They’re both on the list of my favorite things in Nicaragua.
If you don’t know, I am doing a short series recapping my first five months of the race. (I’m currently in month 6.) I feel like I missed some of the interesting and even practical details during this first stretch, mostly because in all the particulars of day to day life, giving a general overview can be difficult and also easy to overlook.
So, we’re on part 3 and, as you’ve probably guessed, we’re talking about Nicaragua.
This month my team and I bought a piglet and named her Ollie. She brought me SO much joy.
Ministry: REAP Granada
Location: about 3 miles outside of downtown Granada, Nicaragua
Currency: Cordoba (32 cordobas= $1)
Language: Spanish
Overview:
This month we lived on the REAP Granada base in their dorms. The base was 70 acres and housed five horses, seven dogs and, after we came, one pig. We lived in between three villages, but were closest to Puntenal. Downtown Granada was about three miles from base, so to get groceries, wifi, etc. we would taxi into town.
Here is a video of where we lived this month:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HaTY27Pa2R4
What types of ministry did you do in Nicaragua?
Here in Nicaragua, we did a ton of door to door evangelism while partnering with local churches. We also visited a nursing home, worked with local kids at a community center, fed workers at a dump, helped frontier a jewelry line, which would become a source of income for local women, and even gave short messages at sporting events hosted on base.
This is one of the men I got to spend time with at the nursing home this month. I got to visit him quite a few times. He loved talking about plants and animals, especially the kinds you can eat. Haha.
How did you get to ministry?
Ministry transportation this month was always the same- pickup truck. It didn’t matter if there was three of us or seventeen of us, we’d all pile into the same pickup truck and hang on tight.
What did a typical day look like?
5am: Group prayer
6am: Personal Quiet Time
7am: Rest
8am: Breakfast
9am-11:30am: Neighborhood Evangelism with local church
Noon: Lunch
1pm-3pm: Rest
3pm-5:30pm: Kids Program at the Community Center
6pm: Dinner
7pm-9pm: Group worship, movie night or discussion
10pm: Bed
11 Lessons from Nicaragua:
1. Downtown Granada is very touristy. However, we lived about 3 miles outside of downtown, which is a rural, poverty stricken area.
2. Because of the political unrest in Nicaragua while we were here, tourists were nonexistent.
3. Because tourism had taken a hit, we met many people who had lost their jobs and could no longer provide for their families. (Since it was all squad month, we were able to support a few tourist ventures and, in turn, bless real families.)
4. During this time many families and even missionaries have left the area.
5. Three villages surrounded the REAP base, the poorest of all being Puntenal. (This is where we did the majority of our work.)
6. Many individuals work at the dump, digging for glass and plastics. They work upwards of ten hours a day just to earn the equivalent of $1.
7. We met a woman who’s infant son had been sick for over a week. An appointment with a doctor is approximately 350 cordobas ($12ish); however, most families, such as this one, can’t afford that much.
8. People in the underprivileged areas cannot afford vehicles, so if they have any transportation at all, they have a horse.
9. People who own livestock typically can’t afford the land to keep them on, so cattle roam around freely during the day.
10. Granada has a large lake, Lake Granada, which draws in tourists.
11. Nicaragua has multiple volcanoes.
This is the dump and the people who work it every day. These people are the hardest workers I’ve ever met.
Current Fundraising Update:
Thank you so much for the continued support! I hope these updates are showing you how much impact your dollar really has and how much ministry is happening because of your donations. I’m still needing to raise a little less than $3,500, so please consider donating to keep me on the field!
In honor of being HALFWAY DONE with the Race, if you donate HALF the cost of a day (which is $25), I’ll donate a day to YOU! I’ll send you a video and pictures of what YOU funded. Donate here on my blog, through Cashapp ($ButtercupMarie) or Venmo (@TaylorStamp).
Next, keep an eye out for a recap of Honduras, my last Central American country. I can’t wait to share it with y’all.
