Hey everybody!
This month my team and I are living and doing ministry with the rest of our squad and so far, Nicaragua has been about what I expected it to be. This month our squad has partnered with a ministry called “Vision Nicaragua.” Ministry this month looks completely different than it did last month; while last month we were in school teaching English and creating more personal relationships, this month we are doing door-to-door evangelism. Everyday our squad packs into two ten ton trucks and we are dropped off in rural villages to ask people if they know about the Lord and if they follow him.
The poverty that we have seen in these villages continually amazes me. Some of the houses are simply made out of tree branches, sticks and tarp. Most of the houses have just the bare dirt ground as their flooring and the house pigs, chickens, ducks, and dogs casually stroll in and out of their small living space all day.
During our first week in the villages, we discovered that a lot of the men here have, and/or will have kidney disease at some point. Because there are not a lot of jobs here, most men have to resort to working in the sugar cane fields and these are the men who end up getting the kidney disease. The cause is still unclear, but high temperatures, dehydration and pesticides do play a role. In America we have the government to help support us and our needs if we chose not to work. In Nicaragua, the government isn’t an option like it is for us in the United States so the options are starve or work and die of kidney disease. National Geographic did a 15 minute documentary on this epidemic a year ago, if anyone is interested you can click on the link below to find out more information. The documentary also shows a good visual of what it looks like in the villages of Chichigalpa, where we have been doing our door to door evangelism.
I would love it if all of you could take some time to watch this, it is such an eye opener to what life is like around the world and what people experience on a day to day basis.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Eui_t8bO_s
Nicaragua has come with many challenges for me. Because I still have not fully processed this month and some of the things I have seen, I am finding it hard to express to you all and even to myself what I am feeling and thinking about our month here. There are a lot of things we have seen here that are not normal. We have seen children walking around the streets in ragged out clothes, sniffing glue. We have seen and prayed for people who have limbs contracted and twisted in unimaginable ways. We have prayed for countless men who have and are dying from kidney disease. While I have seen poverty, I have never seen it on this scale and I know there is worse yet to come. Since we have been here, I have wondered many times why the Lord made me a privileged American. Why was I not born here to suffer the same way?
I feel like every time I ask him this, I get the same response. “ I created you to go to these places and bring hope to these people. I need you to tell them they are loved and seen and that I am with them.” I also felt the Lord telling me to not worry about their hardships and poverty here. While there is pain and suffering, there is also a lot of freedom and joy. Where there is money, there can be distraction. Just because these people weren’t born in the United States doesn’t mean they are poor. Where there is little, there is more. More harmony, more peace, more humility, more generosity, more grace, more love.
Thank you everyone who participated in my $26 challenge for my birthday on Thursday! I wanted to write a better blog about that, but this month has been one of writers block and many internal distractions so please forgive me. If you are still feeling lead to donate $26 in honor of my birthday that was on thanksgiving, then I encourage you to prayerfully do so. I appreciate all of the help I have received so far! Words cannot express my gratitude.
I will be in touch very soon. On Friday my team and I head to Honduras to start our 3rd month on the race! It is crazy how fast time is flying! Please continue to keep my team and I in your prayers as many of us have been sick this month with a traveler’s illness.
Love and appreciate you all! Chow for now! 🙂
