Nicaragua, a trip of a lifetime - Day 1-3

                
          
                     

                                                     

          

It is so surreal that I am sitting in 25 degrees weather right now, with palm trees right outside our house! We have just completed 3 days of traveling to Nicaragua and have made it all the way to Los Angeles. Me, along with three other young adults who are also doing this year long internship through the Youth Farm Bible Camp, started off our trip with driving all the way from Rosthern Saskatchewan to Idaho USA on our first day. Day two of our trip, we drove through Utah, and stopped to hike parts of Zion National Park, which was just breathtaking to see! We than drove into Las Vegas, where we toured the Vegas strip and slept for the night, before heading out to Los Angeles to spend the next day at the ocean and touring around before we fly out to Nicaragua! 


It still seems like a dream that we are actually on this trip, and to be honest it has kind of been a blur. So much has happened and in so little time already that it is hard to wrap my head around what is actually happening. Culture shock is real though, and even though it has been great to see the different cultures and parts of the world, it is very hard to adjust to being a part of it and comprehending the fact that we are not in Canada anymore and life is very different here. The trip to Vegas is when the culture shock really started to hit me. Just seeing the kind of lifestyle people live down there, the brokenness, and how overwhelming being in a huge city is, really reminded me that I am not in my safe bubble back at home, but vulnerable in a whole new part of the world. 


I have no idea what to expect in Nicaragua or what life will be like in a third world country, where people are suffering in many ways we can never understand. How much am I going to be able to communicate and form relationships with the people there without being able to speak hardly any Spanish? Right now, staying in LA just feels like we are on vacation, but tomorrow night is when reality will hit, and we will be flying towards a country full of uncertainty and way out of my comfort zone. Trusting in God and having peace in knowing this is all a part of His plan for me is the thing keeping me going, walking blindly into each day, knowing He is using this experience to shape and strengthen, even if I do not know why yet. 

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