Parent Vision Trip (PVT) – Granada, Nicaragua – 4/30/2019
I just returned from the most amazing trip to Nicaragua—my first trip out of the country and a visit to Jacob and his squad during their 7th month of the World Race. It seemed like once I knew the date for the trip it took forever for the trip to get here—now it seems that the 6 days there went by so quickly!
I flew into Managua on Tuesday, 4/23. On the flight from Miami I had terrible pressure in my left ear and my ear drum burst. NOT a great way to begin the week but I had no pain…just drainage and no hearing in that ear throughout the trip. Luckily I was given antibiotics to take “just in case” for the trip so I immediately began taking those. Anyway, from the air as we approached Nicaragua I could tell the country was dry and dusty and I saw my first real life volcano! There were actually many smaller volcanos, too, where I could see the steam being emitted. Hmmm…I knew then that this experience was going to be unique. I was the only parent on my flight but got through customs and got my bags with no problem. Tom, a member of the Adventures in Mission team, stood outside of the glass doors with a PVT (Parent Vision Trip) sign…I was never so glad to see someone! We met up with other parents in the airport and then took about an hour bus ride to REAP Granada, the farm where we would stay during our visit. When we pulled up, all of the racers and parents who had already arrived were cheering for us. I saw Jacob right away and couldn’t wait to get my arms around his neck. Such a wonderful hug and a warm feeling after not seeing him for 7 months. I love that sweet young man so very much and it made my heart so happy to finally see him! On our ride to camp, we heard that Nathan, one of the team members, was a victim of random violence the night before and had a rock thrown through his car window on his way to the airport to pick up parents. He was in critical condition and would need brain surgery to reconstruct his skull and eye socket. We prayed for him the entire trip and he continues to need prayers for complete healing so he can get back to his work at being the hands and feet of Jesus for the people of Nicaragua.
We’ll be staying at REAP Granada for the next 5 nights. REAP stands for Restore, Educate, Activate, Perpetuate. Their mission is to create true disciples of Jesus Christ and to love God and love people. The hosts, Jenn and Scott Esposito, have great hearts for the love of Jesus and it’s evident in everything they say and do. Their goal is to worship together, play sports, prayer walk and go into homes in their local community to pray and visit, hospital and jail visits to pray and share Jesus, and spend as much time as possible together to build a partnership with local community and pastors. We stayed at Campo de Consecha in dorms that are provided for mission teams as they travel to Nicaragua. The farm supports families by hiring them as interpreters, cooks, and farming the land. This land is the center of everything they do. From the moment we arrived we could definitely feel the love of the Holy Spirit among everyone there; such an environment of family, hospitality, and loving all who were there as brothers and sisters of Christ. I loved that the people who worked brought their children along with them, who played and ran around and kept things interesting around camp! All of the children and all of the Nicaraguans I met had such joy and smiles on their faces…so amazing! Check them out online to learn more about REAP and pray about supporting them in whatever way you feel led. http://reapgranada.com/
The Food
We ate LOTS of delicious food throughout our stay on the farm. We had lots of rice and beans! Breakfast was usually scrambled eggs or pancakes, white pineapple, watermelon, bananas, and rice or potatoes. Lunch and dinners included lots of rice, potatoes, beans, chicken, grilled veges, plantains. The servings were huge and I thought at every meal that “there’s no way I can eat all of this”. Well, I ate all of it at every meal! We drank juice, tea, or luke-warm water. One thing I really missed was having a COLD drink during our stay! Meals were always served with a smile and such beautiful interactions between the people serving and the parents and racers. There was always coffee ready in the morning so, as we stumbled out of bed, that was perfect!
