Drip Drop.
Our last night at Sara’s house, our host family and friends threw a massive surprise party for us.
Drip Drop.
We could tell there had been so much planning put into it, so much work into making sure our last night was wonderful, so many hugs and smiles.
Drip Drop.
And a lot of tears.
Drip Drop.
A lot of tears dripping and dropping onto the ground because we were all so sad to be leaving a place that easily became our home for the month. Most of that was because of the people, Sara, Yenir, Anderson, and Scarleth.
Sara: 35 years old, our ministry host, the pastor of the church we worked with, has the biggest most welcoming smile in the world, single mom to her kids, so generous, overcome an incredibly rough past, I knew right when I met her we were going to love her
Yenir: 33 years old, Sara’s boyfriend (they are definitely going to get married), at the church all the time helping out, hilarious and loves being a goof, laughs with a ton of joy, would spontaneously grab us and throw us over his shoulder to swing us around like we were little kids, shared some of his testimony with us and asked about ours
Anderson: 18 years old, my best friend in Nicaragua, adopted by Sara 8 years ago to get him out of a bad family situation, selfless, goofy, honest, accepting, self-confident, very graceful with my spanish (or lack of), wants to be a missionary when he is older, loves God and wants to serve Him his whole life
Scarleth: 13 years old, my baby girl from the start, so sweet and encouraging to me, genuine, fun, mature, loves laughing, told me she didn’t want me to leave, we would sit in the hammock and share pictures of our life
This family, along with our Nica friends, loved us so well and made sure we knew we would be missed.
Flashback to the morning before we left: the whole day they all told us how excited they were for our “surprise” that night. Preparation, cooking, motorcycle rides back and forth, and the phrase “une surpreso” constantly floating through the air. Us girls got all clean and dolled up (shoutout to Dad for teaching me that term) and walked into a completely dark church… and waiting for us inside was a all of our Nica friends and family, a piñata shaped like a princess (they told us it was all of us), a delicious dinner set out on a table with a place setting of wildflowers, ice cream for dessert, and a night full of dancing, music, laughing so hard tears came out, crying so hard because we were sad to leave, really big hugs, gifts from them, and so many smiles. They gave me specifically a softball with all of the players names signed on it to remember every day that I was out there giving it my all at softball with them, no matter how bad I was. It was very special.
It was an incredible last night there. My team and I were heartbroken to leave, but in such a beautiful way. We know that we impacted them in such huge ways, and there is no doubt that they impacted us. As cheesy as it sounds, we grew so close because we all love the same God in such a genuine and passionate way. We do, we love Him, and that created such a family-like bond between us all.
They loved us so well, we loved them so well, my teammates loved me so well, God always loves me so well, DO YOU SEE THE AMOUNT OF LOVE HERE PEOPLE!?!? It’s a beautiful thing. Ah. Love. I just love love.
I’m frantically trying to communicate this month to you all as we leave wifi (like right now), but I can only do what I can do. I love you all, thank you for sticking with me and backing me up, always. If you ever need anything, I’m only an email away ([email protected]). Thank you all so much!!
P.S. I’m actually writing this in Rwanda. WE MADE IT!!!! More updates soon to come, but it is thunder storming and we need to head home. Just know that I am loving it so far and I am preaching tomorrow (and slightly terrified, but it will be awesome) and I love the girls I’m with and I love it here.
