This past week, I was able to visit the senior center here in Jinotepe, and I had the privilege of meeting a wonderful woman named Maria. My teammate Brittany and I talked with her quite a while, but since neither of our Spanish is particularly good, we weren’t able to follow all she said. One word on particular kept popping up in our conversation, the word enseñar and neither Brittany or I could figure out what Maria meant. Eventually she gave u trying to get us to understand, and just took us around the facility, showing us all the beautiful plant life on the grounds. After our visit I went and looked up enseñar, and discovered it meant “to show”. Maria had been asking us if she could show us around.
That word really has defined the past week and a half for me as I’ve been shown the country and culture of Nicaragua. I’ve been shown innocence and joy in the faces of the kids when they yell at the sight of us, “Los Gringos!” and call out all their friends to come and play with us. I’ve been shown destitution in the form of one-room shacks that house nine plus people, and I’ve seen faith in the eyes of those same people, who continue to look to God no matter their circumstances. I’ve been shown beauty in the wonderful tropical plant varieties here, while simaltaneously seeing ugliness in the piles of trash that litter the ground. I’ve been shown a people broken, but still fighting, a nation impoverished, but still seeking the riches of God’s grace. I’ve been shown all of this, and God whispers in my ear, “Welcome to Nicaragua.”
