Month 2 – Nicaragua
This month started out in the beautiful city of Granada, Nicaragua, where we had 5 days of debrief/rest. Some of the World Race staff joined us for sessions which helped us to grow inwardly as a squad so that we can better serve outwardly to others. We also had some free time to explore the city, watch the super bowl, go on a boat ride of the Islets of Granada, and spend a day relaxing at a pool. Then we headed up into the mountains to Palacaguina to start ministry for the rest of the month. We all lived in our tents inside a large open air church.
The 54 of us split up to work with different churches/ministries around the city. My team and another team were paired with Pastora Luisa and her church. She is the president of the Pastors Committee in the area, which consists of 48 men and one other woman pastor. She has been such a blessing to us as we are working to bless her and her ministry. We have worked cleaning schools, teaching preschool, building an adobe house, leading worship, and participating in many other activities within the community. I was the designated Spanish/English translator for the group this month and it was a great way to practice my Spanish and be a significant help in the communication for our group and the people who we were working with.
Palacaguina is filled with love, some of the best parenting and family dynamic that I have ever witnessed, and they live on around $3.00 a day per family. One of the ladies who is cooking for our squad put it so well to me one day.. 'We are very poor in money, but we are very rich in the heart.' They have big dreams, they are full of joy, and they do not look down on themselves for their living conditions. We are constantly being invited into peoples homes for coffee, dinner, etc. They share and show love in any way that they can. I would love to live in a community like this, that is so caring and supportive of every person that they meet.
We leave tomorrow for Honduras. My team of 6 will be partnering with a Pastor near Siguatepeque. We do not know much information about what we will be specifically doing or how our living conditions will be, but I will update as soon as possible.
Please pray for a safe travel day tomorrow, and that each of the teams will have a strong start to the month as we meet new people and begin to minister to their communities.
