So the dance party just ended, and now an intense game of mafia is going on. Always an end to a great day. This morning, Mo and I both walked for our last time to school. Tomorrow our group is coming with us to do VBS with the whole school. But anyways, we taught in the first grade special ed class today. Ha, and the teacher left shortly after we got there, so then Mo and I became the referees in the wrestling match that commenced among our 11 students. Little did we know, our teacher was preparing a special party for us. After 2 hours of chasing our little kids around a 10 by 10 room, our teacher came in and we went and had the special party. It was precious! Two of our students from each of our classes had a special thing to say to us in front of everybody, and then one of our girls BREAK DANCED for us. Yes, we got a video. And then they gave us gifts and we ate the sandwiches they made for us. Bologna and mystery sauce: the same thing we feed the kids in the villages we visit. It was one of the sweetest things I've experienced since we've been here.
After getting back to the team house, Mo and I quickly got ready to meet the team at La Pintada to work. But after waiting for a couple of hours for the truck to come and get us, we realized they weren't coming back to get us. So we had a chance to get all of the activities together for tomorrow at our school. Tonight we went and helped Little Rafe and the English Academy with his classes. It was fun to talk with his students. Well I'm off to play a game of Mafia!
Love you all so much,
Spence

Que honda hermanos! :)
Wow, today was a tough day.
Spenc and I went to the school today! It was awesome for us to see them again after a week of vacation. We played the new bingo games that we made over the break and the kids loved it. We're getting excited to have the team come with us on Wednesday to do VBS with them. We came back to the house and went back up the mountain to meet up with the group. La Pintada is the name of the school that we were working at today. They had been working their tails off carrying HEAVY HEAVY blocks and buckets of sand and rocks up this steep hill with tons of rocks. I was so glad that I got to help out in the afternoon. I made some volcanoes and lots of fun stuff :). Lots of us are getting sick and are worn out so your prayers for strength and health would be awesome.
After we got done at La Pintada, we raced home for some amazing Lasagna bliss. It was like chicken filled pasta with sweet tomato sauce and some of their native cheese. Awesome.
We had an amazing devotion tonight. The worship was so unhindered we really dug into His presence. Love it.
Before you know it, we'll be packing to come home. That sounds so weird! Well, now Rach French and I are going to make some creations with construction paper. Love y'all!

See you soon :)
M.

Oh how I love the beach! We got back tonight from Montelimar at 8:30. Long day I know. But we had such a good time while we were there. Yesterday we didn't get there until like 2 o'clock, due to traffic, but we made the most of it by getting in the riptide/ocean, and jumping in the ginormous pool. I could not stop thinking about Albarro and Osman all day yesterday. I mean it wasn't in a guilty way, it was just in a "Oh how I already miss them way!" I am not good with goodbyes, especially when it comes to the kids in the village of San Jose. But there is a time for every season, and so I will go on praying for them even though I don't get to see them. Last night about 8 of us from the team went to the discoteca and made the place come alive, for real. The party literally started when we walked in. We walked in soaking wet from the rain, and we walked out sweating from dancing. This morning, I had breakfast with Rafe and his family, and then I took a walk on the beach by myself. So nice to revel in the beauty of the Father. I then went and played in the pool with Pallito, Big Rafe, and Michael. Ha, basically I held Michael in the water and threw him up in the air. Oh how I am going to miss that family. Big Rafe and I always have such legit conversations, to the point where I almost feel like his brother. Tonight ended with a LEGIT devotion from Mo, where we just entered the Father's presence through prayer, asking for his rest and revelation in our lives. I needed it for real.
Well off to get a shower and to bed. Packed out day tomorrow. Love you all,
Spence

Oh goodness, I am exhausted. This will most likely be a short post even though today was filled with lots of adventures.
This morning we all got up to warm pancakes and bananas for breakfast. We left for San Jose in the middle of the rain so everything was nice and muddy for us there. I worked all day in construction again. It's amazing how the Lord is changing my whole perception and every aspect of the way I think about serving. I would go into more detail but I'm still sorting it all out and am half asleep. We did like over 10 volcanoes of cement and lots of hauling rocks to make the sidewalk and an extention of the porch of the pastor's house. I went inside to help with the VBS songs for a bit too. That's always fun. Lunch was tuna salad sandwhiches. Mace ate Mayo, mom. You should be proud...however I didn't tell him what was in it until after he ate. Ha, was flabbergasted. Oh and I'm sorry that I haven't called. The Magic Jack is broken again. We're sorry! :(
After lunch we went back to work and it rained on us some more. After a long days work, we came back and got all cleaned up for a dinner out at Las Praderas. Man am I going to miss that place...such good food. We all stopped by the mercado to get snacks afterwards and had a really good devotion.
Now however, is time to hit the bed. Tomorrow we leave for the beach resort until Saturday night so I don't know if Spenc will be able to post tomorrow. But we love y'all and are praying!
Oh and Caleb, my brother loves those cookies with the red filling. I told him how much you loved them too. Ha :)

Buenas!
M.