Serving Together
After arriving Tuesday afternoon I had a chance to just hang out with Jacob, get settled into the dorm, give Jacob all the goodies I had brought for him and just relax. The parent dorms were bunk beds and were thankfully air conditioned! There were 2 rooms full of moms and we had a great time visiting and talking about our kids. We had showers—only cold water but that was so refreshing! On Tuesday evening, we had a wonderful dinner and then a time of worship under the pavilion. Cody presented the message the first night and is very passionate about this trip and about how Jesus works in the lives of people who love Him. I am so impressed at how Cody spoke and how passionate he is about this mission he’s on. Malysa lead the music and has a beautiful singing voice. We even got to get a taste of the rapping from the Madison, the Rap Master! We all recognize how our racers have all grown in their relationships with each other and with God…such a beautiful thing to watch. The parents were all exhausted and got in bed early, by 8 p.m. We’ll start fresh in the morning.
Wednesday began with quiet prayer time/devotion at 5 a.m., women’s devotion at 6 a.m., breakfast at 7 a.m., then prayer walking in the local community. I was a bit apprehensive about walking around and just talking to people on the street and in their homes about Jesus and praying for them, but…WOW…what a powerful thing to do! We walked from camp and visited the homes close by. The roads were dusty and everything was so dry. The rainy season comes next month and I know that the animals and people and vegetation will be refreshed by the rain! The animals (dogs, horses, cows) were all so thin you could see their ribs. The people went about hand-washing their clothes, hanging them up to dry, the kids were either on their way to/from school or outside playing. The homes were made of tin and wood and had open windows/doors. The people there did have running water and electricity and, surprisingly, most adults I saw had cell phones and TV’s in their homes. Our interpreter was Hannah, Scott and Jenn’s daughter, so she was familiar with many of the people we spoke with and knew her way around the neighborhood. We saw one man walking with a cane and stopped to pray for him. His name was Roberto and he was 85 years old. He has pancreatic cancer and also very sore knees and back. We spoke to him and he knows Jesus and knows that Jesus can heal and provide comfort to him. We prayed and he was happy we visited. He lives in the house with his daughter and 3 or 4 children. We handed out lots of necklaces and crosses to children on the street and talked with them about Jesus. We also visited Maria and her mother and 2 sons. She was very upset with the church. She said she felt like they had abandoned her and her family when her father passed away and they didn’t feel the love and support they needed during that time. We explained to her that is not the way Christians act and that we are here to support and love each other and to share the hope of Jesus and eternal life. We had a good discussion with her and she talked a lot, through an interpreter, about her struggles, her children, and taking care of her mother (who has diabetes). We gave she and her mother a Bible and read several verses with them to point them to some places to go for support and positive words from Jesus. We also prayed with her son. The last stop was at Eric’s house, a man who frequently visits the farm, and visited with him and his young children, cousins, and other relatives. Sweet baby Antonio smiled the entire time and the other young kids were all so joyful and wanted to play with us.
We returned from our prayer walk and had lunch. Then, our task was to construct an Adirondack chair, just for a chance to work together but also to provide more chairs to sit on the deck of the dorm and around camp. There would be many wonderful conversations of reconciliation, revelation, and talks about Jesus in these chairs. Jacob and I worked well together—with his engineering mind and my OCD our chair looked pretty darn good when we were finished. That chair will see lots of wonderful things take place at this camp. After our chair building it was time for dinner and worship. Ryan spoke tonight about Jesus’ life, arrest, torture, crucifixion, death and resurrection. He gave a very dramatic, detailed account of these events and we all felt the proof that Jesus died for US—for ME and for YOU! He did an amazing job and I was so impressed with his boldness and faith as he spoke. Once again, we were all exhausted at the end of the day and headed to bed after worship.
Thursday began with devotion with all the moms at 6 a.m., breakfast at 7 a.m., then Jacob and I had morning free time. We got a cab with Madison and her mom, Robin, and went into Granada to walk around and do some site seeing. After we visited the bell tower of an old church, we split off for some one-on-one time. Jacob and I had great discussions about the race, about plans after the race, about my new house and new marriage to Gary, about step siblings and me having 3 grandsons, Brandon and how he’s doing, past regrets, forgiveness, and future goals for our family. We were able to connect so well and just lay everything out on the table and work through any tension we had about the past and move forward with confidence and strength, knowing that God ultimately guides our steps. With faith and trust, we know that God has wonderful plans for our futures and the future of all those who we love. God is so good and we are so blessed! We saw Lake Nicaragua and walked through Central Park and saw lots of street vendors and men wanting us to take a carriage ride so they could earn money. I had a difficult time saying “No” but realized we couldn’t say yes since many, many people asked us to purchase things as we walked through the streets. We had a nice cool drink at the Garden Café and then called a cab to head back to camp.
