I teared up a little yesterday as church began. I looked around at all the faces and realized I would only see these faces one more day. My nine year old friend Rosa would only have one more day to lead me to an empty chair next to hers. She would only have one more day to ask me questions in Spanish, and have me look blankly at her… and either say ¨mas despacio, por favor¨or ¨no intiendo¨. I think she´d hop in my backpack if I had room. I will miss her hugs and her cheek to cheek smile.
And I will miss Lorriane. She is a single mother of 3 children. Her husband left her recently, and took everything valuable with him. Now she is selling her clothing to support her family. The church has given her some items, such as a stove, and chairs to help her. But she is living in a one room home with tin sides (which rust out in a year because of the volcanic ash that corrodes metal here) and a dirt floor. The first time we went to the barrios at the beginning of the month we visited Lorraine, and cried with her. She is full of hurt, pain, and mourning. I continue to pray over her that her joy will come in the morning. I also pray that God will increase her faith, so that as she gives of herself, she will know that God will bless her (if not here, in eternity). And yesterday, she came to the front of the church for prayer. I put my arms around her… and did what I always do when I even tough her. I began to cry. I feel so attached to Lorraine, when I touch her, I feel her pain. I think that´s how Jesus must have felt on the cross. He took on all of our hurts, and continues to be that involved with us. So, I hugged Lorraine and prayed over her life, and she wouldn´t let go. She squeezed and cried. And after church she told us that there is a special place in her heart for us.
Victor (Juanita´s teenage son) watched us play with the puppies last night after church. As I cuddled with Santiago, Victor said, ¨Santiago will miss Meagan¨. Then he said, I will miss Meagan… and Chris, and Tim, and Anne. And I will miss you too. He went on to explain that he is sad that we will be leaving. Even though we´re a bunch of loud Americans invading their home every day, to eat meals that are considered expensive, he doesn´t want us to go. He wants us to continue to live that closely to him.
And then there´s grammy. Grammy has been making all of our meals for us since we arrived at La Quinta. She is the mother of Eriberto (Juanita´s husband), and she´s been making our rice and beans… and steak, and drumsticks, and french fries, and mashed potatoes… ok, we´ve been eating well in Nicaragua. This morning we told grammy how much she´s blessed us. And she gave Shawna a hug (Shawna´s her favorite) and said that she has loved having us and she doesn´t want us to go. Tomorrow, grammy will make us our last breakfast.
But, we must. Tomorrow we´ll be leaving La Quinta. Lynne and Glenn will be driving us to the ferry down in Rivas. We´ll take the ferry to Omotepe to a camp. This camp will be our debrief site. And then after a couple of days, all 50 of us will head to the airport in Managua where we will catch a flight to Lima.
So, if you don´t hear from me in a week, you´ll know why. We´ll settle into Peru, and then start blogging again. (Those of us with wi-fi might be able to in the airport.)
Good-bye Nicaragua… I love you.
