If its the last thing I do!

Well more like: If it is the only thing I do today.

I WILL BLOG!

I have been turning out-dated keyboards into beads to make jewelry.

This is how^^^ plus a very small bit drill.

These are the first of many to come. Let me know if you like them!

And with my extra time today TACO SALAD my way.

Rice,

Black Beans,

Lettuce,

Tomatoes,

Shredded Beef

(left in a crock pot all day with salsa),

Plain Low Fat Yogurt,

and my favorite part:

sautéed SWEET POTATO and MUSHROOMS in coconut oil.

The other day I went to...

ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA

For the:

I met quite a few wonderful people. A beautiful girl named Ali and a posh Miss from greece as well as the founders of the NOT FOR SALE campaign, the founder of invisible children, and the founder of twitter and square (a way of accepting credit cards from your mobile phone).

At some point I hope to visit what Not for Sale is doing in Peru.

In order to learn from them, especially the surf ministry, and possibly intern.

As well as hopefully work with them to start my dream in Nicaragua!!!

But first I am going to move out to California, I hope to arrive here^^^ by January 1st.

Hannah what have you been doing???

This week I will answer that question with a few photos instead of words.

Brain storming on my notorious paper plates.

This is often the only way I can tell that time has passed. How many plates I have accumulated?(average of one a week schedule on the front ideas on the back) I also have made a few floppy disk notebooks. They are so much fun! Let me know if you want one:

15$

This is my work space covered in inspiration:

Boxes of drift wood and shells, books to be turned into boxes, and beads of all kinds.

AND THE BEST RECORD TO PLAY WHILE DOING IT!

Nicaragua part 2 of 3

We spent the first whole week in what I would call Nicaragua 101. The family we stayed with took us under their wing, it was as if we had known them forever. We learned about Nicaraguan customs, their currency, and their bad and good characteristics as a people group; we learned about their food, safety and all the names of things. We also had the opportunity to give away an entire huge floral suit case full of clothes that we had brought down to a house full of girls that have no where else to go. They are with an organization called Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos (NPH). And naturally we had a dance party with them, where I confidently and comfortably embarrassed myself. We learned how to navigate using taxis and public buses. We learned that you must try to communicate even if you only know 10 Spanish words, hand gestures and miming is more universal than you think and the worst that can happen is you look foolish and they will warm up to you. They also took us all over the place, Granada, Masaya, and the beach house at Salinas Grandes. After our class on culture and practical living in the third world, we set a date to head out to the beach, la playa de Popoyo because one of my contacts, a friend of Christian my boyfriend that had been living in Nica for a while now, finally got back to me. A bout with diarrhea and a birthday celebration postponed our journey a few days

Granada:

As we embarked on our solo journey out from under the wing of our wonderful hosts we got a little bit nervous, but God was with us. We boarded the express bus to Rivas, a city about half way to Popoyo Beach, our final destination and our contact Keith. Now when I am talking about Nicaraguan public transport, I am talking old yellow school buses purchased from the US at a good price when they are to old for us to use. Needless to say a bumpy ride. About 15 minutes into it a man in a yellow shirt stood up and began to address the captive audience. He was speaking in Spanish of course, but I managed to figure out that he was talking about Jesus! Public bus evangelism that’s my style!!!! So I just began to pray for his ministry and all sorts of other stuff. We got his contact information but failed miserably to communicate more. After that I felt like I needed to talk to the lady sitting behind us. As I began to attempt I realized how fatal it was going to be after about five minutes of mini dictionary torture I was about to give up and this girl comes out of nowhere. She sits down next to the lady I was trying to speak to and says in clear crisp English,

"Hello my name is Maria, I can help you translate."

What a God given gift! She ended up being a Nicaraguan tourist major and she is doing an internship on the Twin Volcano Island of Ometepe. Her dream job is to own a hotel on an island. I immediately told her that she could run my hotel! Something that was odd though was that she was so adamant that we had to see her island. She invited us to go with her to the hotel that she works at and get a room for 14$ a night and continue our journey the next day. My favorite part of the trip as I think back on it was getting to watch my brother learn how to hear God's voice. I believe that God intentionally hid what we were supposed to do from me at times so that he could teach my brother about his voice. Any time I didn't know what to do Matt did and was sure of it. And in this moment I hesitated, I had a plan for the first time on this trip; I even had a rough time of arrival. But Matt was sure that we should go, so I threw my only plan out the window and we went! The owner of the Hotel Island Landing was a very passionate man name John Tansey. He is working towards self sufficiency and is very involved in the community. We told him about our vision and how we are in the market to buy land. He immediately began to tell us about this piece of land that used to be 6 million $ and now is only 2 million $. That in my opinion is way out of my price range but I have learned not to limit God so he took us out to see the property. The owners of the land are from the same organization as the girls we met in Managua, NPH. (I love when God makes things full circle) It was HUGE! The facilities can house 400 kids comfortably. There is a huge mess hall, school facility and recreational space. It also has enough land to be completely self sufficient and a chicken growing operation in motion. And it is even equipped with visitor dorms, directors home and maternity ward/small medical facility. My brother and I thought the same thing at the same time "Lya." The niece of the family we have been staying with is a famous jazz singer and has very well connected Nicaraguan friends. She is also the co-founder for the organization that is protecting the third largest rainforest in the world right now. This is to big for me to do alone but we are going to together transition this piece of land from a soon to be abandoned orphanage to a Nicaraguan University for sustainable agriculture, veterinary medicine, and the arts!

