My favorite day in Nicaragua–January 11: Day#7

Imagine walking off a bus to the entrance of an orphanage and you’re greeted with a hug from each child in sight.

Yup, that happened!

Although we came there to show love to them, I immediately felt love from the children, which made for a great start to an awesome day!

Very soon into the day a shy 9-year-old named Julio attached to me and pretty much stuck by all day. We kicked a soccer ball around, played on the playground and just had fun hanging out!

After lunch, I discovered an 8-year-old boy named Michael. He’s been living in the orphanage for three years, and he is the sweetest child I have ever met! The wind would blow and he would block my eyes from the dust or push my hair back into place. He simply sat on my lap and appreciate the love that I could show him.

The whole team seemed to really enjoy visiting the orphanage. One of our guys got the nickname “spaghetti” (not exactly sure why)… all the boys were telling their nicknames.

It seemed so much easier to speak to the kids today. I think this is the first day I’ve REALLY connected with the Nicaraguan children. It was an amazing experience– I wish it could lost longer. I wish I could take one of them home with me!

Tomorrow, we’re going back to the dump. Our team decided we needed to go back– those kids need us more than anywhere we’ve been so far, and probably more than anywhere I will ever go in my life. I wish there was more that we could do for them!

One of my roommates found a scorpion in our room tonight. Instead of staying in the other girls’ rooms, we finally decided to switch rooms. Hopefully, there won’t be any more problems with tarantulas, lizards or scorpions.

January 10: Day #6

(Sorry there’s been a long delay in blogging… getting back into the swing of school is finally catching up to me! Nicaragua trip continued…)

Our first full Sunday in Nicaragua… and once again another indescribable day!

We lead a church service which consisted of a couple testimonies from our team, a skit (Lifehouse’s Everything… if you haven’t seen this before, you really must! Here’s the link on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyheJ480LYA ), and a sermon. It’s amazing how it all tied together so well.

For those who haven’t seen the skit, it’s about a girl who falls into deep sin with boys, alcohol, greed, vanity, and eventually attempting suicide… but before she does this, she fights off all the evil and runs back to Jesus. Jesus was always there for her, but she couldn’t get to him because of all the sin in the way… but he fought for her once she was ready. It’s truly the most powerful skit I have ever seen, and it gives me cold chills everytime Is ee it. I’ve been a part of the skit several times as well, but never has it impacted the audience quite like this that I have seen.

I play the part of vanity, and Satan comes in right after me… this time we performed, it gave me chills as soon as my part was done! After the skit, a girl from the church got up and spoke, and she was crying. It’s amazing how even though the people in the church can’t understand the words, the skit still moved and touched them.

Chance, a student from Murray State University, preached the sermon over obstacles we must overcome. And I don’t know what it was about the whole service, but almost every adult member of that church come forward praying. It was an amazing experience to witness. In church’s at home, we’re lucky if one person goes forward, but in Nicaragua they are bold. They praise God at the altar… and I really don’t know what they were saying, but I could tell that God was in their hearts and He was touching lives in that church. And I think one of the best parts for me was that one of our translators got saved at this service! I never thought going into this trip that we would end up changing the life of someone we were working with during the whole trip, one of the translators.

Later that evening, we went to another church service. There I learned that one lady walks 10 kilometers to do her laundry. She leaves at 6 a.m. to walk down to the river and get her laundry done before the sun is high at noon. I can’t imagine walking that far to do laundry. At home, I walk down the hall. Or at school, I just have to walk up a flight of stairs. I cannot even imagine walking 10 kilometers to do laundry. In America if we had to walk that far, I think we would rather go buy more clothes.

Yet another night of creatures in our room… this time a baby tarantula in the bed. Sick!

January 9: Day #5

Nicaragua is beautiful! Beautiful people, beautiful scenery… beautiful all around!

We relaxed at the beach today with some youth, and it was amazing! Besides getting stung by a jellyfish, it was a great experience– the beach is so different than what I’ve ever seen!

The sand is almost black, there are no skyscrapers or resorts in sight (only huts), and there are thousands of tiny hermit crabs next to the surf burying into the sand.

