After leaving the city of Granada, team Pi headed off to Ocotal, Nicaragua. I was so excited to be in one town for an entire month and desired to get connected right away. But, as usual, the Lord had other plans. We arrived in Ocotal and were met by Pastor Orlando at a local church where we would be staying. We were directed to dorm-like rooms behind the church and quickly unpacked, excited about our new residence. No sooner though had I pulled everything out of my pack when Orlando informed us we would have one night there, then be spending the weekend in a mountain village. After all the traveling we had went through we all were ready to be stationary, but we decided we should check it out. Friday morning we left Ocotal at 6:30 am and traveled in Orlando´s truck with Dre on my lap to a town 3 hours away called Murra. In Murra we grabbed lunch and met up with some local pastors who would be taking us the rest of the way to a village called Rosario. Our ride was supposed to be coming soon, so we sat in a local church waiting. We sat….and we sat some more…then we did some more sitting. After about 5 hours of being told our ride was almost there, we decided to have a team meeting. We were all feeling a little uneasy about the whole thing and the later it got the more unsettled we got. We went around and expressed concern, and then we decided to pray. After spending some good time in prayer we came to the conclusion that we had made it this far and would trust the Lord to continue bringing us to where we needed to be. Our ride had finally come, and so the 5 of us, all of our packs, 3 mattresses…oh, and 8 other people, climbed into the back of a little pickup truck and started our trek up into the mountains of Nicaragua. The ´roads´ were uneven sloshes of mud, and the first 15 minutes of our straight uphill excursion consisted of a screeching transmission that eventually the driver couldnt even handle. Due to the potential danger of being on the side of a mountain in the dark with our transmission about to drop, we stopped the truck. The pastors with us were trying to figure out a new plan while team Pi stood around and wondered if we had completely heard the Lord incorrectly and He was now trying to give us an easy out. We debated going back down the mountain, but decided to wait it out, and after about 30 minutes we reloaded everything into a new truck bed that had come to our rescue. So up the mountain we went. It was 3 hours of uphill muddyness and prayer to the Lord that we would make it. Darkness had fallen and now it was just us in the back of a truck with a handful of people we did not know, on our way to a town no one had heard of. In the midst of the ridiculous though, it was beautiful. I dont think I have ever seen so many stars at once and the vastness of the mountains was breathtaking. Though the beauty was overwhelming, so was the pain in my back from the spare tire jabbing against it. I was on the verge of complete discomfort when there it was…a city on a hill. Literally, across the way, was a cluster of lights known as Rosario. We had made it. Once in Rosario we were ushered into a church to attend the end of the nights service. After the service, we were escorted a few doors down to our new residence. The house was owned by a man named Gregorio and his family, and we were so blessed by having 3 bedrooms with beds for our team.
Our time in Rosario was a brief two days, but I must say I very much enjoyed it. Saturday morning was spent by going around the village with some of the pastors and inviting people to church. It was awesome to see the hearts of these men who loved this community so much. Their boldness to walk into peoples homes and share the love of the Lord was so encouraging. At night there was a service, and though all in Spanish and involving the loudest music I have ever heard in such an eclosed space, it was awesome to see the hunger of this church. The pastor was very interactive with his sermon and would pose questions to the congregation in which they responded quite eagerly. I loved watching their interactions and seeing a body which truly desired to grow. Truth was evident, and I loved it. We were told during training that our ministry would consist of going to a place where the Lord already was, and becoming involved in work He was already doing; and that is what I felt was happening in Rosario.
Sunday was probably my favorite day there because team Pi got to run a kids program in the afternoon for what turned out to be around 200 kids. It was wonderful to come together as a team and plan such a fun event. We sung songs, played games, and involved the kids in acting out the parables of the Good Samaritan and the Wise and Foolish Builders. I thoroughly enjoy kids programs and loved having our whole team come together and be involved in such a fun ministry.
We left Rosario on Monday morning and headed back to Ocotal. It took 3 hours in the back of a giant truck, 3 and 1/2 hours in a school bus, and 5 minutes in Orlandos truck to make it back to our church. As crazy and unplanned as our weekend was, it was an experience I will never forget. I am so glad our team decided to go through with it and it was awesome to see what God showed us because of our obedience.