So today I saw heaven. This morning during my time with the Father, I was reading Psalms 19, and I was struck by verse 1 and verse 14. "The heavens declare your glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. v. 1 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. v. 14." We went to San Jose with the team to build a sidewalk between the church and the pastor's house, as well as laying concrete in the pastor's kitchen. When I got there, I immediately saw Albarro playing with marbles in front of the church. He recognized me when he saw me, and went back to his usual position of biting his fingernails. I started playing "cochillas/marbles" with the kids, including Albarro. We got to catch up for a while, and it was so cool to talk to him since last time he hardly said a word because of his shyness. He told me that his mom put the pictures I gave him on their door. After playing with the kids for a while, from fighting with sticks to shadow boxing, I mixed one volcano of cement. That's all of the work they got out of me today. Mo worked the whole day with the cement, doing work. Before lunch, I felt bad because I had done so little with the construction, and since I'm a guy and everything. But that conviction shortly went away.
After lunch, I had intentions to do construction after I got all of my boys in VBS. I thought I could sneak away some point during crafts/songs/games to go help, but I literally was beckoned everytime I got close to the door, "Espencer!" Osman and his brother Elton both came to VBS, so Osman literally stayed attached to me from the time we went outside to play. I had another gymnastics class with some of the guys, doing somersaults of all sorts in the grass, which quickly led to a punching/wrestling match. But don't worry, they were constantly laughing the whole time, smiling from ear to ear. Not even lying. After a while it just got to the point where they tried to dogpile me. I would always make sure to save Albarro and Osman from being at the bottom of the pile, seeing that they were by far the smallest. I stepped back for a second, putting Osman and Albarro down, and looked around. I saw the most beautiful sight I have ever seen. I saw Doc Simmons and Mace lifting giggling kids up in the air, spinning them around. Chris Roberts was playing baseball with the boys. Jenny was dancing around with a parade of little girls and boys mimicking her every move. And Rachel was letting a posse of little girls play with her hair. Christ was shining through all of them, and the kids were reveling in Christ's love. It was unlike anything I've ever seen before because I swear the glory and joy of the Father was shining down everywhere. I made a beeline for Rachel and told her that "This is what heaven is going to be like." Ha, later she said I just walked away after saying that with the most seriousness. It was unreal.
It gets better. Tonight Rachel decided to talk on "heaven" after our mini conversation for her devotion for everyone. And without talking to me, guess what verse she referenced: Psalms 19:1. So from the Father. I am telling yall, I have never seen the Father work through a group like I have this one. Well, I am off to rest for a while before another beautiful day at San Jose.
I love you all,
Spence

Oh my what an adventurous day. Woke up this morning and we had scrambled eggs with ham, gallo pinto with that salsa , pineapple, the works. Everyone loved it. We went back to Nuestra Tierra today and everyone was pumped about that. VBS was this morning and half of the team went there and the other half was on construction. I worked construction all day. Whew. I did go in to sing some songs with the kids, though, which was good :). Then a lot of our guys took all the kids outside to play with the parachute and play catch and tag. Everyone was having such a good time. Because we were mixing concrete and shoveling dirt and all that, the whole team wasn't needed and half of us played with the kids all day. Lunch came and we were so ready. A delicious beef and vegetable stew with rice, cookies, and cokes. Yum. While we were eating there was a downpourrrrrr. It didn't stop us for too long and before you knew it, we were back out there. Dona Fide took a group to go visit houses and pray over people and from what I heard, it was an amazing experience. I think everyone who worked construction got some SUNburn. I know my neck is pretty red but nothing compared to some of the guys. The sun was fierce today. But anyways, after working for another 3 or so hours we packed everyone up and headed home. We had homemade tacos waiting for us when we got back. I do think I can say pretty certainly that they were quite the hit. Tickled the fancy of quite a few of the team members.
Now, a bunch of them went to the mercado to get more food supplied for VBS tomorrow and just to get a taste of the Matagalpa streets. Rach and I are chillin in the room and all is finally calm. There's no more buckets of cement to pass or loads of dirt to shovel. Ha, at least for tonight anyways.
We are about to have devotion when they get back from the store and Mace and Ally are going to lead worship again. I'm so excited.
We're headed to San Jose tomorrow, and I know everyone's pumped about that.
Love y'all.
Know that we're praying for you.
M.

