Father's Day

  In most of Nicaragua, Mother's day is a really big deal - lots of celebrations and a lot of money spent. Father's day, however, is another story - there's a day, but it's merely a blip.
  We decided that at Manto de Gracia we would make it a big deal. On the actual day, June 23rd, we did a "perifoneo" - a pick up truck with loud speakers driving around the barrio wishing well to all the fathers and encouraging them. And then on Saturday, we had a dinner on our basketball court along with each of the classes making a presentation. I explained to our parents (in a poorly attended planning meeting) that it is not just about current fathers, who may not be responsible, but about the future - we want our little boys to grow up to be excellent fathers!

Adult classes

As well as having the school for kids, we wanted to offer adult education. About a month ago, we started Tuesday night classes - 6pm Bible study and 7pm English class. In the future, if things go well, we hope to add adult literacy classes. Appreciate you prayers. Still looking for those long term missionaries to be part of the team!

You do the hokey pokey

    So, how do you teach left, right, in, out, up, down, to kids that really don't even handle the concepts in Spanish? You teach them the hokey pokey! Check out the second graders with their first attempt. HokeyPokey
    By the way, our adult education classes are going well. We have about 10 come out for the Bible study (4 have received the Lord), and about 30 for English. The adults will soon learn the hokey pokey too!

Environmental Awareness Competition

This week we were introduced to the various competitions that happen in town. Even though we don't even have a full grade school, we decided to enter the annual "Envirnomental awareness competition". It involved making a mural with environmental themes and have a student explain it to a panel of 9 judges that were from various governmental agencies, including the Ministry of Education, The Nicaraguan version of the EPA, the Ministry of Health, The Sandinista youth movement, and the local mayor's office (tax money at work). Our first grader, Magdiel, impressed the judges with his knowledge (we had prepped him, but he's pretty sharp and handled himself well in front of the judges). Turns out, that our presentation won the Nueva Guinea prize. I hope we are that good when we have a high school basketball team.If you have a few minutes, you can see our teacher Rosa receive the award with the young man. Eco award

They do it even here!

As the new kids on the local school block, we are now invited to participate in various competitions. This last Saturday, Elia, a 5 year old from our pre-school, participated in a folklore dance competition. She didn't win, but for a 5 year old, was very composed and did a good job. If you have time, check out the video Elia dance

Profesora Maura

Friday, June 3rd, our second grade teacher Maura Reyes, graduated from the local Christian university with a degree in public accounting. Needless to say, we are all proud of her. She is continuing her studies in the education area. At graduations, the graduates always march from the central park to the site of the ceremony. Check out the video Maura walking