Hi everyone! I wish I could update you all more often, however, my last two months have been a lack of WiFi. No WiFi has ultimately been great and I wouldn’t change anything about that but it would be nice to update you at any time. Any whoooooo, we have now been in Nicaragua for two and a half weeks. With this being said, I think I have a full understanding of our vision here and what I’ve learned thus far. We have about a week left until leaving for the next stop in this crazy life: Costa Rica. This blog will focus on what I’m doing, what I’m learning, and just bring you into my life here in Granada, Nicaragua.
Our Home: We live on a farm this month! Granada, Nicaragua is where we officially call home, however, we are on the outskirts of this beautiful tourist city. Granada houses around 300,000 people and is home to Lake Nicaragua, two volcanos, and many gorgeous churches. We are living at the REAP (Restore, Educate, Activate, Perpetuate) Farm. The 75 acre farm currently home to six full-time American missionaries who work with the locals to spread the love of Jesus. REAP owns land that is dedicated to Plantain trees, Morigna trees, lemon trees, and Tamarindo trees which are all used for various foods/medicines/projects that give employment to local Nica’s. There is also multiple sports fields, a collection of wild horses/cows, six rottweilers, one golden retriever, and one pig. The backdrop to the farm is a volcano. The REAP farm in terms of living amenities is much like a Hilton resort compared to my living amenities last month (however, I would never regret the last month because of the lessons I learned from simple living). Running water at all times, beds, and REAL showers have been amazing. Here I am also able to run on a trail that goes through the full farm or on the soccer fields which makes me feel at home. Three times a week the squad wakes up at 5 am to spend an hour in prayer and watch the sunrise together, and every morning at 6 am we are given the opportunity to spend time dedicated to reading our Bibles. I enjoy this a lot because I am a morning person; others – not so much. Since the full squad is staying together in Nicaragua (25 people rather than 6 people), I was nervous that I wouldn’t have time to really dedicate to myself and God. Having this time set aside for everyone to do this has been incredible for me.
Our Mission: Our ministry in Nicaragua is a vast array of different ministries. This has been awesome because we are being exposed to a lot of different things and people throughout our time here. The ministries that I have done include the following: prayer walks/house visits, sports ministry, farm work manual labor, dump ministry, and nursing home ministry. The prayer walks that often turn into house visits are very similar to those in Urraco Pueblo, Honduras. As for sports ministry, every Sunday there are sports leagues that are put on at the farm. The leagues include soccer, kickball, and softball leagues. Before each game there is a 5-minute devotional and prayer that we give prior to the game. Last Sunday Liv and I were able to jump in and play with a couple of the teams which was unexpected but awesome! The farm work has been included activities such as uprooting plantain trees and planting Moringa trees (known as the “tree of life” and often used to improve high blood pressure and diabetes when eating the seeds). Dump ministry has been my favorite so far, as well as the hardest to see. At the city dump, people scrounge through trash seven days a week to find anything that potentially could be sold to support their families. The people who do this work with no protection on their hands or eyes. REAP serves lunch twice a week to the workers so we have had the opportunity to help with this. A ten minute message and prayer is given and then we serve them their meal. Often times we have an excess amount where we are able to fill containers so they can take it to their families as well. During the meal we are able to just talk to them and interact which has been my favorite part. I love hearing people’s stories and seeing how joyful people are about things such as work, family, God, or their accomplishments. The nursing home ministry is much like the dump ministry. We are there to serve them a snack or meal and just spend time with them. Ministries like these are beautiful because all these people want are others to notice them, give them attention and listening ears, and love. Something that is so simple to do and something where I learn so much about joy, diversity, and people. I am on fire for the people of Nicaragua. Everyday I am shown how much they mean to me and how, again, goodbye in a week is going to be terrible. If I could I would stay in each country for a year. This leads me into the question, “How am I?”
How am I? Man, this is a hard question because there is so much to say because it seems as though so much as happened in the past two weeks.
Physically — I’m doing well. I have been able to exercise almost every day. In Honduras I was running primarily by myself but with the full squad I have had more opportunities to run with others which has been great. Update on my mosquito bites: My legs no longer look like I have Leprosy and they are almost all healed.
Emotionally/Spiritually– I think that there have been highs and lows emotionally and mentally. This month we have seen a lot of poverty firsthand whether it was pray walking or at the dump. This has been emotionally draining for me because one of my most persistent feelings is compassion. Therefore, I want to help everyone, pray for everyone, and some how change the circumstances which is ultimately not possible in three weeks. I just finished a book that has helped with these feelings. It’s called “The Good News About Injustice” by Gary Haugen and I highly recommend it! As stated before in a previous blog of mine, I have realized how much this dream of mine is something that was meant for me. I feel like I belong here, doing exactly what I’m doing, at this very moment, with exactly who I am doing it with.
I hope this helps give you an image of some of the things that my team and I are doing here in Granada. As always, feel free to reach out to me via email ([email protected]) if you have any questions or just want to chat.
See you next week!
Elisabeth
