Hyde Park Speaks

Greetings from Nicaragua!

Hola amigos estamos en Leon, Nicaragua!

Today Ana and I rhino rallied in the Diahatsu truck over rough roads through the barrio to our 1st construction site, where we planted banana trees, sifted sand for the mortar mix, and chiseled the walls of a soon to be preschool/ nutrition center at Carlos Fonseca. After a muy deliciosa comida, we bussed a scenic drive to a catholic child protection center. Greeted by some beautiful young woman, we decorated sunglasses, created lion masks out of paper plates, colored and played soccer. It's amazing how open and happy these children are. We love and miss you! Can't wait to share with you all the stories we have!

Love,

Madeline Harcrowe and Ana Alfonso  : )

Youth Mission Trip - Nicaragua Day 2

Woke up this morning to a cold shower and fresh Nicaraguan coffee(WAY better than Starbucks or any other company). Breakfast was a classic bacon and eggs with fruit loops.

We were split up after breakfast to go to either a work site and help with the foundation or to a local church to help with the kids. I was in the group that went to the church. Once we got there we learned about the history of the church and how far it has progressed. After that, we told the kids the story about Daniel in the Lions den and split the kids up into groups to do different activities involving the story. We helped the kids make masks out of paper plates, decorate sunglasses(which everyone loves over here) and color pictures of Daniel with the lion.

While helping the kids decorate sunglasses i met a little boy named Alexander. Mom, i really want you to know that your going to have another son because i want to bring this kid home terribly. I just played peek-a-boo and simple games with him for a while before he found it amusing to take the paper plates and him me on the head with them. He also seemed to like my hat quite a bit besides the fact that it was twice the size of his head.

Were just about to eat lunch now and were playing Apples to Apples to pass the time, but after lunch we will be heading back to the same work sites. I can't wait to see Alexander again.

I love you guys back at home,

-Brendan Beitler

Kickball Can be Missional Too!

So I'm in Nicaragua once again. It is nothing at all like I was expecting, even though I was in this exact spot just a year ago. We have not yet began our constructioning or any hardwork-doing whatsoever, yet today was still packed full with missioning. We took a trip to an extremely welcoming Methodist church in the morning, then took out the kids at the orphanage on the same site as our home for the week, enjoyed some relaxing in our usual rocking chair spot, and even took part in some kickball with the local kids!

Last year we yearned to play with the local kids near our home base, but never sought out the opportunity or put it into action. This year Lauryn became inspired and we all joined in. Playing kickball has never been more fun. Of course they were all way better than us, but this only added to the enjoyment because they thoroughly loved making fun of our lack of skills and we didn't mind it too much either. My team captain George (he insisted we call him this) even invited us back to play again tomorrow...if we promised to practice. Ha. Can't wait for more new experiences and ways to reach out for things we were afraid of last year. The comfort with our location and the people surrounding us has given us returners a new found boldness that I know can only grow.

Miss you all (especially you Mom!) love always, Carly Starkey

Sunday Evening at El Ayudante

Today we  arose with the sunrise with birds singing and hummingbird sitings!  Much has happened since then. We walked to town as a group and worshiped with the local United Methodist Church. The day was filled with playing and visiting with the youth from the orphanage where we are staying. We planted trees, played games and had a wonderful dinner as a church family. A busy week follows but know that we are safe, inspired to do gods work in Leon, Nicaragua and having some fun.

Paul Phaneuf

After Breakfast Day 1 in Nicaragua

Hey! So right now I am sitting on the porch at El Ayudante in the circle of rocking chairs, hanging out until we leave for church in an hour. Breakfast surprised me by being a mix of typical American pancakes alongside, of course, rice and beans and salsa. We are currently trying to translate our praise songs from English to their Spanish version which we will be singing at church soon. The weather is cool but very very humid, and from the porch we can see many mango trees and manicured lawns and across the road, the "barrio" (neighborhood). 

It was amazing to me last night, driving to Leon witnessing the poverty. It's much different in real life than in pictures. A few girls were standing in the middle of a busy street as we sat at a stoplight, approaching our school bus asking for money. They loved the pack of gum Tyler dropped down to them.

Today, we will go to church and hand out snacks. Then, all the guys will go see Transformers while the girls enjoy coffee at Cafe Latino. We will continue with a field day, making Mississippi Mud Pies, and a cookout for dinner.

Bill warned us to prepare for tomorrow when we go fully into our mission work. We just realized that school would be closed, as it always is for a town holiday or other event, so instead we'll visit a church in another town. It will be a fun, hard-working, and busy week.. Bill said we would be serving over a thousand people!

So, hasta luego!

Kerianne Fernandez

The "Wall of Orange" arrives in Nicaragua

We looked like a wall of orange moving through Miami International Airport, but it got a lot of attention, and we were ticketed and through security in record time!   We have decided that this matching shirt thing really works to our advantage!  It was a day of plains, trains and automobiles as the students met at Hyde Park United Methodist's Magnolia Building at 8:00 to pack our team craft and sports bags and hit the road for the 3 1/2 hour chartered bus to MIami. ( Hopefully you'll hear more about the actual bus ride as I met the crew in Miami.)

