OUR LAST BLOG!

Today we started our morning by packing up. We did this enthusiastically because we are so excited to come home. After working out and eating breakfast we loaded up Rip's furniture and headed to Masatepe. We took the furniture to Yitza and Oscar's house and set it up in their living room. They had no idea what was going on and it was a special gift from Rip. After this we went to the market to buy some last minute gifts. In the evening we went out to eat with all of the people who guided and supported us the most during our stay in Nica. We enjoyed a delicious meal and prayed together as a family. We are so blessed to have these people in our lives and thank God tremendously for them.

Well people, we have finally made it to the end of our journey here in Nicaragua. The past two months have been filled with excitement, adventure, laughter, tears, and joy. It's been quite a wild ride and we thank God for presenting us with this beautiful challenge. We have been extremely blessed to meet some extraordinary people and missions here. We are also very blessed to have each and every one of you in our lives. With that we want to take some time to thank all the people who gave incredible support to Prilanie during this mission. We want to give a shout-out to the following: God, our mom's Lynn and Ruth, our dad's Jon and Hector, our families, our church, The Matchbox, all who donated and supported us financially, all who supported us spiritually, every single one of our friends, our boys Ian and Rusty, and everyone else we may have left out! Our time here has transformed us forever and we hope that God continues to change our lives dramatically. Thanks again for all of your prayers and support. Oh, and thank you for reading our blog!

Over and out.

Prilanie : )

p.s. A SPECIAL THANKS TO SUE AND ROGER FOR ALWAYS LEAVING US MOTIVATIONAL COMMENTS! WE APPRECIATED THEM GREATLY!

I am today what yesterday has made me; tomorrow I shall be changed by today's experiences.

xoxo

Priscilla and Delanie

OUR LAST PICTURES!

The VIP's of our trip: Oscar, Yitza, Victor, Angela, Rip, Bernie, Prilanie, Sharon, Angie, and last but not least, Caitlin

Miss Caitlin

Keydi Hunter

Victor and Angela

Rip and Bernie

Sharon and Angie

Yitza and Oscar

Saturday and Sunday

Saturday:

Today started off very early. We left the house around 8:00 a.m. We picked up our friend Bernie who introduced us to a new mission at a place called El Colegio Maranata. We got the chance to meet a wonderful group of people who have a church and school for the local neighborhood. Rip got to know the lead pastor from this organization and they bonded right away. We got the chance to give a 20 minute bible study and meet the leaders of this church/school. Priscilla translated so much she thought her tongue was going to fall out of her mouth. In the evening Caitlin made us her spectacular spaghetti. We had a great day meeting yet another group of amazing people.

Sunday:

Today we went to Verbo Church to say goodbye to the kids from Casa Bernabe as well as the Poplar Creek team. We couldn't find the church and it was quite frustrating. It was a miracle, but eventually we got there. The air conditioning was out and it was a little bit of a challenge to sit through a 2-hour service in the blistering heat. After the sermon we quickly said our goodbye's to everyone from Casa, it was sad but we had a great time with them this summer! It's great to know that we continued to build relationships with these extraordinary kids. After church we drove out to Masatepe. We ate lunch at Angela and Victor's house which was incredibly delicious (Paz makes the best tacos in the world). In the evening we went to another church service at El Centro De Fe, Esperanze, Y Amor. Rip introduced each of us on the stage and the congregation prayed over all of the mission teams that were there. Today was a very "churchy" day.

We are now on our LAST day here in Nicaragua. We are sooooo excited to come home tomorrow, you guys have no idea. Please please please pray for our travels tomorrow. We only have one hour to get from customs in Houston to our connecting flight. It's a little risky and if we don't make our flight we run the risk of not coming home tomorrow evening! We are pretty anxious about this and are praying that we make it. Thanks for supporting us during this whole trip, we love all of you SO much. Over and Out.

I am today what yesterday has made me; tomorrow I shall be changed by today's experiences.

xoxo

Priscilla and Delanie

Pictures From Saturday and Sunday

Delanie and Stanley

Freydel, Daroling, Mileydi

Rip and co. praying for a baby

The Chicago Gang

Julio and Bernie

Pastor love!

Delanie adopted 5 more kids!

Rip Rop Is back!

We picked up Rip from the airport successfully last night! It's so different having a boy in the house now. There is now a responsible adult back in the picture (or is there?).

