Liam's Day in Pictures

A few months ago we shared a newsletter about a typical day in the life of the Starkenburg family, with a special focus on Jessica and the kids.  But maybe you were left wondering, what does Liam actually do?

At first, this seemed like a boring picture newsletter topic, because there are days it seems Liam spends 95% of the time in meetings or answering emails, which doesn't look very exciting.  But when we stopped to look at what happens between meetings, or the purpose of those meetings, things take on new life.  Here are some of the typical things in Liam's life.

Greeting Students in the Morning.  Right after faculty devotions, Liam spends about 15 minutes most mornings welcoming students to school.

Meeting with Parents.  Liam leads many meetings with parents throughout the school year to discuss school goals, parenting advice (such as teaching responsibility and wise use of screens) and other topics related to each stage of their children's growth.

Joint Administrative Leadership Teams.  NCA has grown into an association of three schools, and that means a lot of opportunities for collaboration between the leadership of each of our NCA schools.

 Student Council Breakfast.  Once a year, the administrative team takes each of our student councils (elementary and secondary) out to breakfast to work together and share ideas on school improvement, with a special emphasis on the student perspective.

School Board.  The school board and administrative team meet together about once a month to discuss accomplishments, challenges, finances and school improvement.

Senior Bible Class.  Liam really enjoys teaching the senior Bible class every year.  The class is called "God in Popular Culture" and focuses on Biblical worldview and living out practical faith on a day-to-day basis.

Construction Supervision.  Whenever we do small or big construction projects, Liam is closely involved in developing the initial design and coordinating with the contractor.

Discipleship Group.  Like many other teachers and some upperclassmen, Liam leads a small discussion group about once a month with 7th-8th grade students.

International Schools of Managua.  Liam has taken a lot of leadership in organizing collaboration meetings with the leadership of several other international schools in Managua.

HACIA Democracy.  Liam is a faculty advisor for this student activity (like Model United Nations in the context of the Organization of American States).  Students develop debate and public speaking skills while tackling challenging issues facing the nations of the western hemisphere.

Liam's job is full of a lot more things that are not very photogenic but have a major impact on the operations and direction of the school.

Flooding And Lost Bus

Exceptionally heavy rains in the area of Nicaragua Christian Academy on October 3, 2019 resulted in flooding and the loss of an NCA school bus.  One report said 7 inches of rain fell in 2 hours; another report said 4 inches of rain fell in the most intense 30 minutes of that time.  One person (not part of the NCA community) died in the torrential waters 2 kilometers away from the school.

One of our school buses was lost in the torrential rain water.  Fifteen minutes after dropping off the last student from the preschool noon route, the bus was returning to school for the afternoon pickup.  However, the bus got stuck and the storm waters rose quickly.  The bus driver and chaperon were able to get out of the vehicle safely before it was carried away by the torrential waters.  NCAI subcontracts this service.

We give thanks to God for His protection by sparing the lives of our students and transportation staff.  As you can see in the following video, this could have had a very different ending.

Please pray for Nicaragua, a country that has faced so many difficulties!

Our Family in the Rain

We are so grateful that for the most part our house has stayed dry.  There are a few leaks in our roof that seem to activate with heavy rains, but flooding is not a concern.

The dirt road to our house, however, is entirely a different matter!  Although our kids love playing in the street when it turns into a river (thankfully not nearly enough water to be dangerous), the end result is a road that is nearly impassable unless you have a 4-wheel drive vehicle.

This year it is worse than it has ever been before.  Every few years a grader comes in to repair the road.  We hope that will happen soon, but most likely we'll have to wait until the end of the rainy season, which is still about 2 months away.

A Day In Pictures

August has come and gone, and we’re back to our school schedule.  We had a restful summer, primarily staying here in Nicaragua but also taking a short trip to Guatemala where we met up with my brother Aaron and his family for some great adventures. 

Instead of writing a text heavy newsletter this month, I thought I’d show you what a day looks like for some of us Starkenburgs.  You might wonder what we actually do on a daily basis here, and so here is a bit of a picture diary of a typical day.

