The internet has been fairly scarce this month, which is why I am just now writing a blog about what we’ve been doing in Nicaragua. All 55 members of M-Squad are living together in a church in Palacaguina, a small rural town in the mountains of northern Nicaragua just an hour away from the Honduran border.
We’ve been sleeping in our tents (inside the church) and hand washing our laundry. However, all of our meals are prepared for us by a few women from the church and we have two bathrooms and showers. Therefore, we are very thankful.
Ministry this month has been different for everyone. My team has partnered up with another team of six and has spent the month helping Pastor Louisa, the pastor of a local church in Palacaguina.
Although she doesn’t speak English, we’ve been able to use what Spanish we know (and lots of sign language) to communicate and it’s definitely forged a neat relationship between us.
Most days we help with the construction of bible classrooms at her church. We mix and pour concrete, shovel piles of sand, clear rocks, move bricks, whatever we’re told to do. This past week, however, we’ve been helping build a house for Louisa’s friend, Rebecca. She is a single mom of an 8 year old little girl and it’s been a really great experience getting to help build her home. It’s so different from construction in the states. Since things like concrete and bricks are so expensive, the majority of the concrete they use is mixed with just as much sand and rocks. And the bricks we’re using to build Rebecca’s house are adobe bricks made of mud. Today we began stacking the bricks to make the walls and we stuck them together with, you guessed it, more mud.
After a long week of work, Louisa wanted to treat us to an afternoon of fun and rest so she informed us at lunch that we were going to be going to a pool that afternoon. Of course, we didn’t argue. We didn’t have our swimsuits, but she said that was fine. From what we understood, the pool was nearby. Not knowing what to expect, but excited for an afternoon off, we hopped in the back of a pickup truck and headed a few miles down the road, through a river, and down a hill to this dirt lane leading into the woods. After several hundred yards we reached a bend in the road and saw the pool off in the distance. It was beautiful! There were colorful flags, bright green palm trees, a pavilion, and the pool looked so blue. It had been a long week, it was hot, and we were all so ready to jump in.
But just as we entered the park, we realized that the pool was empty. In fact, a few guys were in the pool with buckets of water, wire brushes, and brooms…scrubbing mold of the floor and sides of the pool. Louisa felt terrible. You could see on her face that she had no idea the pool would be empty. But without skipping a beat, we did what we came there to do…we jumped in.
We laughed as we grabbed buckets and brooms and began helping these guys clean the pool. What could have so easily turned into a negative situation full of complaining quickly became an afternoon of laughter, joy, and positivity.
Louisa’s church meets Sunday mornings, Sunday evenings, and Wednesday evenings. For each service, we are responsible for singing a few songs, performing a drama/skit, and occasionally preaching.
On Fridays, the entire squad has been helping at the university in the next town over. We’ve been leveling ground to create room for more classrooms, clearing brush, picking up trash, and removing rocks from the dirt road that runs through campus.
The university was started by the local churches. In an attempt to make higher education possible for everyone, the cost of classes is less than 30 dollars a month. Even though the teachers’ salaries are quite low, they put everything they have into teaching and empowering the Nicaraguan youth.
Overall, this month has been pretty incredible. The church we're staying in has blessed us so much. Even though we've claimed half of their church with our tents and often times don't stay as on top of the cleaning as we should, they do everything out of love and treat us so well. They have prayed for us as a squad and specifically for the two girls on our squad who are injured (broken foot and torn MCL), they spend all day preparing our meals, they offer to help with our laundry, and they bring us coke for work breaks.
It's the simple things that bring people together, and I'm going to miss the simplicity of this town and the hearts of these people.
They are daily examples of living life according to 1 Corinthians 16:14. "Do everything in love."
