Jinotepe Visit

Because Kirk and Aaron arrived earlier than the rest of the Stiffney family, we were able to visit Jinotepe—where Goshen College does their study portion of SST. This meant Aaron was able to stay with his host family in town and Kyle, Kirk and I were able to stay with my host family and catch up with them.  We also stopped by Kyle’s family’s house for an afternoon visit. It was so fun to reconnect with these families and it reminded us of why we fell in love with this country in 2008 on SST (Hint: It was the people!!)

The Marenco Family (some of them!) I just love these people.

They so kindly opened their home to us and also took us to many sites around Jinotepe—including Catarina overlooking Laguna de Apoyo

We visited the beach for a few hours to take in the beautiful sunset. This is my host mom—Virginia—and her granddaughter, Nicole. I loved meeting the new “littles” in the family.

My host dad—danilo—holding the sun

My beautiful host sister—Ana—she will be in her final year of high school in 2016! (Don’t mind the scratch on my lip, I hit myself in the face with a plastic stick…yes, really! and busted my lip pretty good. It’s all healed up now, but the pictures during the healing process are not my best photos. Ha….)

Another Gorgeous Nica sunset

This sweet girl! She kept calling me Tia Allison (Aunt Allison).

My host momma and I in our matching shirts.

We had such a wonderful time visiting Jinotepe and eating plenty of good food! We were stuffed by the end of our time together!! I really feel that this is my second family and I am so blessed to know them. It was great to reconnect and to know that they are just a quick bus ride away for a weekend visit! We will be back again, that’s for sure!

Here’s to 2016 and building new relationships and keeping up with old ones! Thanks for being a part of our journey, near and far!