5:30 Bible Fellowship

Not the best picture ever taken, but the ten of us did have a great time early this morning in
II Corinthians... "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all." -4:16-17

L2R: Jeremy, Dennis, Ben, Leck, Nathan, Eric, Gary, Bill, Gene & Greg

Back to Work!

We kicked the new school year off with a conference for the staffs of our three campuses in the gymtorium of what we refer to as the "main campus" in Managua... it takes a lot of people to run three schools with a student population of around 1,100 (including teachers, bus drivers, guards, custodians, librarians, maintenance workers, office staff, food service people, board members and administrators.)  Great start!

Worship in song led by one of our alumni (Wendy Gómez, NCA International Class of 2009)

Christmas in Mississippi

We're celebrating Jesus' Birthday at Bonnie and Andrew's new home in the Magnolia State!

L2R: Nate, Nellie & Loren Strickland, Bonnie & Andrew, G&G

Staff Wedding

Grace and I had the pleasure of attending the wedding of one of our P.E. teachers today!

Definitely a first for me to be asked to perform a service.  I certainly enjoyed the chance to invest in the life of one of our talented young teachers in the "pre-marital counseling".

None of this is on the job description of a school administrator, but healthy relationships are nonetheless foundational for our teachers to be free to minister optimally to their students.

I love this panoramic photo of the wedding reception dinner and especially the beautiful redhead in the foreground

New Applicants

These 18 took their admission tests yesterday, with the hopes of being added to our upper school rolls for the next school year beginning February 6, 2017...

The school continues to grow; we have 240 finishing out this year, and next year's budget is based on a student population of 272.

Granada

We have had Christina Gatti (Asheville Christian Academy Class of 2007) with us for a month exploring the idea of coming back to teach Art and English here in January.  Last weekend she flew home, but not before we had the chance to spend the day in Granada (the oldest city established by Europeans in the continental Americas... 50 years older than St. Augustine, Florida) with her and Samantha Lingamfelter, one of our current staff of dynamic teachers at Nicaragua Christian Academy - Matagalpa.

Christina, Samantha, G&G having brunch at Kathy's Waffle House in Granada, Nicaragua October 8, 2016

Black Forest

The two days of National Holiday celebrations fell on a Wednesday and a Thursday this year giving us a free Friday, so we gave into the urge to drive 20 miles up the mountain to this little retreat center called "Selva Negra" (Black Forest)...