Week Four: Rural Nicaragua

Our group spent the last three days in rural Nicaragua working next to families and learning about their lives, and goals. I can’t count the number of times I have asked myself the past few days why I chose to spend the semester in Nicaragua. One time was when I was lugging my duffle bag, boots, and hammock up an unfamiliar hill to a home in the dark, another when I found out that my rural Nicaraguan host family doesn’t use toilet paper and the soonest I could get some was the following day (seems to be a reoccurring problem for me…?) once when I was hoeing a cornfield in the Nicaraguan heat and yet another when this carsick girl was bouncing around in an unairconditioned 15 passenger van on an almost impassable road for nearly an hour. I know there is a reason that I am here, but some days it is hard to see past the heat and the to-do list. I was a little disappointed with our time with families in rural Nicaragua. The goal was to learn about Fundacion San Lucas (a land bank for farmers), but I don’t think that I learned as much as I could have. During the three days we spent there my friend and I helped to husk corn for an hour, remove the kernels from the cobs for two more hours, and hoe in a cornfield. I am a farm girl so I’ve helped plant corn before, I’ve removed kernels from corn cobs doing crop samples for FFA, and done my share of hoeing in the garden. I wish that we could have learned more rather than just doing basic farm work, but the foundation said that we were able to give the farmers the affirmation that they needed in their work. I’m not really sure at the moment what I learned from the experience, but maybe if I have some time to think it over I will have a better opinion of it.

Cool side note: Progressive Farmer published an article this summer, From the Edges of Hunger or something like that. My dad read it and gave it to me to read on the plane. I met the families that the article was about this week J So thanks, Dad, for sharing that with us and them!

I didn’t come to Nicaragua because I thought it would be a vacation. I really didn’t. I came to Nicaragua because I felt that God was calling me to an unfamiliar, uncomfortable challenge where I could learn to fully rely on Him. Every day brings new challenges. Lately I have been praying for a more positive attitude, so if you feel like praying for me, this would be a great way!

Throughout my time in Nicaragua I have realized how much I desire organization and order in my environment and activities. I am always looking for ways to bring order to things, and when I feel powerless to change them, it aggravates me. I think that is my biggest frustration on this trip has been the overall disorganization of life in general and my lack of control over anything (even my own schedule). As I was reading the other day, I realized that God created a perfect world with perfect order and our sin screwed it up. The cool thing that I am finding is that God still has the perfect plan, timing, and order even in this crazy world. The more that I focus on the dirtiness, dependence, tardiness, and the things I can’t control, the more frustrated I get. When I spend more time focusing on Christ and his perfect order, and the little things in my life that I can control that my outlook on life and attitude improves.

On Humor: Our guide planned a surprise for us after spending time in rural Nicaragua. She wouldn’t tell us what the surprise was until after we left for our trip. The first surprise was that the family had a swimming pool, the second surprise was that we didn’t find out until after we left our host homes….without our swimming suits. The best part of our little trip was staying with the missionary family and we took hot showers. They made us American food for supper and I don’t know if cereal for breakfast ever tasted so good!

On Food (Rice): Our group has been in Nicaragua for almost a month. So far, I have eaten rice every single day. On a few occasions, I’ve had it for all three meals. On this trip to rural Nicaragua they gave us HUGE portions or rice at every meal. I mean three or four cups of rice and beans too. After we got back today I told my host brother that I wasn’t hungry for supper and headed to my room to unpack. He brought me a plate full of fresh pineapple, then yogurt, then Doritos. Day made.