Whoaaaa I just finished month 2 of the race! It’s crazy and awesome and I have grown so much already– I can’t wait to see what the next 9 months hold. But until then, I want to share with yall the sweet mini-vacations we got to go on in Nicaragua this month. Yea, the race is super fun and we do super fun stuff 
Playa Roca
We went to a beautiful beach twice this month. One day we went and played in the waves, read books, had great conversation, sipped on some cold brews and enjoyed the perfect weather and refreshing water. I actually went back a second time for Thanksgiving! I got to eat turkey and dressing and sweet potatoes while watching the sunset over the ocean..pretty sweet, yea? I also get to spend Christmas on the beach! I’ll explain that if you keep reading..ha.
Waterfall Cave Camping
Yea, it’s as cool as it sounds. Our awesome ministry contact, Diego, planned a spontaneous trip to a waterfall. We didn’t plan rides, food, lodging, etc…my kind of vacay. Between hitch-hiking, a camp fire to cook food and a cave we got all of those minor details worked out. We slept in a cave under a waterfall. The boys were wimps and set their tents up while Christy, Cassie and I slept in the open. It was unreal to wake up under a waterfall. We also had awesome conversations with a guy that night that was drunk and high about Jesus…never a day off being a missionary and I love it. Holland was awesome. Anyways, the next day we went to a coffee plantation aka heaven on earth for me. I felt kind of drunk off coffee I drank so much of it. I think I have a slight coffee addiction. I’ve even lost count of how many I’ve had writing this blog in a coffee shop. So great. Anyways it was just an awesome two days having zero plans and everything worked out just like they were supposed to. I had the coolest hitch-hiking experience on the flatbed on an 18-wheeler truck. This is my absolute new favorite mode of transportation. I posted a video on the bottom of the page…you can’t really see anything but we were having a good time..so check it out! Oh yea, and on the way to the waterfall we rode on the top of a yellow school bus singing worship songs. Welcome to the world race, folks. It rocks fo sho.
Volcano Surfing
Another one that’s as cool as it sounds. We took a day trip to Leon and hopped on a cattle truck through the mountains to get to the base of a volcano, Cerro Negro. The weather was beautiful, we had an awesome hike, great conversations and a fun surf down. It was really just a good and happy day and couldn’t have asked for anything better!
.jpg)
From left: Squad leader Tim, Amanda, Cas, Me, Christy and Allan. We got this picture on the first try because we’re that awesome. Jake was sick on this day though…sad
Debrief: Granada
That’s where I am now. And I would definitely classify this as a great vacay. All of S-squad is together and unwinding from our first two months of ministry. It’s been so great hearing stories, catching up with people, worshipping together, eating A LOT, meeting with our squad parents, Mama C and Pappy, and squad leaders for guidance. It’s just been even more than I could even ask for. I feel like we all needed to get filled back up and prepared to enter our third month of ministry aware of what we want to accomplish and things we need to work on. I also got a massage for 30 minutes for $10, laid by a pool with all of the S-squad women and Mama sippin on yummy cocktails, devoured mocha pies, carrot muffins, and A TON OF COFFEE…we’re spoiling ourselves honestly. This morning we had our first annual “Panqueque 5K” which was a blast! We ran a 5K and at each mile had to stop and eat a pancake haha…I don’t reccomend the pancake part but it was so much fun.
We leave tomorrow for Costa Rica!! Woo! We never really know what ministry is going to look like, but so far here it is: the first part of the month we will be working in a village by a volcano outside of the capitol, San Jose. Then the second half of the month we will be doing a surf ministry. Yep, surfers. I’m really super stoked. We’ll be in Jaco Beach which means Christmas on the beach! YaY!
I think we may do a little internet fast, so I can’t wait to update yall soon from Costa Rica!
Christy, Amanda and THE muffins
I know it’s sad this is my only picture from Granada, but the muffins really are that good that they deserve to be on this blog so you can catch a glimpse of goodness. I’ll try and post pictures of the panqueque 5K once my squadmates post some pics.