If you think the story ends here you are wrong, we are only 2 days into week two!

Every where we went we met people that will all be a part of my future ministry but for the sake of your time I can not go into detail about it all. Just know that by the end of our trip we had a large pile of crunched ripped pieces of scrap paper all containing contact information. This entry just doesn't do it justice, but that means I will always have more stories to tell.

*Part 3 soon to come*

Project Nicaragua in Motion

We had tickets for June 15-29th,

(accidentally bought on expedia.com.uk payed in pounds):

The time came for us to leave. I had sent numerous emails to orphanages, YWAM bases, missionaries, friends, and friends of friends. NO ONE had gotten back to me yet. I had neglected to tell my brother Matt that simple fact just incase he might panic. One leg into our journey (Boston MA to Houston TX) Matt began to ask me about our plans.... I had no choice but to tell him all I had was one last phone number to try. He let me use his cell phone while he went to the bathroom. When he came back he asked, "Sooo what happened?"

"I left a message"

He looked at me with fear in his eyes.

All I could say as our flight to Managua Nicaragua began to board was,

"Don't worry, we will have a place to stay, a translator and we will have friends."

We turned off our only cell phone that would not work again until we got back and boarded our flight. I took the window Matt took the middle and waited to see who else would share our row on this adventure. A older beautiful Nicaraguan woman named Ermida Sanchez sat down next to us. We began to talk to her and the first thing she told us was, "Practica hablar espanol muy importante." We talked during the entire flight. I shared with her my vision to empower, educate and employ girls who have been rescued from child prostitution in Nicaragua. The first step towards this goal is buying land and establishing a self sufficient "off the grid" community including a surf hotel and a school for english, basic medicine and hygiene, trades, art and agriculture. I believe it moved her the most because she knows the need in her country for such a thing. And for me to care enough to step out towards it purely because God told me to truly touched her heart. She then proceeded to ask us about our more specific plans and was very surprised to find out we had NONE....... After a very long pause she said, "Well a driver and my niece, that you would like very much, are waiting for me at the airport you could come home with me for the night I have a few rooms. I have always considered converting my house into a bed an breakfast."

In the next 24 hours, we were escorted through spanish speaking customs, driven to a home, well fed, had two beds, a fan, an air conditioner that we couldn't bring ourselves to use, a pool in the back yard, a driver, a grandma, a mom, two translators, two house keepers, and three great friends: Lya a famous Nicaraguan jazz and blues singer, Kevin a semi professional basketball player in the UK, and Ermida. All of which we felt like we had known forever. On top of all that before our first day was over Matt had installed two ceiling light and fan fixtures for the house!

Talk about ADVENTURE!

Where is the Ketchup?

When I would go on walks with my Mom and Dad as a kid, I would always fall behind. Half because my legs were much shorter than theirs and half because I loved what happens next. My Dad would notice that I was a little to far off and say, "Where is the ketchup?" As soon as I heard that I would always start running until I was right in between them. When I got there they would stop and hug each other and almost squish me. There is no place as their kid that I would rather be. Right in between the people that made and really love me. And as God child he always does one better! PSALM 117 "Praise the Lord, all you nations. For he loves us with unfailing love; the Lord's faithfulness endures forever. Praise the Lord!"

I am about to retrace my steps over the past 6 months (January - June) so you can see how faithful in every detail God has been and will be. I wish I could tell you every story but you would never have time to read it all. I will just have to write a book one day. I know this is long but travel with me:::::::>

Bail Indonesia February:
The Bali girls had just moved out of a hotel and back into the Surf House/Christian Hostel. When Teresa, from Germany realized that she had left her iPod in the hotel. The panic that ensued was a bit ridiculous. We grabbed a taxi and started to pray loud and passionately that she would be able to get it back and that no one would have stolen it yet. When we got to the Hotel I waited in the taxi and tried to explain to the taxi driver what was going on. All he said was "I pray too." When Teresa got back to the taxi she was ecstatic but she didn't just have the iPod in her hands she also had a photo. She showed it to me and said, "We found this picture under the bed, we should pray for them." It was my picture! I had put it in my Bible to remind me to pray for them myself, and it must have fallen out. The picture was of my brother Matthew and his wife Caitlin.

