When I first got to Nicaragua I asked the Lord, “Teach me more about who You are calling me to be.” The next day I was listening to a seminar and one line that really spoke out to me was, “We are called to change the culture.” Wow. God, are you calling me to change cultures for Your kingdom? Okay, that is huge, what does that look like? And Papa said, “Relationships.” relationships, great… what do you mean by that? Well Papa had a plan for me that I wasn’t expecting. On Thursday during church, I was fortunate enough to sit next to one of the 10 Rosa’s in the community. At first we didn’t say much but then we got to talking and then she asked me if I would be her granddaughter. I said, “Si!” and asked her, since she was now my new grandma, would she teach me how to cook? My new grandma was more than willing to teach me how to cook some ethical dishes so we made plans to get up the next morning and cook chicken for lunch. So at 8:30 am I made my way to Rosa’s house. I don’t think that I was really expecting anything at all, it was just different. I get there and Rosa RUNS up to me and gives me a hug. Then we walk to the kitchen which is a slab of rock with a small fire ring made of bricks for a stove. There, breakfast was already waiting for me; beans and rice, a very common breakfast here. After we fed the pig the leftovers, we started working on lunch. First we made rice. It is amazing how delicious some caramelized onions will make rice taste. While the rice was cooking I sat in her hammock while Rosa pet my head. We had conversation in my broken Spanish about where I was from and about my family, super fun. When the rice was done we began to season the chicken. Rosa only had one knife for cooking and we used it for veggies, fruit, and the chicken. Lots of washing dishes between cooking one thing and the next. After I learned her secret to making this delicious chicken and all the seasons that she used, we covered it up in ketchup and ate it. The rice and chicken were delicious all by themselves and I was sad to see it all covered in ketchup, but I ate it. The rest of the day was me sitting in the hammock and hanging out with her grandkids. At one point Rosa told me to take a nap in her hammock and I tried but it was difficult with Rosa staring at me the whole time. It was fun hanging out with Rosa and riding her bike with one of her grandchildren on the front. The culture is very different here, not like it is a bad thing, it is just… different. To be honest, I love the fact that I can just walk into someones house and they don’t think, “ummm, crazy gringo walked in, get out of my house” There aren’t always doors on these houses and it is normal to walk in. I am falling in love with this culture, how simple it is, and how loving the people are. It just proves to me that there is so much more than the ‘American Dream’ and our culture. 　 　
