So, I am currently sitting in the Miami airport while I am
writing this post. Today has been quite a whirlwind of emotions. I woke up this
morning at 5:00AM to get to the airport to prepare to leave Nicaragua at
7:15AM. After saying an emotional goodbye to Walter, we (Kasey, Chris, and I)
were on our way to Miami. Just a few
minutes ago Kasey and Chris headed on a plane that will arrive in DFW this
evening. As I am sitting alone in this
airport, I am trying to just soak it all in.
Soak in all the memories, culture, love and joy, friendships, and
life-changing lessons The Lord taught me in Nicaragua. Also I am trying to soak in the fact that I
will be leaving The United States again in just a few short hours to arrive in
The Dominican Republic. When I planned
my summer, I didn’t think about this particular day and how hard it would
be. Leaving Nicaragua, Kasey and Chris
going their separate way back to Texas, and arriving in The Dominican Republic
all in one day. I am very fortunate to
have such a long layover to be able to digest and let all that I saw and experienced
in Nicaragua have an influence on me, but I could do this for many days opposed
to a few hours. Just please be praying
that The Lord continues to prick my heart with the lessons he taught me while
in Nicaragua. Pray that everything that
I was exposed to continues to make an impact amidst the quick transition to
another exciting and emotional experience.
Don’t get me wrong, I am super excited to return to The Dominican
Republic to be reunited with family and friends, but I want to ensure that I do
not get distracted and lose sight of the lessons learned and the impact made in
Nicaragua over the last few weeks. That
little country in Central America and the people in it have once again stolen
my heart. I am planning to write a summary post about the impact this trip had
on my life, but right now I would like to focus on the other half of this
incredible trip!
The internet is pretty slow here in The Dominican Republic and it takes forever to upload photos to my blog, so I may just have to add them later! I will still try to put some though!
The internet is pretty slow here in The Dominican Republic and it takes forever to upload photos to my blog, so I may just have to add them later! I will still try to put some though!
This past week we spent much the same as the week before
with families, schools, and exploring the country.
Yaris’ Story
This is Yaris. She is full of joy, always, amidst being deaf,
partially mute, and other physical disabilities. With One Hope provides formula
for her which has helped immensely with her mobility in her arms in order to do
sign language while also helping her develop more mentally. We did not spend a great deal of time with
Yaris, but I was smiling and laughing the entire time. Her joy is contagious and overflowing.
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| This picture doesn't capture her contagious joy but this is Yaris |
Yaz School
One of the accomplishments of With One Hope has been
building preschools. We were fortunate
to get to spend time with yet another school that this organization
started. Chris was feeling under the
whether this particular day so Walter, Kasey, and I journeyed to the
school. This was an experience in itself
not having Chris there as a translator, but we managed to do just fine. On the way to the school, Kasey and I were
practicing reading the story of Noah in Spanish to Walter to make sure that the
kids would be able to understand us when we read it to them. He suggested that we be sure to make some
motions and actions to help the children understand even more. After reading the story, we made bracelets
with the kids. This particular bracelet
has beads that all signify something about God.
Green is hope, white is purity, yellow is light, black is our sin, red is
love, and blue is heaven. We all enjoyed
spending time with these children sharing the love of The Lord.
Guiselle and Lupita’s House
We spent an afternoon at Guiselle and Lupita’s house hearing
their mom’s story as well as jokes and riddles from the girls. It is always fun
to spend time with these precious children.
It is so awesome to see how much they have grown and developed over the
last two years. They are just such a joy
to be around. We had a rock, paper, scissors tournament, braided each other’s
hair and got excited about our trip to the beach that would be coming up!
Fernanda and Emily
One afternoon we headed to Managua to spend some time with
Fernanda and Emily and what made it even more exciting is that Johana was able
to come too! We had lunch at Tiptop, the KFC of Nicaragua. We just all shared a big bucket of fried
chicken, French fries, and rolls. Later we headed to the mall to walk off all
the fried food and to have more time together with the girls. It was great to be able to catch up with them
and see how they had changed since I had last spent time with them. We enjoyed heading into a department store
and basically playing the price is right.
We would pick out a particular item, like a piece of furniture, and then
all guess the price. After walking
around for a while we decided to stop and get some ice cream. It was such a refreshing treat! It was such a
fun afternoon talking, laughing, and making memories with such sweet
girls.
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| Me, Emily, Fernanda, and Kasey |
Tipitapa
This past Thursday we headed to Tipitapa to hear a few
stories from the community. Tipitapa is
one of the poorest communities in Nicaragua.
After being hit by a flood in 2010, this community was left
devastated. Over 1,000 people were
shoved into living in a factory with only 5 bathrooms while the government
built them new places to live. Now, this
community has become little poorly built houses that were just basically
plopped down on some land. They recently
have been provided with running water, electricity, and a new school. Previously the children were going to school
in a stable type thing with a huge cattle trough in the middle, a home for many
animals. Although Tipitapa is starting
to develop more, it is still a very isolated and impoverished community.
Maria’s Story
We first headed to Maria’s house to hear her story in
Tipitapa She has 15 children and a husband who recently left her. Although only 6 of the children currently
live with her, she has been through a great deal during her lifetime. She does not have an education because she
was forced to work to support her family as a young child. Her husband would continue to tell her that
her only worth was found in having kids and raising them. When With One Hope first got into contact
with Maria she said she did not know how to do anything except raise a
family. Walter and Chris decided she
would be a perfect addition to the With One Hope family. About a year and a half ago, Walter provided
her with many seeds to plant in her backyard.
