A Look Back: Journaling Day 1 in Bluefields

I am starting up a multi-day series where I post an abridged version of my journal and then reflect on it from my perspective today in hindsight. Throughout the trip, I would get up a little bit before most folks and spend time jotting down thoughts and general recollections of the previous day. I wanted to capture as much of the trip as possible, so I could remember it better later. As we walk through this week of the Compassion Diet, I wanted to give you the chance to come alongside us and get a peek into how we experienced the week.

Sunday, August 4th. After traveling the last 2 days, today was our first day to meet people at the church where the feeding center is housed. Going into the day, I thought it would really stretch us! Pastor Ed [the head pastor of Verbo church] took an early flight from Managua so he could perform a wedding on Saturday and still make it in time for church; we had the chance to meet him and eat with him before he left. The building next to Pastor Ed's house [where the group stayed] was an Assemblies of God church and started service around 9:30. We met two other missionaries staying at the pastor’s house, too (one from the U.K. and one from the Caribbean).

What a whirlwind of a day! We went from church to lunch to youth group. All told, it stretched from 9 am to 5 pm. It was a special time, with constant bombardment to the senses. We arrived early and started introducing ourselves to everyone. I was impressed by how the young ladies dove in and introduced themselves around. So neat to see! Shireen gave a small speech and introduced us all during service; one parent basically walked up to Katelyn and handed over her son. He was happy, quiet, and immediately started chewing on her hair. 

At lunch, we spread out and tried to socialize with the families. We talked, navigating the language barrier somewhat decently, I thought, since many knew some English, and a few of us knew some Spanish. Apparently, a mom near Wilson tried to set her up with her son. In Spanish. Wilson was smiling and nodding until someone told her what was happening. It was pretty funny later, when she told me she needed to learn the language before her next trip. (But yay, next trip!)

Wilson decided to teach the youth group the card game “spoons”. It was a hit. We started with 12 people, and Wilson lost to Japheth (pronounced hay-phet, I'm told), one of the staff members, in the last round. Liza played guitar in the meeting with the youth group, all the team went up front, and proceeded to sing completely off key. I appreciated the fact that the youth group laughed with us afterwards, instead of at us. A few teens (both Nicaraguan and American) briefly shared their stories and testimonies with the whole youth group. Awesome day!

Hindsight View: This was an incredibly powerful day for the group. I very much appreciate the "low barrier to entry" they gave us. We were able to start off with a welcoming group of people and build our confidence before being inundated with kids. While it sounds like a long day, it went by in a flash. We were excited to spend so much time at the place where we would be the rest of the week, too.

Something I didn't write about in the entry, but vividly stands out in my mind now, occurred during the middle of singing in the service. It had been raining in Bluefields for days straight, but that Sunday morning, hugely strong winds picked up that bowed trees and made the rain go sideways. While the church was singing, the power went out! We kept singing for a bit, and then took a short break until the power came back on. Stephanie said the winds felt and sounded like a hurricane, and Shireen mentioned that it was just like a strong monsoon in India. It was an incredible experience where losing the speakers didn't cause the congregation to diminish or to stop praising God, and the view of trees bent sideways and rain swirling only further cemented the awe of creation around us. Wow!