And a bonfire at sunset… simply breathtaking!

The youth girls surprised our team with homemade artwork gifts. The Nicaraguans, even though many hardly have anything, are SO generous!

On the way to the beach, one of the youth bought ice cream for all the boys on our mission team. The boy rents a room for himself, and I’m sure it was a big sacrifice for him to buy ice cream– yet he did it out of the kindness of his heart.

Tonight we found both a lizard and a cockroach in our room so my roommates and I slept in with the other girls on our team in a different room. We’d rather not have any lizards crawl into bed with us.

January 8: Day #4

Today I witnessed one of the Seven Horrors of the World… La Chureca, the dump where 4,000 people live. The day we visited was one of the worst days for smoke that the mission has ever seen.

The day started out at another feeding program where we gave out toys and flip flops again. Over 300 children showed up, and unfortunately we ran out of the small baby flip flops and the larger youth flip flops, then we ran out of the toys too. As I was busily searching for a pair of flip flops for a child, unable to find a large enough size, I began to cry. We came to give them hope and provide each child with a pair of flip flops, yet many left empty-handed.

How many pairs of shoes do I have? Easily over 30– yet these children have only one pair they wear, walking miles in the dirt everyday.

In the afternoon, we made our way to La Chureca, one of the Seven Horrors of the World. Plastic bags floated about the mounds of trash that seemed to stretch on for miles. My eyes dripped from the sting of smoke, barely able to see 20 feet in front of me. Yet, when we arrived to the school, we saw nearly 70 rotten tooth, smiling faces ready to be shown a little care and love.

The sight of a peppermint-size candy brought a mob of children begging for a piece, and many carried their younger siblings asking for a piece for them as well.

Sickness was visible in many children. Others had wounds that wouldn’t heal due to malnutrition. Dirt covered their bodies, including their faces. Their clothes were torn and tattered; many came without shoes; others came solely in their underwear.

Wearing tall, skinny heels, 12-year-old girls serve as prostitutes in the dump to earn money for their family.

The sight is truly indescribable until you have witnessed it yourself. I’m not even sure a photo does it justice since you don’t smell the stinge in the air or feel the burn of smoke in your eyes and lungs.

Why would so many people choose to live in such awful conditions? If they want to survive, they have no other choice.

In a country with 70-percent unemployment, families make their living in the dump sorting through for plastic to be cleaned, recycled or sometimes look for other items to be resold.

In Kentucky, we have around 10-percent unemployment at worst and we think its the end of the world; imagine living in a place with 70-percent unemployment. What would that be like? Would we be willing to live in the dump?

In times like these, family becomes the ultimate priority. This is apparent in Nicaragua through the way they share their candy (making sure every member gets a lick), take care of each other, and beg for money to take home to their family.

Even as poor college students barely scraping by to pay for the trip, to them we are rich. A child begs for a cordoba, only a nickel in American money. To us, $1 is a McDonald’s sweet tea… to a child living in a dump, $1 means they get to come home at night and won’t get in trouble.

January 7: Dia Numero Tres

Today was what initially drew me to come to Nicaragua– handing out shoes to needy children and parents, and washing their feet! It was such a humbling experience for our team.

At home, I’ll pay $25 for a pedicure… in Nicaragua, $5 is the average daily income. When I get a pedicure, I always think about how I would hate that job– dealing with foot fungus, dead skin, bunyons, warts, etc… the thought disgusts me. But today, I washed the dirt off of children younger than 2-years-old and a man about age 40. Their heels were peeling and dirt was stuck beneath their toenails. Their feet were rough and tough!

It was truly a blessing to our team to experience this. What gets me is how even if we run out of a size and the shoes won’t even go on their feet, they will say the shoe fits well simply because they’re grateful for whatever they can get.

Th Nicaraguans then served us lunch after they ate. Compared to their meal, ours was a 5-star restaurant. We had tablecloths and salad, delicious fried chicken and rice (of course)– the Nicaraguan children only ate rice and beans. We were treated so well out of their hearts’ giving spirirts. They have nothing, but are so willing to give. It makes me feel like we, as Americans, are so selfish; we always want everything for ourselves.

