Home and Reflection

Now that I am home and rested I can relax and reflect on my trip. I feel strongly that to learn and truly benefit from an experience, you must spend time often reflecting on what was learned. I think the reflecting is almost more valuable than the activity during the trip. So as I reflect, a few things really stand out to me. I definitely learned a lot about Catholic beliefs and I am so grateful Kristin came along. God really worked in me to transform my opinions and misconceptions about Catholic beliefs and practices. I am honestly a little embarrassed of my ignorance and feel guilty that I have an entirely negative image of the Catholic tradition. I also learned a lot about appropriate leadership when linking people with contrasting political and religious opinions. I constantly prayed for guidance in dealing with discussions and making sure they were productive and God-honoring. I look forward to more debriefing and learning how I can improve my leadership. I also look forward to hearing from FH in Nicaragua and seeing what the communities thought of us and how our ministry and work can be improved.

Sunday May 30 - Traveling Home

Today we traveled home leaving at 4 am to the airport. It was a short nights rest, but I'm very excited to be home. The flights were excellent and we had no delays or issues with bags. I'm so grateful about how smoothly things went today. God is so good and faithful. I know he answered our prayers and I continue to pray for growth in myself and the team as we return home. I was super excited to see Leigh when I arrived in BWI and it was awesome to give her a big hug when I first saw her. The team was very tired so opted not to stop for dinner and drove straight home. My mom prepared waffles for me at my request and it was soo good to eat something other than rice and beans for dinner. I do enjoy rice and beans, but I get tired of it after two weeks of it at every meal. I'm excited to learn and reflect this week at home.

Saturday May 29 - Beach!

With all the rain we were not expecting to go to the beach, but God is Good!! We got up to bright blue skies and warm weather so we headed to the beach! We drove to Pochomil and spent the morning and part of the afternoon there. I had a great time swimming and relaxing. It was so nice to just lay in a hammock and enjoy God's beautiful creation. It was also a good time to reflect on the past two weeks and process all my experiences. Around 2 pm we left the beach and returned to the Nehemiah center. I was exhausted when we got back and slept til 5. I woke up and Jairo did a nice Nica-Made presentation so we could buy products made in the communities we had worked in. I got to buy a few things then got ready for dinner. We ate dinner with Jairo's wife and kids then finished debriefing after dinner. I then packed my bag and got to sleep around 10. We have to get up around 4 am in the morning to go to the airport!

Friday May 28 - Service and Tourism in Managua

This morning we had the opportunity to do a service project that was not planned by FH but by Jairo, our team leader. Jairo has some connections with other ministries in Nicaragua and so we were able to work something out with a local church to help serve food at the dump. It was great to get one more service project in and not just have an extra day of tourism. Every day Monday through Friday this church serves food to the children in two communities near the dump at noon. We left the Nehemiah center at 9:30 and got the car cleaned first, then headed to the church. The car cleaning was definitely needed and it also provided time for us to debrief and unpack our experiences from the trip so far. We got to the church named "El Faro" and then drove to the dump to help serve food to the community children. This experience was very challenging and shocking to see such poverty. I have seen this type of communtity many times, but it never ceases to shock me and is always hard. In the afternoon after finishing with the church, we went to the market in Masaya and then to the Volcano. I really enjoyed the Volcano and it was cool to experience that for a second time.

Thursday May 27 - Early Return to Managua

Last night Jairo spoke with Kim and Nathan and they recommended we return to Managua today. Since the road was not passable yesterday, it was for sure not passable today. This was hard for the team to hear since we did not get to finish our time in El Ojoche abd could not do the pottery work with the community. I know Keith and Lauren were especially excited to do pottery and we had to miss that. It was also sad to leave without saying goodbye. Anyway, we drove back to Managua this morning and spent the afternoon at the Nehemiah center. We got to watch some videos made by students about the communities and it was particularly cool to see a recent video made about El Ojoche. I liked seeing more of the community that we missed out on, but it was also a sad reminder of what we could have done there. We got to go to the movies in the evening which made Joey really happy. We saw Prince of Persia which was awesome and the theater was soo cool. They have "VIP" theaters in Nicaragua in which you sit in Lazy Boy recliners and they bring food to your seat when you press a button!

Wednesday May 26 - Change of Plans

The rain continued and it was not looking good in the morning. We geared up and prepared for another day of work but the roads were not guaranteed to be passable. Another downer this morning was Keith was sick again and had been in the bathroom since four am. So, we packed up the car and hoped for a safe road into El Ojoche without Keith. We got all the way into the small road leading to El Ojoche. Now we had a tough decision, the road was quite flooded. It was risky to to try driving in, and even more risky would be the trip out of the village if the rain continued. Taking safety first we decided to turn around and skip work today because the road was not in good shape. We got back to the hotel and made plans to visit Leon to see the city and go to the movies. Leon is about two hours from Somotillo, but sadly the movies didn't start until 5 pm so we just explored the city for the afternoon. Tomorrow is another day we are not sure how it will turn out because the storm is not passing quickly.

