As we sat and ate dinner the first night in Nicaragua, Ann and Danny Sharpe (in charge of the La Finca Vida Joven/Young Life camp) were beginning to introduce us to the country and told us what our week would consist of. While conversing with Danny and some other team members, he simply and genuinely warned me, "Be careful. You might fall in love." I shrugged off his warning and carried on to the next topic.
I'd had a hard time trusting that God actually even wanted me in Nicaragua in the first place. My grandparents had invited me to go on this mission trip with their church, FBC Cloudcroft, NM, and I had been excited for months, but I was also very skeptic of the week to come. I was the youngest person on the trip by several years and so afraid of being miserable the whole time. Boy, was I wrong. God never ceases to amaze me by how He brings our most joyful times out of what seemed to originally be the most uncomfortable situations.
Maybe I should have been more careful and reserved, but I feel deep in love; a little bit more each day I was in Nicaragua.
When I went to Spain last summer, my dear friend Kimberly wrote me a letter to read on the flight over and in that letter she said "Jump in with all you have! Don't be afraid to love the people there. It is so hard to leave, but it is completely worth it!" I found that piece of wisdom especially true about my new Nicaraguan (Nicas) friends.
Throughout my week in Nicaragua, I fell in love. I fell in love with the green landscape. I fell in love with the food. I fell in love with the culture. But more than any of that, I fell in love with the people we were so fortunate to meet and serve our gracious God with.
One of my favorite parts of the week was all of the conversations we were able to have. Whether those conversations be spoken in broken bits of English and Spanish or patiently translated through the camp interns, they were all such a blessing. Colossians 4:5-6 says, "Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone." This verse in such a sweet example of every word shared amongst the NM work team and the Nicas. Being able to freely and openly share what Jesus has done in each of our own lives was such an encouraging thing to be a part of.
Conversation consumed a large amount of time at our first work site. The first project a few of us worked on was helping some men dig out dirt where a water tank that will provide three days worth of water for the Vida Joven camp is being built. (The location of this tank is next to two other already operating water tanks.) One conversation that stuck out to me was when Jason (a 21-year-old Nica Young Life leader from León) asked Allison (a camp intern) and I what our most intimate experiences with God were. Jason shared that one of his was probably when he had his "20 minutes" at his first camp. Allison then explained to me that on the night the campers are told about Jesus and what He did for us on the Cross, they are told to go outside and spend twenty minutes alone with God. Those twenty minutes are when many kids give their life to Christ and each person remembers exactly where they were during that time. Allison then told us that one of the leaders she had met said his 20 minutes was spent on top of the first water tank that was built. She then shared her excitement in our work, because not only will the new tank provide good water for Vida Joven campers, but students are going to go up there and ultimately start a personal relationship with Jesus.
Having that knowledge made everything we did throughout the week- from digging loads and loads of dirt to cutting down and hauling off banana trees- sacred and beyond worth it. What a blessing it was to work around the camp knowing that God would use everything we did to have an impact on campers and the future of Nicaragua as a whole.
The greatest blessing though, was the friendships made with the Nicaraguan Christians we got to learn from and work with. Driving back to the hotel in Managua and the end of the week, I was reminded of Danny's warning. I became very aware of just how much this country and the people I encountered, had won my heart over and saying goodbye pretty much tore me into strips and pieces.
All of that to say, Jesus is incredible. The way He loves His children knows no bounds or country borders or language barriers. His faithfulness and love are never ending and super contagious. My prayer is that we all open wide our hearts and throw away any fear of getting "dirty" or hurt and jump in with all we have because, oh my goodness, Jesus is so worth it.
"All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth." -Colossians 1:6
I wish I could tell you more about one of the best weeks of my life, but I'll spare you unless you ask! I will, however, tell you a few other little things. The title of this post "tranquilo como camilo" is a phrase one of the workers taught me. It was translated as "chill like a chameleon" and I thought that was the coolest thing ever! I've since found out that camilo does not mean chameleon, but who cares! haha Also, the Young Life camp I worked at is attempting to become self-sustainable. So if you like good coffee (and by good, I mean even I, a non-coffee drinker, like it) and you'd like to help send a Nicaraguan teenager to camp you can visit www.beyondbeanscoffee.com One bag of coffee sends a kid to camp for a day!
with lots of gratitude and love,
Sarah
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