As most of you know, this was my second year of going to La Borgoña. Last year was a total cultural shock. I had no idea what to expect even though I had heard others talk for years. This year was much easier. I was going back to familiar places and experiences and to people who were now my friends.

     We again stayed with families of the church in La Borgoña. I stayed with the family of Don Christino – a very blended family of young adults and children. They were gracious, generous and very loving. I had my very own ‘babysitter’, a 12-year-old girl named Christian. She accompanied me wherever I needed to go.

     We operated from a schedule that was first produced by Absalon and then reworked somewhat by Marnie and me. My family had a copy in Spanish and it all worked very well.

     Every year something different is added and this year was no exception. We had, at Absalon’s request, daily Bible study for the two committees with a different topic each day. Absalon would read a passage from the Bible on Love or Sharing, give some thoughts and then open up the discussion to all of us. With the help of two translators, we were surprised to see that our theologies were closer than you would expect. Both churches are very much about justice-making.

    We did some sightseeing this time with the COHE members – a waterfall very near La Borgoña, Managua’s special sights, and then the dump. This was important because it is the place from which Cheryl liberated families to go and live at Chacocente which we visited later in the week. Later in the week, during Bible study, someone compared the dump to hell and Chacocente to heaven

     The computer lab that you made possible is air conditioned and running well. We had a graduation ceremony on Saturday afternoon that was inspiring. Some of the graduates are high school and college students but some are adults who have been able to get jobs because of their newly developed skills.

     We had four 2-hour church services. Some are called Cultos where the children, the youth and just about anyone who wanted to sing did. There were two plays – one from the children and one from the youth based on Bible verses and complete with costumes.

     Marnie had suggested that we buy food as a gift for the 15 families of the church so we went off to the market to purchase 100 pounds of rice, 75 pounds of sugar, beans, oil, spaghetti, ketchup (they use that for spaghetti sauce), soap, toilet paper and big plastic pans to put it all in. Thanks to many plastic bags, an old fashioned scale, and an assembly line of adults and kids, we parceled it all out and gave it out after one of the Cultos.

     Our meetings with all the coordinators of all the programs, the scholarship students and the Mana School teachers led to the development of something we have wanted to initiate for a long time – an accountability system. Pieces of it had been in place and one was still working but now, because the people in La Borgoña are finally understanding the importance of such information to the operation of their programs, Susan and Don worked with Roberto and, with the blessing of Absalon, developed spread sheets for each program to report electronically each month on what is going on. I believe that now that they are teaching such operations and since a man named Gerardo who is a businessman in Ticuantepe is part of the church, they can finally understand what we have been presenting over the years.<

     We ended our visit by sponsoring a pizza party and a piñata after the church service on our last night. There is actually a Domino’s in Managua and our driver volunteered to go and get the pizzas for us.

     Several people in the community have e-mail now and we have agreed to send letters this way between La Borgoña and us. We will send any correspondence for Absalon during the first week of the month. This way he will not have to check for email all the time.

     We have two requests that some of you might like to help sponsor. One is for a $10 monthly medical need that cannot be met by our doctor and the medicine he brings, and the other is for $3000 loan for the period of a year so that a man does not lose his house and business. If you are interested in these, please see me after church and I will give you more information.

     To me, this relationship with La Borgoña, and all that we are doing there, is truly living Christ’s message – Love your neighbor as yourself – Do unto others as you would have them do unto you – What you do for these, the least of my brethren you do unto me – Go sell what you own and follow me.

     I am much richer for having given and having gone to La Borgoña. Thanks be to God.