Treasured moments of the week of Thanksgiving that I would like to share with you:
1. This weekend I participated in my first Nicaraguan birthday party! I walked in to the small yard joining a tiny house surrounded by pieces of tin roofing and discarded boards for fencing carrying a large cake, 22 cupcakes, and a bag of candy to share. To my surprise there were over 70 people there and the hugest piñata I have ever seen dangling from a nearby tree. Everyone was dressed in their best clothes and watching the 3 year old birthday boy scream in fear of the 5 foot piñata and try to run away from his mother who desperately wanted just one picture of him with the piñata. This family has adopted me into theirs and was so sweet to let me share with their family in celebration and acceptance. I felt loved and learned a lot about this culture!
2. After a long and stressfull day the 5th graders were practicing for their Thanksgiving program and I was imitating what not to do when standing on stage, the kids thought my impression of a 1st grader waving at his mother was hysterical and after a few moments we were all laughing so hard we couldn’t stop for a few minutes, many with tears rolling down their faces. One of my favorite moments of teaching so far!
3. One night this week a family from church invited all the teachers over for a thanksgiving meal they had prepared for us. We got to meet some new faces of missionaries that have served here for years and years and hear of their stories of God’s faithfulness accompanied by soft candlelight and the best turkey I have ever had! (Turkey’s here cost around $100, and so is quite a delicacy!)
4. Wednesday morning was the Thanksgiving program and it was so neat to see all my 5th graders yelling at the top of their lungs with beaming faces: “It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to Your name, Oh Most High. To declare your lovingkindness in the morning, and your faithfulness every night!” ~Psalm 92:2~
5. My roommate and I took the leap of faith and decided to meet a friend of a friend at the Managua airport so that he could take us 4 ½ hours up north to an orphanage in the mountainous regions of Nicaragua. It was obvious after about 5 minutes of conversation that he(Alvero is his name!) did not know the Lord, but after 4 ½ + hours in the car we had ample time to plant seeds into very soft and fertile soil! His questions were rich with desire to know and understand the true, living, and active God, Yahweh!
6. Thanksgiving morning we awoke to a temperature of about 55 degrees, it felt so good to be under covers! We knew we were just where we needed to be for this Thanksgiving day, and we had no idea the blessing He had in store! We took picture after picture of the refreshing beauty surrounding us. God used this time to restore my soul in many ways and reveal to me sin that I had slipped into. I was able to confess this before the Lord and pray for these precious children, it was precious time.
7. We got to hike with the kids up a mountain behind the orphanage (about a 45 minute hike) with picnic lunches awaiting at the top! One precious little girl had shoes that were way too small for her feet, so after about 8 minutes of walking she was crying. I carried her much of the way up and back and we got to sing a lot of songs, such as: “Yo tengo….gozo,gozo,gozo, gozo en mi corazon…donde? En mi Corazon! Yo tengo gozo, gozo, gozo, gozo, en mi Corazon…..porque Cristo me salvo!” We truly were filled with joy as we ascended that beautiful mountain and looked over the lakes and scenery while munching on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at the top!
8. The kids had all been especially good all day, knowing that this was one of two days in the whole year in which they could eat as much food as they wanted. We had peeled 30 pounds of potatoes, carried “crunchy cebollos (onions)” all the way from the states for the green bean casserole, and purchased a gigantic turkey, the feast was ready! The kids and adults gathered together and shared one or two things that they wanted to thank the Lord for the in the year, among many praises for “Jesus loving me” and “Jesus providing everything for me” one of the interns, who just happened to be German, piped up and shared that he was thankful he got to have his first ever thanksgiving holiday!(Ironic that he had to come to Nicaragua to experience an American holiday J)
9. Many sweet children touched my heart over the 41 hours I spent in that mountain orphanage, it definitely is a place I could feel comfortable living in for the rest of my life! The kids were incredible. We took a few kids back down to Managua with us, but we had to pack them in the car with us. One little boy, Josecito, sat on my lap for an entire 5 ½ hours in perfect contentment, talking to me in his little sweet voice, playing with my hair, and sleeping in my arms. His favorite song to sing me was in English and went like this: “lullaby and goodnight….I hope all your dreams come true.” What a precious child of God I got to hold in my arms for so many hours and pray blessing over blessing upon.
2. After a long and stressfull day the 5th graders were practicing for their Thanksgiving program and I was imitating what not to do when standing on stage, the kids thought my impression of a 1st grader waving at his mother was hysterical and after a few moments we were all laughing so hard we couldn’t stop for a few minutes, many with tears rolling down their faces. One of my favorite moments of teaching so far!