The day started with a trip to a store called Price Smart. This place is the identical twin to what we know as Sam's Club. We literally felt like we were back in the states, it was quite a trip. At the store we picked up a birthday cake for Angela's daughter, Sharon. Sharon turned 12 today and they threw her a birthday party! The cake was our mission, hence the trip to Price Smart.

We couldn't stop talking about Charity and New Hope Children's Foundation so Rip asked us to take him to El Crucero to be introduced to the gang. Charity and Rip talked grown-up jargon about missions, Nicaragua and politics. They decided to keep in touch to collaborate on Charity's foundation in the future. Rip really enjoyed meeting the children and being introduced to a wonderful organization.

Sharon's birthday party was next on our list. We got to spend some time with Caitlin and it was so nice to be reunited with her (hey, 5 days feels like an eternity!). Sharon had a great time at her bash playing games, opening presents, and eating cake. Towards the end of it the children decided it would be a good idea to climb the tree like a bunch of monkeys (see photo below). We had a great time.

In the evening Rip took his three beautiful interns to a little Italian restaurant overlooking a lagoon. The pizza was amazing. We had a blast laughing together. I bet we are driving Rip absolutely insane already! We are now having a sleepover with Caitlin and look forward to our busy day tomorrow. Over and out.

I am today what yesterday has made me; tomorrow I shall be changed by today's experiences.

xoxo

Priscilla and Delanie

Pictures of the day...

Rip and Leoito

Leoito is out of control!

Caitlin and Delanie

Happy Birthday Sharon!

This would NOT happen in the states

Attempting to look tough but failing miserably at it

Starting To Say Goodbye

We are starting to say goodbye to the different organizations and friends we have made here in Nicaragua. Today we had to say farewell to Charity and all of our pals at New Hope Children's Foundation. We went to El Crucero after having lunch at McDonald's with Jocelyn, Charity and Emily's mom and Delanie got a chance to cut Jocelyn's boys' hair. We believe this is the last time Delanie is cutting hair here in Nicaragua. She has done such a fantastic job these past couple of months. After Delanie was done we had to say goodbye to all the babies and children we have worked with. It was sad to leave them but we know our paths will cross again.

When we got home Keydi was at our house. Our guards came in and attempted to fix our insane washing machine but were not successful. We thanked them anyway and had a few laughs while they were here. Keydi is a cuckoo bird and began to wash our clothes by hand. She is such a people pleaser and we can't really stop her when she is determined. I think we are going to miss her the most and she has already told us that she is sad to have to say goodbye to us when we leave.

Our next goal for the day is to pick up Rip from the Managua airport at 8:09 p.m. We are hoping we can remember how to get there! We are excited to have him come back and be with us for our last days here in Nica. He is still not feeling well and prayers are very much appreciated on his behalf!

It was a bittersweet day because we are now realizing that the end is near. It stinks because Nica feels like home now, and it's awesome because the word Chicago sounds like music to our ears! Let's see how everything winds down from here on out...

I am today what yesterday has made me; tomorrow I shall be changed by today's experiences.

xoxo

Priscilla and Delanie

Pictures of the day...

Team center at Charity's

This is Delanie's last day of cutting hair (fingers crossed)

Big smile!

Jocelyn and her boys

Beautiful foliage

Charity, Emily, and her mommy

6 Days Left People, 6 Days Left

Our original morning plans got cancelled (no surprise here). We were going to go to El Crucero to cut hair but the team was not in town so we rescheduled for tomorrow. Since we had some free time we played arts and crafts all morning. We then took a dip in the pool down the road, it will probably be the last time we get to swim there!

Keydi came over around 2:00 in the afternoon. She started a load of laundry when all of a sudden the washing machine went haywire and almost blew up! It started to jump up and down all on it's own and then it threw up all over the kitchen floor. There was water and soap to our knees. It was a disgusting scene altogether. We now have three loads of dirty laundry and will probably have to bring it back to Chicago with us (yuck!).

We left the chaos of our house and headed back to Casa Bernabe. We really wanted to meet up with the team from Poplar Creek again and hear about their adventures of the day. They visited La Chureca today and finished painting the teen house at Casa. God is doing such wonderful things with them and we are excited to witness some of it. We had a little bit of time to visit with our friends at Casa and told them these were our last days here! We are going to miss all of them soooo much. We are so blessed to have them in our lives.

