Hey everyone! Sorry this blog post is so late for Nicaragua. We left Bethel last week, but I still wanted to post this blog with pictures of our time there and all the beautiful people that impacted me within their community. I hope you all enjoy this blog and be ready for future blogs to come about Philippines as me and my new team begin our first week here!
I titled this blog, "Not goodbye, but see you later Nicaragua!" because of the people I met in Nicaragua. I never wanted to say goodbye to them, as I left with tears in my eyes. I told them that this would not be the last time I see them. Because whether or not I see them in this earthly life again, I know I will be rejoined with them in Heaven when this life ends.
I took this on the last day we spent in Bethel. This is a perfect picture of what the center of the community looks like pretty much everyday. Filled with kids and teenagers, playing soccer in the field right next to the church.
This was one of the first faces in the community of Bethel that I ever met. Isela. I remember her from the first day we went there. I was on a prayer walk with my team, walking along one of the back roads of Bethel, and suddenly a little boy standing behind the barred windows of his house screamed. “Gringos! Gringos!” and suddenly there were, what seemed like, hundreds of children surrounding me. But Isela, I remember distinctly, as she gently took me by the hand and walked me to a tall bush with beautiful flowers and started decorating my hair with them.
Ever since the first day in Bethel, this girl had my heart and leaving Nicaragua, I know I left a piece of it with her. I continue to pray for her family and the strength that she can gain from the community she has with her in Bethel. I pray that she would come to know the Lord with more passion and love than neither her friends nor I nor her family can imagine. Something that truly comes from the Father.
Jeffrey. Seriously, there are not enough words for me to describe how I truly feel about this child. Jeffrey has such an amazing and genuine spirit. It is infectious. He has a laugh that breaks the silence in any room. At first it took Jeffrey awhile before he would open up to me. I couldn’t get him to even say my name, (even though I knew he knew it), but after days and days of saying “Jeffery, com” Finally, with that contagious laugh and beautiful smile he chuckled out a, “Samanta!” And kept repeating, “Samanta! Samanta!”
Jeffrey’s family is extremely broken, he is taken care of by his grandmother who does everything she can to provide for him and his younger cousin, Joshua, he has a learning impediment, and yet he brings so much more joy than most kids I’ve met who, seemingly, have everything. I pray for that Spirit inside of him to never go away.
I never spent a lot of time with the youth or teenagers in Bethel like many of my other team and squad members did. I didn’t feel like I could connect with them as well for some reason and I believe for the first month or so I really committed myself to being with the kids. But Teresa, (top), had gotten pretty close with my teammate Beckah and so we started to talk and hangout and hit it off instantly. We have such a casual relationship, we can joke and laugh just like with my friends back home. It was so awesome to have that type of relationship with her and to be able to serve her and do ministry alongside her when we orchestrated bible studies within another community outside of Chinandega. She has such a servant’s heart and an extremely carefree spirit with her constant joking and teasing. I will miss her more than most in the community of Bethel.
I never spent a lot of time with the youth or teenagers in Bethel like many of my other team and squad members did. I didn’t feel like I could connect with them as well for some reason and I believe for the first month or so I really committed myself to being with the kids. But Teresa, (top), had gotten pretty close with my teammate Beckah and so we started to talk and hangout and hit it off instantly. We have such a casual relationship, we can joke and laugh just like with my friends back home. It was so awesome to have that type of relationship with her and to be able to serve her and do ministry alongside her when we orchestrated bible studies within another community outside of Chinandega. She has such a servant’s heart and an extremely carefree spirit with her constant joking and teasing. I will miss her more than most in the community of Bethel.