Backpacking down the east coast of Australia March:
During the Bible school part of this adventure I had been emailing back and forth with my friend Gina who was nannying in greece and was not very happy there. I had been sharing with her about God and suggested she go to Australia. I mean why not, I loved it! She had liked the idea but hadn't shown a lot of interest. I had been back packing south since my DTS was over with my friend Wilma a week in my surf board broke in Byron Bay, two weeks in Wilma's flight left from Sydney. This is the first time I have been alone in 5 months. I was sitting in an unfamiliar YWAM base in the very boring capitol of Australia called Canberra. I hopped on the internet and had an email from Gina. She had arrived in Melbourne Australia a few days before and wondered if I was still there. Not only was I still in the country I was headed to the same city she was in the very next day. Melbourne was were my fight was back to the US from. Without cell phones and limited internet access we managed to meet at the City Library and spend my last day in Australia with her! (We also went to the largest Casino in the Southern Hemisphere that night and played the penny slots until me both list 1$)

April back in New Hampshire a month of Conformation:
Now that I was back on US soul with all of this newly found passion and I wanted to know from God, "What next?" The second Sunday back at my home church (Christ Church of Amherst) at the end of the service the man sitting in front of me turned around and asked if he could tell me something. Being naturally curious and not knowing what was coming I just said yes. Mr.Johnson, as I know him now, told me that I look exacting like a girl named Bethany that he had met during him time in Nicaragua. As soon as he said the word Nicaragua I began to cry. I had known for a while now that I would be called to Central America but I didn't know when or where. He continued to tell me of how this girl is the house mother for about twenty girls from the ages of 6 to 18 that have been rescued from child prostitution. As my heart broke he gave me her contact information and told me he didn't know if I needed to go or just talk to her.

One week later: I was with one of my best friends Naomi in my favorite consignment clothing shop (Mother & Child). I was in a section I had never been in before talking to one of the employees that I know about my adventures. When a lady, who I now know as Diana but was a stranger at the time, said from about 5 feet away, "YOU NEED TO GO TO NICARAGUA." I called Naomi over quickly and asked her to repeat herself. "I have this weird feeling you need to go to Nicaragua. I just got back and I plan to own land there in the next two years. And when you go you have to go to the volcano island called Ometepe!" This woman is not yet a christian and her only association is she reads mother teresa's books to her very elderly grandmother often. We talked to her for at least an hour all about her travels, human trafficking, love146 (if you don't know about them google it), the terrible food industry in America (The movie Food inc. also google it), and what we can do to be involved in our community here. Some of the last words she said to Naomi and I was, " I am so glad to see you girls so young and already on the right path."

Now if I don't go, it's on me! May:
I had been planning to speak at my church about my experience with YWAM but had yet to set the date. I chose May 30th because it was the day after my cousin Lauren's wedding and tons of Family would still be around and I thought that would be a great opportunity. Not realizing it was also my brother Matthews birthday. I also decided that if enough money showed up i would go to Nicaragua this summer and look into buying land. Which let me remind you I am 20 that seems a little ambitious. But if I have only learned one this in the past year it would be WITH GOD NOT JUST ANYTHING BUT EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE!!! So I started making crafts, handmade things, fun things, cute things and useful things. (Don't worry I am starting an Etsy account so you can all see and buy what I make. It should all be up and running by monday so stay tuned) I felt like I was not supposed to plan what I was going to speak but just to let God speak though me and God also told me I either had to empty my bank account or sell everything for donation not what I think it is worth. Hard but OK God is in control. (repeat that to yourself) When it came down to the night I was scared. But we started with a few worship songs to take the focus off me and put it on God because that should be the point ALWAYS. I honestly don't know what I said but I would guess it was a summery of all the things I have learned and written about in my blog so don't feel bad that you missed it just read all of my entrees before this! haha At the end of the night my brother Matthew came up and asked me when I was going, I said I don't know... soon. And then he asked me who was going with me, and I said I don't know.... his response surprised me, "Ummm, I think I might be supposed to come with you."

My only response to that was, "If that is true, then you will see conformation of it."






PS: More than enough money showed up for the tickets and the trip itself... Now I am left with no excuse I have to go. PRAISE THE LORD!!! :)