Hola
from thousands of feet above Nicaragua! We just wanted to give you a more
descriptive overview of our last day in Nicaragua. We began our day with a 2
hour drive back to Managua, the capital city. It’s amazing to witness the
driving in Nica- running red lights, paying no attention to stop lights, and
hundreds of cars crammed onto highways with no speed limits. It’s been a relief
to see Jesus this trip in our bus driver keeping us safe amidst many close
calls.
Once in
Managua, we toured El Faro- a silk factory designed for single mothers. El Faro
hires single moms, where otherwise the mothers would be unemployed and have no
way of providing for their children. Under Armour provides them with the
microfiber materials! We then took a tour of El Faro church, the feeding center
and local day care for infants. This day care is free of charge and allows
parents to provide for their families without feeling the burden of worrying
about daily childcare.
Next,
we were off to our final feeding center, located at a house. Rosa, the owner of
the house, has children of her own, including a 17 year old daughter with a
baby of her own. On top of caring for her own kids and grandchild, she opens up
her cozy house daily to many other kids so they can have their only nutritious
meal of the day. We spent most of the afternoon there, feeding the children and
then spending time with them.
Heather was very patient with a
baby she was holding which seemed to last forever! Her arms were sore to say
the least. Tommy was constantly running around per usual and helping kids climb
up the trees. The kids were ecstatic about the soccer ball that Evan gave them
to play with and keep. Mackenzie quickly found a new friend who couldn’t seem
to let go of her legs; ironically her name was Gabriella, just like Kristina’s
friend Gabriella in Leon who couldn’t let go of her side, either. Kristina was
extremely gracious as she let a little boy color her legs and arms all over and
never stopped smiling at him. As we were leaving, Gena, Jerome, and Dewey were
extremely generous and let some of the kids keep their sunglasses.
Before heading to the hotel for the
last time, Big Al went to the market and had time to browse around and check
out some Nicaraguan handmade goods! Alfred was such a wonderful ONET guide- we
couldn’t have asked for a more caring and charismatic presence on our trip. We
will be sure to request him next year when we come back!
Please continue to be praying for
our efforts in Nicaragua. Pray that we impacted the lives we came in contact
with and pray that ONET can have to resources to continue saving and
transforming lives and can continually grow to reach more kids! We are
scheduled to be landing at Dulles International Airport in northern Virginia
around 3:00 for anyone wondering!
