Today I ran into a bunch of white people at the supermarket as i was buying my groceries for the week. (And for all the kids at home complaining about the green stuff in their noodles, i basically get 20 bucks for food and travel for the whole week. I would kill for some green stuff in some noodles haha.) Anyways, these white people (about 20) were totally out of their element and they all looked really pretty scared. When i saw them i immediately thought of the nutty British guy from discovery channel that we all know that goes into the wild to whisper over film captured with night vision goggles "Now right now we are observing a male endangered African blue berry muffin monkey as he attempts to seduce a female blue berry muffin monkey with his delicious baked goods" Basically, i "observed" these people were clearly out of their comfort zone. I later found out that they were all from Great Britain. Magical right?
I later talked to one of the guys that was there. He told me he was on a service trip through a British humanitarian aid company and was currently building houses and other things for people in the area. I told him that i was serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ and explained a little about what i was doing. He told me that he had been in Nicaragua for 8 long hard weeks and that he had 2 more long weeks. He also told me he was very impressed with my Spanish after i had a conversation with the check out lady about the amount of crazy white people that were in the supermarket that day. This British dude had no idea what we were talking about haha. Finally he asked how long i had been here. I said 8 weeks like you and ill be here for another 2 short years! The look on his face was priceless.
I am teaching a very, very poor family right now. Dad doesn't have a job and attempts to provide for his two daughters, who are ten and eleven, wife, mother, and one year old twin boys. There is no electricity or water in their little shack in down town Rosario. There is rarely food on the table and no milk for the little boys. Their situation is not uncommon and they live like most other families here in Nicaragua. Over the last couple weeks, however, i have developed a great love for this family, especially for the 10 year old daughter who reminds me of Kate every time i go over to their house.
One night after i returned home from a visit with this family, i was depressed. I looked at the 40 bucks in my wallet and thought to myself "Who needs this more?" As missionaries, we are told not to give money or things to people we meet in the mission. But i couldn't sit there and just not do anything about it. My companion and i prayed that we would receive an answer to know what we should do. The next morning, i read a couple of verses in Luke:
18 And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
19 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.
20 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.
21 And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.
22 Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.
23 And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.
24 And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!
I took that 40 bucks and bought all the beans, and rice, and milk, and diapers that i could. My companion and i took the food to a member and told HER to take it by the families house that night. We stopped by the house the next day and the father gave me the most heartfelt hug i had ever received. I knew, that he knew what my companion and i had done and words could not explain how grateful he was.
I know that true happiness comes when we help those around us.
Love you guys. Take it Sleezy.
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