Today we also did some sightseeing– we visited a 400-year-old cathedral in Leon, did some shopping at the market (you can buy three Powerades for under $2!!), and ate at an extremely loud karaoke bar.

The karaoke bar was quite a cultural experience. One totally wasted guy kept singing over and over– it sounded awful and we didn’t understand the language, but it was hilarious!

A couple of boys on our mission team sang Backstreet Boys “Everybody” in English. It was a lot of fun to try to sing along to the Spanish songs even though we could barely pronounce many of the words in time to meet the song.

Overall, I’m slowly picking up more Spanish. It’s been difficult to communicate– I hated not being able to talk to the people whose feet we washed except “Te gusta zapatos? Como estas? Cuantos anos?” I just hope our service and love shows more than words ever could.

January 6: Dia Numero Dos

I am absolutely amazed at how the Nicaraguans worship!

We’ve been to two church services now, one of which we lead tonight for the youth, and their worship is powerful and encouraging.

These people have nothing compared to us yet they still praise God for all they have. They praise God not only through their voice or raising their hands, but with their whole bodies. They truly put all they have into their worship. It was rejuvenating!

Today we lead our first feeding program. We had a little presentation for the children and then we were able to give each child a pair of flip flops and a toy. Afterward they were given food and we played games with them– the biggest game of soccer I have ever seen.

It was a blessing to me to see the look and smile on each child’s face when they received a simple pair of flip flops. It makes me feel so selfish at the same time thinking of how many pairs of flip flops I own. I know that I sold at least five pairs of shoes in the yard sale I had to raise money for this mission trip– and those were the ones I haven’t worn in several years. I have so many other pairs of shoes to choose from… they don’t.

It’s sad seeing how these children live– many are orphans. Although it is winter in Nicaragua, it’s still hot (like 80 to 90 degrees hot). The wind helps cool it down, but then the dust and dirt fly into your eyes. It bothered me plenty enough on the ride to the church, I can’t imagine living my life with squinted eyes trying to keep the dirt out.

We also gave a hand-powered wheelchair to a man in need. The mission we are working with builds these wheelchairs and gives them out to people who need them and may be begging on the street.

Tomorrow is what I’ve been looking forward to– footwashing and handing out shoes. We have to wake up early to make the 2-hour ride to Leon, where we will spend our whole day with the children and doing a bit of sightseeing along the way.

Buenos noches!

January 5: Day #1

Buenas Dias!

Today we were introduced to the Rangers, a group of about 12 Nicaraguan students, some of which attend the mission’s school where we are staying. Although some of them know English, it is still hard to communicate. Throughout the day, however, it became much easier.

I took three semesters of Spanish at Boyle Co. High School with Senorita Oates (now Wheeler), but I didn’t use it so I lost it. However, I did find today that I remembered several verbs somehow. I’m catching on, anyway.

Today we played games. We taught the Nicaraguans some new games and they taught us a game which turned out to be freeze tag.

We also painted our hearts out– almost the entire high school area (about five or six classrooms).

At the end (or even five minutes into the project) we were completely splattered with paint. It was really good to see how much we accomplished in a day. It was very entertaining to speak with the Nicaraguans and relearn my Spanish.

The view is absolutely beautiful! There is a terrace overlooking a valley and mountains, and in the distance you can even see the Pacific Ocean. The sunset is gorgeous!

(Oh, and flying from Atlanta to Miami we witnessed a piece of God’s finest artwork! We took off in the dark so we could overlook the city lights. Then came the beautiful sunrise with the deepest red in the sky I have ever seen! To top it all off, we flew over the ocean with the same effect!)

I forgot to mention this too– the mission organization we’re staying with has a pet monkey and a parrot type bird that greets you with “Hola!”