Tomorrow we plan on going to Casa and then we are picking up Rip from the airport in the evening. We won't have our own car anymore! But we are happy that he will be with us once again.

I am today what yesterday has made me; tomorrow I shall be changed by today's experiences.

xoxo

Priscilla and Delanie

Pictures of the day...

Poplar Creek represent!!!

Teen girl house at Casa Bernabe (painted purple by our team!)

Our guard Fernando loves us and gives us his mom's homemade tortillas

The "hotel" where the Poplar Creek team is staying

A Little Taste Of Home

Delanie is feeling better! Thank you for keeping her in all of your prayers, because it worked! Yay God! Okay, enough sentences with exclamation points. We started our day by sleeping in (ahhhhh). We wanted to make sure Delanie was really ready to go back into the real world so we relaxed for the first part of the day.

Our team from Poplar Creek Church arrived in Nica last night and we wanted to go see them this afternoon. There was just one small problem...our car did not start. We tried to get help from our neighbors but that didn't work. We called our friend Jimmy who then called our taxi driver Enrique and about 2 hours later he arrived. He toyed around with it and he got it to start!!! We hugged him and gave him some money. He told us that everytime we see him we are a blessing to him. We really think that our car trouble was almost meant to happen so that we could help out Enrique. God really does work in funny ways sometimes, doesn't He?

By 5:00 in the afternoon we were finally on our way to Casa Bernabe. When we saw our girls it felt amaziiiiinnnngggg. It was like having a little piece of home. We are so excited for all of the great things God is planning on doing with them while they are here this week. We spent a few hours with them at Casa and caught them up on everything we have been doing. After eating dinner with our church family we came back home. I think we have finally learned how to NOT let Nicaragua win...you just need good connections!

I am today what yesterday has made me; tomorrow I shall be changed by today's experiences.

xoxo

Priscilla and Delanie

pictures of the day...

The Poplar Creek Gang (from left to right): Sandy, Stephanie, Lori, Priscilla, Stefanie, Becca, Delanie, Cassie

Prilanie

Delanie is SickenMcChicken

We did not have an eventful day whatsoever...Delanie is still feeling yucky so we stayed in for the day. Here is our exciting list of events...

1. Woke up

2. Cancelled our plans with Jocelyn and Angela

3. Watched Home Alone

4. Fell back asleep

5. Ate lunch

6. Watched 9

7. Fell back asleep...again

8. Picked up a pizza

9. Watched Garden State

10. Ate more pizza

I am today what yesterday has made me; tomorrow I shall be changed by today's experiences.

xoxo

Priscilla and Delanie

Pictures of the day...

Delanie's phone is very large and in charge

Prilanie (with no make-up!)

PIZZA!

Ingles is bueno

This wonderful Sunday morning we went to an English church service. It was so nice to be able to understand everything that was being taught. Our good friend Charity invited us to come to this church with her group and all of the children we have been working with. The pastor called charity to the front with all four of the babies and the congregation prayed over them. We also got a chance to meet so many other American English-speaking missionaries. Some have been here for a couple of weeks and others have been here for years! It is encouraging to know that it is possible to be in Nicaragua (or other parts of the world) for a long period of time if God calls us to be.

After church the three of us ate lunch at home and rested for a few minutes. Caitlin has to go back to teaching English in Masatepe tomorrow so we drove up to drop her off in the early afternoon. Angela and Victor came back from Mexico this morning and we were so happy to see them. This was also the first time Caitlin was meeting the people she is basically interning for! They welcomed her right away. Priscilla also had to confess to Angela that she "tapped" the taxi at the market. Angela just rolled her eyes; she wasn't mad at all.

Tomorrow we are heading back to El Crucero to cut three of the boys' hair at New Hope Children's Foundation. After that we are going to Masatepe to have lunch with Victor, Angela, Caitlin, and their family. We ask for prayers for Delanie because she is not feeling well. Please pray for her health and a speedy recovery. Other than Delanie being ill, today was super duper.

I am today what yesterday has made me; tomorrow I shall be changed by today's experiences.

xoxo

Priscilla and Delanie

Pictures of the day...

Caitlin is a cuckoo bird

Prilanie