Day Seven: February 8th, 2012

Dear Internet,

Day Seven was our last full day in Nicaragua. :(

That morning Christian brought with some jewelry from the church's store. After breakfast, we once again got on the bus. This time we were headed to the market!

I thought the market would be an open-air type maze thing. It certainly was a maze. It was amazing! Sorry, couldn't resist. :)

The market was HUGE. The main part of it was in a large building. Our interpreters took us on a tour, and then we were free to go wherever we wanted to. The plan was to meet back at the bus at a certain time. I stuck with Kristin the whole time. :)

It was very overwhelming. Some of the shops literally had merchandise displayed from the floor all the way to the ceiling. And they had everything you could think of: food, clothes, party supplies, shoes, purses/ backpacks, electronics (pirated DVDs too!), and all of the touristy things you could ever want. :) I got a really cool hand-made hammock for my family. I also found a fun purse (again, hand-made) and a really beautiful drawing.

We had fun looking at all of the wares. Indiira (one of our interpreters, she hung out with us while we were in the market) got this really cool plum candy thing. I didn't try it, but it looked like it had the consistency of a really gummy Dot. It was also rolled in white sugar. :) Very sweet. There were a lot of booths that sold different candies, sweets, and other foods. I didn't buy any as I wasn't sure what was "safe/ ok" to eat. Most of it looked delicious!

A few of my team members found a booth that sold leather Bible covers. The artist who made them had made a beautiful drawing on the front of each using a burning tool. They were beautiful. And to add to it, the artist also wrote your name on the cover. On one of the past trips Ashley was on, some of her team members had gotten them and she really wanted to get one this trip. She did, and she was so excited!

We went back to the bus to meet up with our team. There were a few street kids selling leaf origami-type objects. They made cockroaches, flowers, and they even made this elaborate heart thing. They kept trying to sell them to us, but eventually gave up and started throwing them thru the bus windows for us.

We all got on the bus and realized that we didn't have Lindee. It took our interpreters and Christina about a half an hour to find her. :(

On the way back to Casa, we stopped at an ice cream store and picked up some ice cream for that night. It was our last night with the kids.

Walt and Eric had stayed at Casa when we went to the market. They were helping to make an amphitheater over by the school. Quite a few of the other team members went over there to help after lunch. I stayed at the Team Center and finished getting ready for the photo craft.

Ana and Maria

The night before, Christina gave us a prayer request. There was a girl who had been living at Casa, her name was Maria, and she had gone home for Christmas. Unfortunately, her father wouldn't let her return. Christina told us this because the next day (today, day seven) Christian and a few others were going to go to her village in hopes of persuading Maria's father to let her come back. I guess it was a long drive there and back. While the craft was going on, we saw the fruits of our prayers. Maria and Christian walked into the Team Center. The kids were so excited to see her. I thought Paula was going to tackle her! :) I made sure she had a photo so she could do the craft too.

Handing out the photos was the most unorganized part of the craft. Not that the rest of it was very well organized by any means. I can say that because I was the one who "organized" it. :) The kids had a blast with it, don't get me wrong, but I would describe the process as chaotic at best.

The kids came and sat down at the tables in the Team Center. We had put foam stickers and other decorations in the middle of the tables. Each kid also got a Popsicle cross to put on their "frame." The "frame" was a piece of construction paper. Most of the kids frames looked more like a scrapbook page than a frame. The girls got four photos each, and the boys got three. I took a picture of the kids that hadn't participated in the photo booth while they were creating their master pieces, and printed them right there. It was so cool to see their faces light up when I gave them their pictures!

After they were done, we hung out with them until it was time for supper. They left and had supper back at their house, and we had supper at the Team Center.

We had a little bit of down time before they came back, and that was when I signed up to sponsor Linda. It was so exciting! Christina had her laptop there and we took turns signing up. There were about eight kids who needed sponsors, and I think our team signed up to sponsor at least four. Once I was done, I had a hard time waiting for the kids to come back! :) I wanted to run over to Linda and give her a huge hug, but I knew that wasn't such a good plan. Before they came back, I talked with Indiira. She said she'd help me tell Linda.

Reactions to the slideshow!

They put up a slideshow of the photo booth pictures for the kids to see. They LOVED it! I had given Christina a cd of all the photos that day. It was fun to see their reactions.

Before everything got going, Linda, Indiira, and I went over to a quieter spot in the Team Center. Indiira translated for me. I told Linda that I had signed up to sponsor her. I told her that I would right her letters, and pray for her. Linda smiled at me, but you could kind of tell that she didn't really understand what I meant. She gave me a hug, and went over to her caretaker who was on the other side of the room. I obviously couldn't hear what she said, and even if I could I wouldn't understand it. I watched her, and I assumed, told her what I said. The caretaker grinned and then looked over at me, still smiling. She understood what I meant. She gave Linda a hug and then Linda went off to visit/ play with the other kids.

Linda and I

Our last evening was pretty informal. There were at least two games of spoons going on (the kids loved that game). A few of the kids were sitting and watching the slideshow too. Jaja came up to me and asked if she could see the video I had taken of her the day of the photo booth. It was on my other camera, and I had to get the key to get into the room to go get it. It was so worth it! She LOVED it. She dragged me across the room to show it to her caretaker too! We had ice cream soon after that. It was very sugary.

The night was coming to a close, and you could almost sense a switch in our moods. Christina had told us that we needed to make this a happy night. If we were feeling emotional or teary, we needed to leave the room for a few moments. Which, if you think about it, really made sense. These kids have people coming and going all of the time.

Jaja and I

The plan was for the kids to come sit or stand in a circle and each of us pray for one or two of them. I, of course, made sure I was by Linda. Marbely was sitting next to her. I had the opportunity to pray over these two beautiful and wonderful girls. I prayed in English and held their hands. When I was done, Marbely asked if she could pray in English. I didn't really understand what she meant, but I got her point quick when she started to pray for ME in broken English. She eventually switched to Spanish, but it touched my heart just the same. I looked up when she was done, and they both were grinning at me. I gave them each a huge hug. Christina then told the kids that if they felt led they could pray for us. A few of the kids did, out loud for all of us to hear. It was so special. I think Paula could have gone on all night. :)

We then had about ten minutes to say our "good byes". Before this, I had went back to the room and grabbed the family photo I had brought with. It was of my parents, Chris, and I at Rebecca's wedding earlier that fall. I gave it to Linda and told her that this was my family. I told her that she was now part of my family. Her smile was priceless. THAT she understood. A family. She was part of MY family. She gave me a HUGE hug. I don't remember at what point she gave it to me that night, but she handed me the photo I had taken of her during the photo booth. You could tell that she had taken it off her frame, there was sticky glue around the edges. She had written me a note on the back too! It was so sweet.

It was hard to see them go that night. :(

Porch time was emotional. We all had made connections with these kids, and we knew that tomorrow we would leave.

In Christ,
Laura