[ A lot has happened since I wrote the following blog, but I've left it as it was originally written and will update all of you regarding changes and the past few weeks soon! ]
(written Christmas eve)
Tonight is Christmas eve 2011 and I'm on the island of Ometepe in Lake Nicaragua. Yesterday began our 3-4 day long Christmas celebration. I'm currently on the world race journey within a group of missionaries from around the US and Canada. My team "Ignite" is with team "Kaleo" this month working at an orphanage called Cecrin with our contact Helen – who is amazing. Everyone from the orphanage leaves on Dec. 26th and we remain on the island until Dec. 30th when we travel to reunite with the rest of our squad on another nearby island. On Jan. 4th we all leave Nicaragua to head to 4 Asian countries and then onto Africa for the remaining 4 months of the race.
I was able to go into town today to e-mail home and talk with some friends… good times… then when the group of girls were leaving town with our contact Helen, the truck broke down and started rolling backwards down a hill in the drizzly rain. An old guy briefly put a rock behind the truck tire to keep it from rolling further and Helen kept trying to re-start the truck to no avail. So, both a mechanic and a guy from the orphanage was called to fix the truck as well as get us another ride back. The mechanic was unable to fix it so a couple guys pushed the truck down the road to the mechanic and we hopped on our short bus to ride back to Cecrin.
Yesterday there was food, music, a little bit of dancing, a pinata for the kids, and a lot of socializing that took place. I went into town today with 2 of the girls on my team to use the internet and do a little bit of shopping. Before dinner, we surprised our team with pieces of delicious chocolate cake and did a white elephant gift exchange… in which Brian and I got our own gifts… b/c he stole his own present from me and mine was the only one left. Tonight there was goat/chicken etc. prepared for dinner (but I didn't eat the goat), there was another pinata, the kids opened their gifts, we took lots of pictures, they set off some small fireworks and lit sparklers, and we called it a night.
(written on Christmas)
On Christmas most of us were able to take a short internet trip into town again. We then came back to the orphanage to have more festivities with those here as well as several people from the area that also came with their kids. One of the teens here, Jimmy, was actually wearing a GWC shirt today – ironically enough not only did he wear my college shirt, but is was on the same day that I wore my GWU Band shirt. It was cool…
Tonight, we all went caroling to the kids' rooms as a surprise and to make things more festive. It was fun! Tomorrow they all leave at various times throughout the day and we stay here until Dec. 30th then meet up with the rest of our squad before returning briefly to the US on Jan. 4th for 2 layovers on the way to reaching Asia and the next leg of the race. As long as funding comes through, God willing, I'll still be able to continue the journey set before me as planned… I'm certainly not ready to go home yet! Although, I definitely miss my family/friends back home and being away for the holidays has been kinda rough at times. Overall, despite having so many festivities this Christmas, it definitely hasn't even seemed like it's the holiday season. If anything, it seems like the summer… July 4th perhaps, considering it's hot and the fact we had some fireworks / sparklers last night.
