Just a note before the blog officially starts. I tried so so hard to upload photos and videos for this blog, but was unable to. Im gonna try my best next week to have those up! 🙂 Heres my first week of the World Race (September 1st-7th)
Sunday-Monday:
I’ve officially been gone for 5 days now. The journey to Palacaguina was a long one (24 hours to be exact) but with a couple red bulls you can survive any travel day. We traveled from Gainesville Georgia to Palacaguina Nicaragua on September 1st-2nd.
All of travel day felt surreal. My mom uses that expression often, and I never understood it, but now I do. A little backstory: I applied to World Race in November of 2018, so finally traveling here felt, Surreal. I’m gonna be completely honest, I was pretty nervous when we first got here (Palacaguina) I just felt so far from home. Funny enough spending only 1 day here I already feel at home. Some of the trees here look so similar to the ones in Maryland.
Osman took my squad to the christian school we will be serving at. We got to meet the kids, and some of the teachers. It was so great! It made me so excited to be able to spend time with them for the next month. They spoke such good English! The 2nd graders would stand up and say “Hello my name is ____, and I love my school” It was so impressive to me. Made me feel a little ignorant when I couldn’t even say that in Spanish, BUT I’m learning! 🙂
Tuesday:
Being here has already been such a growing period for me. Im finally learning what it means to fully put all of my trust in the Lord. We met our ministry host! His name is Osman and he’s so kind. He does he’s very best to speak English. I know very very little Spanish, but everyone is so gracious. Its actually really fun having to communicate using lots of hand gestures. Today some of my squad got to help with construction work at the local church. We met the pastor and he’s such a kind soul, his name is David. He was asking us what our team name was, and he decided to name us “Los Guerreros” which means “The Warriors” in English. I thought that was so kind it really encouraged me to continue being a warrior for Christ.
After construction David, and Osman took us to visit one of the public schools. Now that was so so fun. Once again not knowing Spanish was difficult, but thankfully most of my team is either fluent, or can have a conversation. They would help me understand what the kids were asking me, then I’d try my best to respond in Spanish. Another little backstory: Half of my team went to a different part of Nicaragua, so I am with the other half of the team aka squad. I already have grown to love my squad, and am so blessed that God put me with these incredible women.
My friend taught me how to say high five in Spanish today! Its “chocala” that might be incorrect spelling (Im sorry Miss Stephanie!!) 🙂
My squad also found out we will be teaching an English class, and Bible study. We were able to write out lesson plans! Im a little nervous, but I know its gonna be super fun.
Wednesday:
I looked in my journal entry today to find out what I should write on my blog for Wednesday, and the first sentence is “I officially have many blisters covering my hands” Construction has been exhausting, but my team is so encouraging, and the cause makes it so much more worth it. We listened to praise music today during construction (Thanks to Maddy’s mom for the speaker) it helped me just keep my mind in the right place. A fun bonus for construction day was I got to hang out with a young girl named Hennase. She’s so cute, and goofy. She came over to where we were shoveling and picked up one of the shovels, and started helping us. It was so cute, and oddly enough humbling. Im not here to do this for my own glory, or pride. Im here to serve the kingdom of God, and give him all the glory. I really am not the best at construction, but I’m trying to gain more stamina so I can keep up with my team.
I just realized I haven’t told you what exactly we are doing. Construction right now consist of us leveling out a dirt hill, so that the church can build a second room. The rooms going to be used for the kids. Its just a lot of shoveling, and throwing rocks. Its good, hard work though.
Also it rained for the first time today!! God is so good!!
The absolute highlight of the day was riding in the back of Osmans truck with my bunk buddy halston. We drove for probably 20min. It was honestly just super fun! I saw one of the girls from the school, and she yelled hello! I feel like I’m a small part of the community now.
Thursday:
Today was such a fun day! After our construction we were planning to go to ministry to teach a English class, Sadly that was canceled. We now had the rest of the day off. I was able to get in a lot of journaling, and time with the Lord. I read Romans 7-10 and it was so so good!! (Thanks mom for the recommendation) Guess what?!?
It rained!! Not just for a few minutes for like 1 hour!!! It was amazing! I ran in the rain with some of my teammates, and it was such a blessing from God to get that rain.
Friday:
I don’t think I’ve mentioned this yet but does anyone know what Plantains are? They are kind of bomb. We had sweet ones today with lunch, and they were so so good. Also I don’t know if I’ve talked about the coffee yet. AMAZING!!
Meal time is some of the best team time. We get to just chat about how our days been going, and watch the dogs, and chickens fight for food. Its pretty entertaining. Until they try and mess with you. Now thats a whole other story.
At construction today we saw the CUTEST puppy ever!
Im gonna be honest today has been a rough one for me mentally. Im so thankful for my team leader Morgan. She’s just made me feel so understood today, and makes me feel seen. Im very blessed that the Lord appointed her to be my Squad Leader.
Saturday:
Today some of my beautiful teammates were able to give their testimonies at Pastor Davids Church. It was so incredible to see my friends up there spreading the hope, and love of Jesus Christ. We found out we will each be giving our own testimonies at a radio show run by William (the man who’s house we are staying at) Not exactly sure what I’m going to say yet, but its gonna be good. 🙂 (Update from the 8th of September, I know what I’m gonna say 🙂
I’ll talk to you all next week!
