missionary life: week 1

buenas amigos!

my first week as a missionary is almost complete! the days go by slow, but the week went fast. 

it's H O T hot here in Los Cedros. I'm talking 102 degrees each day (one weather site said 108), no clouds, blaring sun. jinotega is supposed to be cooler, so i am definitely excited for that!

as i'm writing this post the power is blinking in and out. there's a storm rolling in. and by storm i mean torrential downpourings of rain. HEAVY rain. so heavy it wakes you up. and thunder and lighting. the loudest thunder you've ever heard and the brightest lighting you've ever seen right outside your window. and it lasts for hours. we had a storm last night that began around 9pm and lasted until 1am - maintaining its strength the entire time. it's crazy!!! and a tid bit scary haha. and out goes the power. nope jk, it's back on again. it's raining so hard it's difficult to see!

i started language school on monday! we cut it down to 3 hours a day and it's been really good. my teacher's name is tatiana and she is a chatterbox. i really like her! we've been reviewing basic grammar and conjugations and nutrition vocab, parts of the body, medical terms, fitness terms, and hygiene terms. i'm learning a lot, but there's still SO much to learn! 

today we went to the pool! there were three volunteers and one tia (a lady that works with the kids, kind of like a nanny) and 13 kids. we piled into the back of a pickup truck and drove to the pool! it was so funny and random and awesome. the pool was actually really nice! until luis peed in it haha. i've become friends with one of the little boys, enrique. he's a sweetheart and he rode on my back like a monkey the entire time we were at the pool. he might be coming home with me in my suitcase. 

i'm going to apologize on here for not replying to emails. most of y'all know i'm awful at replying to texts - well here's a little secret: i'm even worse at replying to emails.
so i apologize. i've read them and i appreciate every kind word. i'll reply soon!

today i was helping out in the enfermeria (basically a room where they keep the medicine and scale and other medical type things like bandaids - and about 15 suitcases.. not sure what their purpose is haha) anyways, i was helping put papers in the kids' files and each paper was a typed up synopsis of the kid's birthday, current age, any sicknesses they've suffered from, the date they arrived, the condition they were in when they arrived, etc. there was a space for age and most of the kids' ages were listed as "approx. 4 years" meaning that they didn't know when their actual birthday was or how old they truly were.

 this absolutely broke my heart.
 but then i thought how cool it was that God knows. He knows the exact year, the exact day and month, the exact minute and hour and second. He knows!!! He knows each of these children so intricately, because He hand-wove them in their mother's womb. He protected them as they were in horrible home situations and when the time was right He placed them here at Children of Destiny to give them hope and future! How cool is that?! 

if you were here now you would know that i just took a quick break to kill and sweep up a swarm of bugs that entered our living room. apparently they don't like the rain haha. missionary life my friends! it's random and uncomfortable but rewarding and fun. 

 on sunday, i got up and watched the livestream 8am service from the Crossing. it was so cool being able to watch Keith give his sermon while sitting in my room in Nicaragua! afterwards, we went to ICF (International Christian Fellowship) which is a church service given in English here in Nicaragua! It was so cool! There were SO many American missionary families. It was awesome!

things to know:
  • i'm in Los Cedros at Children of Destiny (an orphanage) for two weeks
  • on June 14th, someone from here will drive me to the airport and from there I will join a team that's going to Jinotega and I'll ride with them on a bus!
  • There are 6 buildings here at CoD - womens dorm, mens dorm, el comedor, the kids home, la casa, and the veranda
  • I stay in the womens dorm with another intern, Hannah and a German family (Victor, Jenetta, and their daughter Ellie, age 3)
  • The comedor is where we eat, the kids stay in the kids home, men in the mens dorm, etc
  • The men's dorm has the enfermeria and other offices - when teams come they stay in rooms in the womens/mens dorms
  • There's no hot water and I absolutely love it. Showering is seriously my favorite pastime here haha
  • Los Cedros is an hour behind y'all - unless you're reading from Colorado - then we're in the same time zone! 
  • I'm currently studying the book of James (every morning from 7am-8am if you'd like to join haha, but i'm finishing tomorrow and moving onto Hosea i think!)
  • I'm hanging in the living room with Ellie listening to a German kids video. it's cracking me up.
  • I should be studying for the GRE..... but yeah, it's the GRE 
  • I'm reading the book Dorothy Must Die and it's SO GOOD - I highly recommend it to everyone. It's a twist on the Wizard of Oz and it's awesome. 
  • i did laundry yesterday & hung it up on the line to dry. it was fun! haha

---

it is now thursday.
last night we went over to Josh and Diana's (the directors) home for worship and a small devotional. Ellie tried to eat a bug and Diana made brownies for us. It was fun! Brandon and I stayed over there and hung out with Josh and Diana for awhile. It was a good time.

we had hamburgers for lunch today!!! they were sooooo good.

prayer requests:

  • For the kids, that they will truly comprehend who Christ is and that He may be their comfort and rock throughout life
  • For the missionaries, that we won't grow weary and that our hearts remained fixed on the Lord
  • That the bugs stay outside where they belong
  • For my heart, I've noticed that living as a missionary can easily and quickly harden your heart to things, so prayers that our hearts remain soft and vulnerable and that Christ may work in and through us even when things get difficult

i hope everyone is having a beautiful summer! 
please let me know if there's anything i can be praying about for you! 


hasta luego!

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