Nicaragua: times of change

Our few days in Nicaragua has seen our team say goodbye to three people and welcome four more.  Its been a sad time as well as exciting as we function like a family and share so much that it is hard when people leave.  Some of our vehicles are having problems again and so the guys are looking into maybe part exchanging…I tend to stay out of these discussions as I know very little about cars preferring to do the washing up instead!

I’ve spent some of my time at La Quinta, a childrens home run by a Christian charity in Diriamba, not far from Managua the capital.  Many of the children have experienced significant abuse in their lives and some of their stories have reminded me of families I worked with in Salford.  Its great to see the children now safe and being well cared for and some of the older girls are now helping with the running of the home.   We’ve also visited families in the bairro close to the childrens home and I witnessed some of the poorest housing I have seen on the journey so far.

On my day off I had a fantastic day as a small group of us went to visit the city Leon which is home to Central America’s largest cathedral.  The cathedral was beautiful and had some very large striking pictures of Jesus with his disciples and on the way to the cross.  The six of us were also very excited to find a nice restaurant that served fabulous steak and cheesecake – I had not eaten a meal like that in months so it was a massive treat! 

The contrasts on this journey is one of the things I love the most…we can be eating street market food one day sitting on the pavement and the next day eating at a restaurant on a proper chair…we can be sleeping in a tent in a petrol station field one night and the next night sleeping in a hotel with a toilet and shower as we can’t find anywhere else!  I really sense that God is teaching me to learn to be content in all circumstances and help prepare me for the future, whatever that will look like.  Thank you for making it possible for me to be here.