3. One night this week a family from church invited all the teachers over for a thanksgiving meal they had prepared for us. We got to meet some new faces of missionaries that have served here for years and years and hear of their stories of God’s faithfulness accompanied by soft candlelight and the best turkey I have ever had! (Turkey’s here cost around $100, and so is quite a delicacy!)
4. Wednesday morning was the Thanksgiving program and it was so neat to see all my 5th graders yelling at the top of their lungs with beaming faces: “It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to Your name, Oh Most High. To declare your lovingkindness in the morning, and your faithfulness every night!” ~Psalm 92:2~
5. My roommate and I took the leap of faith and decided to meet a friend of a friend at the Managua airport so that he could take us 4 ½ hours up north to an orphanage in the mountainous regions of Nicaragua. It was obvious after about 5 minutes of conversation that he(Alvero is his name!) did not know the Lord, but after 4 ½ + hours in the car we had ample time to plant seeds into very soft and fertile soil! His questions were rich with desire to know and understand the true, living, and active God, Yahweh!
6. Thanksgiving morning we awoke to a temperature of about 55 degrees, it felt so good to be under covers! We knew we were just where we needed to be for this Thanksgiving day, and we had no idea the blessing He had in store! We took picture after picture of the refreshing beauty surrounding us. God used this time to restore my soul in many ways and reveal to me sin that I had slipped into. I was able to confess this before the Lord and pray for these precious children, it was precious time.
7. We got to hike with the kids up a mountain behind the orphanage (about a 45 minute hike) with picnic lunches awaiting at the top! One precious little girl had shoes that were way too small for her feet, so after about 8 minutes of walking she was crying. I carried her much of the way up and back and we got to sing a lot of songs, such as: “Yo tengo….gozo,gozo,gozo, gozo en mi corazon…donde? En mi Corazon! Yo tengo gozo, gozo, gozo, gozo, en mi Corazon…..porque Cristo me salvo!” We truly were filled with joy as we ascended that beautiful mountain and looked over the lakes and scenery while munching on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at the top!
8. The kids had all been especially good all day, knowing that this was one of two days in the whole year in which they could eat as much food as they wanted. We had peeled 30 pounds of potatoes, carried “crunchy cebollos (onions)” all the way from the states for the green bean casserole, and purchased a gigantic turkey, the feast was ready! The kids and adults gathered together and shared one or two things that they wanted to thank the Lord for the in the year, among many praises for “Jesus loving me” and “Jesus providing everything for me” one of the interns, who just happened to be German, piped up and shared that he was thankful he got to have his first ever thanksgiving holiday!(Ironic that he had to come to Nicaragua to experience an American holiday J)
9. Many sweet children touched my heart over the 41 hours I spent in that mountain orphanage, it definitely is a place I could feel comfortable living in for the rest of my life! The kids were incredible. We took a few kids back down to Managua with us, but we had to pack them in the car with us. One little boy, Josecito, sat on my lap for an entire 5 ½ hours in perfect contentment, talking to me in his little sweet voice, playing with my hair, and sleeping in my arms. His favorite song to sing me was in English and went like this: “lullaby and goodnight….I hope all your dreams come true.” What a precious child of God I got to hold in my arms for so many hours and pray blessing over blessing upon.
I guess I will leave you with 9 not-so-short snap shots. God worked out so many details in my roommate and I being able to spend Thanksgiving in a little mountain town called Jinotega. I want to tell you about two of the girls that stole my heart! One is 14, cares for all the children as a mother, and reminded me of my sweet little sister Sarah in a lot of ways. She wrote me a note when I left which said, “Julia, we are friends forever. Remember you are special to God and to me. I miss you already. Don’t forget me. Tu hermanita, Nora” She was a shining star, a bright and beautiful presence in this place. God must have wonderful plans for her, and oh how I pray He continues to grow her up in the ways of the Lord to be obedient and humbly serve Him.
The other girl was a 6 year old that definitely was attached to my hip from the moment we stumbled into each other brushing our teeth at 6:10 in the morning. She was shy, but stunning. She was the one I carried up the mountain. Her name is Luz, and as I was saying goodbye she whispered, “Julia, te quiero muchchuchuchuchisisisisisisimo!” (I love you a lot lot lot lot lot!)
I found out her story on the way home and my heart broke. She came to the orphanage a little less than 2 months ago and they had found her in a cardboard box house where she was living with her father. He had been sexually abusing her since she was 4.
Just one day and my heart is attached, not even intentionally (in fact, I know that I easily give pieces of my heart away to children such as these at orphanages in different places, so I usually am guarded) But, never did I expect the incredibly unconditional love and shining presence of Jesus to grab my heart in such a way in this place, oh how blessed I was to get to spend this Thanksgiving with these beautiful children. I know I was put in their lives to share their stories as many may pray for them for years to come. Many of their stories are just as heartbreaking as Lucita’s.
