Back At Home

Eva and I have just returned from an amazing trip!  We spent a few days in a small farming community called La Danta, in the country/hills near the border with Honduras.  We went with our friends from Between Cultures, who were hosting a team from the states.  They have had a relationship with this tiny community for years and have a "sister church" relationship with the church from Damascus, Maryland (where the group was from).

It was so refreshing to be away from the faster, louder, more complicated pace of the city.  The simplicity of life in a farming community really makes you reanalyze and just think about your priorities in day-to-day life.  It's not that one way of life is more correct or better, but it just makes you see how much you can and can not live with.

Each person, or group of 2 people, stayed in a families house from La Danta.  Our "mother for the week" Digna treated us as part of the family.  We woke up at 5:30 every morning (an hour and a half later than the family) and went to bed between 8:00 and 9:00 at night.  They wake up so early so that they can milk their cows and get to the fields where they grow their crops before it gets too hot out.

Every day Eva and I would talk to Digna and others in the community about their daily lives.  A good number of them have been to Managua and most of them say that they prefer living in the country than being in the city.  A man asked us if we have to buy everything in Managua (meaning beans, rice, corn, all types of food).  After telling him that is what we do, he said...and I quote..."I would die in the city."  He then told us that they grow their food, they rely on the land and the animals for their food and if he had to buy everything he wouldn't know where to begin.  I would assume that most people who visit a small community such as La Danta would think "aw poor guys, they don't have the things we do in the city" but in reality, they are so much happier relying on the land then they would be in a city.  It was very inspiring to see their daily faith and hope, especially for God to provide them with rain.

While we were there, besides building relationships with new friends, we worked on a playground area next to their recently constructed church.  The playground is built from used car, truck, and motorcycle tires as well as leftover wood from the community.  We also gathered rocks from a dried up river bed to build a retaining wall so that the ground from the playground would not erode during rainy season.  It was a beautiful experience to work side by side with the people of La Danta to accomplish a mutual goal.

The first time I came to Nicaragua I was on a similar type of trip to build a lunchroom for a school in a tiny town near Rio Blanco in the mountains of Matagalpa.  It was refreshing and re-motivating to connect to a small community in Nicaragua again.  Eva and I have been discussing and plotting on how this ties into the purpose of our lives.  We feel like we were privileged to be a part of this trip and to see ways that God can use us here in Nicaragua.

We also had the opportunity to visit an orphanage here in Managua.  As some of you already know, I have worked for a few months in Haiti taking care of an orphanage, which is now doing great, as well as working with kids in Guatemala.  So it was great to go to this orphanage to spend some time with the kids.  The organization is great!  There are about 80 kids or so there and are split into smaller family units.  This was also amazing to see how such a large operation was so well organized and planned with such structure built into the orphanage.  Granted they have been around for 50 years or so, but are doing a great job to take care of the children and provide opportunities for them when they get older.

All in all, the last week of our lives has been not only a great experience for us, but we feel like God has been whispering into our ears, giving us hints and advice on the path we need to follow, and continue to follow, to where he is leading us to.