Past the Six Month Mark

This month has been quite a big month for us.  The 6 month anniversary came and went in such a blur that we didn't realize we made it past this milestone until a few weeks later. We have a new web site called www.impactnica.org. You can read about our whole story there. For more frequent updates, follow us on Facebook or Twitter at Impact Nica.

Let me try to recap some of the events lately...

Brooke Marston, Sharon Stevens, and Stacy

First, we were visited by Sharon Stevens and Brooke Marston. We had such a great time with our friends from the Summit Church. We all had the chance to go to and serve at a quincinera.  If you don't know what a quincinera is, it's kind of like a sweet 16 birthday celebration for girls turning 15 in Latin America.  This one was very special.  11 girls from an orphanage nearby were given each an honorary father for the night.  Each father spoke a blessing to their daughter and presented each girl to the party as a woman.  This party normally is at a level with a wedding, but multiplied by the young ladies and volunteer fathers!  

Quincinera for 11 orphan girls

If all that wasn't enough, Brooke Marston visited her Compassion child 2 days later!  We had the chance to visit the Compassion site in Managua and get a tour of the program.  There were a lot of tears as we met Brooke's sponsored child, his grandmother, his brother, and cousins. We were able to take Lazaro to Pizza Hut and it was a big day for him.  The pastor and administrators of the site told us that only around half of the children are written to regularly and also, that it is a HUGE deal to get a letter!  So, if you have a Compassion child make sure to write to them!   

Brooke and 11 year old, Lazaro

Shortly after Brooke and Sharon's visit, Brooke spoke in front of the youth group (Impact).  That same evening we saw everybody on Facetime as an Ipad was passed around at the church. It was really great to be a part of the service, even if only remotely. We really miss our old youth group at the Summit Church.

The Martins digitally joining a service at IMPACT

Just a soon as the visit was over, like the same morning we dropped them at the airport, the packing and moving began.  While we were getting our things together there was an earthquake of 7.6 in Costa Rica.  We were so tired from the packing and moving and not getting enough sleep the night before, that we thought the ground moving was just us being tired!  Sydney was the first to notice and then we also noticed the lights were swinging.  I'm not sure if its related but right after the quake, Nicaragua's largest volcano, San Cristobal, erupted about 90 mile north of us. We haven't really experience either of these things before, so it's all quite new and different for us. Managua is bracing for another big earthquake. I've heard one hits every 40-45 years and it's been 40 already. The people, especially the ones that remember the last quake, are really nervous every time a small tremor occurs. Please pray for safety and peace for the people in the city.

We still can't believe all of our stuff made it up the mountain like this!

We are now almost settled in at the finca (farm).  We are loving the country life!  We are meeting new people, and seeing how people live away from the big city. It's fun to be able to live closer in community with the Nicaraguans here. It is a longer drive (about 40 minutes when I go in to the vocational school), but a good trade with a cooler climate, quieter streets, and relatively safer all around.

The kids getting a chance to play at a local park for the first time.

We now have access to the furniture craftsmen in Masatepe.  This is a necessity since our house has no storage! It's back to living out of suitcases for a little while. We also live 5 minutes away from Ave Marie University. This will be very important for us this year. We will be focusing intensively on language studies here and the cost for these studies is much less than it was in the city. We are also able to save money on our monthly budget since the cost of living in the country is much less.  While we have immensely enjoyed all the visitors this summer, we need to refocus on our studies and get back to work. We invite more of you back to see us after this training period is completed.

Our new farmhouse on laundry day.

We feel like God has been in the details here, when we needed a way to do school, a way was made.  We thought it would mean more money would come in where we were, but we were open to God's leading and were then led to San Marcos.  We now can do full time Spanish classes! This is especially important for the discipleship we want to do in our ministry here. We have been learning more Spanish all summer and now can buy a Coke or ask about the bathroom with ease. However, it's time to learn how to effectively give our testimony in Spanish and be able to teach and disciple at a deeper, heart-level.

We love our new small town life!

Please pray that we continue to follow His leading and that we learn quickly in school.  We also thank all of you that have seen us through some difficult times and stayed in prayer with us.  Without our team of prayer warriors at home, and here, the enemy could have gotten a foothold. 

"This God is our God forever and ever; he will lead us for all time to come."  Psalm 48:14

A little girl in Masatepe