Hola from Karson

Hello Blog Followers! Thank you for your sweet comments, thoughts and prayers! Keep the comments coming! We love to embarrass your kids with your sweet words. Well today our post is from a Rising Senior Boy on our team named Karson Kopecky! Enjoy his thoughts on our day...

(The Whole Team at the Top of Tiscapa today!) Hola amigos! Day two in Nicaragua was a blessing for all of us. When we woke up the sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and the bugs were buzzing. After enjoying a wonderful breakfast we boarded the bus and set off for Tiscapa, a national park looking over Nicaragua. There we learned about the Nicaraguan hero, Sandino, who to this day stands as a symbol of hope for the people of Nicaragua. Once we completed our tour of Tiscapa we headed for the feeding center where we were greeted by only a few children since most of them were still in school and wouldn’t get out until 12:30 PM. Once 12:30 came around though, a smile became permanently engraved on my face. The sight of 100 kids playing and laughing and running around was just simply awesome.

(Catherine Hauser reunited with her girl from last year and her 8 month old baby brother) Last year I bonded specifically with a 10-year-old boy named Dixón. He was always smiling and was a very nice kid. Yesterday I did not see him though because he was at school. Today when I got there I was looking for him but he was nowhere to be seen. I was disappointed but I was still hoping he would show up later in the day. As more kids started showing up with their bowls and cups in hand we started getting ready to serve them lunch. I was in the kitchen waiting in line to get the food for the kids and as I was about to pick up a tray of plates I turned around and in front of me stood a young boy with a huge smile on his face staring back at me. It was Dixón! I ran up to him and he gave me a big hug. I was ecstatic that he remembered who I was. For the rest of the day he was glued to me. We laughed and played with each other for the rest of the time we were there. He even taught me some Spanish and I taught him to say some things in English. At the end of the day we said our goodbyes and as we drove off he ran after the bus waving and smiling.

(cruising Nicargua style) Last night an enthusiastic man named Eddie talked to us. He’s on staff with ORPHANetwork. In his talk he stressed the point that we can’t change 3 million lives at a time, but we can change one life at a time. And that is exactly what we are here to do. Each child we hug, each child we feed, and each child we put on our shoulders and run around with, we are hoping and trying our hardest to help change their life. That is our goal. One meal at a time, one child at a time, and one life at a time, we hope to change for the better. With much love from Nicaragua, Karson