I had an absolutely wonderful day off – a day that truly renewed my energy! Wednesday morning we took the 6am ferry across the lake and then a 45 minute taxi ride into San Juan Del Sur, arriving just before 8am. We found a cheap hostel to stay in for the night, dropped our stuff off, and found a place for breakfast right on the beach. After enjoying a nice breakfast, we paired off and walked through the town, visiting shops and checking the place out.
Sarah and I met a 4th year med student, Dan from Jacksonville, Florida, who is here for school on a medical mission with some other students. We chatted with him for a while, talked about what we are each doing, and he invited us to hang out with them that evening.
Then we hit the beach! I wasn’t as impressed with the beach as I thought I would be, as it was more of a cove, and boat bay than the ocean beaches I have been to in the states, but it was still nice. Sarah and I had just settled down to rest for a while on the sand when a guy approached us, sat down and started talking.
Anthony is a Cuban American, a US Army Airborne 2nd Lieutenent, and I think he just wanted to talk. He’s on leave, vactioning here in Nicaragua for a couple days. He came to chat, and it seemed a little awkward, because we weren’t sure what he wanted. He told us right off the bat that he was born in the Bronx in New York, but that he is Cuban in blood, but totally an American and fights for our country. He is 34 and has been in the army since he was 19 during Desert Storm. As converstion continued, Sarah began sharing the Lord with him, about how God loves him and wants him to be in Heaven with him. It was a really intersting conversation, and he was eager to talk to us about it. While he was still unsure about what to think about it all, he did ask us to pray for him, his twin daughters, and the soldiers in his unit in Iraq. He shared some war stories with us, and his struggle with having to cause so many deaths of people – it was heart wrenching really, to really hear first hand what our soldiers are facing daily. Please be praying for Anthony, his daughters – Jazell and Ashley, and his unit. God is definitely working in his heart and desires relationship with him.
Dinner provided more cool people to talk to!! A couple sat down at the table next to us and began asking us where we are from. The are a retired couple from Canada that is backpacking through Central America for 6 weeks. Marlo and Leslie’s daughter has taken part in YWAM (Youth With A Mission) and Teen Missions in the past and their son has just been traveling the world for a while. They took their first backpacking trip with him through Malaysia and Thailand and are now doing this trip themselves. We chatted with them for quite some time and really enjoyed that. They will be visiting Ometepe Island this week sometime, so we may even see them again.
Later on, I ran into Dan, the med student, and had a chance to talk to him more about what he is doing and what we are doing. We were unable to go hang out with them as we were all tired and it was late, but I sure enjoyed talking to him. It felt like I was back at home, chatting in English and getting to know people. There was something that re-invigorated me about meeting these people and sharing about our lives with eachother yesterday. I was awake late, had a long day, but felt awesome about it all. God is so cool that he provided such wondeful refreshing for me, and for us all on our day off.
So, hello Dan, if you check this, as well as Marlo and Leslie!! Drop me a line, if you do. 🙂 You are all great, and I had so much fun talking to you all! Be blessed in your journeys!!