One thing I was nervous about with going to a foreign country was the food. I thought we would eat rice and beans 24/7 (neither of which I am a big fan), but the food is actually pretty decent. Some team members say they would rather eat in Nicaragua than in the US. Yesterday we had steak strips that were sort of like sausage. Today we had fried chicken, but it definitely wasn’t Kentucky fried. We’ve also eaten plantains (they look like huge green bananas except you cook them). For breakfast, they were cooked one way and were mushy and tasted like a peanut. For dinner, they were fried or something, sliced thinly, and were almost like potato chips! It will be interesting to see what else we eat in the next nine days!

Tomorrow is a full day of going to feed children, finishing up today’s projects, and leading a youth service.

Adios!

Listen to your gut feeling

For those who follow my blog, you’ll know that I debated between mission trips… Haiti or Nicaragua. Praise the Lord I went to Nicaragua after what happened with the earthquake in Haiti!

My dad said that at first he was upset I wasn’t going to Haiti because I would have went with my church and people that he knows. On Tuesday, he said, he was glad I wasn’t in Haiti.

At the very first meeting for the trip to Haiti, I still was in debate about which country I was supposed to go to. I believe God made me distracted during that meeting in order to see that Haiti is not where I was supposed to go over Christmas break. I just had this gut feeling that I shouldn’t go there.

The mission team to Haiti from my church is safely back at home, and their stories are amazing! A Samaritan’s Purse plane had just enough seats to take the whole team back to the US… if I had been on the trip would God have provided an extra seat?

The compound in Haiti where the team stayed is still standing, and no one got hurt. At the time of the earthquake, they were actually talking to Haitian pastors about dealing with crisis. How crazy is that?

Let me just say that I am so thankful God sent me to Nicaragua and not to Haiti. God provided and He saved me from what could have been a horrible situation to be stuck in. And He provided a way out of the country for my church’s mission team when they thought they could have been stranded for another week or two. Praise the Lord for providing at a time of need!

January 4 (Night #1)

Hola! After a delay in Miami, the team made it safe to Nicaragua!

Right off, we found language to be a barrier. Our group leader had told us that people in the airport may insist on carrying our luggage for us, but don’t let them because then we’ll have to pay them. Soon enough, a team member thought this was the situation… but instead it was a guard checking she had the correct luggage and she had tried to ignore him (not a good idea!).

Driving through the city of Managua was an experience. All over the walls were graffiti written “Viva Daniel,” which we believe are from gangs marking their territory.

Also, people stand right by the street and come out to your car trying to sell you anything including services like window washing. A boy who looked to be about 10-years-old tried to do this, and it felt awful looking into his young, innocent eyes and saying, “No gracias.”

The place we are staying is much nicer than I expected… it’s actually the former home of the 1970s Nicaraguan dictator! In the middle of the night, my roommates and I woke up screaming because we heard iguanas racing around on the roof above our sleeping heads. I was on the top bunk so I was scared one might crash through the ceilin into bed with me!

Oh, and we had to check the sheets for scorpions. Holly Davidson (a CU freshman also from Boyle County) took a shower with what she called a “tarantula.” OK– so it wasn’t really a tarantula, but I wouldn’t want to take a shower with the 8-legged thing either!

Buenos Noches!

P.S. Photos will load soon… sorry for the delay. I’m having technical difficulties.

Party in the USA

After nearly a month of beautiful, warm weather, I am finally home!

As of now, it is 4:30 a.m. and I have been up for almost 24 hours. We left Nicaragua at 5 a.m. yesterday, got into Atlanta at 5 p.m., and made it back to Campbellsville around 2 a.m. Why am I still awake? I think I’m in that state where you’re soooooo tired that you just can’t sleep. Or it could be the fact that I’m back to reality and there’s lots to do! (School starts Tuesday…boo!)

California, Hawaii and Nicaragua were all wonderful! Over the next few days, and possibly for weeks to come, I’m going to blog about my experience particularly in Nicaragua. Because the Internet connection was slow, I wasn’t able to continue my blog from Nicaragua. I did, however, write my blog down in a notebook each day so the experiences are fresh on my mind… only I’m a few days behind.

So, with the next 10 or so blog posts, there will be a date and day number for the time spent in Nicaragua! For now, though, I think it may finally be bed time.