This morning started early at the hotel. As this is my first trip to Nicaragua, the first thing I noticed early this morning was how bright it was outside our room! We left for the 3 hour trip to Somotillo at about 7:30am. There were many interesting things to see on the way. One minute motorcycles are buzzing by, the next Oxen pulling a wooden trailer of sorts. It’s so beautiful here, lakes, volcanoes, and sugar cane along the way.
When we got to Casa de Shelly we got settled in and had lunch. Then got ready to hit the mission field. Our team got into a big truck and started to our first village “Villa Esperanza”. We threw goodies off the truck for people along the way, and then arrived at the village.
Our team cooked the “chicken stew” for 250 people. Everybody jumped in line with their bowls in hand. We played soccer with the kids, painted nails, and had conversations with the help of our interpreters. It is easy to see how quickly you can pick up a language by living with the people. I am already better with the few phrases that I know. While we were handing out packages of rice to the Mothers, a girl in a wheel chair came up to us crying. She loves to come out when people come to the village, but they were not letting her come. She wanted to come so badly, that she tipped over her wheel chair and hurt her back. We tried to comfort her by handing her some rice. I brushed my hands through her hair as she laid her head on my side. Her face lit up when I handed her a bracelet.
Coming home, all of the children were on the side of the road ready for our return. And we were ready too! A truck full of baseball players came up behind us and they wanted candy as well! We through some candy piece by piece at the truck as they all laughed and tried their best to catch it. As Jonge took pictures and laughed they yelled to throw the camera! Needless to say, he did not.
Tonight we are going to church to worship and look forward to what God has for us this week.
