A Decade and a Half

Yes, it has been almost 19 years since ovarian cancer caused our little family of four (pictured here) to move back to the US after our first 9 years of service in the "Land of Lakes and Volcanoes."

...and exactly 15 since my first wife took leave of this earth to take up residence in Heaven.  The empty tomb, of course, is the very reason for our conviction and hope in this regard.

Grace and I are now in our 8th year in Nicaragua, building on the foundation laid by Lana and all the other heroes of the faith who have been called to invest in the next generation through the ministries of the Nicaragua Christian Academy.

Happy Easter, Everyone!

Middle & High School Retreat

"I spent the weekend with 100 teenagers" is not often the lead-in to a positive blog entry, but truth is this weekend's retreat at the Young Life Camp in Jinotega was everything we hoped it would be.  It included several activities that challenged the kids to think about their relationships with God.

Friday night they were each given a lit candle and challenged to carry it through a maze of bushes following the footprints that would lead them to the cross.  They were warned there would be hurdles and distractions along the way (courtesy of their teachers), the last of which was the temptation to head straight for the cross at this point just 10 yards from the objective, even though the footprints veered right and clear of the danger that snuffed out the candle for the majority who got this far.

Six arrived at the cross with their candles still burning... 

Let's hope all of them learned a life lesson they can apply to their walks of faith!

Home Run Champ

Denzel Quinn (10) with this weekend's hardware

We don't have a baseball team at the Nicaragua Christian Academy, but some of our students play on club teams, and this 5th grade third baseman/slugger brought home top honors in the Home Run department on his little league team!

Twenty-Twenty Won?

Crazy that I only made one post last year with all that happened especially beginning March 23rd when we went on-line with classes, transitioning to a dual platform (half on-campus/half online) in July.  This year, we are back on-campus for a full day of classes, with a slew of COVID protocols.  Pictured are our 7th-11th graders at Hour-of-Faith featuring the testimony of one of our seniors. (They call 11th graders "seniors" in Central America, because it's the last year of high school)

The 2020 School Year

The world seems to be a bit of a mess right now; I'll spare you mention of the evidence...

Just wanted to share this photo of the faculty and staff God has blessed me to work with at 

NCA Matagalpa  (click on this link to see our website)

I could not be prouder to serve as their director.  On average, they earn roughly $280/month and don't own a home or car of their own, but please don't feel sorry for them; they have taken up the crosses God has called on each of them to carry with joy in their hearts, and are making true disciples of Jesus Christ in this beautiful little nation.  If you'd like to partner with us in this venture, drop me a line, and I'll be happy to explore the possibilities with you!

The Team God Assembled for the 2020 School Year @NCAM (photo at the entrance to the main campus in Managua)

Quick Trip to Atlanta

Perhaps the toughest aspect for those of us called to serve internationally is the distance it puts between us and our kids and grandchildren.
Our fourth grandson was born November 4th, and Grace is "holding down the fort" at nca.edu.ni/matagalpa while I spend six days with Kara, Eddie and Win!

As a bonus, Tim & Anna flew up from Orlando for the weekend and we took time out of the fun to snap this picture on one of our walks around town.

The NCA Matagalpa Class of 2019

I fly back to Managua this afternoon to wrap up the 2019 school year... graduation is November 30th!!

Big News!

My Firstborn announces the birth of hers...
          last night (November 4th) around 11 p.m.!!
Edwin "Win" Kelly IV tipped the scales at:

7 lbs. 15 oz.

                ...and measures 21.75" as of right now.

Proud parents and cute son are doing well... and are most thankful for your prayers and well-wishes as the former join the wonderful world of parenting!

Proud grandfather "Pops" will fly up from Nicaragua to spend time with them next week!! ;-)

The Rest of the Story

It's been more than a year since the last time I made an entry in this blog... Grace does such a great job with our monthly newsletters.  There is more to one of the stories she shared this month, so I thought I'd share here.
Wilbert Martínez is one of our eight guards; Grace shared this photo of him standing in front of the home that he shares with his common law wife and two daughters.  He has been growing in his faith through our bi-weekly devotionals with the security team, in spite of the fact that he is just now learning to read and write (he says growing up in the country he never had the opportunity to have any formal schooling... even first grade).

A week ago last Sunday, he took his family to a church in his neighborhood, and when the pastor invited anyone who was ready to accept Jesus as Personal Savior and Lord, his seven-year-old daughter tugged on his arm and whispered that if she were old enough, she'd go forward.  The Holy Spirit used her to prick his heart and lead him to take that step of faith!

As I make this entry, Wilbert is traveling to his hometown to renew his citizenship papers, so that he can surprise the mother of his children by legally making her his wife, and pledging before God and his church family to love and cherish her for as long as they both shall live... and to be the father to their daughters that God intends.

May God continue to bless and guide this family!

First Fruits

Davnelid Flores 

I just have to share this story!

This darling fourth grader mentioned to me at lunch a couple of weeks ago that she wanted to start a special-order bakery, so I asked her if she could make 40 breakfast cupcakes for today's Teacher Workday.  She came back the next day to tell me she could make cinnamon and/or banana, and that they would be 10 Córdobas (32 cents) each, so I ordered 20 of each flavor, and came ready to pay C$400, plus a generous tip!

When she delivered my order early this morning, she informed me that I was her first real customer, therefore those cupcakes were her "primicias" (first fruits), and she would not be accepting payment.

This girl's been paying attention in Bible class!