I watched as the sea of orange disembarked from the chartered bus, all smiles and excited to begin their trip.  We have some veterans and some who are new to the Nicaragua experience, but excitement was the common theme!  We had a great plane ride to Managua and customs on the Nicaragua end went smoothly (again, we think it's the matching shirt thing!).  We gathered bags without incident, loaded them on the Rhino Ralley vehicle and loaded up on the bus for the hour and half bus ride to El Ayudante.

We got in, had pizza and hit the hey.  This morning we awoke to a gorgeous Nicaragua morning.  There's a two hour time difference, so most of us were able to get up extra early and enjoy the morning.  El Ayudante was described by a student last year as "Eden" and it's true.  And everything is in bloom!  We are getting ready to eat breakfast, and enjoy some of this GREAT coffee.  Then we're off to church.

You'll be hearing more from us soon, so stay tuned! 

Blessings from El Ayudante.

2 busses + 1 plane = we're here!

well,, after using seemingly every sort of transportation possible, we arrived in Nicaragua, and settled into our bunks, immediately setting every fan in the room on high, trying to counteract the humidity (: our first day couldn't have been better, as we spent the day drinking coffee with little Nicaraguan girls,, trying to have conversations in Spanish, and loving the cute Nicaraguan kids we met. i was pretty nervous before meeting the kids, thinking that i would be thrown into a pile of kids who would make me feel uncomfortable by speaking fluent Spanish while i stumbled through what i had learned in spanish one class in high school. but i could not have been more wrong. the first girl i met was named karina, and politely answered my basic spanish questions, and helped me with my vocabulary! i immediatly felt comfortable talking to everyone and enjoyed the rest of my day playing ball and tag with the kids. who wouldnt want to spend a whole day playing with kids!!! i love nicaragua, the life is so simple, yet the people here have such joy that it makes me happy :D im looking forward to the rest of my trip.
hasta luego!
-mary frances krantz

Hyde Park Softball's Expansion Year Comes to a Close

By Matt Horan

          Well, it was a valiant effort.  Hyde Park's softball adventure started off rough, but then they won a game, which snowballed into winning three of their last four, including in the playoffs, getting them to the semifinals.  However they once again had to play Wings Gone Wild, who beat them 16-0 a couple weeks ago, and it seems that they were a team of destiny this year, handily defeating everyone in their way.  Though HP was able to jump out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning, it would not last, and WGW pulled away from the rest of the game, winning 12-1.
          The whole WGW team gathered to pray with us again, and we prayed for them going into the championship game, which they won, 16-15.  So, at least we can say that it took the champs to knock us out!  Many thanks to our players and fans that made it a fun season!
          The good news is that a new season is starting right away.  HP has picked up some new players, and will be starting season #2 this Monday night at the Gadsden fields.  As always, our fans are welcome!

100 Followers And Counting!

Are you following Hyde Park United Methodist on Twitter? If you haven't, you missed some electric play-by-play commentary on Hyde Park Softball by ace player/report Matt Horan. You just missed an exciting tweet direct from VBS! You missed headlines direct from Hyde Park Speaks! You missed the Hyde Park Youth Band concert review (awesome, BTW). Stay in touch. Follow us on Twitter now at http://twitter.com/hydeparkumc.

Hyde Park Softball Lives to Play Another Day in 2009 Playoffs!

By Matt Horan

        As Hyde Park's valiant softballers showed up for their first round playoff game Monday night against D&H, the discussion was already all about next year.  Esther Will and Matt Horan were recruiting players and twisting arms for checks to get the roster filled for the next season, because this was, in all likelihood, the last time that the team would be together before signups for next season.
        But not so fast, coaches.  Maybe this season won't be over as quickly as you thought.
        HP fell behind in the 2nd 1-0, but tied it on Wes Cull's RBI single, scoring Richard Nicholas, who was sliding all over the place at great personal expense to advance on the basepaths.  It stayed 1-1 until the 3rd, when John Stock hit a 2-run homer off the top of the left field fence.  It was HP's first homerun of the year, and suddenly, HP began to think that they had a shot to win.  
        The celebration was short lived, however, as D&H erased the lead with 2 runs in the 5th.  Pitcher Greg Metcalf struck out two batters to get out of the inning and preserve the tie score.
        Then the unexpected happened.  HP wondered if they could retake the momentum, but that would not be a problem.  RBI singles by Melcalf and Horan gave HP a 6-3 lead.  Glenn Simpson cleared the bases with a double, scoring Kellie Stock and Phil Schlossnagle, making it 8-3.  Will singled, moving Simpson to third, and Nicholas singled him home to make it 9-3.
        HP's defense held in the 6th, and they rallied again.  Cull doubled, and Metcalf drove him home with a double of his own.  Amanda Galbreath's infield sacrifice moved Metcalf to third, and Horan singled him home to make it 11-3.  Kellie Stock added another run in the top of the last inning on Schlossnagle's single, thus sending HP into the bottom of the last inning with a 12-3 lead to hold.
        Horan committed three errors at 3B, and suddenly it was 12-6.  But then great plays by John Stock at shortstop and Nicholas in left brought them to the brink with two outs and the bases loaded.  Horan finally fielded a ball and threw to Kellie Stock at second to get the force out, and suddenly, expension team Hyde Park United Methodist became one of four teams left standing in the playoffs, with a semifinal game against Wings Gone Wild up next Monday night at Gadsden Fields, time TBA.  Turns out that it's not next season quite yet!