I honestly love having Snellville here. It brightens up my day everytime, ah just their presence! So this morning, I had some legit time with the Father before a breakfast of pancakes and sandia/watermelon. We went to Neustra Tierra today with the team. It is the community that is closest to the mission house. Mo and I are not going to school this week because it is sort of like their Spring Break. So next Mon-Wed, we will be hitting up the school yard for sure.
Today when we got to the community, we started digging a trench for a sidewalk from the cafeteria to the schoolhouse. Ha, I say we like I was the one doing most of the work, when in reality, I shot marbles with the kids as much as possible. But really, I did help dig the trench for a while. Ha, it was funny today because in the middle of one of our intense marble matches, all of the kids got up to go eat Guava/bean growing on the tree. They wanted the "Chelee" to follow with them, so I climbed the tree with them behind the school house and learned how to eat these split peas. They had to teach me to mastica/bite the bean, eat off the outer covering, and then spit out the seed. I was also able to get to talk with a boy named Erick for a while today. He brought out his radio and we listened to tons of music. He played some music in English, and I translated a WHOLE song by Celine Dion into Espanol for them! I can honestly say that today, I felt the most confident with my spanish than I ever have before. And it was funny, because I felt satan trying to discourage me saying "You'll never be good enough" before we got to the community. And after being there for a while, I just let everything go to the Father and just tried to love on the people there. I carried on a long conversation with Erick, and we talked about all sorts of stuff. Oh, and then Big Rafe gave me the assignment after lunch to go and tell the community that we were having VBS in 15 minutes. So I went to a bunch of the houses and told the kids to come to the school in 15 minutes for games, songs, and playing with the "gringos." Mind you, this was all in spanish. So neat to have the Father use me in that way. We had a great time with VBS and finishing digging the trench/making supports for the cafeteria. When we left I saw a little boy off to himself, so I went and talked to him. His name was Franklin, my middle name, and he looked to be about 6 years old. Come to find out, he was 10. I picked him up once, and after that he was crawling all over my arms. When I was walking over to the bus, he asked me if we were coming back tomorrow. I told him of course, but it hit me that very soon, we won't be coming back each week with new mission teams. Breaks my heart for real.
Tonight we had some legit worship with the team. I love having teams here that are so passionate about seeking the Father's face. Mace rocked it out on the guitar, and Ally led us in worship.
Well I am about to fall asleep, so I'm out. Love you all so much,
Spence
p.s. Brady family, it was so great to "talk" with yall tonight via video chat. Hopefully next time I will be able to hear yall. I love all of yall so much, and know that I am praying for each of you.

So the last couple of days have been so crazy and I haven't gotten to write on the blog...SORRY :).
Everything is going so well though!
Yesterday morning Spenc and I went to church, I sang again with the praise team. It was sad that it was our last Sunday to be at church because next week we won't be in Matagalpa. But nevertherless, we were glad that we got to go yesterday. After church we came back here with all the fam including the 8 kids and grilled chicken and pork. Good stuff. Jorge and the fam left and Spenc and I started getting ready to pick up the team! We went and hung out in Managua for a while at the On The Run (a gas station that's got some good food). When we finally picked them up, it was SO GOOD to see them walking toward us! We made the 2 1/2 hour trek back here to the house and everyone was exhausted. Rach and I stayed up and talked for a while but we hit the bed at like 1ish to get up this morning at 6.

Well, Spenc should be writing tonight again about today. It's been great! :)

Buenas!
M.

Oh how I love impromptu trips to Managua! This morning after breakfast, Big Rafe and Lesbia came by and invited us to go to Managua with them to get food/supplies for the SUMC team. Naturally we agreed because it is always a good time with those two. Big Rafe is always cracking jokes, and Lesbia has the most contagious laugh. When we arrived in Managua after the almost 3 hour ride, we went to the mall for lunch. Lesbia and Mo got caught in a shoe store RIGHT when we walked in. That's when Rafe and I knew it wouldn't be a quick trip at the mall. After Lesbia had bought two pairs of shoes, at 2 separate shoe stores, the girls were ready for lunch. So what restaurant do we naturally go to? McDonalds. Rafe and I both got a Big Mac Doble, which I don't know if they're new or just not in the States, but it is a big mac with double the meat. So good, and I finished it off with a TWIX mcflurry. Needless to say, I wasn't hungry until 8 o'clock tonight. Ha, and the lady behind the register after I said I wanted a mcflurry gave me the same look from bonquiqui, for those of you who have seen it. "Now I got to get all that ice cream out, and crunch up the little candy to pieces. No, you can have a coke."
After lunch we went to PriceSmart to get all of the stuff. It is pretty much the Nica version of Sams Club. By the end of the journey in PriceSmart, Rafe and I had a buggy full of stuff for the team house, and Lesbia and Mo had buggy full of food for the teams. When we had finished loading the truck bed with all of the supplies and covered it with the tarp, it was almost 3. We got caught up in a little traffic leaving Managua, because we got behind the funeraly procession for the mayor of Managua. For those of you who didn't know, the mayor of Managua committed suicide a few days ago. Some people still speculate that it was foul play because he shot himself in the chest, but no one knows. A lot of big new lately in Central America, even with the Honduran President. Ha, and I think it is ironic that we planned to go with Omar Jr. to Honduras this past Tuesday, but clearly those plans changed with their government in revolt.
Mo and I both fell asleep on the way back to Matagalpa, ha along with Lesbia snoring up front. Somehow I got involved in an Uno game on the front porch when I got back with the neighborhood boys, Mo included. Eventually, everyone went inside except Albert and me, a game of uno for 2 people. I had a legit Nica dinner tonight: gallo pinto, tortillas, and cheese. Once again I ended the night with Uno, playing with Mama Fide, Carla, Jorgito and Mo.
Pinata tomorrow for the two one year old's first birthday! Oh the fun that will be had at Tip Top. And SUMC, your beds are ready! I am so pumped for yall to get here.
Love you all,
Spence

