Day 3: Challenged Out of the Comfort Zone

 Day 3: Challenged Out of the Comfort Zone

Everything is going great here in Nicaragua. The weather has been quite warm but it really has cooled off  this evening. We are headed to the water park tomorrow with all the children who completed the training. It will be a great day!

Tonight's Blog was written by Kelsey Terry, a Freshman at JMU. Enjoy!

            We spent last night in Bible Study with the high school students from Casa Bernabe, the orphanage where we are staying. After a short walk from the team center to the pavilion, we all grabbed chairs and formed a circle. Moments later the other teenagers arrived and we began to listen to what Kevin had to say about Romans 12 1-2. As he and the translator where speaking I looked around and saw that, although for some of us there is a difficult language barrier, we truly are very similar.  This observation grew even stronger as we began our small groups which where mixed genders and mixed nationalities.  At first everyone was quiet and reluctant to share his or her thoughts on what the verses meant. However once one person spoke up so did the others. As our conversation went on we all realized that we have similar struggles understanding what God wants us doing in our lives. We all agreed that decisions about directions in life are one way that God shows us where he wants us. We wrapped up our small group time with prayer requests, which ranged from person to person. We said our goodbyes and where off on a walk back to the team center for porch time.

Once we were all together, Eddie Morales shared a meaningful message about our relationship with God and the vision of ORPHANetwork. He reminded us how important it is for us to take ownership in what God is doing in our world. We cannot rely on what other people have done but must make an impact with our lives. Just as our relationship with God is ours and only ours so should our actions be with the people of Nicaragua. We cannot rely what our pastors have done, what our family has done, or what our friends have accomplished in this country. We must make our mark. He challenged us with the question of, “What will you do to end poverty?” What Leslie shared really stuck with me; that all this may seem like a daunting task but we can take comfort that we have the power to end poverty one life at a time and that God partners with us in that work. Porch times have been a great time to discuss our thoughts and share in a great time of worship.

The next morning we headed to Pastor Alfredo’s church. On the bus ride there, I prayed for God to challenge me; challenge my thoughts and challenge my heart to help rebuild the country of Nicaragua. We spent the morning cleaning up the community and picking up trash that was scattered across the street. As a group, we got dirty and dug trash from the road and the ditches. We did what we could in the time we had and then split into our two groups to help in the feeding centers at the churches. Children piled into the church with their younger siblings and walked them through how to wash their hands and sit at the picnic tables to get ready to eat.

Once the children were fed and our team was ready to go we started the second half of the nutrition training.  We split up into small groups and got to know each other. I had four very energetic and sweet young girls in my small group who told me that they where all 8 years old. We turned on some music and had a spontaneous dance party. We danced and danced and bonded immediately. As we went thought the training I realized that my prayer was being answered. God was challenging me in the middle of a church in Nueva Vida through four eight-year-old girls. I looked at them and saw the joy in their eyes as we danced, their attentiveness to every word I spoke, and their excitement they had when I told them I would be back tomorrow. Knowing what they go home to face after we said goodbye kills me. To know these young girls face poverty, addiction, abuse, malnutrition, and teenage pregnancy really challenges me to make a difference.

            On the first night I remember a thought I had about this place, “God is here. We did not bring God here.” God has been, is, and always will be here in Nicaragua with these people.  I look forward to spending more time with the kids at Pastor Alfredo’s church tomorrow and interacting with the Casa kids tonight through a worship service. I pray that God continues to challenge me to make room for Nicaragua in my heart and I can’t wait to see what he will do next.