After lunch, we left for a visit to the dump to minister to people “working” there and to share a meal with them. These people spend every day at the dump, sorting through trash, gathering plastic, metal, and other things to sell to earn money to provide for their families. These people work tirelessly from sun up to sun down to gather their “treasures”. Ages ranged from young children of 4 or 5 years old up to elderly people in their 80’s. The amazing fact was that after they collect their items, many of them had to carry them blocks and blocks away and keep them until the recyclers come around every 2 weeks or so to pay them. Most of the people will only make $15-20 every 2 weeks for the items they’ve collected, but that’s enough to sustain them and provide for some of their needs. We met an older man who was collecting pieces of wood, small sticks, to take home for his wife to use to build her cooking fire. He had a large stack of wood and a long walk back to his home. Some of the people had their homes at the base of the dump so they didn’t have a long distance to carry their bags, but some people had a long distance to walk. It’s amazing what people will do to earn money for their families—they know no different way. We rode to the dump in the back of a pick-up truck and had a hot meal and cool drinks to serve. When we arrived, we set up the table with the food and then gathered everyone together for a message and prayer before we served lunch. Jacob and Jenny presented a message and read various scripture verses and spoke about “even though our homes on earth are very different, we will all live together in the great home in Heaven that God has prepared for all who believe in Him and follow his Word.” The people stood patiently, lined up by children first, then the women, then the men, and listened to the Word, not ever acting impatient or anxious about getting fed. That was amazing to me! In America there would be pushing and frustration about just wanting to eat and being impatient to wait. Jacob asked me to give the blessing for the meal and it was wonderful to be able to join with these people and, through and interpreter, to bless the food and bless the people there. One man, John, wanted to take a picture of Jacob to send to his sister in the US…he thought maybe they could get married? Haha! There were piles of trash and vultures and other birds all over. The smell was horrendous and most of the people “working” there had long shirt and pants on and a rag covering their faces. It was about 90 degrees so they worked hard and hot all day long, every day, just to earn such a small amount of money.
When we returned from the dump we headed to the hospital to pray for people. Jacob and Madison (another racer) gave up their place to go so another mom, Robin, and I could go together. They had visited before and wanted us to have the experience. When we arrived we were divided into groups and my group, and our interpreter, Jose, went to the children’s ward at the hospital. The hospital had open doors and windows, courtyards with cats and dogs roaming around, no air conditioning, metal beds with stained sheets…NOT sanitary at all! Such a different experience from hospitals in the US. The first boy we approached was named Jacob…he was 1-month old, had a very young mother, and was in the hospital due to a high fever. He was laying under a bug net to keep the bugs away and his mom sat with a piece of paper under the net, fanning him to try to keep him cool. Of course, since his name was the same as my first baby, I felt led to pray for him. It was so sweet to kneel next to his bed, with one hand on his tiny back and my other hand on his mother’s knee, and pray for his fever to be lowered and for him to be running around and growing strong ASAP, in Jesus’ name. After we prayed, his mom asked if she could have a Bible to read while she sat in the hospital. We had Bibles to hand out to anyone who asked or anyone who didn’t have one! We prayed for other children with fevers, a 12-year-old girl with diabetes, and children with other ailments. Their mothers were so grateful we were there. Jose prayed for one mother there so he could speak directly to her…he said he could see brokenness in her eyes and she definitely was grateful that he recognized that and prayed for her and her daughter.
