#matthew51316

[navigatingnica-blog]

Day 57

7/1/17

Well I spent a few days in Leon. overall, I think I can describe the city as having a large suburban feel. It was busy, but not too busy, kind of like suburbia. It also had just the basic necessities- a bank, a grocery store, a movie theater, some clothing shops, etc. I wouldn’t call it a big city, though. It was pretty, and in many parts had much prettier houses than Granada has. The cathedrals were breathtaking. The men were not nearly as forward as they are in Granada. However, it didn’t feel like home. Granada feels like home. It’s got that small town, conservative, charming feel. Leon is definitely more liberal. You can still see political murals on the wall (I think they still hate the States… whoops) and Sandinistas that fought in the last revolution are still running around telling their stories. Sandinista flags are flying high. The college kids are running wild at all hours of the night having parties. I did, however, really enjoy the fact that something was always going on. There was always someone to watch, a corn- on- the- cob stand to eat at, a trampoline to go jump on (okay, only if you’re under the age of 7), or the world’s nicest McDonald’s to go to. It was a good couple of days, but I’m glad to be back in my tranquilo little city. 

So the overall reason I went to Leon was because I sponsor a child through Compassion International, and I had the amazing opportunity to meet her this weekend! Naturally, I jumped at the chance and started setting things up. It was truly such an amazing experience. The day started with meeting my interpreter (every Compassion visit gets an interpreter from the country’s headquarters to facilitate the visit). I’m glad I’ve had two months to brush up on my Spanish because getting to talk to and understand (as long as everyone speaks slowly) Alison and her community was so important to me. It made for a more natural meeting and I feel like she was able to let her guard down so quickly. We met at the place I was staying and then we set out for Alison’s barrio. When we got there, I was able to see Alison’s church, meet her pastor, meet her tutor, see the Compassion center that she goes to, and meet some of the other leaders who pour into her life. Finally, as I turned to go in to the Compassion office, I saw my little nugget start running towards me, arms as wide as they could stretch, with the biggest grin on her face. It was really special to me because I knew she was excited. She’s 13 and most 13 year- olds try to put on a “cool” act, but she didn’t care. She kept telling me “gracias” over and over, but really she was the one letting me come visit her so I was pretty thankful. Then I got to hug her mama and we were all able to take pictures under the balloon arch (yes, ballon arch!) and exchange gifts. Alison had known for an entire month about my visit, and ever since she found out, she worked really closely and really hard with her tutor to make the perfect gift. She constructed an adorable card stock paper box with fancy trim and a bow, and inside the box were bon bons (my favorite kind!) and fun stickers. After the exchange, we walked through her barrio to get to her house. I was excited to see that there were cobblestone streets in her barrio because I got her chalk and wanted her to be able to use it. When we got to her house, her two older cousins greeted us, along with her younger sister (12 years old). Ali gave me a tour of the house. She, her mom, and two sisters sleep in one room with two beds. Her grandfather sleeps in another room. Her cousins just wanted to meet me, but they live in a different house, so they were at Ali’s place waiting with her sister. Ali showed me that she’s been keeping all of the letters I send her and that she was so thankful I write her. I was also able to se that there were pictures on the wall from her kindergarten graduation, and pictures of her with her sisters when they were younger. I got to meet the family dog as well. Negrita. She’s black so that’s why her name is Negrita. After the tour of the house, we went on to the back “patio” (really just an area out back) and took family photos. The older sister wasn’t there because she was working, but that was okay. Once pics were done, we hailed a taxi and headed out for the lunch! I asked Ali if she knew of any yummy places, and we could go wherever since it was her day. Guess where she chose, y’all? McDonald’s! AND she was so excited when I said yes! Like literally jumping. She started talking so fast that at the point I had to stop conversing on my own and ask for the translators help. Basically Ali loves McDonald’s food, the toys, and her sister works there, and it’s in the city and she never gets to go to the city because she’s too little. So anyway, we started walking towards McDonald’s once the taxi let us out (we made sure to stop for pics, too) and I loved seeing this nug’s reaction to some good ole American fast food. They even let her pick out two toys so she could bring one home to her younger sister. When we were there, I got to meet her older sister. Apparently the job is a huge blessing because (1) money, but (2) most jobs in Nica make you work full time and McDonald’s really wants the kids to finish school, so they’re letting her go to school part- time to allow her to finish schooling. Also, they treat their employees very nice and even take them on staff retreats to resorts. It’s pretty fancy. Anyway, we ate lots of yummy McDonald’s and then got McFlurrys for dessert, then left for a taxi because it was time for the… water park! It’s not like an American water park, but it was still  a lot of fun. It was kind of like a really big public pool area thing. Ali was pretty excited because she said she had been once with Compassion on a group event and loved it, and since she was getting to go with me it was even more special. We went to a nearby city called Telica and the water park had two really big pools, one kid pool, and two little kid pools. The two big pools had a waterfall and three water slides. All of us got in and started swimming around. I gave Ali a super short swim lesson because she said she kind of didn’t know how to swim. I quickly realized she totally did and told her that she was great, but we still stayed in shallow areas and areas near life guards. We took so many pics, even underwater pics (although I realized later that my life proof case wasn’t completely life proof… so now I have no phone) and I can’t wait to share them! I also brought my polaroid camera so Ali could have pics. Her mom borrowed her older sister’s phone for the day and took pics of us as well. Her mom was so excited the entire day, maybe even more than Ali! It was so precious. Once swimming was over, we went back to the city and said our goodbyes. I definitely want to come back next year and visit my precious girl again.  

