VMM Organizational Update

Recently, you may have received an email or a letter from our organization, VMM, stating that our cohort of volunteers will be the last and that VMM will be closing their doors. While this is sad for us, we also realize that there is a time for everything. That ending on a good note is important at an organizational and community level. Rather than making promises to future volunteers, funders, and project partners, we can tie up loose ends and make a good exit, being proud of what VMM stands for, what volunteers have accomplished and the way these programs have changed a multitude of lives. We are sad for the loss of opportunity for another married couple to follow in our foot steps. Davie and Sarah, Billy and Kristin, and Kyle and I would all attest to VMM being a life changing experience, as individuals but as a couple as well. An opportunity that isn’t always readily available to married couples in this type of setting.

So while this is a sad loss on a variety of levels, we are thankful for the opportunity that VMM USA has given us these two years and are thankful for the critical discernment that took place over the last few months through board members, former VMMers and other stakeholders. We know that the vision of VMM will continue through the VMM-Europe branch, and we know that seeds of the VMM USA branch are just beginning to grow in the communities where VMM volunteers have been. We know, for a fact, that VMM’s work has impacted the lives of many--the people we all have met in our communities, and in our lives, as volunteers who have been the hands and feet of the VMM for 35 years.

We know that transitions and endings can be difficult, but also know that this decision has not been taken lightly and in the end, is the best decision for this time in VMM history. The conversations we have begun having with important individuals here in San Nicolas are difficult and sad. But also a great reflection on the great work VMM has done sending awesome volunteers to this community. Not a bad word can be said about any of the volunteers that have lived and worked in the community, and the individuals we have spoken with really express their sincere gratitude for the past 6+ years of relationships that VMM has had with San Nicolas (And special thanks to Chepe Barnett who started the process of finding this amazing volunteer placement!). We will continue to have these conversations and will reflect on the time VMM has spent in San Nicolas, but also look to the future as individuals and as a community.

An important note, is that Kyle and I and Clare (Managua Volunteer) will be supported and funded until the end of our 2 year term (mid year 2017).

We also want to take this opportunity to thank ALL of you who have given us, and VMM, your support of over our time here, financially, spiritually, and in community. We appreciate it more than you know! And thanks to VMM for being an awesome organization that has given us this amazing opportunity to learn, grow, and accompany the community of San Nicolas.

We also know, deep down, that this will not be the last connection we have to San Nicolas. We want to stay connected in whatever way we can and hope that whatever this connection looks like, it will open doors in our future and the future of the community. Until then, we know that there are many more seeds to plant until we wrap up our time to, and many more memories to make! And we are excited for what the next few months will bring. 

Below you can read the letter that was sent out to donors, partners, and newsletter subscribers:

VOLUNTEER MISSIONARY MOVEMENT
November 29, 2016
Dear VMM Supporter,
As many of you know, Volunteer Missionary Movement has spent the last six months discerning its future.  We are deeply grateful to all those who contributed to the conversation about what makes VMM so appealing and discussed ways to keep VMM viable. It is evident that the Spirit has been present in this process. The rich wisdom literature from the Hebrew Scriptures spoke to our decision:
There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for everything under the heavens.
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot
the plant.
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to tear down, and a time to build.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance. (Ecclesiastes 3)
We, the Board of Directors of VMM, have decided that 2017 will be the final year of Volunteer Missionary Movement USA.  Our sister organization, VMM-International will carry on the Spirit and Lifestyle from its offices in Ireland and the UK. The words of Edwina Gateley, our foundress, helped support our conversation:

Maybe the Holy Spirit is doing a new thing - as She did with the VMM 46 years ago... The vision is yet dim - we see "in a mirror darkly" but we know it is there, for God is faithful and will create anew on the foundations of what we, in the VMM-USA, have so faithfully built in the last 35 years.
We have achieved much,
We have made a difference in the world.
We must recognize that and celebrate it.

This decision was not made lightly and the focus has always been on our missioners and the communities in which they serve.  A recent blog post by Alli Stiffney sums up the "onda," or feeling, VMM volunteers have about their commitment to accompany the people they live and work alongside:

"It has been such a blessing to feel accepted by our community here in San Nicolás. I thought I knew about hospitality and what it means to be a good host, but so many here in Nicaragua have shown us what it means to TRULY host someone with time, talk, and a cafecito (a bit of coffee!)  We feel like the luckiest volunteers in the world."

All those who have served with VMM likely feel the same way.  They could not have lived through their experience without the financial and spiritual support of so many of you: benefactors, families, friends, and religious communities.  To all of you, we say THANKS.

