Livin' out of a suitcase (on the road again!)

I feel like I need to explain myself and why I'm doing all this traveling in the month of March.  The assumption is that "missionaries" such as myself don't have a lot of money and we all know that traveling to other countries is not cheap.  And yet, in the month of March, I will have been to Nicaragua, Guatemala, and California.  Well, I DON'T have a lot of money, but do have a pretty cool job that involves trips sometimes and also have some generous parents who want to celebrate birthdays and Easter with me there.

The Nicaragua trip was really great and served a few purposes- it allowed the Fresno Pacific semester students to renew their tourists visas, it gave us a chance to serve with SI-Nicaragua, and it allowed me to get to know these college students better on this mini missions trip/spiritual retreat.  While I was in Nicaragua, Jose was manning the Tutoring Center, so studying went on without me there.:) We had a fantastic time and I was so blessed to be able to spend time with the SI-Nicaragua staff that I had met last year at my 3-week conference in Colorado.  And we were so fortunate to have wonderful weather and not the dreaded heat we had been warned about.  Below are some photos from our time in Nicaragua:

The entire FPU group with "The Potter".  He did a wonderful job of transforming a lump of clay into a beautiful piece of art, talking about how God does the same thing with each of His children.

Kneading the clay to be ready to shape it

Spinning the pot while reading in the Bible about the Potter and the clay

Beautiful finished pieces

View of Granada, Nicaragua and Lake Nicaragua

Not great lighting but some of the girls on top of the bell tower in Granada

Lake Nicaragua and a volcano in the background

Having dinner together

Tomorrow evening I fly to Antigua, Guatemala for the weekend.  When I went to California over Christmas, I had a horrible time getting home, which resulted in a voucher from Taca Airlines for a future flight.  When I got the invitation to go to our friend Nick's wedding in Guatemala, I decided I would cash in that voucher and go!  I'm really looking forward to seeing another part of Central America and celebrate this wedding with some of my friends from Costa Rica and also friends in Guatemala.  Another cool thing is that we have a sister SI site in Guatemala so I am going to be staying with some staff members there.  

And on Palm Sunday, I will be flying to California!  My parents decided that since my 30th birthday will be in May and right in the middle of our busy team season, they wanted to fly me home to celebrate it early over Semana Santa (Easter Vacation) because I have that time off.  We will also get to celebrate my niece's birthday and Easter all together.  I'm really looking forward to seeing my family and some of my dear friends again very soon!

Traveling is exhausting but always worth it and I'm thankful for my own March Madness and all that it has included (and has in store for the next few weeks!)