• A L I S O N •

• Casa •

• Basilica Catedral de la Asuncion •

• Lions in Leon •

• Happy McNugget •

• Entrance to the Water Park •

• Telica Water Park •

• Bravery • 

• Silly faces •

• Fam •

This trip was amazing, and I learned more about Compassion and about Ali’s center than I knew before. For example, the money I pay each month helps fund doctor’s visits, dentist’s visits, and eye exams. My little Al pal needs glasses and she wouldn’t have been able to get them without me. Literally. She got them this year and I’ve been sponsoring her for about 8 months now, and that money helped pay for the glasses. Another fact about the center is that each child has a personalized binder with everything about them (down to a BMI chart to make sure they’re not malnourished!) and a few tutors must keep up with the binders. I was able to see report cards, letters that we’ve written each other, how long Ali has been with Compassion, and more. I truly appreciated how thorough Compassion is with everything. Her center has been established for six years, and that’s when she started. She said she had a sponsor, but then they stopped sponsoring her. That broke my heart because this girl is the sweetest little bubbliest thing ya ever did see, and I can’t imagine how devastated she was when she realized she lost her sponsor. I’m keeping her until she graduates from Compassion. What also broke my heart is that the center has 380 kids, and in the past six years they’ve had two other sponsors visit their children. One came to Leon, the other had their kid meet them in Managua. They said when I wanted to come meet Ali, they were overjoyed! So was I! Getting to see Alison face- to- face, her day- day life, meeting her leaders, etc. was so incredible. Overall, I truly believe that the work Compassion is doing is really good work and I feel so honored to be able to be a part of this project. 

So my trip to Leon was successful because I finally met my wonderful nugget, Alison. Sorry for the long post, but I really felt like I had to type everything, and I still feel like I could have writhed so much more about it. Anyway, until next time!

Stay Salty & Shine Bright, Heather

[navigatingnica-blog]

Day 52

6/26/17

So I guess a lot has happened in the past week. I don’t even know how to smoosh it all in to one post. I had taught a lot. I spent a lot of time with my Jesus- loving friends. I spent some time with my volunteer friends. I went to church and to a worship night. I finally got to go to Laguna de Apoyo again (and I went for literally the entire day). I improved even more on my Spanish because of my Spanish classes.

