Hey everyone…I’m posting from Galway, Ireland, whoo hoo! I got a computer and thanks so much to everyone who pitched in. This really does make a difference because I can finally post some pictures and make phone calls on Skype and actually write and post some blogs in the short amount of time that we have to do all of this. =P
After a week of debrief, waiting for the political coup in Honduras to simmer down some, and a nice stay in a tropical paradise, our Teams NEON & Azariah made it to our ministry site at Circrin Ministries. There were about 15-20 kids from age 2 to 19 that we got to pour our hearts into. Our teams got to do some construction work paving a driveway from the girls’ dorm to the bottom of “base camp”. We made volcanoes of cement, dirt, rock and water…mixed all it up, hauled it in wheelbarrows and then poured it. We worked with Antonio and Hildin, the handymen of the base. They were such good sports and we got to share a lot of laughs as we tried to learn Spanish from them. We would eat breakfast around 6:30am, begin construction work and/or chores at 8am until about 11:30ish. We would take a break until lunch at 12:30, a break afterwords and get right back into the work at 2:30 until quitting time.
By the end of every day I was completely worn out physically. Unfortunately because I was so drained, I hesitated to suck it up and pour more energy into the kids. Thankfully, God used the smallest of conversations to form powerful bonds. After a few days, one of the girls, she’s about 12 or 13, just came up and hugged me. I didn’t even know her name, but I knew she was precious to Christ and I could actually see that. Amalia and I became friends, she stuck to me like glue the rest of the time I was there at Cicrin and I’m missing her right now.
I found it much harder to leave Nicaragua. Living there at the children’s home made a big difference in how I bonded with people. Towards the end of our stay, we had a fun party filled with food, soda, dancing and rejoicing. Several of the teenage girls performed 2 traditional Nicaragua dances and then afterwards tought the lot of us how to do them. We had so much fun that night and it was awesome blessing the kids with sodas and treats and staying up late on a school night. 😉
I don’t miss the weather and the heat of Latin America…the hearts and the beauty of the people there give me something to miss.
