Our ministry:
Dominion Chapel and it's partner ministries with Pastor Luis Cerda Cruz
Jinetope, Nicaragua
What we did:
At some point on the race we were told to be prepared to "be a drama team" or to be whatever the host asked us to be. This month we did just that. We were mostly a traveling band, visiting a senior home, a rehabilitation center, local churches, music classes, and community events. I got to attempt to play the piano again, Andrea played guitar, and Hannah Lon covered us on Ukulele while everyone sang (some better than others). When we weren't busy performing we:
-Spoke at drug and alcohol rehabilitation center
-Helped serve soup at rehabilitation center during their weekly meal
-Threw party and visited at senior center
-Landscaped at children with disabilities' home and visited with and prayed over children and families there.
-Taught English at local schools
– Helped lead and preach at church services and Bible Studies.
– Played volleyball with university team (including members of the Nicaragua National team)
-Played futbol with high school team
-Visited with and prayed for people in the slums
-Helped teach at music center
-Attended community and cultural events
Food:
-We ate a lot of tortillas (the thick handmade corn kind), rice and beans, cabbage and queso. Most often the rice and beans came in the form of Pinto Gallo, a mix of rice and a dark brown bean where the rice had absorbed enough bean juice and other flavoring to take on a brown color. Queso typically came in blocks (that look similar to a block of tofu) and taste saltier than the cheese in America. We'd mix the queso with the Pinto Gallo and throw it in a tortilla for our meal. This dish was commonly served as breakfast.
-There's not a huge separation of what are breakfast foods versus any other meal. For breakfast we had ham and cheese sandwiches, the Pinto Gallo dish mentioned above, eggs, or Nacatamales. We taught Patricia,our host's wife, how to make pancakes and enjoyed them with their family a few times.
-Nacatamales are corncakes, similar to Mexican tamales, stuffed with rice, vegetables and meats. The dough is then wrapped in banana leaves and steamed. It's a huge thing to eat, particularly for breakfast, and we had to reassure our hosts that we liked them and were just full!
-There were a lot of plantains this month. My favorites were fried plantains and plantains made into chips so thin they were like potato chips or Tostitos.
-We walked away from every meal stuffed. Protein portions are smaller here and in most countries we visited, but there was always a ton of food.
Drinks:
-Te with limon (tea with lemon or lime), Coca Cola and a variety of juices is what we were served this month. My favorites were Hibiscus (a purple sweet juice from a flower) and Horchata (a sweet rice drink). We had seen all these in the other Central American countries as well.
-Water, as in all previous race countries, could only be drank once filtered. In Nicaragua we bought big jugs to refill our Nalgenes but we also saw in house filtration systems that consisted of a piece of pottery with charcoal or other filtering that you fed water through before drinking.
Money:
– The money in Nicaragua is beautiful and colorful.
-While we were there the exchange rate was 28.3 Cordoba to 1 USD.
-We lived off of $5 a day for food this month.
-To buy a to go meal from the place across the street was 80 Córdoba. Tank tops also cost about 80 Córdoba.
Other interesting things:
-Prayers in church are spoken by all and altogether as they feel led.
-School has morning sessions and afternoon sessions. For the afternoon group, children don't get to school until 12:45 and leave at 5:30 pm.
-The symbol of Nicaragua is a triangle with pictures of five mountains representing each of the five Central American countries, with a sun rising over them (representing Liberty) and a rainbow (representing unity). This triangle can be found on their currency, their flag, souvenirs and just about everything else.
-Nicaragua boosts both the beauty of mountains and beaches. It is also home to many active volcanoes.
-We spent an off day in Grenada and were amazed at the beauty of the city. There were amazing Cathedrals and parks and cheerfully painted buildings with beautiful wooden doors with iron gates.
-We saw a lot of beautiful craftsmanship at local markets and street vendors, ranging from wire wrapped jewelry to crocheted and knitted goods to beautiful woodwork and paintings. The markets are filled with beautiful and brightly colored things.
-Nicaraguans refer to themselves and other Nicaraguans as "Nica" and abbreviate the country with the same term. We saw shirts everywhere boosting "yo soy de Nica" (I am Nicaraguan) and similar mottos.
Nicaragua was a great country to end on. We had a fabulous host, got to do a lot of different things for ministry, and really enjoyed Jinotepe and the other parts of Nicaragua we got to see.
I plan on doing a big WR summary blog covering generalizations of the year, answering the most commonly asked questions, and just reviewing all that happened. If you have specific questions or things you want to know more about, message me and I'll do my best to answer what I can!
Thank you all for the support. It's great to be back the USA, though I certainly am missing aspects of the race too!
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