Granada, Nicaragua, such a cool place. This will be my one and only blog from this country! What a time it has been. 12 days of fun and joy. I know… 12 days doesn’t seem like it can be an impactful amount of time, but boy it was! It started with NEW TEAMS. Let me briefly introduce you to mine, Team Woke! I am the team leader of woke, along with a previous teammie Caitlyn, as treasurer (PUMPED to be with ya again, and you got this girl!!), Daniella (a sweet soul who I adore), Sam (has the biggest heart, is also my bff), Blake (logistics but surprisingly sarcastic and sassy), Cole (filled with wisdom and the funniest remarks) and Hunter (the kindest dude I know, always makes me laugh), I freaking love these people!! But we were soon separated, the group of racers with their parents coming left for the AIM base and those whose parentals didn’t come stayed at a boujee hostel. Side note- we call ourselves the orphans, the hostel is our orphanage, i’m sorry if that’s morbid.
Anyways, us orphans weren’t given a scheduled ministry for the week, so we had to go find our own! Me and a few of my friends walked around in hopes of finding a job or a volunteer opportunity, we thought working in the local community would be an awesome way to serve! We went place to place and got denied until finally coming across an Eskimo ice cream parlor. We walked in, met the boss and she lit up at the idea of us helping for free! She told us we could work every night during the week from 5:00-10:00. We made a work schedule and BAM, ministry was found! Let me tell ya, it was hand down absolutely the most fun job in the world! My friend Zahli and I worked a shift together, at first it was stressful, but once we figured out what they were ordering it was easy! I made everything from cones to milkshakes to sundaes! I discovered I am not the best scooper, but my spanish speaking skills aren’t too terrible (a big shoutout and THANK YOU to Señora Foreman, Señora Clark and Professora Balyeat). Throughout the night, we served a lot of people, some even being southern college girls on a mission trip! It was a blast. At the end of the night we got free ice cream and had a dance party with our boss!
We also volunteered at a school for special needs kids! It started by going with some people that worked at our hostel, we went and crafted with these precious kiddos! We asked if we could help in any other ways, they said there’s a wall that definitely could use some painting. The following day we returned to help with more crafts and paint the front wall green! I spent the majority of the time turning recycled paper into mush that would then be mold into shapes and painted to make keychains! I hung out with special needs kids like Mila, Jose, Mariana and Katherine! My heart was overflowed with joy, these kids sure do know how to love and completely radiate Jesus’ kindness. The day after that we returned to the school, called Corazon Contento, to finish up our project! As we completed and left, I personally felt a heaviness on my heart, a longing to stay. It was sad to leave a place that I become so fond of in only 3 days! Corazon Contento really did show me what it’s name means, a happy heart. My heart sure was and always be happy because of that place and it’s students!
A few other awesome and random things we also did throughout our time- fed and prayed for people on the streets, went surfing in San Juan Del Sur, got salsa lessons from a woman we met while on a walk, swam and kayaked in a volcano crater and helped paint a street vendors cart!
It was an over all amazing week filled with pure contentment. The Lord used it to refresh and restore my soul, for that I’m very grateful. I feel rested and ready to tackle Guatemala, my last country of the week! It’s crazy to think that I’m currently living in the last place I’ll ever be at with my squad. It’s exciting, but also sad! I hope to take advantage of every waking moment and really live in the present. Thank you for reading! Much love!
