Days 20-22

On Technology: I’ve been sitting in an internet café since early this morning getting ahead on work, and catching up on homework. It is pretty hot today, but the breeze through the second story area is great. It is not unusual to walk the 40 minutes to the café, and have the internet stop working. There is only one internet café in the city, so that has been pretty frustrating. #firstworldprobs I know.

On Church: Yesterday we went to church in the morning for three hours and again for three hours in the evening. If you have ever attended church in a Central American country, you know that it can get pretty crazy. In the United States, we value singing on pitch. I feel like there is an unwritten rule, that if you don’t sing well, you sing quietly. In Central America, it doesn’t matter how well you can sing. People sing at the top of their lungs regardless of how well they can sing. It is a good reminder that God loves to hear his people worship him regardless of how well they sing. A few days ago, I began to pray to thank God for the meal my friends and I were eating. After I started, I heard a Spanish voice start praying aloud while I was praying. At first I was pretty confused, but I caught on pretty quickly that that is normal here. Just one more thing to get used to!

On Bugs: For some reason I never made the connection between the ants crawling on my walls and the bug bites all over my legs. On Friday morning, I woke up around 3 in the morning and my feet and legs were burning with bites. After a little help from my friend and host family we were able to take care of most of the ants so I have been waking up with a lot fewer bug bites.

On Missions: After a short-term mission trip to El Salvador in high school, I decided that I would never go back to Central America for just a week or two. I felt bad about spending so much money to do something that the people could do themselves. Because I couldn’t speak the language, I felt like I was working for the people rather than working with the people. In my courses I’ve had to read the books Toxic Charity and Serving with Eyes Wide Open. I am realizing the importance of staying here, learning the language and learning what is important to the people. It seems logical that people would want “better” living conditions, like a consistent water supply and air conditioning. Maybe we as Americans are failing to see what the people really want and need. As a whole, Americans value cleanliness and order. I am not sure if the Nicaraguans place the same value on these things. We can return from a mission trip feeling great that we were able to clean someone’s house or paint a building, but is that what they needed? Are they empowered to step up and start the next project? Do they care at all about the work that was done? Would it have been better to hire a local teen looking for work? Just something else to think about.