Nicaragua, dia quatro

Saturday, July 26, 2014

The group arrived around 8:30 am and it is already 84. I do believe it is going to be a hot one today. We all headed out to the local coffee shop for our daily caffeine fix and to formulate a "plan." I use quotations marks with plan because Jesse keeps reminding us not to get hung up on the plan as that is usually tied to expectations, and if you have been reading my blog, you already have heard about expectations. We need to be flexible, to be open to what God has for each of us while here. We also had to make a pit stop at the drug store as Jessica was sick, had been up most of the night, and did not make the trip in with the group. Apparently, the combination of hot sun, hard work, sweating, dehydration, and chugging a bottle of sugary soda made for one sick young lady. I guess I should explain why she chugged the soda. Friday night at youth group, there was a challenge. They wanted one Nicaraguan girl and one Oregonian girl to have a chugging contest. Jess won but ultimately it sounds to me like she lost since she spent the whole day at the house.

At the coffee shop, Jesse did a little teaching about Mark 10 and the rich, young ruler. This ruler believed he had it all together and that he was ready for Heaven. He even goes as far as getting confirmation from those around him. He goes to Jesus for final confirmation, but rather Jesus loves him and then tells him the truth. Instead of looking to man or to religion, he (we) need to look to Jesus. Jesus looks at us and knows us, knows if we have it all together or if we still need some work. We need to be sensitive to that and listen when he speaks to us, even if painful. We need to remember Ecclesiastes 5:2 - Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.

The vast majority of the world lives like what we are seeing here in Nicaragua, not how we live back in Oregon. We change. We soften. We make assumptions. Pedro's church is called "The American Church" here. We need to be a connected people. We need to be a global people. If I am constantly tethering my soul to my expectations, I am going to be disappointed. Again, we cannot fix it, but we have to be open to doing what we feel The Lord telling us and act. Do not overthink it, act. We may not understand the how and why, but we need to accept that His ways are not our ways, which makes me think of Deuteronomy 29:29 - The secret things belong to The Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.

As we headed out for a day of touring and more culture, we had to stop and drop off the medicines for Jessica, and I got to see Pedro's home that they have built. It is a lovely house, very nice and beautiful. A large home, very roomy, and yet a humble place. The view is amazing, surrounded by volcanoes.

We went to Telica where Pedro grew up and where Felix, Pedro's older brother, has a home church, and where he lives with their mother while he is building his home as money and time permits. The church has some walls up and a roof of sorts. It is truly mind blowing to see what the people do here with so very little in comparison to what we have. After seeing the church we then went to see where Felix is building his home. Much of the outer part is done as he has been working on it for 3 years, and he said it would probably be another 2 years before it is completed as it is totally built as he has the money. We then went to Pedro's mother's home where many generations of family live together, Pedro's mom, Felix and his family, another brother and his family, and I believe there is a distant relative there as well. These people were amazingly gracious allowing us to invade their home, ask as many questions as we wanted, and take pictures. Here, we met Felix's son who is learning the same trade as his father, a shoe repairman. He takes old worn out shoes and repairs them so that people can get just a bit ore wear out of them.

Jesse and Pedro had some meetings they needed to attend so after dropping them off at La Posada, the group headed out with the driver, Wilfredo. He took us to the neighborhood, or bario, where his church is. He is a pastor of another of the 12 Churches. His church runs a feeding program Monday through Friday, feeding 50 to 60 kids a day between the ages of 2 and 14ish. For some, this very well may be the only meal they get. As we walked through the bario there, I was blown away. The poverty is unlike anything I have ever seen in the states. The streets are all dirt, no pavement, no sidewalks, just dirt. On both sides of the street were small channels of water, it was the dirty water from the homes, dirty washing water, dirty toilet water, etc. They have many squatters in these areas. The government owns the land, and the people just come in and squat to claim it. It is a dangerous situation because most of these places are no more than a lean-to with cardboard walls and metal roofs. The electrical wires run directly overhead and if one were to fall, they would die. Actually, Jesse said many have died hacking into the electrical wires for power as they try to patch into existing electrical lines. As we walked, Isaac and I were snapping so many pictures. We wanted to be sensitive to not invading their privacy or getting into their personal space, but there were so inviting. The children actually would pose for you and to see their faces light up when we would show them their picture, it made me smile. There were even some that would yell, "foto, foto!"

After finishing there, our last stop of culture seeing was the Dump. Yes, the city dump. Jesse and Pedro both explained that this would be difficult to see, but I personally wanted to see it because it is a huge part of the culture here, and I thought it would give me perspective. Perspective on what I am not sure of. Pedro explained that these people live up along the road to the dump. I thought the lean-tos we had seen in the city were as bad as it gets, but I was mistaken, it got worse. Any of our homes in Oregon would be mansions in comparison. Most of these were no more than what we would see the homeless in downtown Portland using. As we were driving in I was trying to prepare myself mentally for what we were about to see. As I was sitting there I happened to glance to my left and I saw 2 little boys no more than 5 and 7 walking out carrying garbage bags of stuff. Pedro said they rummage in the garbage for stuff to use in their homes as well as food to eat. This broke my heart when I saw these 2 boys. We got to the top and Pedro got out to ask about things but soon came back and explained that they were done digging in the dump for the day. I think God was good because as hard as it was for me to see these 2 little boys with garbage bags, I have no doubt what I could have seen would have been so much worse. We also got to see some of the wells that Living Water did. There were people at them, pumping water for their families. Pedro even got out and showed us how it was done.

As we walked and saw the true poverty of Nicaragua, I have NO words to describe the sadness I felt and my heart that was broken as I looked at these people and saw their way of life. Some of the children's faces to me seemed so very sad and yet others were smiling and seemed unaffected by it. I understand that you cannot miss what you do not know, but I do know and saw the inequality, the poverty, the despair. I hope that I never forget that feeling. Not to be sad but that I will be forever changed by what I have experienced while here in Nicaragua.

Our touring was over for the day thankfully...I was hot, tired, and emotionally exhausted. Jesse and Pedro had more meetings so everybody else went to their respective abodes for an afternoon siesta. Soon it was dinner time, one of my favorite times of the day; hence, why I look the way I do. (I believe I have lost weight though between the walking, the sweating, and the not eating near what I usually do.) Paul, Jesse, and I ventured out to walk somewhere to eat and low and behold we ended up at El Sesteo. Jesse says that the same people who own La Posada del Doctor own El Sesteo, and they are Christians. The food there is very good, and you know it is safe to eat as not all the food here is. As we were walking back after dinner we decided to hit the Internet/phone cafe and make some calls home. I decided to call Rebecca. I thought I would practice some of my Spanish so I say, buenas noches mi Amiga (good evening my friend) and she YELLS back "who is this and where are you calling me from?" Since the connection does not seem to be too good, I yell buenas noches mi amiga again. This back and forth went on for a bit and then I hear Jesse "I can hear you, Tina." He could hear me but Rebecca could not. It was comical, probably more comical had you been there. Of course, then it was time for gelato. Tonight we just a single though, no double, I was too stuffed from dinner.

As we returned, we three decided to sit outside in the courtyard and decompress the day and what a day it was, exhausting, exhilarating, and emotional. It was time to turn in so Jesse could read, Paul could watch television, and I could blog.