When I think of Nicaragua, one word comes to mind, relationships.
I have been amazed at the impact that presence has on people. When you come in contact with someone you leave a piece of you with them. Sometimes the seed that you plant with people goes deeper than you think, sometimes, it isn’t as deep as you would hope. But this month, I realized that I planted seeds I didn’t know I planted.
Seed number one- Rosa.
I was at church and just sat down next to someone I had never seen before. Then this smiling face turned to me and started to talk to me in Spanish. I honestly had no clue what she was saying, then I caught a word that I knew. “Abuela” which means grandma. So I asked her in my broken spanish, “Will you be my grandma?” and she just smiled at me, grabed my head and kissed it. That is how our relationship begun.
Over the next three weeks I built a relationship with this woman. I would go over to her house to cook, I would hang out with her grandchildren, and go on walks with her. I began to live life with this woman and fell in love. If I ever had any free time I would walk to her house and spend time with her. I will never forget the time that I got to spend with Rosa.
The day came when I had to leave Nicaragua and the good bye wasn’t what I was expecting. There were three days when we said good bye. The first day was Thursday at church. Our group was saying goodbye and then the church came to hug us all good bye and Rosa grabed on to me and would not let go. She just held me and cried. I didn’t know that I had made such an impact on her. I stood there for about three minutes, while others were passing by, but Rosa would not relent. She held on. It was in that moment that I knew that my time with her, was a gift from God. It didn’t take much effort on my part, but it had a huge impact on Rosa. New Years Eve was the second goodbye and we spent it celebrating together by lighting a stuffed man on fire. He was filled with fireworks so we left the old year with a BANG and began the new one with laughs. I left later on New Years Day. I went over to her house for one last goodbye. She sat me down and we looked over pictues of her family and she made it very clear that I was always going to be apart of her family. It was a really special time. As I walked away, I could feel her watching me, not wanting me to leave… I am just amazed at how much of an impact I had.
Then there was Yaharia, seed number two.
I met Yaharia when she came to teach English to one of the missionaries at the church. There wasn’t any “magical” moment between us. We were just acuaintencess. As the month went on, we began to get closer. Yaharia, Barb (one of the other missionaries), and I went evangelizing one day and that is when our friendship really began. It was simple really. She taught me how to eat sugar cane, we played a small prank on Barb, and that was it. She was practicing English and I Spanish, it was really fun and our friendship grew.
When the time came for us to leave, I was giving Yaharia a hug and I told her, “I love you.” And she just looked at me. She said, “Just one question, why are you saying this now, right before you leave?” …uhhhh… not what I was expecting. But why didn’t I tell her that from the begining? Why didn’t I put effort into a friendship with her? That was the same night that Rosa held me and cried. Two compleetly different reactions to my being in Nicaragua. I got to see Yarahia on New Years Eve one last time and we got to talk at a new deeper level that I wish we would have reached earlier that month. But before I left, she gave me a gift, a necklace that she, ‘made with all her love’. Wow. During the month, Yaharia and and weren’t that close and yet I’ll always have a special place in her heart and she in mine.
I feel like I’m a dandilion. I have all these seeds and the Lord takes them where He want them and plants them in whomever he wants. I don’t always get to see where they go, but the ones I do see, I’m amazed at the flowers that they turn into.
