Friday, December 31, 2010

Wrapping up: Despedidas

Despedidas . . . good-byes. Four years, countless rich relationships, many different ways to say goodbye.

Saying goodbye to our favorite places:
Views from the Mombacho volcano, a favorite place for the hiking and beautiful views. We went with the MCC team for the last time in November for our team meeting fun day.

Swimming for the last time in the Laguna de Apoyo (volcanic crater lake).

Saying goodbye to the MCC team:
We have been part of a really great team, including lots of cool new people that we wish we had time to get to know better. Not everyone is in this picture (taken at Alan's 31st birthday celebration)--see the post "visitors" for a picture of the whole team.
A couple of highlights from the last few weeks included the Thanksgiving potluck (above) and an advent service (improvised advent wreath below), both at the MCC office.

Saying goodbye to our church family:
From our culto acción de gracias (a good-bye service).

Simon enjoys this last time with his friends from church.

With our good friend Norma, who has taught us so much about Christian community over the last four years, at her new house.

Saying goodbye to great neighbors:
These have been the hardest goodbyes! We´ve tried to savor all of these last times with the kids and adults on our street.
Our next door neighbors and friends Javier and Reyna (below, with Alan) took us out for an evening out on the town! Their mom, whom Simon calls "Mimi"--grandma, watched all the kids, and we went to see the National Folkloric Dance troupe (above) and then out for typical food.
Don Orlando and Doña Anita (above) in their pulperia, consistently providing good food and conversation to the community. Don Orlando and Alan have also watched many baseball games together over the years.

December was full of special community events. As always, we had the festivities for the Purisima on December 7 (see posts from December 2008 and 2009). For the Dia de Guadalupe (December 12), our neighbors set up tents and tables and provided lunch for around 400 people. As part of the celebration, the kids and parents who have participated in the library had a special farewell tribute and song for us. Later in the day, several neighbors chipped in to buy pizza. We sat around our living room one last time, chatting and sharing memories.

Saying goodbye to colleagues and friends:
We visited Estelí to say good-bye to some good friends--the Castillo family (above) and the Perez family (below Simon exchanges a final fist bump with Maykol).

Issela (on the left) and I worked closely together for two years, and all the family members have become very special to us. They made us our favorite soup (chicken meatball soup) a few days before leaving.
We took a trip out to Boaco in our last week to say goodbye to Marlene (right) and family. We went with Yolanda (center, in the white), long-time MCC worker, good friend, and care-giver for Simon.
We also had a party with the youth group from the Santa Rosa BIC church at Adam and Marisa´s new house. Many of them have participated in exchanges over the years. They are a dynamic, energetic group with a great vision.

We invited numbers of past participants in exchanges from all over Nicaragua to come to MCC to reconnect, share their experiences, and say goodbye. It reminded me of all I have loved about my job--seeing a diverse group of energetic, creative young people learning and serving together.

While we obviously have had many wonderful times at the end, this stands out as a highlight. Alan´s colleagues and students (above) planned an all-day outing to the beautiful Catarina community overlooking a crater lake. They shared songs, Scripture, memories, good food, and tools that they learned from Alan and are now incorporating into their own work.

The last night . . . we enjoyed receiving last visits and calls from our very closest friends. Here Simon enjoys the last time with his "tias"--Issela and Cecibel.

We feel unbelievably blessed for this time!

Wrapping up: Graduation

On December 4, the Baptist Seminary held graduation ceremonies for the certificate programs in Christian Education and Chaplaincy, the high school degree completion program for pastors, and the BA in Theology. Each year, the BA graduates choose to dedicate their graduation to a person who has been influential in their development. This year, it was Alan. Since he has developed deep relationships with many of them over the last couple years, it was especially meaningful to be able to participate in this celebration of their accomplishments. On a side note, we also had the privilege to share some special music using the brand new grand piano from the conservatory!
Alan with his colleagues/advisors, Dr. Jerjes Ruiz (Director of the Humanities Institute at the Polytechnic University) and Yeni Bolufer (Seminary Dean).
Some of Alan's students proudly displaying their diplomas.
Simon patiently waits and reads his book during the ceremony (this is a little misleading . . . he spent lots of time playing outside with other kids).

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Wrapping up: Handing off the work

A large part of the last few months has been figuring out how to pass along what we've learned in the past four years and make a healthy transition to those who are continuing the work as we leave. When we arrived, we both began in new positions where no one had been working before us. We have thoroughly enjoyed our work, so here at the end we live with a lingering sense of sadness mixed with deep gratitude for all of our rich experiences.

For Alan, the hand-off has involved preparing binders and course packs of all his syllabi, activities, readings, etc. for his classes. Since no one is yet assigned to work in his position, he left this wealth of information with his Nicaraguan and Cuban colleagues at the seminary.

In November, we spent 10 days with Lloyd and Goldie Kuhns, who will be coming to Nicaragua in March to work with Connecting Peoples and assistance in the MCC office. It was a very full time of traveling to churches and partners, visiting volunteers and families, and trying to explain to them all what I would do differently the next time! Lloyd lived in Nicaragua and Costa Rica in the 1970s, they served with MCC in Brazil, they both speak Spanish, and they are warm relational people who will do a fantastic job. Below, Lloyd gets to know some Nicaraguan young people who have participated in exchanges.

Another element of our lives here in Nicaragua has been the process of gradually building up (with the help of many of you!) a community lending library. Over the past year, Angela (MCC rep) and I have worked with a group of Nicaraguan educators to develop the idea of a mobile library system. Then in August, Marisa Clymer Shank arrived with great experiences and abilities to continue this work. Marisa and I spent a lot of time together in September, visiting other library projects, including this rural mobile library, below. If you are interested in continuing to follow the wonderful things that are happening with the books from our library, here is a link to Adam and Marisa's blog.