5. Hammock time- This month I spent a lot of my free time in a hammock. Just enjoying the amazing view of Nicaraguan mountains, listening to music, and reading. These were such times of peace and clarity for me.
4. Playing in the mud- We spent the second half of this month helping build a small house for a single mom named Rebecca. She has a 7 year and is currently living with her mom until her house was finished. We started this house from scratch. We leveled the land, moved bricks and rocks, dug out the foundation, mixed the "cement" (dirt and water), and then started building the walls with cement blocks and mud. On one of the hottest days we've had in Nicaragua, we were digging the foundation of the house, when we were asked to make mud for the cement. It was every 5 year olds dream come true. We took our shoes off and hoped right in. We spent 2 hours making mud, throwing mud, and making mud angels.
3. Valentines day- We have some amazing guys on our squad. They love to party plan and take care of us. Since the whole squad was together this month, the 12 guys decided to put together a dinner and video for us. There were candles, fried chicken, and cake. It was a perfect Nicaraguan valentines day.
2. The pool- One day during lunch, our ministry host told us that we were going to have the afternoon off and that she was taking us to the pool. We had spent that morning leveling out the floor of Rebecca's land with pick axes and shovels, so were PUMPED that we were going to be able to spend one of the hottest afternoons at the pool. So we hoped in a truck and were on our way. We had to walk down a very steep hill to get the pool. As we got closer we could see the blue pool and we all wanted to take off running into the water, and then we realized there was NO water! Just a few guys scrubbing the pool trying to get rid of some nasty mold and mildew. Our first reaction was hysterical laughter. Things tend to get lost in translation a lot here so we just assumed we misunderstood the pastor and we were coming to clean the pool. We jumped right in and started scrubbing. Everyone had such a positive attitude about it. It wasn't until after we were finished that the pastor told she had intended for us to swim that day, she just didn't know the pool was closed. I was so proud of our teams for being such servants and picking up a brush that day to clean when all we wanted was to swim.
1.The people-This month we were blessed by some amazing, Godly people. They have loved us, fed us, and taken care of us. Pastora Louisa, Josue, Martina, Carmen, Jose, Ashtri, Christian, Alejandro, Coco, Anna, and so many more people have spent the last few weeks serving us as we go out and serve others. They made our ministry in Nicaragua so much more than just manual labor. I'm so glad I got to be a part of their lives for a short time.
