Recently, we've all been especially noticing that we really HAVE undergone a lot of adjustments. So real fast, here are a few quirky examples of how we’ve adjusted to our Francia Sirpi life so far:
- In light of our insatiable obsession with bleaching everything we eat, Bri suddenly was inspired with a new nickname for her, Chelsea, and I; we are officially now the “bleach babes.” That’s right, that’s our savvy new term for ourselves. Sooo…maybe it’s not the most attractive nickname in the world, but it is accurate nevertheless.
- Our entertainment standards have really been readjusted since being here in Nicaragua. During evening worship, we usually all talk about the events of the day, and today we realized that announcing to the entire group that an airplane trail was spotted today was notable news. Oh dear.
- Also, here’s proof that I have actually adjusted to my new life here. The last time we went to Port, we were dismayed to discover that our toilet was stopped up. This was a problem, considering there were 5 girls in 1 room. We were finally able to track down a plunger and temporarily fix the problem, but finally we all started fussing to each other about how we wouldn’t be having problems like this if we had our outhouse back at the mission. We continued to discuss all the reasons why outhouses were better than flush toilets until one of us pointed out how ridiculous our argument was; who would choose an outhouse over a flush toilet?! We would, apparently…
~ Waspam Orphanage kiddos ~
Okay, so here’s an update on things that happened in November:
One night, I got attacked by fire ants again when I went down to shower. It was dusk and I thought I could get away with NOT bringing my flashlight. That was a bad idea because I couldn’t see where any of the ants were. They swarmed my feet and it sure felt like they were taking chunks of skin out, even though they weren’t… I’m not sure why it hurts so badly; It’s like getting stung by a bee. The worst part is that I didn’t even notice that they were all over the walls because it was too dark. They crawled into all my clothes so when I put them on, I started to get bit all over. Yes, now I have experienced the literal meaning of “ants in your pants.” (or rather, “FIRE ants in your pants.”) They need to stay OUT of my shower.
One Sabbath we had the great opportunity to travel to a neighboring village called Santa Clara to go to the Adventist church there. It ended up being a 6-mile round trip trek, but it wasn’t too bad actually, especially when I consider that if I were home, my parents might be wanting me to accompany them on one of those Sabbath afternoon death-hikes anyway. Haha
The biggest highlight of November was that, for the last couple weeks, we were lucky enough to have an academy group come to Francia on a school mission trip. We kicked it into high-gear going from only ten people at the mission to 40! It was great; I really loved the change in schedule, as well as the chance to meet a bunch of new people. They revamped Francia Sirpi by painting the SDA church, reroofing it, whitewashing the Adventist school, helping with clinic work, passing out vitamins and anti-parasite meds in the village, and doing VBS in the evenings. They were such a blessing to the people here, and even to us missionaries on the hill.
We originally rationed people to a bucket shower. We tested this strategy before the group came and us girls found it possible to take a complete wash-your-hair-shower with only 1 liter of water. Yes. You heard right. Dad, I’m sure you’re just bursting with happiness at this news. Luckily, God answered our prayer for rain and we were able to use more water after that.
One day, we were able to travel in a big dugout boat down the river on the northern border of Nicaragua – we jumped out on the opposite side of the river on a sandbar and that’s how you can illegally jump borders, folks. No passport required!
November just seemed to FLY by. Suddenly I have reached the 3 month mark of living here – and just today, reached the milestone of 100 days here! I can honestly say that there have been days that the only thing that has gotten me through was God. I think I’m finally learning to adapt and accept this culture, and I look forward to see what the next 6 months will bring.
I have posted a lot of pictures and written about a lot of the highlights of my mission experience so far, but honestly, there are a lot of times when life is just rough. However, I think I have finally reached the point where I am content to be here. God has always come through for me everytime I’ve called out to him. I’m contect to be here because I know God wants me here. That’s good enough for me.
~ Francia Sirpi Skyline ~