Off to School! Liam is off to school before the kids are even up most days!  I get them up around 5:45 and we are off to school around 6:45 for a 7:15 start time.

House of Hope On Wednesdays, I go to House of Hope to work with a group of women who have never learned to read.  We are going on year two of slowly getting through the alphabet, but I see progress in their reading.  We also just enjoy getting together and I try to be a stable, caring person in their lives.

Art Class After House of Hope, I head to NCA to teach art, which I LOVE.  After taking over the position last year at the last minute, it has become something that I look forward to and enjoy.

Soccer! Asher and Judah have loved getting the opportunity to play soccer with a local team. They have been doing it for about a year. Every season is soccer season in Nicaragua! 

Lessons Caleb is taking drum lessons and music lessons, and stays busy playing music in church and for youth group. Caleb's drum teacher was one of my 6th grade students long ago.

Mangos In the past few weeks we have picked lots of fresh mangoes after school.

Teresa When we get home, I enjoy taking the time to talk to Teresa, who is a HUGE help around our home.  She keeps our home clean and organized and even prepares meals if I ask her to.  She serves us well, and I know she appreciates having a job in this very difficult economy.

Dinner We eat dinner together every night! Everyone is glad when Daddy comes home!

So that’s our typical day...maybe some of it looks similar to yours?

Here are two more pictures from this past summer.

We had a great time exploring Guatemala!

Judah broke his arm on the first of August and had to have surgery and spend two nights in the hospital.  The other kids were happy to visit and enjoy the AC in his hospital room!

Stay tuned for Liam's Day in Pictures in our next newsletter.

Immersion

What does typical life in Nicaragua look like?  We were about to find out.

Caleb, Judah and Liam recently spent 3 days and 2 nights with the family of a school staff member.

The cultural immersion began upon arrival.  We were received by our host, her son, her sister-in-law, and eventually by her husband, mother, brother, nephews and nieces, and extended family, all of whom live in the surrounding houses.  Our accommodations were simple -- a single room with a double bed for Caleb and Judah to share and a mattress for Liam to sleep on the floor.  We met the parakeets and dogs, watched the baseball game in the nearby dirt lot, and played soccer in the dirt street with the neighborhood kids.  We ate lots of delicious gallo pinto, eggs and Nica cheese with the family.  We prayed together as a family each night before bedtime.

Our quest for cultural immersion, Spanish language development, and a better understanding of typical life in Nicaragua had exceeded our expectations!  Our host family had gone out of their way to make space for us.  There were many challenging aspects, like bucket showers (their neighborhood only gets water every 2 days), different food, roosters and noises during the night, and simply living away from the comforts of our own home.

As we prepared to leave, we found it difficult to say goodbye.  But we now have new friends, a deepened relationship with a coworker, and even stronger roots in Nicaragua.  We found mutual encouragement in our common love for God, which bridges all other differences!

Ministry in Challenging Times

The current situation has generated a lot of needs in our school community, and we are surrounded by opportunities to help our students and families turn to God.  Our annual ANCA Conference brought together 270 educators from our three schools (NCA International, NCA Nejapa and NCA Matagalpa) and 3 visiting schools.  Appropriately, the keynote speaker was NCA founder Jim Palmer, who shared words of hope, personal healing and goals for our teachers and staff in 2019.  It was so reassuring to see so many men and women called by God to impact the lives of children in Nicaragua, united in worship, collaboration, encouragement and prayer.  I could not help but think of Colossians 3:15-17 as an accurate description of this amazing community!

During the same week in January, our secondary students participated in our annual Spiritual Emphasis Day, full of guest speakers from our community challenging our students in a variety of areas such as intimacy in dating relationships, dealing with family issues, addictions, social media, and the power and value of the Gospel message.  Sessions were taught in English, Spanish and Korean by missionaries, NCAI graduates, former teachers and staff, and local pastors.  Our keynote speakers, Greg and Sam Elam (NCAI teachers from 2009-2013), talked about trusting in God in the midst of trials and suffering.