Nicaragua

The news in our country of residence has been all bad lately, so Grace and I took 11 of our teachers out to a part of the country that has remained calm... and as you can see, beautiful!

Those are Granada and the Mombacho volcano in the background of the two photos.

Happy Mother's Day (in the U.S.; here it's May 30th) to mine, the mother of my two terrific children (currently residing in Heaven) and to the sweet girl by my side in these pictures.

Challenging Times

Not sure how many of you back in the US may have gotten wind, but things are happening here in the "Land of Lakes and Volcanoes".  Schools have been closed across the country since dismissal last Thursday (Grace's 60th birthday), and everyone is anxious to see what is next.

Without getting into the politics of the matter, Grace and I are here to serve regardless of who might be in power, and are committed to being a part of all the good things God has going in this beautiful country.  One of the things He has put on our hearts, is to see the families of those we work with grow strong and prosper as they live out His calling in their lives.  Pictured are Juan Pérez and his wife Marjorie Orozco; he is an electrician and she our 3rd grade teacher.  They are incredibly hard-working professionals with a combined salary of under $700/month, because that is what people earn here (and much less). 

It has been their dream to have a home of their own... through God's favor, impressive stewardship of their resources, and a construction fund made available to our teachers and staff through the generosity of some of our supporters, their dream will soon be a reality.  Their daughter, Jazmín, is in our preschool.  Families like theirs give us hope for the future of this country!

Pioneer

She may not seem all that excited to be photographed with her new principal, but I'm thrilled to have been able to say "yes" to her parents after they completed the application process!

Alisbell "Allie" Ocón is officially the first student with Down syndrome ever accepted by NCA Matagalpa.  We have been praying for the right combination of our maturity as a school, supportive parents and class dynamics ...if her first day in our Kindergarten is any indication, this was God's timing!!

First Day of School

This is the team God has assembled for the 2018 school year at Nicaragua Christian Academy Matagalpa (the Art and 4th grade teachers had to leave the Open House early and missed the photo).

Standing L2R: Dagny Dunham, Grace Kynast, Kristie Mattenley, Ben Dunham, Otoniel Martínez, Melba Gámez, Nora López, Julieth Rodríguez, Brian Baker, Sayling Benavidez, Yudit Altamirano, Marjorie Orozco, Karla García, Suyapa Tórrez, Gloria Orozco, Glenda Méndez, Martha Flores, Migdalia Rodríguez, Evelia Oporta, Martha Castro, Annel Flores.

Crouching L2R: César López, Ulises Urbina, Jeffry Laguna, David Mejía, David Zeledón, Greg Kynast

Team from our Church in Jacksonville

We had the joy of hosting five from Chets Creek Church who came to serve in a variety of ways at our school.  Chris, Bill, Pam, Megan & Delaney did everything from labeling and cataloguing books for the library to assisting teachers in the classroom and speaking to groups of students in class or at the middle school retreat!

We miss them already and look forward to our next opportunity to host... them or YOU!

Dance Recital

Grace and I are empty nesters now, but that doesn't mean we don't get invited to our kids' performances.  Last night, it was a dance recital in the Municipal Theater that will host our school's first high school graduation December 2nd.

Featured in the photo is one of our 6th graders (in green and red).

Will Visits

Sure was fun having our youngest son, Will, with us this week... he's the first of our five to visit since we made Matagalpa our newest base of operations almost exactly two years ago!

We have a team of six from Chets Creek Church in Jacksonville, Florida coming to help at the school in two weeks...

The photo was taken in the bell tower of the beautiful main cathedral in Granada.

Grace Reads to First Graders

...in SPANISH!!!!
I'm so proud of this girl... DuoLingo still says she's 50% fluent; she contends they're being generous, but the fact is she's doing GREAT!

She has also been God's provision for the need we had in the library.  I have no idea what we would be doing if it weren't for the fact that she has dug right into the job of running things there... labelling, printing bar codes, entering new additions to the database, managing circulation, re-shelving returned books, reading to the kids, etc.

Visitor from ACA

Grace and I are constantly inviting former students to "come see us!" here in Nicaragua...
Last week, we had the privilege of hosting Gib Jeffries of the Asheville Christian Academy
Class of 2011!
He took a week off from his job as a Mechanical Engineer in Cookeville, TN to come see his old principal... how cool is that!
We worked hard all week at the school and still found time to do a little exploring... this photo was taken on the rim of the Masaya volcano... from where we were standing one can turn and look into the mouth of the volcano and see this:

Calling All Teachers!

God has always been faithful to supply us
(in HIS timing) the talented, hard-working missionary teachers we've needed to teach our English classes at NCA.
One of those is Shannon Horn (#10 in the photo).
Her team plays tomorrow night @7:00 for the city volleyball championship.

She came here to fill an emergency need we had for one semester, and has stayed two years, but she will be going back to Ohio in December, so we need someone mid-January 2018... Volleyball skills are optional!! nca.edu.ni/matagalpa

We're Legal Residents!

Not that we were "illegal" before the issuance of the residency cards we are holding in the photo, but it has been a complex 20-month process, and we are thrilled that it ended in success last Friday, which explains the smiles on our faces... Jairo is the man in our business office who handles all the paperwork to make sure all the foreign nationals who work at the our three schools are legal, which explains the fact that he is not smiling... this was his third day in a row spending 6 hours at the immigration office, and he is not done!

We wanted to include the sign in the photo to show that we need more English teachers... let us know if you would consider joining our team!