Thank you!

Now that our two years here in San Nicolas are drawing to an end, we want to thank all of you out there who have connected with our experience through the fine strands of the world wide web (and more specifically, through this blog).

When we started this blog, we had no idea how many people would actually care to follow our two years in Nicaragua - we assumed it would mostly only be close family. But every time one of you commented about a specific blog we posted or just generally mentioned that you liked following our blog, we realized that our community of support was broader than we had ever imagined. At times throughout our experience here, we've felt alone or isolated - two gringos in a tiny Nicaraguan town with no other English speakers for miles around. But each of your notes or emails or comments about our blogs showed us the enormous web of support behind us, holding us up and sustaining us. So thanks to every one of you who have cared enough about us and our community to follow our experience throughout these two years.

We also want to thank a few specific people who donated to help us accomplish certain projects that we otherwise wouldn't have had the money to do. When we decided that we wanted to work with local reading programs to encourage kids to read for fun, these people willingly supplied the books and the money to make this happen. When we realized that the school P.E. classes really needed extra balls to practice with and that the school could really use support for the after-school sports teams, these people stepped up to help us accomplish these things.

With the support of these people who donated towards our "Balls and Books" projects in San Nicolas, we were able to:

- Buy 13 new athletic balls for the school P.E. and sports programs
- Install a volleyball court at the high school
- Donate a total of 35 books to an elementary school, the high school, and the public library
- Hold a book club with five high school students
- Use bilingual picture books in our elementary school English class (students were SO excited about reading these books)
- And, most impressively, construct an entirely new building at the high school that will function as a library / study room for years to come.

Thanks so much to the following people, who made all of these things happen:

Members of Akron Mennonite Church
Juniperro Serra and the Archdiocese of San Francisco
Mark Rich
John Harder
Roy and Barbara Simms
Paul Wiegner and Sue Peterson
Mike Owens
Gretchen Nyce
Tom and Ann Hurrish
Jonathan Larson
Donald Mellinger
Billy and Kristin Byrnes
Audrey Engle
Gwyn Howard and Remy Matthonet
Sally Rich
Joan and Raymond Spatti
Christopher Youngs
Peder Wiegner

Here are some pictures of cute kids using the books and balls that you all donated:

We also want to thank everyone who donated, on our behalf, to Volunteer Missionary Movement (VMM), the organization we're with. We wouldn't have been able to have this experience at all without the support of these people:

Mark Rich
Steve Larson
Andrew and Sally Rich
Jim and Sara Wiegner
John Harder
Don Mellinger
Ruth Larson
Jim and Amy Brumbaugh-Smith
Jonathan Larson
Evan Richards
Chani Wiens
Susan Passage
Young Lee
Jeff Thomsen
Andy and Jodie Larson
Sam Larson
Gordie and Bette Dean
Alyssa Kreider
Maria Osborne
John Harder
Claudia Milligan
Mary Mason
Mary Trinh
Jan Shetler
Jonathan Stuart
Dawn Harms
Marissa Kauffman
Annie Martens
Chase Snyder
Susan Klingler
Billy and Kristin Byrnes
Kay Douglas
Jessica Baldanzi
Peder Wiegner
Mylinda Baits
Chelsea Reiff
Emily Graber
Rachel Halder
Lindsay Miller
Ann Hostetler
Katie Gencay
Tori Yoder
Rosanna Kauffmann
Miriam Rich
Timothy Doran
Josh Hertzler

We still have at least one more blog planned before we leave on August 31, so stay tuned.