A week, a life, in review

It is now five days since getting back from Nicaragua and once again tears of remembrance are streaming down my face. I miss the people on my team, I miss the missionaries/friends we worked alongside, I miss the church we worked with, I miss the people we met, and I miss beautiful Managua, Nicaragua. It will always be amazing to me how the second poorest country in the western hemisphere has the most giving, serving people I have ever met.

Here is how the week progressed…

The night after we arrived to Nicaragua, we did one day of clinic at the Christian Academy of Los Torres. That was our first taste of the love the Nicaraguan children so desperately needed and were so willing to give. The next day was one of group bonding and setting up clinic for the next week. Monday rolled around quickly as we nervously and excitedly boarded a bus for a week of the unknown at Iglesia de Nuevo Jerusalem. The next 5 days were ones in which we were served where we came to serve, loved before we even had a chance to give love and were welcomed as part of the Nicaraguan family but more importantly, the church family. 17 Gringos and a countless number of Nicas laughed, cried, loved, served and grew together in a week that was nothing less than unbelievable.

People keep asking me what the highlight of my trip was. As I silently sit there desperately seeking the answer that they are looking for, at least 50 memories come rushing at me. As I try to think of one “highlight” that could possibly be taken out and put above the rest, I come to only one conclusion: it’s not at all possible. The whole week is one that will forever be highlighted in my memory.

The biggest blessing I received while in Nicaragua was the ability to work with the kids. I felt an unfathomable bond to them and I am already struggling just to hold on the feeling of them in my arms as we said goodbye. I have always loved kids but have never felt the way about them that I did about these precious Nicaraguan children. With nothing, they came to us, except for a smile that reaches their eyes, arms ready for a long embrace and boundless love to give. Our team learned the valuable lesson that the language barrier can’t keep us from expressing what’s really important. Like my teammate Britt said, “I soon started to realize that actions really do speak louder than words, and although I do not know much about their likes and dislikes, I can feel their heart and I hope they can feel mine beating through our sweaty, clutched hands.”

One more thing I want to share before I let you go. Pastor Uriel prayed a prayer on the first day of clinic in which he said that our God is not an unfair God and that He sends those who can help, to His people who cannot help themselves. It finally hit me when rereading what he had said; we have people who have and people who don’t have… but if the people who have would obey God and take care of those who don’t, NO ONE would be in need! And people try to ask us how we serve such an unfair God… man, if we only REALLY got it. (Thanks, Britt, for blogging about that!)