Nicaragua, a trip of a lifetime - Day 4-7





                               




And just like that, I am in Nicaragua, already done my first week. This past week has been full of stressful and unexpected but also amazing things. We have seen so many new sights and parts of this culture, giving me such a bigger picture of how amazing God has created this world! The volcanoes, all the different kinds of trees and plants, sunsets, and city structures have just been breathtaking to see! Nicaragua really is such a beautiful country. But coming here has also come with a lot of struggling and culture shock. I have heard of how different these parts of the world are compared to North America, but never really understood it, until now. When you go to living down with some of poorest people, your perspective gets completely changed on what life is really about and how rich a lot of us actually are.


Driving down a road, where half of the traffic is people, carts, and animals, looking out the window and seeing garbage, shacks, and beggars, really drops your heart to experience first hand how parts of our world are living. I thought driving in it was bad enough, but than walking the streets and markets really is overwhelming and I do not know how to feel, except that I am a foreigner in a country I do not understand. How can someone like me make any difference in such a place as this? I have this thought running through my head every single day I am here, wondering why God has brought me here. I use to believe that to help someone, you would have to help them get out of the hole of poverty, but really that is not the most important thing here and if we are being honest, it is impossible to do. The most effective way to change someone's life, is by building a meaningful relationship with them to show them the love of God, and I hope that is something I can accomplish while being here! 


Earlier this week, I was able to get a little glimpse of the impact I am having here. One of the little boys I was playing with at the VBS we are running here in the community, said afterwards that the reason he was smiling so much and laughing, when all we were doing was tossing a ball around, was because I took the time to play with him and no one has ever done that with him before. Just seeing how much of an impact I could have on him even though I could not speak his language, was the reminder I needed that God will use me in any way to make a difference in these people's lives. I still am not use to living in this culture and learning to live the way they do, but I am so excited to see what God will do with these next 4 weeks! 

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