My team and I have been at CICRIN for a little over a week now and I want to share some of the things we have been doing and areas I have already grown.
We have been helping around CICRIN as well as in the local community with whatever they need. Some of the different jobs that I have done are pulling weeds in the bell pepper garden, raking, washing dishes/helping kitchen staff, carrying and stacking wood on a local Plantain Farm, building/repairing fences, and sweeping/ mopping around campus. (also let me add in that the temp here has been 85°+. I hope y’all enjoyed that little bit of snow in Texas for me yesterday!)
On Monday-Friday we work in the mornings and after lunch we get free time until the kids get out of school and then we spend time with them. We play soccer (fútbol), volleyball, and basketball and then we do a few songs of worship with them before snack time and they return home.
(Since school is not required by the government here like it is in the states, it is common for students to only attend school two or three times a week. The CICRIN private school teaches all grades through high school. However, they only have six classrooms so the elementary grades attend school in the morning and the middle/high school students attend in the afternoon.)
Saturday and Sunday are our fun/free days. This last Saturday morning our team went to the market downtown which has a coffee shop/cafe, grocery stores, restaurants, an ice cream shop, and thrift stores. After shopping and lunch on Saturday we went to Punta Jesús Maria which is a black sand beach on lake Nicaragua. I got to walk out on the sandbar and see both of the volcanos that make Ometepe Island (when I get wifi tomorrow I will upload a pic to my picture section on this blog homepage). Last Sunday morning we visited a local church. I really enjoyed the worship, even though it was in another language I could still feel the presence of the same God that I know.
One big thing that God is teaching me is how to love people well through the everyday activities. I can love people just by serving them, even if the tasks seem silly. If it’s important to the receiver then it should be important to the giver. I have also been getting to know my team members better because of serving with them. You might be surprised how much you can learn about someone while washing dishes or pulling weeds! Although I’ve been doing harder work than I’m used to, it has been fun to find ways to make it more enjoyable.
In my next blog post I will be sharing something that God put on my heart on the first night at CICRIN and how you can benefit from it as well!
