TWO CATS FOR MONTH 2! (your welcome.)
Month 2 in Nicaragua has come to an end! Here’s my monthly update, but if you’r a visual person like me, just check out the video & photos for a summary:))
This month we’ve stayed with a ministry called “Vision Nicaragua”. We were lucky enough to stay in the dorms they have for us to use. All the girls share a narrow room with bunk beds. We have a bathroom with two (cold) showers, which I’ve officially perfected the art of using. We are in the hottest part of Nicaragua(!) so the cold shower is usually welcomed. I’ve gotten accustomed to dousing myself several times a day, fully clothed, just to cool off! I’ve coined it “The Daily Douse” and have gotten my teammates to do the same. It’s been in the 90’s and 100’s here plus humidity. It rains almost every night or sporadically during the day, but its still plenty hot.
We are staying with one other team this month, so I am living with a totally of ten other people; there are nine girls including me and two guys (poor things!). Most days look like this: I wake up at 7:45am, breakfast at 8am (every other day its pancakes and watermelon, or eggs and cereal). Two incredibly sweet Nicaraguan sisters, Antonia & Estella cook all of our meals. Teams switch off cleaning dishes every day. We often go to a little village down the road called Bethel (pronounced “Patel”) at 2pm. Bethel has been our main ministry location this month as we create relationships with the locals there, especially the children. We play stick ball almost every weekday. When they don’t have a ball, they use the most creative things instead, like an empty stick of deodorant. The entire village is about the size of a small shopping center. At the center of the town is the school and the church. From day one, the kids have been so excited to see us. They wave hello and goodbye as we drive in and out of the village, screaming our names (mine is “Cah-lee”). All of the houses in Bethel were built with the help of Vision Nicaragua about 10 years ago.
I’m getting used to seeing animals like pigs, goats, cows, chickens, roosters, horses and stray dogs loosely walking down open roads, along the highway and around houses. They are everywhere you look. One day in Bethel, there was a really sick pig laying on the ground. She had a fever and was shaking uncontrollably. I looked at her skin and she had several open wounds that looked infected. My new friend who lives in Bethel, Yahaira told me jokingly that I should pray for the pig. So I did. When I laid my hands on the pig to pray and stroked her side, she stopped shaking. After I got up, she started shaking again and still looked terrible. I went the Yahaira’s house to wash my hands. When I returned outside about 5 minutes later, the pig was up on her feet, walking around and eating! She looked completely normal and completely well. Yahaira was a little afraid of me after that(!) but I think we witnessed a miracle. God healed a pig! It’s been about a week since that happened and the pig is still doing great!
We worked in a cucumber field and helped put up a net for the plants to wrap around as they grow. We tied strings individually for hours. We also got to plant peppers in the ground in a community garden, which I really enjoyed. The people that live in the community there sell the produce on the street.
Apart from that, we’ve been ministering to the “Sick Men” here in Nicaragua. Apparently they use a pesticide in the sugar cane fields here that was banned in the U.S. for causing illness. It’s inexpensive so they still use it here, and it often results in a terminal disease for the sugar cane field workers. The sick men came to Vision Nicaragua and we spent time playing games, singing songs and praying for them individually. Another day their children (toddlers through teenagers) and families/spouses came and we did the same with them. They were all very sweet and thankful. We were so honored to spend time with them.
We’ve spent our last days in Nicaragua putting on a vacation bible school for the kids in Bethel. We performed skits, played games, sang songs, made crafts and danced. It’s been a great note to end on with the kids and has given us an opportunity to show them why we are really here.
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riding in our truck that is similar to trucks made to transport livestock. everywhere we went, we were shuffled left and right the whole time, with the welcomed breeze throwing our hair in every direction. always an adventure!
typical road in nicaragua where we were, surrounded by it’s gorgeous scenery
one of the many hundreds of dogs that lives a gypsy life. this one particularly caught my attention for obvious reasons
classroom in bethel
classroom in bethel, with my buddy jeffery 
classroom in bethel
boys watching kickball game
a day in bethel
yahaira holding a flower. we pay good money for these back in the states!
sarah’s hands
home with cement & dirt floors
FOUND A CAT. made me happy.
a girl at school in bethel
friends in bethel, tatiana and fatima
fatima, oldest of three.
volcano by the cucumber field
cindy with kristina’s phone
jaslyn, definitely my biggest fan in bethel. she always grabbed me by the arm to take me to her house and wanted to play hand clapping games with me for hours straight. on the last day she had me write her a letter to her to keep, she wanted me to write “love” on it. though she didn’t like being in front of the camera, i’m blessed to have captured a glimpse of her beautiful spirit
boys of bethel
tatiana on last last day in bethel
