Would I do it all over again? Probably not but I am so very glad I did the World Race.
Favorite country & ministry:
Call me crazy but I thought this would be difficult; sometimes I enjoyed the ministry and not the country or vice versa. UNTIL we arrived at Brazos de Amor in Nicaragua in Month 11.
When we were told our last ministry would be with children, I was anxious. Sometimes children scare the crap out of me. I am not always good with children, they don’t like me, I don’t know how to play with them, I don’t necessarily know many ‘baby shark’esque songs, etc) Our first day there was weird, we didn’t know what to do and we had a long travel day beforehand. But a blessing in disguise came on our second night. Mary and I had decided to visit Casa Uno for their nightly devotional. While we were getting ready, the power went out. We didn’t really know what to do, so we headed for Casa Uno. When we got there Tía Iris said ‘no luz, no devotíonal.'( no light, no devotional). I looked at Mary and she didn’t seem to know what else to do, so we sat down on the porch.
Over the course of the evening we were able to see the boys (ages 10 -17) true personalities come out. There was a major game of hide and seek, they were climbing trees and up under the roof of the porch, running around, yelling: pretty much they went crazy. I sat down next to Iris and we all tried to talk with my limited Spanish and some of the boys’ limited (but very good) English. I think it was one of my favorite nights on the Race.
After that, it was easy to plug-in where needed. Sometimes that was the main kitchen, sometimes it was cleaning, other times it was helping with English homework, staying out of the way while they played soccer, cheering at soccer games, trying to communicate solely in Spanish, and so much more.
The people of Brazos de Amor didn’t just welcome us into their home for 3 weeks, they welcomed us into their lives and hearts. I left a HUGE part of my heart back there and hope one day to visit again (spoiler alert: it will be SOON.) Stay tuned for another blog.
Brazos de Amor is part of Arms of Love International. They run on donations. Please visit their website and see how you can help or choose a child to sponsor. They have homes in Nicaragua and the Philippines.