So today was PACKED with stuff. Oh my, here goes :).
This morning we headed off to the school after the usual getting in the Word and breakfast. We helped out in both the first and second grade class. We had a good time. We actually got to sit and talk to the teachers and kinda hang out with the kids today instead of be up in front teaching and conducting a lesson. After school we walked to the park to catch the bus. After 25 minutes of no bus, we started the climb. Ha, right as we were about there, you-know-what came trouncing up the hill like it was nothing. Yep, el bus. Oh well.
When we got back we started working on two different games of bingo for the first and second grade class. First grade's has colors and numbers while the second grade has words. Kind of hard to explain but they turned out well. Jorge (Dona Fide and Don Omar's youngest) and his family came into town right before lunch. They're staying until Sunday :).They have three boys, who we probably already mentioned in an earlier post from when we went to their house- but it's Jorgito-9, Bryan-4, and Carlito-1. We all ate some good lunch. Salad, steak, rice, mashed potatoes, and an AMAZING fruit punch.
After lunch, Spenc and I finished the bingo boards which took a good 3 hours. Raf and Lesbia brought their kids over as well so six kids plus the ones from the neighborhood. Everyone played outside in the street and lots of laughter and screams echoed through the whole afternoon.
Spenc, as usual, was out there with them as soon as we finished. Rober and I went to watch some of indoor/outdoor soccer league in town and to get some icecream...yummm.
Tonight we and the whole fam just chilled here at the house. Lesbia and Raf brought over homemade pizza to cook. Excellent! After dinner some of us played Uno for like an hour. Now, it's been pouring rain for about an hour and a half and it's making me sleepy. Plus, no nap today.
Tomorrow, I think we are putting the sheets on the beds for the GROUP!!!! Ay, can't wait. You have no idea!
Buenas noches,
M.

Noche de Pelicula dos con Rafael y Lesbia! Mo and I just returned from Big Rafe and Lesbia's house, enjoying a night with the kids and another movie. We got there in time tonight to see the kids before they were off to bed. Mo and I were both attacked as we walked in the door by all 3 of them. Oh they are precious. Tonight we watched a movie called "The Perfume" and it was different, but actually pretty good.
This morning we taught the 1st grade special ed class. I think we're becoming pros, because this morning we had one EXTRA activity that we didn't even get to! Usually we run out of things to do and have to improvise, or we barely stretch the last activity out till the end. The bus still didn't have gas this morning, so there were only 10 kids in the class, instead of the usual 16. But that is definitely better than the 5 kids we had last week. All of the troublemakers were back this morning, but it is easier to break up fights with 3 "Profes" in the room. Isaac, the boy with the worst down syndrome in the class, didn't have his medicine this morning so he was a handful. If one of the 3 of us was not constantly with him, he would pitch a fit in the floor, and we'd just go about what we were doing, stepping over him. It is so nice to now have relationships with the students and even the teachers. The students start clapping when they see us, and now both teachers enjoy our presence, carrying on conversations, and laughing with us. Good times.
This afternoon I played once again with the neighborhood kids. I love how this is becoming a daily thing. They just expect me to be out there by like 4, and if I am not there, they come to one of the doors/windows yelling "Espencer!?"We first played kickball, and then bingo/uno with Mo, then onto futbol, then handball, and finally Mo joined us once again later for baseball. We called the game right before a downpour started. I went inside and used MagicJack to talk to my parents. Oh how I love Lynn and Pam.
Well, now I am off to bed. We are going to the school again in the morning, because the school is closed for like a week, starting Friday. Sort of like their Spring Break I guess. Who knows...
I love you all,
Spence