I set my backpack on a counter in the unfinished medical clinic we’re living in this month in a small village called Candelaria in Nicaragua. Hearing giggles behind me, I turn around to see three little faces peering in the window, three sets of hands grasping the curled metal bars. The children smile and giggle a little more; we chat a little in Spanish, and I turn back to my backpack knowing they are still there, watching my every move. I wonder what we look like to them. Is it strange that we have such big backpacks? (undoubtedly so.) Do they think it’s funny that we carry toilet paper to and from the outhouse? (probably.) There are dozens of things about us that they probably wonder about.
Candelaria is a little village outside of a town (Chichigalpa) about 35 minutes away from a city (Leon) in northwest Nicaragua. My team is living here for the month of August, making the unfinished medical clinic our home and making Candelaria our community. The clinic is right next to an open-air church that holds services 4 or 5 nights a week, and the pastor and his family live right next door.
We came here to work with missionaries Tommy and Linda Gable, who are directing a multitude of projects in Candelaria and some surrounding villages. From building the pastor’s house and the medical clinic, to youth group every Friday night, to outreaches to public schools in the area, to starting a garden full of healthy fruits and vegetables (and many other projects besides), the Gables and their team are keeping a steady pace.
*Right: kids playing on our doorstep in the deluge of rain! We played with them.
I have a chance this month to be stretched and learn much about living in community (with my teammates) in community (with Candelarians). When I open the front door and there are children playing in the dirt on your doorstep, and people are coming and going all day from the community center (church) ten yards away, there’s an opportunity to just live life among these people. This is completely new and stretching for me, but I’m so excited to be here! God has been doing a great work in Candelaria: there have been 50 youth commitments to Christ in the past month–a harvest after much sowing–and now we have the opportunity to jump in with all we’ve got. I must learn how to “die daily” to myself and take up the burden of Christ here in Candelaria.
*Below…children playing in the open air church right outside our front door
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I set my backpack on a counter in the unfinished medical clinic we’re living in this month in a small village called Candelaria in Nicaragua. Hearing giggles behind me, I turn around to see three little faces peering in the window, three sets of hands grasping the curled metal bars. The children smile and giggle a little more; we chat a little in Spanish, and I turn back to my backpack knowing they are still there, watching my every move. I wonder what we look like to them. Is it strange that we have such big backpacks? (undoubtedly so.) Do they think it’s funny that we carry toilet paper to and from the outhouse? (probably.) There are dozens of things about us that they probably wonder about.