It was dinner time when we returned from the hospital and then time for worship. Jeorgi led worship and we sang some songs and then she spoke about surrendering something to God that we wanted out of our lives…fear, weakness, addiction, anxiety, conflict…whatever it was. They played music and, as we listened, we got up and wrote down what we wanted to surrender on a piece of paper. We could share with someone and pray about it and then we threw the paper into a bonfire and let it burn, having faith that was symbolizing us “letting go” of that negative thing in our lives. Lots of people stood around hugging, watching their paper burn, praying, and just loved on each other. It was a wonderful way to emphasize that we just need to Let Go and Let God take care of our path for the future. Knowing that things have been surrendered to God helps to ease the load on my heart about the future and challenges ahead and let go of past regrets.
Friday was a free day and parents and racers were free to go zip lining, ride a bus to the coolest surf beach in Nicaragua, take a boat ride around some of the small islands off the coast, or just find something else to do together. Jacob and I chose to hike up the trail on Mombacho Volcano. We went with Adria and her parents and Amber. We thought this was going to be a ½ day excursion…boy, were we wrong! We ended up hiking at about a 45 degree angle up a road that led to Crater Trail at the top of Mombacho. One interpreter, Mario, at camp, told us that it was a pretty strenuous hike and we may want to take a taxi up to the top. We all though, “Nah…we can handle it!” We were hot and sweaty and tired but felt like we had really accomplished something BIG when we finally reached the top of the volcano. There was a cool breeze and beautiful views. We could see the red pavilion roof at camp. We saw some monkeys hanging in the trees above us and lots of beautiful, unique flowers. After we hiked the Crater Trail at the top, we headed back down. When we got to the café half way down, we decided a rest, a cool drink, and some food sounded pretty good. We paid for a ride back to camp in the back of a truck. After 6 hours and about 8 miles, we were all glad to be riding rather than walking and to be headed back to camp! That was probably the most strenuous hike I’ve ever taken. Today, 4 days later, my quads and calves are really paying the price—Icy Hot and Advil have been my best friends!
We arrived back at camp to be greeted by all the other racers from Jacob’s squad…those whose parents couldn’t attend PVT. We had fun reuniting with them and then had dinner and headed to worship. We sang some praise songs together and then Ryan got up and spoke about the healings some of us had seen this week. He asked if anyone in the group, racers or parents, had anything that needed to be healed. About 10 people raised their hands with various ailments…hearing issues, sore knees, aching backs, shoulder problems, swollen feet, etc. We divided up and placed our hands on these people with ailments and all prayed, in Jesus’ name, that they would be restored and healed of their ailments. Cody’s dad has his knees restored and he ran across the pavilion, pain-free, as Cody jumped up and down, shouting “thank you, Jesus” and smiling from ear to ear. I witnessed swelling go down immediately in Tonya’s feet and ankles, Abby regaining full range of motion on her ankle, Jenny’s mom getting some relief in her ankle and even the length of her leg changing a little bit, full movement in Ryan’s mom’s shoulder…she is scheduled to have surgery this week and the prayer was that the doctor’s would no longer see the need for her surgery when she returned home. The Holy Spirit was obviously present and many people were healed that night. Praise God! Even though we saw healing with our own eyes, some of us still had some unbelief. Help us with our unbelief, Lord, and remind us that through Jesus’ name, you give us all the power to heal others. We headed to bed after worship. Tomorrow is a day of fun and sun and we need to be well rested!
Saturday morning we got up, had breakfast, and got ready for a day of fun and adventure. On the way to see a volcano and swim, Tammy and I were sitting together on the bus. I was talking about my experience with seeing “34” on the clock a lot when Phil was sick and from time to time, still, since he’s passed. She helped me to decipher that those numbers mean “March Forth”…in other words, Move Forward in life. Don’t look back…look forward…march forth! We had an amazing conversation about the number 34 and it was a very cool revelation! First, we went to Masaya Volcano, one of the most active volcanos in this region of Nicaragua. If the smoke would have not been so thick, we would have been able to see lava down inside the crater. You could smell the sulfur and I felt a little intimidated by this powerful hole in the ground. WOW! After seeing the volcano and visitor’s center, we headed to Apoyo Lagoon. This was a crater lake from a volcano from 20,000+ years ago and was filled with the most refreshing, clean water! Tammy and I were the first parents to jump in and we enjoyed a day of swimming, fun in the sun, laughing and playing, eating a wonderful buffet, enjoying a few cold drinks, and just bonding with this wonderful group of parents and racers. Such a nice relaxing day! I hope that Savannah enjoys my floppy hat…it looked really good on her! We arrived back at camp late afternoon, sunburned and tired, just in time to eat…AGAIN! We have not had a moment of hunger or a lack of food during this trip, for sure! After dinner was time for worship.
