Hello from Nicaragua! Nicaragua is unexpectedly beautiful. The scenery has blown my mind, the weather is perfect (not too hot and not too cold), and the people are so sweet. And there are about a million lagoons/lakes everywhere you go, it’s super confusing, but so beautiful.
We’re staying at Milton and Eva’s house. It’s a little two bedroom house in small town Nandasmo, and each of us have our own bed in one cozy little room. It’s very open to the great outdoors so of course we get lovely mosquitoes, mice, bat sized moths, spiders and other lovely creaturs. But, even then, it’s a cute, quaint house, and I certainly can’t complain. Best part is… there’s hot showers!
Our ministry this month has definitely stretched me and challenged me. Our team of five split into two groups. Bree and Heather have been going to one of the schools each day to teach English and help with the children, and the other three of us did home visits for the first week. Definitely something I have very little experience doing. We would meet community members at the church every morning at 9am, we have a translator with us named Moses (who is awesome and has become such a good friend), and we walk door to door throughout the community. The members from the church know what’s going on in each home so they update us as we’re walking. It’s challenged me to step out of my comfort zone in sharing my testimony, sharing the gospel, and simply praying for people out loud.
It’s been awesome to walk from house to house and simply talk to them, visit them in their struggles, and bless them with a simple prayer, a Bible verse, or even a story from our past. And I usually walk away equally blessed by them.
There was one woman the first week named Ana. She has several children, but they never come visit her in her old age, so she’s super lonely. She was so excited to see us there, and she was so grateful for our presence. The smile she had on our face because we simply came and prayed for her was enough to light up a room.
Another man we met, named Alexander, is from Arizona. He was in an accident at work where a huge metal beam fell on his leg and broke his femur. He had surgery four weeks ago, and is now on crutches. You could tell he’s super frustrated with being stuck at home, and not just that, but also being stuck to a chair or his bed. It’s surprisingly refreshing having an entire conversation with him in English without a translator or broken English. We’ve been back to visit him once a week since our initial meeting, and he has definitely become a special part of this month.
Johnny, a young man from the church’s, grandmother was probably one of my favorite visits. She’s in a lot of pain on both of her sides from surgeries, her feet and legs are swollen which keeps her from walking well, she has restless nights of sleep, she has a son who has gone insane from drug use as a teenager and he has gotten to be too much to take care of in her old age, and she is extremely lonely ever since her mother died. She looked us in the eye, and you could just see how badly she wanted relief. My heart broke for this old woman. She was so vulnerable with us; three white people who are complete strangers. She completely opened up to us, and was so grateful for our prayers. We left that day with huge hugs and a kiss on the cheek.
Another woman we met named Ruth has been laying in bed for five years. She has huge bed sores, and her body is weak and fragile. The family doesn’t know what happened to her five years ago that led to this. After we left the home, Moses told us that some people practice witchcraft in Nicaragua. It’s not as common now as it was 20 years ago, but he seemed to think witchcraft could’ve been some of the reason she’s like that.
One afternoon we visited a Drug Rehab Facility where we met Joseph and Richard. These two men were so much fun to talk to. They both had struggled with Alcoholism since they were 15. Both men shared some of their stories and agreed that the addiction had entirely consumed their lives. They said they didn’t even know they were miserable until they decided they needed rehab. Changing wasn’t an option anymore, they were in complete brokenness when they came to the facility 2-3 months ago, and change was a necessity. Both are taking the steps to fight the addiction, and even though they still struggle, they have found the Lord while in rehab. From what they were telling us, they are beginning to replace their addiction with a relationship with God. It was definitely a cool experience to sit and listen to both of their stories. They are eager to learn, and they’re eager to continue growing in their faith.
These are just a few of the beautiful stories of the people we’ve met. So many of them struggle with depression, loneliness, alcoholism, drug abuse, sickness or injuries. Some of them are Christians, some aren’t. The more people we meet, the more I realize how common these struggles are. Satan attacks us and makes us think there’s no one around us who cares. It’s not true. Call it for what it is… a lie. People struggle with the same things you’re struggling with right next door to you, and…
all around the world.
