I groggily wake up to a bell dinging incessantly, signaling breakfast time. It’s 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday, March 1, and I find myself in Bethel, a small town outside of Chinandega, Nicaragua, at the end of Month Two of The World Race. Our squad of 34 is living together this month, working for a ministry called Vision Nicaragua.
I climb down off of my bunk bed in the dormitory I share with 15 other girls and head to the repostería (cafeteria), where Estella and Antonia have set out pancakes and cereal. Someone says a prayer over the food and others share announcements. I shovel down my favorite breakfast with vigor and gulp several glasses of water to start the hydration process early.
Thankfully, it’s not my team’s dish duty today, so I finish and walk to the main meeting room to check the schedule. It says, “Las Nubes (PA)”. Very informative. I have come to understand that “PA” stands for “Pastor Antonio,” who has been leading us throughout the month. I also know that “Las Nubes” means “The Clouds,” but I’m not sure how that translation is helpful in any way.
I put on my tank top (sleeveless shirts are approved!) and slip on my thin blue pants (shorts are not preferred), which are tinted with orange. Juana and Thelma, who clean our rooms and clothes, love to heap on the bleach. A few articles of my clothing are now tye-dyed, but the women are very thorough and only charge 25-45 Córdoba ($1-3 dollars) to wash, dry, and fold a load. I braid my hair and secure it with my World Race buff, to keep sweat out of my face.
Juan Carlos, our driver, yells his trademark phrase: “Okey, peepole! Les goh!” One of the vehicles broke down, so we squeeze our entire squad and a couple workers from a partnering ministry into a single, large truck bed. We drive for about twenty minutes to a village called Las Nubes and the schedule starts to make sense. On the way, wind and dust fly through my hair.
An array of images passes by: palm trees, fields, ditches littered with brightly-colored garbage, tin-roofed houses, advertisements painted on cement walls, barbed wire, clotheslines, crushed glass, green mangoes dangling off branches, burning trash… There are tires, rocks, dirt roads, and immense volcanoes. Stray dogs that resemble dingoes search for food with pointed ears and visible ribs. Catcalls and shouts of “Oye, gringas!” fade in and out. A skinny cow with floppy ears grazes in a ditch. Families of three or four cram onto one bicycle.
We arrive at an elementary school, greeted with waves by kids in white and navy uniforms. The girls gather in coy clumps, giggling and sneaking glances. Pastor Antonio asks us to put on a program for the kids. We start by singing a few Spanish songs, the equivalent of “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes,” “Who is the King?,” “I’ve Got the Joy,” and “King of Kings.”
Then, our squad acts out the Bible story of David and Goliath. I thought I was a pretty intimidating Philistine, but the kids just laughed at my antics. It could have been due to my leaf helmet or branch sword, which I borrowed from a toothless lady’s firewood pile. My teammate, Victoria, delivers a message to the kids while I translate. She talks about how God can help us fight through big problems in our lives. To conclude, Pastor Antonio invites the children to give their lives to Jesus, and a few respond in prayer. Then we play games, group-hug, and drive back to the project.
I immediately change into shorts since we can wear whatever we want within the four walls of the compound. We eat a typical lunch of beans, rice, tortillas, salad, and lemonade. Afterward, we have two short meetings about logistics of the afternoon and our travel day to Honduras. Then, we pile into the truck again.
One of our hosts from the United States, Lauren, leads us to a woman’s home in Bethel. Ixcell, who is 19 years old, shares her testimony with our group. She tells us about how, starting at age 15, she went through multiple surgeries because of fluid accumulation in her brain. She talked about her struggle with beauty as the doctors had to cut her hair each time. God worked through her life and she met her husband, a radiologist, at the hospital. It was beautiful to hear her story.
Then, our group splits up throughout the village to hang out with the villagers. I play Pictionary, Hangman, and soccer with some very rowdy kids. I also help a family get water from the well. The water for the whole village is available for three hours per day, so people gather as much as they need in buckets and transport them in carts.
We return to the project to eat a dinner of an egg salad and chips. I change into a long skirt to attend a youth group service in Bethel. We sing songs, play games and hang out with kids there. Then, we ride back to the project to have a team meeting and rest up for another day.
This post concludes my Month Two in Nicaragua. Next, we head to Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Below are two maps: one of places we visited in Nicaragua and one of the three Central American countries we will serve in. <3
