Semana Santa

It is Holy Week in Central America. In many parts of the cities, it is quiet as everything closes and people head to the beaches or to visit families. But here in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, there are also many people filling the streets around the cathedral with colorful artwork.

These "carpets," made of carefully-laid sawdust, are one way that the Church meditates on and prepares for the sorrowful journey of Christ we commemorate on Good Friday. They are intended to symbolically make softer the path of Christ to the cross--to be present with him in his sufferings in some way.

It was great to take another opportunity to be part of the community of faith trying to figure out how to walk with Jesus.

BIC Retreat

We enjoyed the last several days in Valle de Angeles, Honduras with other Brethren in Christ people serving in Colombia, Mexico, Honduras, and Wisconsin. It was refreshing to have times of singing, laughing, Bible study, ultimate frisbee, and listening to each other and God.

New update on the fun bug

We want to give a shout out to Jen Cummings for helping us to identify our mystery bug. Jen has a friend who's an entomologist, and after looking at the photo, he informed us that it's a whip spider (and therefore not a bug). Fortunately, whip spiders are not harmful to humans. Mystery solved. Here's another photo, just for good measure. :-) We also found some good ones at http://www.spiderpix.com/.

Fun Bug (updated 3/11)

Every once in a while we see really interesting bugs in our house. Here's one we found this morning. Some friends initially told us it's called a grillo, and apparently it's known for loud, high-pitched whistles. After futher investigation, however, we realized that 'grillo' means cricket (hence the whistling). We suspect that the crab-like arms in the front mean that it's not a cricket. It looks scary (and it kind of gives us the willies), and now we don't know whether it's harmful or not. We'll put more info here as we discover it. :-)

Misa Campesina

Last night we went to the Centro Cultural de Batahola Norte (one of MCC´s partner organizations here) for their weekly mass in the style of the Misa Campesina. This misa (mass) beautifully brings the gospel to the distinct Nicaraguan context, in which campesinos (farmers) bring God their offerings of work and resources from the country, and Jesus is present in the little towns of Ticuantepe, Moyogalpa, etc. We have been a few times to hear the choir, accompanied by guitars, recorders, and marimba, lead the community through the songs, readings, prayers, and the Eucharist, and it has always been a very enriching experience--both culturally and spiritually.

This song, Yo te ofrezco Señor, says "Lord, I offer in worship to you this daily hustle and bustle, all of the energy I can give with my sweat. Lord, I offer you all my work, my arms and the living enthusiasm in my heart!" And all this sung along with people dancing with baskets filled with typical Nicaraguan offerings. (photo courtesy of the Batahola website)

Happy International Day of the Woman

Felicidades a todas las mujeres del mundo, trabajando diario para salir adelante, proveer para sus familias, y construir un mundo más justo para tod@s. (Celebrating the women of the world, working hard daily to move forward, provide for their families, and make the world a more just place for everyone). See some of them here.

Fiestas

In case you were worried we are not having fun here . . .


Nicaraguans know how to party. And parties are not just for kids.


Here church leaders from the social commissions enjoy ice cream at their end-of-fiscal-year party.


Our (adult) neighbors invited us to a party complete with musical chairs and pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey. And as if this were not fun enough, I bet you all wish you could have seen Alan and me trying to salsa with a balloon balanced between us (the party game we lost miserably).

By the way, if you want to send some books . . .

We will always welcome more books in Spanish here! I try to keep updating this list with books that look good, but you can also feel free to send your own picks. I keep trying to find more books by Latin American authors (for example, from this recommendation list), but some of them are harder to get a hold of. You can contact us to find out the best way to get books down here.