How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard – A.A. Milne
A friend shared that with me because she knew I was feeling pretty raw about leaving Nicaragua. Driving away from the little church on the hill and my Nicaraguan family was by far the hardest moment I’ve had so far on the Race. I’m not sure how I became so attached, or why part of my heart is always going to be in Nicaragua. I guess all I can say is that God blessed me with deep ties and strong emotions this month; they’re messy and painful, but worth it. This was a huge time of growth for me – here are just a few of the things I’m taking away from my month in Nicaragua.
Live life abundantly – with less
You would think that with each month we spend on the Race, we might be thinking more about the things we need from home, but this was the opposite for me. Every day this month I learned more about what I don’t need. I don’t need a toilet; the outhouse works just fine, and makes for better stories. I don’t need a hot shower with running water; it was always hot anyway, and that bucket full of cold water felt good. I don’t need a bed/closet/house; I never have to make my sleeping pad/bag in the morning, it’s easy to find your clothes when you only have a few packing cubes worth, and the sun streaming through the doors of that pretty little church was the best wake-up call I’ve ever had. I don’t need internet every day; sitting up late chatting with our host family was so much better than sitting up late watching Netflix, like I did at home. I don’t need personal space and privacy; it’s amazing how many creative ways you can come up with to change clothes, find alone time, and not go crazy while living in close quarters with 5 other people with 20 children peering in the doors of your house all the time. I don’t need a car; if you all thought I walked a lot at home, you should’ve seen me in Nicaragua. Between entering and leaving the country, I rode on 2 buses and that was it for automobiles all month. I don’t need a kitchen full of variety; rice, beans, and plantains hit the spot like you wouldn’t believe.
Life is so rich all by itself. It doesn’t need all the excess we throw into it.
Communicating in a foreign language is hard – do it anyway
I spent way too much of the Race allowing the fluent Spanish speakers on my team to do the talking for me, and then partway through this month they informed me that they weren’t going to do it anymore because I didn’t need the help. Engaging with my host family and community in Spanish became one of the most rewarding parts of this month for me. I grew so much in confidence because of it, but most of all I realized what I’d been missing out on by not talking. I had so many wonderful conversations this month in Spanish. I laughed when my friends teased me. I shared stories about my life, and listened to other’s stories. I was able to explain to my teammates when they said something in Spanish that they didn’t mean to say. I think I had more in-depth conversations about God’s love, purpose, and grace in Spanish than I did in English! The point is, if I hadn’t opened my mouth and forced Spanish to come out of it, I would’ve missed out on almost everything that God was throwing at me this month. Everything I said wrong in Spanish was well-worth it in exchange for getting to know David, Damaris, Abuela, Abuelo, Daniel, Byron, Edwin, Noel, and every neighbor who let us into their homes.
Investing in people is always worth it, and holding back only makes us miss out.
New life skills are worth acquiring – even the ones you think you’ll never use
I am going to have quite the resume when I’m finished with the World Race. Each month I add more random skills and qualifications to it. In Nicaragua I learned the arts of: shelling tamarindos, shoveling out a mountainside of dirt, cooking delicious chicken over a charcoal fire on the porch, mending a broken pick axe, starting a fire by burning a plastic chair, making earrings, preaching, mending shattered PVC pipe, making soup for 30 kids, getting clean in a bucket shower, knowing what to eat to get rid of the burning after eating hot peppers, wetting gravel down to cool off the area, making tortillas, and setting up a bug-net fortress to keep from being eaten alive at night. There’s a good chance I’m not going to need these skills again in life, but you never know. More important, of course, is the fact that I’m learning. If I ever get to go back, I have an impressive set of Nicaraguan skills ready to go.
Soak up what the people you encounter in life have to teach you. It might be the best lesson you ever learn.
Never limit what God can do with where you are – especially when He sent you there
This month presented my team with living conditions that were different than we were used to, and a language barrier with our hosts. What could have been a tougher month for us ended up being a tremendous blessing, because God knew where he was sending us all along. He intended for us to live in that church, with that family. I guess we had the option to disengage and spend the month not investing, but we would’ve missed so much! Nicaragua motivated me so much to seek that engagement and those relationships everywhere we go. It’s easy to think that sometimes we will just have months or ministries that we don’t really connect with, but the reality is that God gives us the tools and the opportunities to create awesome connections everywhere. It’s not a surprise to God which country and which ministry we end up in during the World Race – the only variable is what we chose to do with it.
God doesn’t limit the opportunities we have in life – why do we limit what we can do in them?
I’m closing out Nicaragua with a lot of sadness at goodbyes and separation, but with even more gladness at everything God accomplished during those 4 weeks. I’m thankful that He blessed me with a second family there, and that He’s teaching me so much about engaging everywhere I go without wasting time. It’s hard to imagine right now, but I’m prepared to love every country as much as I loved Nicaragua. That means there will be a lot of tears at each goodbye, but knowing that I loved hard and fully makes a few tears worthwhile!
“I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” – John 10:10
