Hey y’all! I very sorry about not being here over the last couple days, but I’ve been extremely busy through many different things. I might have a bit too much on my plate, which is one of the many reasons I’m looking forward to summer. I do realize that most of my Nicaragua-keeper-trackers aren’t reading for Nicaragua anymore, but it is my obligation to catch up, and catch up I will.
So, we finished 2/16/16 (I’M WAY BEHIND), and we will now complete the next day. Hopefully, over the next couple days, I’ll finish the mission trip for y’all and will begin to tell you about all the fun of moving for the first time in my life! 🙂
On Wednesday of that week, we went to la finca nueva (the new estate (farm)), which was owned by the owners of our hostel. They are making a B&B out of the beautiful place. We toured the “upstairs” of the building with no walls on the second floor. Needless to say, we were carefully watching out for our safety, lest we drop onto the peacock pen far below. We also met la perrito de la finca (the puppy of the farm), Valentina, the niece of el perro de la hostal (the dog of the hostel,) Valentino.
After taking in the beautiful view from this construction site, we spoke with the Catholic owners of both the farm and the hostel. After speaking to them about our direct connection to God, no priest required, Omar and Marina became directly connected to our Father.
After our visit to la finca, we visited Jinotega for lunch, where we ate the biggest burritos I’ve ever seen in my entire life. This place was a dive. It was about 15 or 20 minutes out of Jinotega. They had their special goat-cheese-like-cream-cheese yumminess, along with a tortilla bigger than the plate it was on. There were also some beans drowned in water. Because of the high amount of contaminated water, I decided to stay away from it.
While at Jinotega, we also had the privilege of seeing the cook (without gloves or a hairnet, as well as extremely dirty hands) kneading this cheese in a dirty bowl. In hindsight, I wasn’t enjoying that cheese.
After lunch, we made our way to downtown Jinotega to the park. After Karen (a Nicaraguan girl in her twenties that was with us) and I painfully got stuck in the air and then sat frog-legged on the ground, we climbed off the pain-inflicting seesaw and resorted to a long slide and the swings.
Meanwhile, Daniel (our translator) and my parents made their way to a man on the other side of the park. They talked with the man and his wife, who, if I’m remembering right, was Catholic. The man didn’t believe in God, but after my parents talked to him, he became saved right then and there.
So, after this encounter, we made our way back to our hostel to rest and blog and take naps (and not eat for a really long time.) Daniel came over and dumped a couple videos and pictures for us from his phone. We then relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. When we had finished resting, we went out for dinner with the missionaries who live there, as well as Daniel and Erwin’s Bible study leaders for pizza. After that, we went to church and we prayed for people all night and then said farewell to everyone.
The next morning, 2/18/18, we went to the same market we bought the rice and beans at for the hillside ministry day. Erwin (If you have been reading the whole update stream, you know who this is. If not, he was our first translator whom Daniel filled in for.) and my mom went into the market and came out with several canisters of baby formula. We loaded them up and the five of us (My dad, my mom, Daniel, Erwin, and I) made our way to the nutrition center, which we have visited before on previous trips.
Background Story: Everyone that has been with us before to Nicaragua knows this back story, but since my main group of readers has not, I will provide you with some background. So, the first two times we went to Nicaragua, we went with a group. The leaders of this group were missionaries to Nicaragua, but the reason we went without them this time is: first, the ministry we’re a part of that they host wasn’t going; second, there was a misunderstanding in which we thought that they were already hosting another team; and third, we wanted to step into the unknown without a group. There was nothing personal involved in our not going with them. In fact, we had the privilege of spending an afternoon with them, as mentioned before. So, they had met a woman who lived in the slums who had several young daughters. They took one of those daughters under their wing, named Sobeyda. Sobeyda was a sweet spunky young girl whom they spent much time with. They were even her legal guardians. They wanted to adopt Sobeyda, but Sobeyda’s mother, Dora, refused, as well as the government. Dora was a prostitute that lived in a very bad slum right in the middle of Matagalpa. She lived in a row of one-room tin huts, one of which was her own. She shared this room with her daughters, most of which were extremely young. The last time we saw Sobeyda, she was about three and her little sister Isaura was a young baby probably about 1. Then, recently, five-year-old Sobeyda moved in with her great-grandmother and works with her mom in coffee plantations. Her little sister Isaura moved into the nutrition center for the second time at the age of approximately 3.
So, we went to the nutrition center, bringing many of my old toys which had been crammed into a corner, as well as the baby formula. Isaura was in there for the second time, after which if she goes in a third, her mother cannot take her again. This is the law. Please pray for Dora, Sobeyda, and Isaura during this time.
A 10-year-old boy who was residing in the center wanted to be saved, so we prayed with him. Hallelujah!
We prayed for a sick girl with what looked like leprosy, and also for her mother. Her mother was Catholic and was saved that day. Amen!
After a sad farewell, the four of us drove to Tip-Top (a fried chicken joint) to meet Pastor Jairo. As soon as we arrived, Erwin had to go. We said good-bye to him for what would be the last time on that trip. Meanwhile, the remaining four of us ate our chicken and then set out for Managua for the first time during the day. It was a beautiful 2 hour drive. When we got to Managua, we dropped Daniel and Pastor Jairo off in time for the last bus. We said good-bye reluctantly and then sadly made our way back through the busy streets of Managua.
Managua had worse streets than Matagalpa. They were the worst streets I’ve ever seen. So, we eventually made our way to Hotel Estrella with the help of some semi-English-speaking residents. We settled in to a simple, but comfortable room which we weren’t too sure about at first. After I took a shower and blogged, I settled into a bed in which I’d only be for about 4-6 hours.
When we woke up, we ran out the door, into our rental truck, and straight to the rental lot. We dropped off the truck, rode the 100 yards in their truck to the airport’s front door, scanned our passports, dropped our luggage, and walked to our gate.
We found a very nice tucked away restaurant throwing distance from our gate, which although it was tucked away, could be seen from our gate. The server placed us in a corner of the room which no one could see. This corner had a comfortable couch and a table and a big picture window.
We had a delicious American/Nicaraguan breakfast with WONDERFUL fresh squeezed orange juice. We made sure everything was purificada, and we enjoyed everything very much. We prayed with our Christian server who gathered all the servers and cashiers who worked at the airport.
We made our way back to the gate, where, before we could sit down, our names were called. Because we fly standby, we pick up the leftover seats for free. So, we were separated by a couple rows and aisles, but we were all good. I, frankly, sat next to a dude who found AC-DC relaxing, and so was falling asleep with the demonicness blasting in his ears. On my other side was a Munchner (someone from Munich.)
Also, I will not be attaching any pictures at the time being because my camera isn’t with me and for time’s sake.
Also, you may have wondered about the food and our bravery to eat it. We were extremely brave. We ate pretty much everything. And yes, we all got sick afterward. Off of what, you ask? We were quite uncomfortable for about two weeks due to…. Drumroll please! American food. Well, I guess we adjusted well enough to Nicaragua.
Elle's Everyday 