At this time we are not soliciting donations for VMM-USA however monies that continue to be received will be used to support our current missioners. Monies remaining following our closing will be distributed to likeminded organizations

Just like we hear in Ecclesiastes, "there is a time to laugh and dance," we intend to do just that and close VMM with a celebration.  The Board plans for 2017 to be a year of gratitude.  The plan is to celebrate and remember while walking with our final round of volunteers: Kyle and Alli Stiffney and Clare Morrison. 

Over the next few months VMM will be reaching out to you for input as to how to finalize VMM-USA. Please do take a few minutes when you receive the survey that will be coming out, to share your input.  VMM-USA will also be asking for your stories, experiences, and pictures that you would like to share that speak to your VMM experience so as to archive our wonderfully enriching history.

Again, thank you for your sustained support of VMM and we hope you will join us in celebrating the 35 transformative years of VMM-USA.
Con Paz

Turkey Day

Thanksgiving week, Max and Kayla were here to visit, but we, of course, had to make time for our annual thanksgiving feast  (annual—started by David and Sarah, I believe?). We invited the school director’s family over and our original host family to our dinner. We ended up eating our meal on a Tuesday, due to some of our travel plans, but there was lots of delicious food to eat and lots to be thankful for. We went around the table and each said something we were thankful for, here is a short list of what was said:

Estoy agredecido por…I am thankful for…

• Peace in the country and peaceful elections for Nicaragua.
• Community
• Family and friends
• Health
• God and his love
• Solidarity of volunteers and sharing culture with other people.
• The opportunity to work in the San Nicolas community.
• A community that is open and caring.
• Great English teachers (they were talking about us! ha! A+ for them!)
• The end of a successful school year and the ability to receive free university education.
• For each person around this table.
• The ability to travel and to learn new things.
• For this delicious food. 

Our 14 lb. turkey baked to perfection!

The stuffing ready to go into the oven. Other menu items: Mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, crescent rolls, pumpkin and apple pie. YUM!

Thankful for these people! :) Our school director (Idalia) is in the blue sweater on the left and our original “host mom” when we first moved here is in the black sweater sitting by Kyle. Her name is dona Ines and she is a great cook! I hope our food lived up the her expectations :)

So much to be thankful for! The director’s daughters joined us, as well as some of dona ines’ grandkids!

Love.

A Friendly Visit

The week of Thanksgiving, we had 2 special visitors head south of the border to spend the holiday with us, see where we live and work, and travel throughout this beautiful country. Max and Kayla (friends from high school—go bruins! and just lifelong friends—go friends!) came for a little more than a week. They helped us cook a delicious thanksgiving meal, we visited our school/work sites, we ate lots of rice and beans, visited the beach and survived a hurricane-turned-tropical-storm and a tsunami warning. Quite the trip!! :) Thanks for visiting and thanks for a memorable week and lots of laughs. We love you guys!

Visiting the Masaya Volcano

A real Thanksgiving feast

La Casita cafe visit (photo cred: Kayla)

Hurricane Otto/tropical storm clouds on the beaches of San Juan del Sur

Radar as the tropical storm (hurricane otto) passed over us during the night.

Love.

October: The Best Month Ever!

For my 29th birthday (October 31st), I was able to spend the week with some of my favorite people :) My mom, grandma, and aunt came down to visit for the week and to spend my birthday with me. We were able to visit our schools and they were able to see some of our work here. We had a pinata at my elementary school and ate lots and lots of cake! We also were able to take a few days of vacation to visit Granada and see some of the tourist sites around that area. We had a great time showing our family where we are and what we are doing! Thanks for visiting, Mom, Gma B and aunt Julie! We had a lot of fun and hope you did, too! Here are some pictures from our adventures:

Gma Bertha, El Gigante (the giant), Alli, Mom-Cindy, and Aunt Julie

Gma B brushing her teeth at the Pila

Our school director—Idalia—and Kyle planned to make a surprise dinner for my birthday! Her daughters were able to come over and teach us how to make a good fried plantain and grill steak, fritanga style :)

Sunday evening birthday surprise dinner

Filling Pinata Elsa with candy for our elementary party the following day

We visited my elementary school so my family could see where I spend a lot of my time. They had made a sign for me and sang Las Mananitas (the Nica birthday song).

Then we had a to have a pinata!

Crazy kiddos! It was fun to celebrate with them.

Pinata action

Turns out the Elsa pinata was super strong. So in the end, our string-man had to break open her head and drop the candy from above :)

Some of the girls picked flowers for our special visitors.

