What a fantastic day! I think Nicaragua might be my favorite part of this semester. Praise God! The dreaded challenges keep resulting in huge blessings, and I'm so grateful for His faithfulness.
This morning we had a slow, relaxed start at the hostile. Once the pastors taking us to the campo were ready, everyone got on the LASP bus to go to the market where we switched to a public bus. Street vendors swarmed our group and loaded onto the bus to sell everything from fruit, baked goods, and hot chicken to pens, coloring books, underwear, and razors. We had so much stuff with us already that it was funny to think of buying more to be crowded with. The community I will be staying in (La Cruz) is about 1 ½ hours from Managua, and at every stop more sales people piled on the bus, commenting on how strange it was to see so many gringos (people from the US) on the public bus.
I got off at the same stop as Courtney and Jake, the other two LASP students staying in La Cruz this week, and we went to Jake's host family's house to wait for the other host moms to pick up Courtney and me. It was nice to sit on the patio in big rocking chairs and chat a bit in Spanish after having a few English-intensive days. Courtney and I eventually had to pick which host mom we would go with, and Jake and Courtney came with me to my new home to see where I would be living. My host mom, Santa Elena, is super nice and friendly. She taught us how to make Nicaraguan rice and eggs and fed us all lunch. Then she took us to see Courtney's house where we hung out until the 3:30 church service started.
A small group of church members gathered to pray, sing and read, and it was a beautiful service. The church hosting us is Mennonite, so I won't be wearing my jeans and tank top back to church, butt they were incredibly welcoming and friendly. Our group was asked to introduce ourselves and everyone asked for English lessons...we'll see where that goes...I would love to work with a group sharing languages.
The church service was full of genuine faith and seeking God. Did I mention that I loved it? My host mom is one of the leaders in the church (like the pastor's assistant) and it was fun to see her as that role and talk to her about church afterward. She explained that she used to be Catholic but decided to join this church about 6 years ago. She told me about her desire to always put God first and to serve by treating all as brothers in Christ. I'm sure I'm going to learn a lot from this amazing woman, and I can't wait to get to know her better.
After church, my host mom encouraged me to take a nap, and I simply couldn't refuse. When I woke up, I got to meet Elena's 2 daughters, Yoheyling Yelena and Luz Marina. It's going to take me a while to get those names down! Santa Elena's son, Roberto lives and studies in Managua where he works at a juice factory. Yoheyling lives with her grandmother and goes to school each Sunday because it is too expensive for her to take the bus to school every day. Luz Marina lives with Santa Elena and her husband, Roberto and goes to school everyday. The two girls are a little shy, but we talked about school until dinner.
After we ate, I showed my hosts my family pictures, and they showed me there. Then I asked them a bunch of questions about Nicaraguan culture. It was great to hear their perspective after a few days of hearing what LASP had to say about the topic. I also got to share with them a little bit about the US. As the day went on, I began to feel more proficient in Spanish, and I really enjoyed talking with my hosts. Santa Elena set up the LASP mosquito net for me and we went to be around 9:00, a fairly late hour for them. The stars out here are marvelous and I hope to have a chance to see more of them. Santa Elena's husband came home really late due to some problems with the taxi he drives in Managua, so I didn't get to meet him, but hopefully this weekend I will.
What a beautiful life! I love the campo and I could definitely get used to the fresh air and friendly neighbors out here. I can't wait for a tranquillo week of learning more about his culture through talking, listening, trying new things, and no doubt stretching out of my comfort zone.
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