I also cried. I had a very emotional weekend, and I’m going to tell you why because I know y’all are dying to know. On Friday, Christina (the other English team member at my school) and I got ready for our meeting, and found out the meeting was actually going to be held in our house and not at the offices. The meeting is always in the office. So that was weird. Then, after we planned for the entire next week, the ayudantes went to the offices, were told some things by admin, and came back to our house. They told us that the English team is disappearing and that after Tuesday June 27, we will no longer be teaching English in the public schools. The ayudantes will no longer be in the same schools starting this week. Our ayudante never got to say goodbye to the kids that he built relationships with for the entire year. The volunteers had to go to the schools and tell the principal, the teachers, and the students that English will no longer be taught, and we won’t be in the schools anymore. We told half the school today and the kids were crying, some were angry, the teachers were shocked and upset, and the principal was so disappointed. I fully believe that news like that should have been delivered by administration, not by volunteers. I also don’t think that such a big change should have been implemented half way through the school year, nor should it have been done so quickly. We found out in a roundabout way on Friday, and apparently admin decided this two weeks ago. Ending an entire program that’s been around for years with a decision that took two weeks to make seems a little rash, and I think it was unnecessary at this point of the year. It upsets that teachers’ schedules, and it upsets the kids’ routines. The kids have also gotten so excited about learning English, and now they’re getting it taken away, as if they did something wrong, but they didn’t. 

So now English teams will be going to one of the two new learning centers. We will be teaching English to middle school and high school students Monday- Friday before they go to school in the afternoon. I’m trying to stay hopeful, but I’m obviously still a little apprehensive and a little upset. However, we are doing a barrio walk on Wednesday to advertise what we are doing, so we will be getting the kids who want to learn, and in turn we will all have excited students. 

This is something I prayed about all weekend. After the terrible implementation/ execution of this new program and the removal of the old, I thought about leaving the program and asking to teach with El Puente’s private school or to help with the missions teams. However, after a lot of prayer, I whole- heartedly believe that God wants me in the learning center teaching English to the older kids. It’s not what I came here to do, because I came to teach English to elementary school kids in a public school,  but I believe at this point I have given it up to God and He will do something amazing with it. 

So pray that tomorrow isn’t too terrible when I say goodbye to the kids I have grown to love for the past two months. Pray that I can embrace this new English change with an amazing amount of tenacity and positivity. Also, please start praying for an upcoming trip this weekend. I will be traveling to Leon to visit my Compassion child! I’m so excited, but a little bit nervous because I still need to find a hostel or a cheap enough hotel, and I have a bus change in Managua but I’ve never had to do a bus change in managua before. So please pray that everything works out well!

Stay Salty & Shine Bright, Heather

Ps I’ll post pics tomorrow, after I finish taking more pics at school :)

Also, my YouCaring is always open if you feel called to offer financial support (Granada is very touristy and is un poco more expensive compared to Jinotega from last year) https://www.youcaring.com/heather-fagan-673341

[navigatingnica-blog]

Day 41

6/ 15/ 17

Late post: So I wrote this on Tuesday, but then got too busy to post. Awk. “When it rains, it pours.” Literally speaking, I suppose. I felt so bad for the nugs today because it was literally pouring this morning right when we were supposed to leave for school. unfortunately, when it pours here, most schools get cancelled. Our school, in particular, is so far out in the barrios that there aren’t paved roads for at least a mile. That means most kids live on dirt roads. When dirt and rain mix, a lot of mud happens. The kids slip and fall in the mud, then their only uniform (or one of their only sets of clothes) gets dirty. Once their clothes gets dirty, their mothers have to hand- scrub the clothes to get them clean, and dry them out in the sun. So today school was cancelled, and the kids had to stay at home and inside. 

