Another great week in Chinadega….. Although like last week it wasn’t that eventful. The starting of the week was like any other, we would do chores around the project in morning (what the missionary home is called). Later in the afternoon we would head to Bethel and do our daily rounds. Most of the time this meant playing with the kids in the field or going door to door and seeing how all the families are doing. I actually had an amazing experience with one of the families; for once I didn’t play sports in the field and instead followed a little boy named Jeffery to a friend’s home. I’ll make sure I show you guys Jeffery he is absolutely the sweetest kid ever and only 5 years old. So anyways when we were invited into the family’s home, Victoria the mother was so so so so amazing and welcoming to me. We sat there and mostly watched the kids play around, while Jeffery would occasionally come up and play a slapping game with me. Pretty much just consisted of him hitting me in the leg as hard as he could and seeing how painful my reaction was. All he kept repeating in Spanish was “You just wait, this one is gunna be even harder� which was hilarious to hear him say. After we were done with playing outside, Victoria invited us in to her home to see her son’s piano and guitar. And I think anyone that knows me can assume that I defiantly rocked out on the piano for a good ten minutes. Which I would like to think they enjoyed. All in all it was a pleasant switch up to my daily rounds in Bethel.

I guess something else that was a bit different was that we were put on a screen fast, which just means no computers or IPads for an entire week. I can tell you I had some troubles with this concept and might have shared some of my opinions on the topic. It was definitely a humbling experience knowing that your 19 years old and 5000Km + away from any parent and your still being told what to do. I did realize that I may have been a little Ignorant and stubborn. (Really hope my father didn’t just hear me admit that). Even though it was hard, there were a lot things I did enjoy about the screen fast. It did give me a lot of time to faithfully read my bible and a couple really good books. One that I think everyone should read is “Love Wins� a very controversial book but, one that really makes you think about what you believe.

As for today, we were supposed to head to the beach this morning, but another big protest broke out on the main highway so traffic was clogged up for miles. To expand on that, the plantain workers went on strike again because the government didn’t hold up on their part of the bargain. The Government had promised the worker higher wages but has yet to fulfill their promise. Looking at the picture at the bottom you will see that traffic is backed up for tens of miles. It’s so different from North America. In most places you couldn’t block off a road because there are so many side dirt roads. Here there is literally just one giant highway, so if you block that off you block off traffic going to 3 major cities. Which you can imagine is a huge problem, also the reason why protesting on the main highway is so affective.

It’s getting a bit harder to be from home, but it’s encouraging to know that God has a plan for me. I’m so blessed to be able to participate in this trip and I don’t want everyday problems to get in the way of the lasting change and growth that is meant to take place in Nicaragua. If you guys could continue to pray for strength and comfort while I’m on this trip that would be awesome. Love all my family and friends back home, crazy that it has already been a month since I left home. Only 8 More !!!

Peace Out!!

                                                !!!JEFFERY!!!

      (Protest Jammed up Traffic in front of the Project)

                           (Sam With some Cuties at a parade)