I am so grateful for everything that I have been given because of growing up in America, but Nicaragua opened my eyes to so much more. For the first time I was able to see that a lot of the comforts I had grown accustomed to are luxuries and life can be lived without them. In Nicaragua I began to see that if I don’t have all the luxuries of America I will be ok. If I don’t have a bedroom to myself, I will be ok. If I don’t have a car and have to walk a mile into town, I will be ok. If I don’t have air conditioner, I will be ok. If I don’t have a washing machine, I will be ok. If I don’t have a hot shower, I will be ok. If I have to eat rice and beans for every meal, I will be ok. There is so much more to life than luxuries.
Why is it that before this month I was so consumed with luxuries that I didn’t see the full picture of life outside of America? All I saw was negativity when something didn’t go my way. When I didn’t have the hot shower I thought deserved, or when I had to walk a mile in the rain to get food. I thought I deserved these luxuries. But the Lord had so much more for me in Nicaragua than luxuries.
In Honduras I was constantly struggling with not having a washing machine to wash my clothes, not having a hot shower, and not being able to go out and eat American food. But one afternoon in Nicaragua, I sat down at La Quinta and began to think about what the month had meant to me, and I realized that somewhere along the way I had given up the desire to have the luxuries I had grown so accustomed to. I no longer thought about having McDonald’s every day, I no longer thought I deserved a hot shower every day. Eating rice and beans, wearing clothing more than once or twice, praising the Lord for the cool breeze that made air condition pointless; these things became more than enough.
The Lord had changed me, somehow, someway. In a way that only He could. It was no longer important that I have the luxuries I had grown up with. After all they are just luxuries, not necessities. I have no idea how the Lord did this. I called myself the high maintenance missionary for the first 2 months on the race, because I had all these things that I thought I needed, only to find out that I didn’t.
The Lord could fulfill my life with moments that are so much more important than luxuries. He can fill my life with afternoon soccer games and watergun fights. He can fill my walks into town with deep conversations with new friends. He can fulfill my nights with worship sessions and laughs over dinner. He can fill my stomach with rice and beans. He can, and has, filled my heart with joy and peace in simplicity.
The children I met and the teenagers we developed friendships with will never have a room of their own, a car to drive, a washing machine, a hot shower, or McDonald’s…and more importantly, they don’t even want these things.
The Lord blessed me with so many things in Nicaragua, including an understanding of simplicity. I praise the Lord for the lives of each person I met in Nicaragua and the simple, but fulfilled life they live. It is my prayer and hope that one day I will be able to live with such a simple excitement and fulfillment.
love,
Caitlyn