I had a very relaxing day, however. I relaxed all morning, listening to music and browsing Pinterest looking for new lesson plan ideas. I’ve been into this group called Shane and Shane after Lydia introduced them to me. They’re so good! Anyway, once I got bored, I decided to treat myself to brunch, so I went to Kathy’s waffle house. I should’ve taken a pic of my food because it was so hashtag Nica. I had gallo pinto, eggs, bacon, and a thick piece of toast. I also had coffee… the good Nica coffee, not the yucky American stuff. As I casually ate brunch, I played catch up with El Internado. I’m so close to finishing the series and it’s really helping me with my Spanish!

After brunch, I went to Spanish class. The walk there was surprisingly nice because it was cool since it had just rained. Class went really well today. I was able to talk a lot and understand almost everything, so I really feel like I’m improving. Who knows, maybe I’ll be basically fluent by the time I return home *she said with a glimmer of hope in her voice*.

After Spanish and before the Tuesday meeting for La Esperanza volunteers, there was an awkward time gap, so I decided to re- listen to a podcast I listened to yesterday. I listened to a Hillsong podcast called #LEVELS and it was SO good, but I was listening for enjoyment. I miss hearing my normal 3- point messages with a clearly defined outline and goal. Yesterday’s message was so good that I want to listen again and take notes, because I really think it totally applies to my life right now. 

The meeting was of course, pointless. I truly don’t understand why we have them. We make the new volunteers say their name (even though we send an email to everyone saying who the people are) and we make the old volunteers say goodbye. At least it was quick, so that was good.  Afterwards, I was able to hang out with the interns. We had good talks and lots of laughs.

The past two days have been great at school, except for one hiccup. We had to have a kid physically removed and carried to the principal’s office because he wouldn’t stop fighting the other students, teachers, and volunteers. So that was sad. Luckily, he was able to regain his composure and come back to class. So we finally released my “big” idea with the kids. It didn’t exactly work out as planned because hashtag Nica probs (ex. canceled class, not knowing which classes will show up, lack of materials, etc.), but it’s okay because the kids loved it and we made do with what we had. We had a… Fashion Show! In most of the classes, we moved the desks to the sides of the room to create a runway and then had a chair for the kids to stand on when they got to the end of the runway. When they got on the chair, they were able to announce what they were wearing. We’ve been learning how to describe things (ex. green shirt, or black shoes). One class even got to use the stage in the front of the school and the other kids got to stand in front of the stage clapping and cheering. It was so much fun and so exciting to see the kids strutting down the runway. 

After school today, I went to Spanish class. Even though I was completely exhausted, I pushed through and I learned a lot and remembered even more than I thought I would. I was pretty proud of myself. 

Tonight I’m going to worship night with the interns and the mission team that’s here this week, and after that I’m going to celebrate Jada (the middle child in the Sandino dam… se previous posts)! It’s her birthday so we’re going to Wok in Roll, which is literally the best Asian restaurant in Nicaragua. 

So overall, everything is going really well. Please pray for a great planning period tomorrow. It will be the last planning period with Lucas, the only boy on our English team, because he’s going home this weekend. On that note, please pray that we either get another strong male figure, or that the team and I can step up in incredible ways to really get these kids under control (mostly concerned with the fist fights). 

Stay Salty & Shine Bright, Heather

[navigatingnica-blog]

Day 38

6/12/17

So this weekend was SO good because guess what? Interns are finally here!! Y’all. This is big. Lydia and I finally go from a super itty bitty gang to a really cool small gang. Now there are 5 interns plus me. I’m the honorary intern with El Puente. I could not be more excited to have fellowship with Jesus loving people who are my age. So basically I spent the entire weekend with them, and every minute was awesome.

It started with an unexpected “Buenas!” at my door on Friday evening. Lydia surprised me by bringing the interns by and we all got fritanga. Honestly, everyone at this point knows that fritanga is the way to my heart so that was a great start. Once we got fritanga, everyone went back to the girls’ house and we hung out, ate fritanga, and got to know each other. We’re all from different states and different denominations, so it’s pretty cool. There’s obviously Lydia and me. Then there’s Becca, Claire, Jacob, and Massey. I’ll probably talk about them a lot from now on. 