She continues to try different plants out to see how they will grow in
the area. She then is able to use the
fruits of the plants to provide for her family or sell in the market. She enjoyed taking us through her yard
showing us what different plants she is growing and the work required to
maintain them. Their yard resembles a
jungle. It is insane. The Lord has truly
reached his hand into her soil to make it more fertile. Also, she is beginning to see that she is
smart and has value which is incredible to get to experience firsthand.
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| Maria sharing her story |
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| Maria and her youngest boys in her jungle (garden) |
The Community Leaders
In the afternoon we headed back to Tipitapa to hear the
stories of two more women. These two
women have become community leaders for Tipitapa. During the times living in the factory, these
women united together to work for the good of their community. They are very strong women who love The Lord
with all of their heart. While Walter
and Chris were listening to their stories, Kasey and I decided to distract the
kids so they were not interfering with the serious conversations their mothers
were trying to have. We started by just
asking them simple questions like, what is your name? how old are you? What is
your favorite color? And more. Later,
Isaac came out of the house with a game.
He or someone else had made a checkers board out of a piece of cardboard
using bottle caps as the game pieces. I
do not have much experience with checkers, but do not believe we were playing
exactly right. Sometimes Isaac would
make moves for us or just go wherever he pleased. At some point he would just announce a
winner. Two other kids, Stephany and Ris
were just running around being our entertainment during the game. It is awesome to see how comfortable these
kids are opening themselves up to people who can only attempt but not
necessarily excel at speaking their language and that they just met.
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| One of the community leaders, Amada, and her precious big baby boy!
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The School
After visiting with these two families, we headed to the school in Tipitapa to spend some time with one of the preschool classes. We introduced ourselves and Walter shared the story of David and Goliath. These kids were so full of joy, it was great to spend some time loving on them!
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| Me attempting to teach kids letters and numbers |
Nutrition
It has been a very awesome experience for Kasey and I to be
able to utilize our degrees we are pursuing here in Nicaragua. We have worked hard assessing the food
packages developing ideas and recommendations to increase the nutritional value
that With One Hope is giving to the families each month. Also, Walter presented us with the challenge
of creating a menu for a pilot preschool.
It was neat to use our knowledge of nutrition and the culture of
Nicaragua to create a school menu we feel is best for preschool children in
Nicaragua. We have loved gaining some
real world experience in Nutrition!
San Juan del Sur
This past Saturday we headed to the beach with Guiselle and
Lupita! First we were able to enjoy a nearly two hour car ride joking, playing,
and continuing to build relationships with the two girls until we arrived in San
Juan del Sur at the beach. Both girls
were a little hesitant to come play in the water with us, but after a little
coaxing by Chris and Walter they started to feel more comfortable. We enjoyed jumping over waves, swimming,
splashing, and lots of laughing. After
playing in the water a bit we decided to head up to a restaurant on the beach
to have lunch. It was good to just relax
and gain some more energy to continue to enjoy the beach. After lunch, we decided we had had enough of
the water and that we just wanted to walk along the shore to search for some
shells. Our final destination was a
bridge over a small river that feeds into the ocean. We spent some time crossing the bridge, taking
pictures, and watching some crabs, birds, and fish. The sun was really beating down hard and
leading to very exhausted little girls. On
our way back to Jinotepe, both girls were laying all over Kasey and I trying to
fall asleep. This is just another
example of how comfortable the children feel with people after only spending a
short amount of time and especially limited conversation together. I absolutely love that With One Hope takes
the time to bond and build relationships with the families they support in
order to make an even greater impact.
Chris and Walter are both outstanding examples of Godly men to these
young girls. They truly treasure them so
much and you can see it in the girls’ faces and actions how much they know that
they are loved. It is incredible to see
these girls recognizing their value at such a young age, especially considering
Latin American culture. I am so thankful
for Walter and Chris for encouraging these two girls as well as many others of
their worth.
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Chris walking along the beach with Guiselle and Lupita
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| The girls actually smiling! |
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| Guiselle falling asleep on the way back from the beach |
Preparing to Leave
Sunday was a day full of cleaning, packing, and getting
ready to leave. After church we spent
the afternoon washing clothes, finishing some nutrition work, and just enjoying
our last evening in Jinotepe. Yesterday
we had a debriefing time with Christ to talk about the trip. Then, we headed to the church for one last
lunch with Johana. After an emotional
goodbye, we headed on our journey. We
stopped in Catarina at an overlook to take in more of the beauty of
Nicaragua. We then were able to spend
some time in a market to get some souvenirs.
After that, we headed to Managua to go to the hotel. We decided to allow Walter the evening with
his family and had to tell him goodbye.
Many tears were shed and hugs were given. Little did Kasey and I know that he would be
meeting us in the airport to see us off in the morning. After dinner, Kasey and I finished the
details of our nutrition project and then headed to bed. This morning we woke up early to board our
plane to Miami! And now I am preparing
to get on my flight to the Dominican Republic!
I am looking forward to writing my post about the summary and the impact
this trip had on me, be expecting it soon. Thanks again for all of the prayers!
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| Sweet Johana and I
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| Walter and I at the beautiful overlook Hopefully I will update soon about how The Dominican is going! |
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