We visited Maria’s mom’s house for traditional Birthday soup! (Sopa de Gallina…Chicken soup) It was delicious.

We taught our adult English class. One of our favorite parts of our week! We tried to have conversations between our guests and our students. But then it started POURING rain. And there are no conversations to be had under a tin roof when the rain is coming down! We still had fun, and ate MORE cake :)

We visited my FAVORITE spot in all of Nicaragua. The lookout point at El Rancho. You can see about 9 volcanoes from this point, with our little town tucked in the valley. At sunset, it is just spectacular! And it’s only a 10 minute bus ride from our house. Favorite!

It was cloudy, but it’s always beautiful!

We visited Masaya volcano to see real-life lava!

Granada horse carriage tour

We also went on a boat tour with a really funny tour guide. We saw birds, monkeys, private islands, and great views of the Mombacho volcano.

We  found a cute little bistro that was showing the Cubs vs. Indians Game 7! It was fun to watch the Cubs win and eat some delicious food, too :)

We enjoyed some delicious Nicaraguan coffee

And enjoyed the sights and sounds of the central park in Granada.

We had such a great time celebrating my birthday, and sharing our experiences with family. I know we will be so thankful when we are home and can talk with our community about where we were, what we were doing and our feelings about our time in Nicaragua. They will now have a deeper understanding of our experience! We feel blessed to have visitors who are flexible, excited and open to new things. It’s ALWAYS fun to show people our life here!
Thanks for making my 29th birthday a special one.
Love.

Shopping in San Nicolas

I meant to write this post about a year ago, when shopping in town seemed so new, exciting and different! These days it’s just part of our daily routine and it’s nothing new. But I did want to write this post, to remember how we shop in San Nicolas and to give you all at home an idea of the differences in daily life here, along with sharing some pictures :)

Alli getting some shopping done in the city SUPER MERCADO (super market)

We do much of our shopping in the small Pulperias in San Nicolas. However, we also do some of our shopping in the city of Esteli for some more specialty items, such as a loaf of bread, peanut butter, meat and certain imported items. This usually feels just like shopping in a U.S. grocery store. We also feel super lucky to be connected to the La Garnacha farm to get lots of organic veggies and some of the best lettuce we will probably ever eat! But for the everyday items we go to the Pulperias (small stores) in town. There are about 20 of these small stores and they all sell about the same thing. There are about 4 options within 20-50 steps of our front door. So we often go out and just pick up what we need for the meal we are about to make. The items we are most often picking up from the pulperias are:  onions, potatoes, tomatoes, crackers, ranchitas (dorito chips), popsicles, eggs, milk, oil, rice, seasonings, and bananas. Frozen chicken is something else you can buy at the pulperias, but rumor has it that you pay mostly for ice (it’s frozen and you pay per pound…). At the pulperias in our town, you can also find a variety of drugs without a prescription, some clothing items, matches, gift bags, umbrellas, bleach, candy and many other items! It’s almost like a CVS in the U.S.A. Your one-stop shop! :) We have enjoyed figuring out which pulperia carries the best quality vegggies, which have our favorite brands of snacks, and the pulperias that sell huevos de amor (Literally, Eggs of Love—eggs from their backyard chickens!)

Enjoy a few pictures from our favorite pulperias in town!

Right outside our door you can find 2 different pulperias (Pulp. Orozco and Pulp. Sala Centeno) On the left we usually buy our snacks like little bags of chips, and on the right we can find huevos de amor.

About 10 steps away you will find this pulperia! And actually during those 10 steps there is another pulperia. Four stores right in a row…Our street is Pulperia Row :) We frequent this pulperia for our produce and milk. This one also seems to carry the most variety so if we are looking for something atypical then we will go here. This is also the store of one of our friends (the girl that just got married!) so we like to go here and visit with the family. Although at every store on this street we can always get into a good conversation. After all, we are all neighbors!

This Pulp is pretty organized! You can find some that are just piles on piles and you have to dig to find your items. On this side of the store (room), you can find flour, crackers, oatmeal, seasoning packets, sugar and salt, oil, diaper and in the coolers below…cold drinks and popsicles.

Produce section (tomatoes, onions, potatoes, bananas, plantains, coconuts, garlic, yuca…) We like this pulp because you can pick your own items and measure them out yourself (bought by the pound). In the glass case, you would find some pharmacy items (ibuprofen, vit. C…) and also some bread products that are brought in from Esteli.

