Abby K. (Diria)
Hello friends and family. I’m sorry that it has taken me so
long to write but I really wanted to wait until something important happened
and luckily today was that day. The spirit of Nicaragua is inside me and I can
only pray that it will stay with me long after I board the plane to Dallas. The
people here are so wonderful. Where else but Nicaragua can you stop and say
hello (or hola) to every person you see? Each day in this trip has been filled
with so much happiness that I long for daylight and dread marking another day
off in my journal. My brief stay here has been filled with dancing, soccer
(something I’m surprisingly good at), and laughter. Today was especially
memorable. This morning I was feeling really nervous because I hadn’t given
away my cross yet and hadn’t even met someone that I had bonded with. Of course
I met people and became friends but I wanted to have something special. I
wanted to just… know. So as I boarded the bus I was especially anxious to start
the day at the new work site, determined to find someone I could connect with.
Then our head chaperone announces that we will be stopping at a school for 15
minutes or so before heading to the new community. When we got there, I
wandered through classrooms and finally made my way to one of the last ones,
where a couple of others had stopped to go inside. My eyes immediately
gravitated towards a boy by the windows of the school. I went over to him, said
hello and asked him for his name and his age. He said that he was nine years
old and that his name was Francisco. I replied by saying that I was 17 and that
my name was Abby. He smiled and said “Hola Abby” and I swear in that moment I
had found the person that I was going to give my cross to. He was the first
person here to ever directly call me by my name as weird as that sounds. I felt at peace and 100% confident in my
decision for the first time since I arrived here in this amazing country. After
talking to him a little bit more (mostly through a translator), I wrote my name
on the cross and gave it to him. I never really believed in having a call to
God or receiving a vocation but today I completely felt the pull of faith,
something that I had never truly experienced before. I know now that God is
within the people of Nicaragua, and their spirit is alive within in me.
Along with sharing this story I would really like to thank
my family for sending me their kind words in letters. I burst into tears at the
sight of your words and they have truly pushed me to continue in my mission of
faith. Dad, I loved your letter so much that I kept it over my heart when I
went to bed last night (also Happy Belated Father’s Day you ninja dad). Sarah,
I seriously miss you so much and I can almost hear your laughter every time I
have tripped while walking on the slippery Nicaraguan roads (which has been
about 10 times now). Mom, I miss telling
you about my day and am looking forward to when I can tell you all of my
stories from my time here. Coop, every time I see a dog here I wish I was at
home with you. Thank you all so much for supporting me and loving me. I am so
excited to see you back in Dallas.
P.S. Mom, I am taking my malaria medication and probiotics.
You can stop worrying now.
Carter P. (Diria)
Hola, Como Estas. I miss y’all a lot and am so thankful for all
of the letters. One thing that really stuck out in the letters is what Papa
said. He said that whenever he visits out of country it seems like the people
with the least seem to have the most joy. That has been so true throughout this
trip and every single person I am meeting has been making an impact on my life.
It has been so amazing in Nicaragua. I have made so many life-changing relationships
and I have given my cross away. I met a little boy named Miguelito and he had
such an impact on me. I got to play with him, his brother Andreas and their
cousin Anayensi for two straight days at Granadilla. He always had such a smile
on his face and just seeing him made me so happy. I already miss him and it has
only been two days since I last saw him. Our living conditions and food are
amazing but recently the entire city of Diria has been celebrating their feast
day for the past two days and it has been a pain. They party all night and all
day and with all the fireworks it has been crazy. Also it took until today for
my dumb self to realize that we packed earplugs so hopefully tonight I get some
more sleep. I love and miss everyone back home<3. Can’t wait to see all of
y’all again. I have been having such a great time here and yesterday Morillo
taught me how to salsa. We are going to be performing tomorrow for the
Nicaraguan people and I am so excited!!! Adios from Nicaragua
Colten P. (Diria)
Hey everyone, Happy Late Father’s Day Dad. Hope y’all had a
good time at the hotel thing and I hope all y’all are healthy. Things have been
going good here, the people are really nice and they are all very strong in
their faith and it is just really awesome to see that. We haven’t done like any
manual labor but I know our main goal was to build up the communities in this
diocese and I think we have done that. I gave away my cross to a little boy I
met named Andreas from Granadilla, he was really funny for like two days
straight all he did was play and he was just so full of energy, it was just
awesome. In Diria their Patron Saints are Saint Peter and Saint Paul and they
celebrate hard core on their feast day
(June 29th) but… they start celebrating like a week in
advance so for the last like 3 nights they shoot fireworks all night long and
there are bands that walk the streets playing music at all hours of the night.
It is so annoying, but now while I’m typing it is raining so they can’t shoot
them off right now… Thank God.
But yeah that’s about all I got so I guess I’ll end it here.
I love all of y’all and I’ll see y’all soon.
Roland L. (Diria)
Hey everybody…Happy Father’s Day Dads love both of y’all and
I hope y’all had the best father’s day! Sorry it has taken me so long to write
a second blog post…it took forever to find any wifi connection and everybody
else was always on. But the past couple of days have been great. We have
visited 3 church communities so far on our trip. I will tell you all about them
when I get back because I am way too lazy to type up everything that has
happened so far. It’s pretty lit over here … the Nicaragua people literally
party every single night. They are life goals, yet the constant explosions due
to the fireworks can get a bit annoying. The towns people do this because it is
the feast of Saint Peter and this has been going on for the whole month. I have
made a lot of new friends and I’m fairly sure we got the coolest chaperones by
far. Lastly, before I get back to breakfast I wanted to thank everybody for
their letters. I read them last night and it meant a lot and it will definitely
affect the way I approach the last bit of this journey. Btw Jason liked his
Jake. Much love and many prayers from Nicaragua!
Clare N. (Diria)
Okay, I’m back. Fireworks have been going off
for a few days now. The place we are staying at is nice. I met this one girl,
Hillary. She is 12 years old. She touched my heart. I feel in love with her
over two days at one of our worksites. The people here are really nice. I love
the architecture. Beautiful vegetation everywhere. AHHHHHH SOS!!!!!!!!! I AM
RUNNING OUT OF MALARIA MEDICATION SO IF ONE OF MI FAMILIA READS THIS PLEASE GET
MORE GRACIAS!!!!!! The mangos fall straight from the tree and we wash, peel,
and eat them. Mr. Brant wakes us up by singing every morning. That’s pretty
lit. Okay ladies, byeeeee
