Here are some snippits of the people who touched my heart whilst I was serving at El Ayudante in Leon, Nicaragua.
Megan & Mary Ellen
Megan and Mary Ellen are recent college graduates who are doing a long term internship at El Ayudante. Megan’s role at El Ayudante is to prepare teams’ schedules, and communicate with teams when they arrive. Mary Ellen’s role is to go into the community and see what they need and how El Ayudante can help. (Fun Fact: Mary Ellen is a GREAT Salsa dancer!) Both of these women are passionate about making a long- lasting impact in the surrounding communities , and they love on the kids who come to El Ayudante very, very well.
Vanessa
Vanessa is the director of El Ayudante. A former lawyer, Vanessa’s passion to see growth and change in the communities is very evident. She has been working at El Ayudante for a number of years and describes ElAyudante as a beautiful, beautiful ministry. She absolutely loves working at El Ayudante because she “sees Jesus every day” there.
Marisol
Marisol is the director of the Family Enrichment Center (FEC) which 30 kids are involved in. She’s been the director for over 8 years, and sincerely loves every child like they were her own. With her warm smile and professional manner, she is a director that any leader can (and should) look up to.
The Kids
There are 30 kids who attend the services that the Family Enrichment Center offers. 7 of those 30 kids live on the campus, and the other 23 come to the Center every Monday – Friday. These kids arrive at the center at about 5:30 am, eat breakfast, go to school, come back and eat lunch, receive tutoring until about 4:00, and then head to their homes. Personally speaking, these kids taught me more about loving and giving love than I ever imagined possible.
I went into Nicaragua with the intention to give and give and give, and to love the kids as hard as I could, but what happened in reality was that I took away more than I gave. These 30 kids showed me more of who Jesus is with every single one of their smiles, hugs, shouts of “Kimberly!” kisses on my hand, and even, pokes in my tummy. These kids love well, and they love hard, and they don’t even know it.
I will miss the kids terribly, but I am so blessed that I left El Ayudante with a smile on my face and in my heart, fully knowing that I gave it my all this month, and that the Lord has been and will always take care of these kids, and can (and does) love them much, much more than I can.
To learn more about the kids, please click here.
My time in Nicaragua was definitely blessed. Let’s see what other blessings come during the rest of my World Race Journey!