Snack section! You can find a variety here. Our favorites are potato chips, and another “chip” that is like a rolled-up cheesy dorito called taqueritos :) They also have cheese puffs, a yucca mix and a spicy peanut mix.

I told you this place was organized! On the other side of the room, you can find household items, like laundry  and dish soap, toilet paper, matches, and non-perishables like canned tuna, ketchup, oil etc…

Candy and small package of crackers and cookies!

Eggs that came from an egg distribudor in the city. When we can we like to buy huevos de amor  (eggs from the backyard chickens!)

Small packages of powdered milk, ketchup, and baby formula. You can also buy small packages of seasonings and oil.

And here is a picture of the whole room. It’s a pretty skinny operation, but behind all of this is more storage to keep excess items and also where they sell their rice and beans.

As you can see this little guy was sent down by his mom to pick up a few items, he had money and knew exactly what to ask for! That’s the joy of living in a small town, with so many shopping options right outside your door :)

We still have many questions about the store system in town. How do all these stores survive? What ARE their hours? And how can 1 family have 1-3 stores and not feel like they are competing? It is definitely a different kind of economy here with way less regulation on who can open a store and where you can have a store (or a restaurant). But it’s been fun to experience a different way of shopping and we love the convenience of having shopping options LITERALLY right outside our door.

Off to buy some tomatoes and oil to make real Nica rice…until next time! :)

Love.

Election Season!!

Did you know there is another election happening this November? To be exact, the Nicaraguan election is happening this Sunday, November 6th! This past week has been "silent week". One week before the election no rallies, no advertisements, no real campaign activities can occur. What a concept!

Tomorrow Nicaraguans will go to their polling stations to  cast their ballots. The election outcome seems to already be known due to a couple of reasons. The popularity of the incumbent president, Daniel Ortega and his running mate (his wife!) and recent polling show that Daniel Ortega will win the presidency again. Also, the factious nature of the opposition has led to a split in votes across the country. However, we will know the official results of Monday morning! Another recent news story is that the government approved an outside organization to come in to observe the elections this weekend, quieting SOME of the protests against a "rigged" election. It's been interesting to compare and contrast election season here in Nicaragua with what is happening in the states. Turns out politics just aren't perfect anywhere...and no matter where you are, everyone has an opinion :)

The 2016 presidential ballot

The front runner for president, Daniel Ortega, and his wife and running mate, Rosario Murrillo

Here are several articles about the elections tomorrow and the campaign season. I tried to find a good mix of different opinions and view points, many U.S. sources seem to have a negative view of these elections, mostly due to a deep and rocky history that you should read about someday if you have time. And as you can see, it was difficult to find sources reporting on the opposition parties. I know it's a lot of articles...but select a few to read just to get an idea of what is happening in the country. I will post results next week when they come in, as well as some follow-up articles.

Here's to a peaceful election day on Sunday in Nicaragua and on Tuesday in the U.S.A....

https://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/32941629/survey-gives-ortega-big-lead-ahead-of-nicaragua-vote/#page1

https://thinkprogress.org/9-elections-world-423ae8df7e21#.ghibm2tr4
(I like this article because it reminds me that there is more than just 1 election happening this month...)

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/nicaragua-president-daniel-ortega-picks-wife-his-running-mate-n676831

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-nicaragua-election-idUSKBN12W4TX

http://plenglish.com/index.php?o=rn&id=5376&SEO=social-sectors-calls-to-respect-electoral-results-in-nicaragua

http://www.plenglish.com/index.php?o=rn&id=5337&SEO=nicaragua-enters-reflection-period-before-elections

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/04/nicaraguas-first-couple-daniel-ortega-tighten-grip-power-election-win

http://afgj.org/nicanotes15

http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/20348/how-ortega-took-the-suspense-out-of-nicaragua-s-presidential-election

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2016/11/four-things-you-should-know-about-the-other-election-this-week/

http://www.latina.com/lifestyle/politics/rosario-murillo-facts-bio

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/an-even-more-depressing-election-than-our-own/2016/11/03/9c2b1f7e-a05d-11e6-8832-23a007c77bb4_story.html

http://fusion.net/story/366533/nicaragua-election-daniel-ortega-reelection/

http://qcostarica.com/a-real-life-house-of-cards-in-nicaragua/

Weekends in the campo

Weekends in el campo (the country side) look like this...

Sharpening a machete to go cut down some weeds (mosquito heaven,  ya know?)

Decorating for a friend's wedding

And then attending said wedding...

All make for a fun and successful weekend!