• Jacob, Claire, Lydia, Becca, Massey, ME • 

On Saturday we got ready for baseball outreach (just like always) but unfortunately it was raining so we had to cancel. It was fine but us though, because we went to the Brooks’ house and went swimming and ate pizza instead! Once pizza and swims were over, everyone went to youth group to hang out with the big kids of El Puente, and then we went back to the girls’ house to hang and chat. We even played some crazy games of HeadsUp. On Sunday it was another great service, but because our normal pastor is on vacation, we had the American missions pastor again. I liked it because it was familiar to have an American sermon. There was no post- church nap yesterday, though. We decided to be tourists. We got gelato and went to one of the huge cathedrals in Granada. It was gorgeous. We even got to go up in the bell tower and look at the city and take pictures. 

• Mini Cathedral •

• Cathedral Wall •

• Cathedral Lookout •

• On the balcony of the cathedral •

Today was a win, as well. there were a total of zero •fist• fights between the students! Seeing as that happens a lot, I was definitely proud of the little nugs. After school got out early (because one of the teachers just didn’t show up today) I took a taxi home and started on my Spanish homework. When I finished it, I went to class and had a super productive day of class. When class finished (it went by so fast today) I went home and got my laundry together. Laundry has been so hard the past few days. It’s been raining so much that I can’t set it out on the line! I’ll do the laundry, set it out, and then it will rain. So I took my gathered laundry to the laundromat that volunteers get a discount at, and I had them do it. I dropped it right before they closed so I’ll be able to pick it up tomorrow. 

So that’s it. A very busy, but very exciting past few days. I would love prayers for even smoother English classes. Having kids fight is rough, but days like today were great. More days like today would be even better. 

Stay Salty and Shine Bright, Heather

[navigatingnica-blog]

Day 31

6/5/17

I’ve officially been here for over a month, y’all! It feels like I just got to Granada, but at the same time feels like I’ve been here my whole life. The past week was filled with so many little nuts running around. I even went to school on Friday (instead of having our usual English team meeting) and I was able to work with first graders. On Saturday I went to the barrios to play baseball with the kids, like I normally do, but I was also given the opportunity to give a short message about the prodigal son, and had the American pastor (who is also a Nica) translate in Spanish. It was so cool. Then Lydia and I got pizza for lunch, and went swimming with all of the PKs at one of their houses. Bless up y’all because private pools in Granada are rare, and the heat index is constantly over 100. After swimming, we went back home, and made cookies with the middle child, Jada. She’s nine and she loved it. We also had a family game night with me, Lydia, and the two girls (Lauren and Jada). It was a long, but much- needed fun day. On Sunday I was able to enjoy church again and grab Chinese food with Lydia after, because weekends are for being piggies.

Today I went to school and taught two classes, then the kids got out early because it’s Dia de los ninos (kid’s day). It was also different day because one of our volunteers had her mom, sister, and best friend visiting! This volunteer has been here for ten months, and still has another two months to go. The kids thought it was so cool to meet her family, and it was really sweet to see her mom get so excited to see the work she has been doing here. After school, another boy from the English team and I got together to lesson plan for the next two weeks since we didn’t get time for planning last week. We have BIG plans for the kids and I can’t wait to share it with you when it happens! Once planning was done, I had Spanish class. My teacher, Maria, truly is such a sweet lady. I really enjoy going to class and catching up with her. After class, Lydia and I hung out for a bit, got a smoothie, and chatted about English. When it was time to go home, she left, and I went with the volunteers to… SALSA CLASS! Yes friends, ya girl danced Salsa. Also, I really wasn’t bad! 10/10 would go back for more classes.

Well, that’s all for now. Pray that the next couple weeks go well in school because our English team will be short on people. Also pray that I am able to take the kids to the library on Wednesday. I know where it is now in relation to the school, so I’m hoping to having a little field trip when classes end on Wednesday.

Stay Salty & Shine Bright,

Heather

[migacandicewrites]

We are salt and light. #saltandlight #matthew51316 #doodling