Tuesday May 25 - Day Two in El Ojoche

Today was our second day of heavy work in the community of El Ojoche. We did construction on the road leading to the school for four hours and it was quite tiring. I felt kinda bad as we worked because I took many breaks while the locals just kept working and working and working! I know we are only there to help and every bucket of dirt we moved made their work a little easier. It was incredible how strong the locals are...I was being outworked by 9 and 10 year old kids haha. Most families in El Ojoche are either farmers or potters, so they are used to hard manual labor. After working we ate lunch then it began to rain. This was just the beginning of the rain and it kept raining for the rest of the day. Our plans for the afternoon were cancelled so we played soccer with the kids in the rain. It was a blast just playing with the kids and enjoying time in the community! Many of the people in the community gathered under the overhanging of surrounding buildings to watch us play soccer and they were cheering and laughing...it was great! After about an hour of soccer we headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up and eat dinner. The rain continued all night and we are getting a little worried about into the community tomorrow. Hopefully the rain stops for us to get in to El Ojoche tomorrow.

Monday May 24 - Welcome to "El Ojoche"

It is always neat to go to a new place and see how people live. Last year we did not go to this community of El Ojoche, so it was awesome to do something new. We arrived in El Ojoche and began the day with a welcoming presentation from the community leaders. I was quite surprised and happy to see that they had planned out our week and were very organized. They had a big schedule for each day and this i greatly appreciated because it was now "their" project and us helping them instead of us leading them in the projects. Although our team supplied all the materials and financial aspects of the project, we really wanted them to take ownership of the project and realize that we are equal and working side by side in this. We worked on digging the foundation for a water tank in the morning and toured the community in the afternoon. The work was very hard and tiring. The sun was not out, but the heat was still intense and the humidity was rough. I soaked my shirt in sweat in about 10 minutes. The afternoon was a nice time to visit in the community and get to know a couple families. The layout of El Ojoche is more communal than Boaco simply because the houses are much closer together and everyone helps out their neighbor. The churches in this community are also very unique. I have never encountered a community quite like this where all the churches of every denomination including the Catholic church work together to meet the needs of their community. The pastors meet once a week together to discuss the issues going on the community so they can work together to solve them and not have 10 different efforts going on at once. It is so awesome and I praise God for this community's effort to put aside their differences and work together.

Sunday May 23 - Church and Travel to Somotillo

Today has been great! We went to Verbo Church and I felt very at home in this church. It reminded me a lot of Fraternidad Christiana in Guatemala and the worship was awesome! Interestingly the speaker was an American guest speaker who also spoke last year when I was in Nicaragua. Anyway, church was nice and I was glad Jairo could be with his family today. After church we did some historical site seeing in Managua which was a little bit boring since I heard it all last year. After lunch we headed to Somotillo which was a nice long car ride and provided the opportunity to get to know Jairo better. A great God moment occured today when we got a flat tire conveniently near a tire repair shop and it was all fixed up in a matter of 20 minutes. God is so good! Dinner tonight was interesting because we had a discussion about homosexuals and our group had a broad mix of opinions on the topic. Although it was at times intense, we had a healthy discussion and we were careful about not offending each other.

Saturday May 22 - Tourism in Managua

Today was a beautiful day to relax and enjoy not working. I had a great time today at "The Monkey Hut." The Monkey Hut is a swimming and hang out place at Apollo Crater lake. It was really neat to swim in a crater lake and the water was super warm! The team had a good time swimming and playing and just unwinding from a busy week in Boaco. It was sad to leave Boaco, but it was nice to be a tourist for the weekend. Walking around Granada was also nice and I enjoyed seeing the Cathedrals. This trip has been a huge learning experience for me because Kristin is on the team and can uncover all my ignorance. I know very little about Catholics and it's good for me to ask questions and learn. I'm extremely sad that so many protestants and especially evangelicals in central america believe that Catholics are not Christians at all. It's been interesting and challenging to work through this issue. I don't know what to think about some of the differences we have, but I trust God to lead me and give me wisdom.

Friday May 21 - Last Day in Boaco

Today was our last day in Boaco and we built the final latrine at Jimmy's house. Today also went quite well and we had Jimmy and Antonio helping us. Joey was not feeling well and began getting diarrhea in the evening, but he continued working like a trooper. I really enjoy having Joey on the team. He seriously makes me laugh about every 10 minutes and it is really good on trips to have a good time and laugh often. We still have not any issues between team members and this is great. After lunch and completing Jimmy's latrine, we went to San Buena Ventura to visit Don Chico and see his farm. I was very excited to see him again (I stayed at his house last year) and the group enjoyed seeing his farm. I is crazy how wealthy Don Chico is in such a poor rural area. We have visited families that are barely surviving and Chico is more wealthy than many Americans. He had a few acres of precious trees that were worth about 50 cents per square inch!! That is insane! We left Don Chico's house and headed straight to Managua and ate dinner at Pizza Hut. Joey was so excited to eat pizza and not beans and rice. It is sad to leave Boaco, but I'm excited to be a tourist for the weekend and see more of Nicaragua.

