of Nicaraguan history. It was colonized by Spain in the 16th century and has a very European feel to it in the architecture. Now it's a pretty touristy spot. It's located right on Lake Nicaragua which is one of the largest fresh-water lakes in the world. It also has over 400 little islands scattered around where people have extravagant homes, restaurants, etc. One day we took a boat tour around some of the islands and it was really neat.
Another day we took a trip to Laguna de Apoyo. It's fresh-water lake that was formed when a volcano collapsed and hit a water table. The water is unbelievably blue and you're surrounded by mountains. Some other highlights of the week included: our BEAUTIFUL condo that we stayed at, a trip to the artesan market in Masaya, daily trips to the market in Granada, and enjoying the food, nightlife, and culture of the city. Madeline and Rossanna spent the first three nights with us at the condo relaxing by the pool and hanging out around town. I was so glad that my parents were finally able to meet two of my best friends here.
All in all, it was a really great couple weeks with the rents visiting and I really think they got a good idea of what my life is like here. Although it did involve a LOT of sweating! haha


As for what I'm doing right now...
Bead Amigas has really been amazing lately. We have so much interest in the project from so many sides, it's very exciting. The women are all doing great and just getting better and better by the day. This picture on the left is of Fatima, one of the Bead Amigas, and her two sons. She has been a part of the project since the beginning and has really been a leader for the other women. We recently launched our "temporary website." I say temporary because it's just what we're using in the meantime until we get all of our marketing stuff figured out. But, I would love for you all to check it out! www.amigosforchrist.org/beadamigas.htm Or, you can go to the Amigos website, click on projects, community development, and then Bead Amigas. Also when you're there you can subscribe to get the Bead Amigas newsletter that Rosann and Allison and I write every few months.

On the health team, this past week we worked on rennovating the clinic in Santa Matilde. The makeover is almost complete! It has all been painted inside and out, windows repaired, doors repaired, and much more! It should be as good as new in no time! Also when I was there I put the lettering on the new library (biblioteca) in Santa Matilde. We're looking forward to another busy month including health classes, mobile medical van, and a visit from a doctor in the US to prescreen surgical patients for his brigade that comes in September. This month we're going to be starting some new initiatives on our preventative health side as well as continuing on with our kids' nutrition program. Exciting stuff!
I know a lot of you who read my blog may not know a lot about Amigos, so I just want to throw a couple links on here of ways you can check it out a bit more. One is our website:
www.amigosforchrist.org
And the other is a new social network that we launched where you can see all the employees, learn about the project areas, read employee blogs, etc.
www.amigosforchrist.ning.com
On Tuesday I am leaving Nicaragua to go to Atlanta for Kristin and Jeremy's wedding! I am so excited!! After the wedding, I'll be heading to Minnesota!!! I will be there from May 11-21 if anyone wants to catch up!
I hope everyone is doing well back at home and I hope to see you soon!
Love,
Rachel