WCC College Nicaragua Mission: Travel Update

The team has landed in Miami and are in route to Dulles airport. They are due to arrive around 11:20 p.m. where they will then go through customs grab their bags and head to the buses. The buses should arrive back in Williamsburg between 3:30 and 4:00 A.M. The team is doing well and are all very excited to share their experience with you. Thank you for your prayers!

WCC College Nicaragua Mission 7

The last day was a short and a long day which ended a short and a long week appropriately. We worked physically, emotionally, and spiritually to exhaustion, and we are aware of what God can do when we decrease and he increases.

Through the day we either painted or poured cement, or removed platano trees from the ground. Taking rest only during lunch, despite the tedium of painting, the arduousness of forming casts and pouring cement, and the physical devastation accrued by the digging, carrying, and dragging of trees---despite all of it there were no moments of contention or hostility. In fact, we noted that spirits seemed even higher towards the end of labor than at the beginning.

Our evening festivities varied greatly. The orphans demonstrated a dance for us via two little nina’s dolled up in traditional garb, led us in Spanish versions of the worship songs that we know well, and helped us to act out the parable of the farmer dropping seeds on different types of ground. Saying “goodbye” was not quick or fun or easy, and there’s really not too much to say about it. It’s just hard to say goodbye to real people with real eyes and real emotions and real hopes.

When the orphans had left, a UVA grad who’s been working on feeding Nicaraguans since she graduated four years ago, spoke to us about her experiences. One of the stories that she told us was about two little girls and her own leftover food. She was at one of the most recent feeding centers to be funded and she had finished her own food, but had some left over.  Our speaker had seen a little girl who had missed the meal, so she offered the little girl her own leftovers. The little girl took the food and passed it along to her little sister. When our speaker asked her what she would eat, the little girl said, “My sister is smaller than me. She needs it more.” And our speaker pointed out to us the truth that had haunted her so strongly: While she had given her leftovers to someone who was hungry, someone who was hungry had given everything to someone else. And our speaker asked us if we are giving out of our surplus, out of our leftovers, or if we are giving everything.

Our William & Mary group moved to the more rustic porch area, sung familiar worship songs in a familiar language, and then Evan told us a story as well. His story was about the walls that past pains can construct. He told us about some hurt and anger that he had experienced in his own life, and then how those things had been conquered when he allowed God to fight them. He reminded us of Gideon, who we’ve been studying, and how he was given victory in a way that only God could be glorified. Evan said that the victories over his own enemies were won in much the same way. He reminded us that bringing down the walls of un-forgiven grievances can be a method of decreasing ourselves so that He might increase. He told us that we will be going out into the world, and that we will be going differently into it than we came from it, (if we let allow ourselves to be), and that as we go we should go as light. They passed candles out to each of us, we lit them, and then we walked with our candles and solitarily contemplated the walls, His power, and what it means to be light.

We have become very close with one another while we’ve been here, and we have become very close to those who we’ve been serving while we’ve been here, and we’ve resolved to turn our desires for our own stories over in favor of a desire for a place in His. A lot has happened in each of our lives, which is why what has been posted has been in the 2^nd person. Each of our stories is ours to tell, and we’re excited to tell them. And we’re also excited to see you. Thank you for the ways that you have supported us. We’ll see you soon.   

WCC College Nicaragua Mission - Day 6

This morning, for the first time, we were able to go to our feeding center for not the first time. Instead of meeting strangers, we met acquaintances, and instead of leaving Ecuadorians we left friends. We served two shifts of lunch to the neighborhood kids, with much more efficiency than last time, and played baseball in the street before gathering some of the children onto the buses and heading off to another Secret Location.

The bus ride was not a short one, so we came prepared with children’s books written in Spanish, and we read them and pointed at mountains and buildings and people until we arrived. Today’s secret location was Managua’s zoo. Dressed in their absolute best, the children leaned against railings to better see tigers, held their fingers’ still so that butterflies might land on them, and toted us around by the hand. 

Tonight, instead of being joined by the other Virginia schools, we went to them. Our speaker was a charismatic 30-something who moved himself and his wife to Nicaragua so that they could apply themselves fully to the mission of “caring for people”. He warned us of the things much more powerful than miles that would distance us from Nicaragua, and he encouraged us to remember the reality of these people and this place. He was very funny and convincing. When he had finished speaking music struck up and started to approach our pavilion from the dark outside. A fully costumed mariachi band played their way into our midst, and Lord oh Lord did the Christians dance. And because the clapping and shouting just didn’t last long enough for our liking, we turned up the music on the bus and carried on until we arrived back at the orphanage. 

We can feel the fatigue from the time we’ve been here, but more strongly we feel the pressure of our departure. We hope that Nicaragua stays real. Thank you for your prayers, we miss you, and we love you.

WCC College Nicaragua Mission - Day 5

French toast again for breakfast, and thank goodness, because we needed the sugar. Some days here may make for “better” stories than others, but it may be that the “boring” days are the days that we leave the most lasting physical impact of our presence. The ladies went back to their painting of the main building and the fellas split into two groups, with one of the groups painting the boy’s living area and the other pouring cement at the school. The work broke only for lunch, and in shifts, for teaching English.

This evening was the second time that all of the Virginia schools gathered with us for games and a speaker. The group game was to come up with songs which incorporate the “key word” into their lyrics. So when “fire” was announced as the keyword in one round, we responded by singing the line from Adele’s song “Set Fire to The Rain” that has “fire” in it. There have probably been more challenging games, but groups of friends singing together is about as fun as it gets.

After the games were over, Eddie, the national coordinator for Orphan Network in Nicaragua, spoke to use about ordinary versus extraordinary, and that the way to be “written in the history books of our country, state, or town is by faith and decision making—as is illustrated in Hebrew. He told us that Orphan Network feeds over 11,000 children five days a week, and that such a miracle is an example of what God can do. He told us that God has invited each of us to be a part of similar such miracles, that they may look different, and that we should remember when deciding between ordinary and extraordinary, the stories of Abraham and Moses.

Thank you for your prayers, and if you have supported Orphan Network, special thanks to you tonight. We have heard how your support changes lives, that these meals are sometimes the greatest meals that these children have ever had, and that it is only possible by the grace of God and his work through you who support.