Island Life

Humbling Ourselves

Upon arrival to our new home in Altagracia (Hotel Central), we humbled ourselves. The city itself is absolutely beautiful, filled with amazing people, and (at least it seems) incredibly safe.) Full expectations of taking bucket showers, sleeping on the ground, and essentially ‘roughing it’ for a month were swept away in an instant. We have rooms with beds, showers, and our sheets/towels are changed out daily. In addition to the spoiled lifestyle, we are overindulging in this Nicaraguan food. The hotel cooks for us for breakfast and dinner providing options for each meal. I have yet to have a meal that is unsatisfactory.

Along with the new foods/meals provided by the hotel, I have tried a few local items as well.

• Pitaya – So delectable! I have no idea what it is made from, but Pitaya is a drink here. I'm assuming it is from a fruit because it is bright purple and has a bunch of seeds in it, but really, I have no idea. All I do know is that it is scrum-diddly-umtious!
• Mamon – It's a fruit that has a flavor similar to a grape. Pretty good, just thick and certainly gets stuck in your teeth!

Acceptance:

Within this first week, we have quickly come to accept some things that we left in the states:

• Cold drinking water. We've left the ice back at home. (I think it'd melt too quickly here anyway!)
• The feeling of not sweating or being sticky. Day or night, we are sweating – 24/7.
• Smelling decent (this comes with the line above).

Ministry:

In just 5 days, we have already branched out in the city and experienced a wide array of ministry.

• For two mornings, we divided into group and went door to door to share the word of God. On one of these mornings, I went with two other female teammates who both have a desire to practice their Spanish skills. It was an absolute blessing in itself. God placed the words (in Spanish) in our hearts and we were able to communicate, pray, and support the Walk of these individuals. I am confident that we will continue our door to door ministry and thus, my evangelical Spanish skills will improve quite rapidly.

• We visited Si a La Vida,  an organization that takes in boys off of the streets and helps restore their lives. There are 13 boys in the program in Ometepe, and I can assure you that each and every one is awesome! I have spent the most time with Hamilton.

HAMILTON!!

• Hamilton is patient with me in my Spanish and is willing to open up his entire history and share his life with me. I have known him less than 48 hours and already consider him to be a little brother. His heart is fully changed from his past and filled with love, compassion, and passion for education and serving the world. Love him!

• We don’t have much of a routine yet with ministry, but one thing remains the same. Around 2:30, we go to the park and play soccer with the local children. We pack the basketball court to play soccer with the children, however, it generally ends up being a boys game for the locals. The young girls typically pair off with a few of my awesome teammates to paint nails, color, draw, and play team games. It is extremely adorable watching all of the children light up when they are playing and interacting with us. We are certainly blessed to have the opportunity to hang out with them on a daily basis.

• Lastly, and most emotionally draining by far, there is a 16 year old boy here, Juan Roberto, who has been chained to a tree for 8 years of his life. He was categorized as violent when he was younger and those acts have placed him into pure confinement with nothing but a sheet and a wooden table to lie on. God has called us to Juan to share His love, to provide hope, and to display the compassion He has given us. I ask that each of you pray for Juan, pray that he finds hope, joy, and love. We’ve spent several hours with Juan and his family. On our second visit, we asked that he be unchained. I held his hand, he prayed with us, and asked for God’s love and to be filled up by the Holy Spirit. Amazing! Our desire after the first visit was to merely get a smile out of him. We received much more than that! God is awesome.

God has been moving in and all around us in our time here in Altagracia. We have 3 more weeks here and countless items to show, teach, and share with the people of this city (through God of course). So pumped.