Most of you have heard MANY times what it is we are
doing here in Nicaragua. I’m sure many
of you could even give our whole missions spiel from memory. The purpose of this blog post is to tell you
about some of the lesser-known activities that we are involved in, some
ministry-related, most not. These are
the things that make up our weeks and keep our planner full. Many are probably the same things that you
are doing wherever it is you are living, just with a Nica twist.
So, here it goes: the Random Activities of
the Ippel Family.
Boy Scouts—Andrew recently asked a Nicaragua how to
translate “Boy Scouts” into Spanish, and he was told it is “Boy Scouz.” That is a Spanish word we can handle.
Henry and Andrew just joined the American Boy Scouts chapter here in
Managua which is made up of boys and their families from many countries—the US,
Canada, Nicaragua, Korea, to name a few—with many different backgrounds. At the first camp-out, Andrew met a man who
exports dried cow blood (yes, to the US, and yes, to put in your meat products and vitamins), a man who distributes fish to pet
stores, the principal of the American school here, diplomats, and American
football players who are here with Lockheed Martin installing solar power into the US Embassy. Their first camp-out actually took place within the walls of the US Embassy, a heavily guarded beautiful piece of land in the middle
of Managua. They were able to pop their
tents right on the lawn of the Ambassador’s residence (which is not currently
being used), and take advantage of the swimming pool, tennis courts, playground
and air-conditioned kitchen and bathrooms nearby—they were definitely not
roughing it. We are excited for them to
have this opportunity to get to know others outside of our missionary
community.
Reading with Henry’s class—Every Monday morning, Ruth has
the opportunity to read one-on-one with the students in Henry’s 2nd
grade class at NCA. Many of the students
don’t speak English at home and are working hard to learn English at
school. Learning to read in English is a
huge accomplishment for these students, and Ruth is continually amazed at how
well they do with our horribly confusing language!
Swimming Lessons—We recently discovered that there is an former almost-made-the-Olympic swimmer serving here in Managua as a missionary and he agreed to teach
our kids swimming lessons in exchange for home cooking. All 3 kids are loving this weekly class,
especially Mae who just learned to do the butterfly stroke!
Piano Lessons—Andrew has 5 piano students this year (one of
them is Henry) who he gives lessons to weekly. All of them live in our
neighborhood, which is nice because they often come over with questions or to
show off between lessons. Since moving
to Nicaragua, Andrew has taught lessons in exchange for cash, babysitting,
Spanish lessons, and a pet monkey.
Playgroup—Every Thursday, Ruth and Charlotte attend a
playgroup with other moms and preschoolers from the missionary community. This usually happens at someone’s house where
the kids are able to ride bikes, jump on the trampoline, or do crafts, but
every once and awhile we all load up and go to Tip Top, the Nica version of KFC
that is air-conditioned and has a play place.
Life is full, and sometimes too busy, but we are thankful. We are thankful to be living in a city big enough to have Taekwondo classes, for Americans in Nicaragua who are American enough to plan boy scouts, for a piano in our home, for the many people we encounter with a variety of surprising gifts and talents, for an amazing school for our children to attend, and for the community of friends that surround us. God is good!
Life is full, and sometimes too busy, but we are thankful. We are thankful to be living in a city big enough to have Taekwondo classes, for Americans in Nicaragua who are American enough to plan boy scouts, for a piano in our home, for the many people we encounter with a variety of surprising gifts and talents, for an amazing school for our children to attend, and for the community of friends that surround us. God is good!