Tonight is the night we will give our blessing to our racer we wrote ahead of time and we would also participate in a foot washing and have communion together. WOW! A powerful, emotional night of wonderful, open discussion and sharing of love for each other and expressing thankfulness for all of our blessings. To be like Jesus, to serve Jacob and wash his feet, was a very humbling experience. It brought back memories of the last time I washed his feet, probably 23-24 years ago. I looked at his feet and saw Phil’s feet. I pictured Jesus humbling himself in front of His disciples and washing their feet. WOW! When Jacob washed my feet it was so comforting and I felt so loved. We have never had such an experience and the experience gave me a sense of love and care and made my heart so full. We talked, I bawled, we smiled and hugged…it was a great night to REALLY connect with Jacob…heart, spirit, mind. So amazing! After worship, we got together with Ashley and her parents under the pavilion and learned a new card game called 313. It was so much fun and it was nice to have this small bit of leisure time to just be with Jacob and hang out and do something relaxing and fun! It’s been a busy, full, emotional week and sitting there playing cards reminded me of all the family camping trips we’d go on and sit around playing games in the evening. I need to send a shout out to Paige for sharing her Nicaraguan chocolate with us. YUCK! I’m not sure what it was exactly but she warned us ahead of time that she and her dad didn’t like it very much. It started out as a coffee/cocoa taste and then quickly turned into a tootsie roll, grainy, blob of some unrecognizable goo. NOT good at all. We got some laughs of sharing this “delicious” chocolate with some of the other racers and parents and watching their expressions when they tasted it. Maybe it’s just something new and unfamiliar but none of us preferred the taste or texture. Savannah’s reaction was the best…”what, am I eating monkey poop or something?!” haha!
I woke up early Sunday morning, knowing this was going to be last morning with Jacob before heading home. I’ve communicated with Gary and some of our kids during the trip, and am missing them and am ready to get home, but I’ve also loved spending this time with Jacob, doing mission, loving Jesus and loving on people, and really wish this trip was longer! I did my final packing, taking some things back home for Jacob and packing some mementos I bought. I was nervous about a scorpion stowing away in my luggage and will be very careful unpacking! I didn’t see any scorpions on this trip, but several people did and were stung by them. YIKES! After breakfast, Jacob and I had a long walk on the road, back into the fruit trees on the farm, and talked about what an amazing trip this has been. We grew much closer, were so open with conversation, and just had the opportunity to love on each other and grow closer to each other and to God. We really reflected on what’s most important for our futures and life is so good. I know that God has great plans for Jacob’s future when he returns from the World Race. He has a servant heart and is loved by everyone he encounters. I got so many compliments from parents and racers about Jacob’s attitude and demeanor and leadership on this race. I am so proud! I know that God has plans for me, too. He will continue to be the center of my marriage to Gary and my hope is that all of our children know Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior and live each day with Him in their hearts. I am so, so blessed and being on this trip and seeing the joyful hearts of people in Nicaragua, despite their living conditions or their possessions, makes me realize that I have nothing to complain about. I want to use my blessings to bless others and continue my mission of praying for and loving on people, no matter where I am in the world. I am so thankful to Adventures in Mission for providing the opportunity for parents to meet up with their racers on the mission field and get a small taste of how they’re impacting people on this trip. I pray for safe travels and good health for the racers and missionaries all around the world. See you, Jacob, in 4 months!! I love you very, very, very, very much!