Thursday May 20 - Day Three in San Juan

Today was our third day of latrine project in San Juan. We worked on a latrine for the family of Salvador and his son Israel. Today went exceedingly well. We finished all but the door hinges by lunch time and the latrine looked great! We were efficient and worked in teams to do multiple things at once. Salvador and Israel also helped us which was really a blessing to work side by side with the family. Another blessing was having Keith work with us again and feeling much better. It's really good to see him healthy and interacting with the people. Breakfast in the morning was funny because we had bees and Joey was terrified by them. After lunch we visited with a single elderly woman and her family. It is amazing how many people are born and raised in the community of San Juan and never leave. She was 60 years old and moved a few times but never left the area of San Juan! In the evening we ate dinner and relaxed. The power went out a few times, so no Eskimo today... :( So sad Joey could not see Claire (his secret dream wife that works at the ice cream shop).

Wednesday May 19 - Day Two in San Juan

Today was our second day of work in the community of San Juan. It went extremely well and I am very pleased with the day. After building our first latrine yesterday, we now had a better idea of how to build it efficiently. The latrine we built today was for Antonio and it was not only more efficient but it was easier and faster to build, plus it was super strong. I am now confident that tomorrow we will get a lot done and build well. After a hard days work, we visited with Antonio and then Julia. The visit with Julia was hard because she lived in a very difficult situation. Her daughter had a strange illness that doctors could not diagnose, and it was also too expensive to take her to Managua to get help.She asked us for help, but sadly all we could do is pray for her and hope that God healed her daughter. Another downer was that Keith was sick today. He had some stomach issues so he stayed at the hotel today. I am praying that he is well tomorrow and can continue working.

Tuesday May 18 - First Day in San Juan

Today we got to start working in the community. It was great to get up into the mountains where the air is "mas fresco" (fresher) and meet the people of San Juan. I really enjoyed working with the community leaders Cristobal and Antonio. They were very jovial and funny and a pleasure to work with. We succesfully built a latrine for a family that did not have one prior. It was an awesome feeling to provide a basic need for a family that previously had to walk to the woods to go to the bathroom. The day was really good and I know the other team members learned a lot and took something from today's experiences. As a team leader I feel good about the growth that is happening for all of us. I enjoyed hearing peoples thoughts during our sharing time. Some of the big things of the day were a little girl dancing a traditonal Nicaraguan dance for us, laughing often with Cristobal, and hearing from a very poor single woman named Flor. It made me sad to hear about her struggles and that her children are not around to help out. I'm excited to get another latrine done tomorrow and hopefully it will turn out better than todays. The latrine we built today was okay, but not very organized and kind of looked like a tamale. Tomorrow we will have a plan to build a better latrine.

Monday May 17 - Arrive in Boaco

Today is our first full day in Nicaragua. We spent time in the morning at the Nehemiah Center learning about the collaboration of many organizations. We also heard from Kim, the FH country director, about Food for the Hungry and its part in the Nehemiah Center. It was really nice to hear about the work being done in Nicaragua and build relationships with people at the Nehemiah Center. After the morning we ate lunch at a great comedor. I miss eating real latin food and I really enjoyed a good Nicaraguan lunch. After lunch, we drove to Boaco which is about a 3 hour drive. The scenery is gorgeous but the car is hot and it is a long drive. Boaco is a beautifully simple town with a very low-key atmosphere. We walked around the town before dinner and explored the catholic churches. Dinner was at the same place we ate last year and the food is wonderful. After dinner we had a time of sharing and reflecting on the day.

Trusting the Lord

This summer I will be spending my time serving God in Nicaragua and Rural Appalachia Ohio. I am trusting God to open doors and teach me new things as I grow this summer. I hope you are able to follow my experiences, and I will do my best to keep you updated through this blog. Please pray for my safety as I travel and for God's will do be done in me and through me!

On Sunday I leave for Nicaragua and I will be there for two weeks working with Food for the Hungry. I am very excited to return to Nicaragua since I was there last summer doing very similar ministry. This year I will be spending a week in a town named Boaco working on construction projects, then spending my second week working with a new community partner in the town of Ojoche. Ojoche is on the border of Honduras and we will be helping with a health education and water sanitation initiative. I am expectant of awesome new relationships to be formed and I pray for new spiritual formation in these areas of Nicaragua. Please pray for the Food for the Hungry Staff in Nicaragua and for the communities we will be working with.

When I return from Nicaragua, I will turn my attention to a very different part of the world. I have been given the wonderful opportunity to serve as an intern with Good Works, Inc. in Athens Ohio. Good Works is an awesome organization that serves the poor and homeless in Rural Appalachia. As an intern I will work with short term teams coming to do "Samaritan Projects" in the surrounding community, spend time building a new building on the Good Works site called "The Hope Center," and getting to know the residents of the Timothy and Hannah Houses. To get a better feel for this ministry, please visit their website: http://www.good-works.net/ . I know this will be a stretching summer for me, and I want to grow closer to God and align my desires with His.

Thank you for praying for me and keeping me in your thoughts! Please feel free to email me throughout the summer at gramesy777@yahoo.com