Beach Babes

                We woke up to this warm, hot, bright sunny day. We can’t believe it is already Sunday and we only have two more days to go. The team got nourished for the day with a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs, fruit and toast. Each day we look forward to the surprise of what type of juice we will get; today it was watermelon. Then we loaded the bus and were off to Centro de Fe to attend a Spanish church service.

                We were warmly welcomed into the church by multiple people who attend regularly. We felt so loved through the smiles, handshakes and friendly conversations that the Nicaraguans presented us with. We were delighted by the passion of the worship that started off the service. Loud songs of praise filled the room and we were immersed into the lifestyle of the Spanish church but soon felt the heat kick in. Our group got the pleasure of singing two praise songs called ‘Majestic’ and ‘Imagine’ in front of the church. The past three nights we rehearsed the songs and felt ready to share them. Once it was done we were all proud of ourselves; the church seemed to enjoy it. The pastor’s sermon was revolved around Palm Sunday and we appreciated the message that we heard. At times it was hard to follow along because of the language barrier but the translators help get the message across. We left the church hot and sweaty, and very much ready for our beach day.

                We took a quick stop at the Nehemiah Centre to freshen up and were back on the road to Pochomil Beach. Everyone fights for the best seat in the van, the front two seats. Today Hye Youn and Katrina were the lucky girls. They got to see the craziness of the Nicaraguan roads up close and personal. Honking, traffic and pedestrians are a common theme in this country. After an hour and a half we were finally at the beach. We got out and were overwhelmed by the paradise that was in front of us. We eagerly got changed and ran straight to the water through the scolding hot sand. We were shocked by the large waves, salty water and crowded beach but were so happy to finally be cooled down for once. After a couple of hours of sun we got to eat our “lupper” by the ocean side. Our tummies were filled with fish, steaks, chicken and refreshing drinks. We ended our beach day with some final photos to document the trip.

                On the way back, another two lucky girls, Courtney and Sydney got the front two seats. We stopped at the grocery store to pick up some snacks for the night and to browse around a local Nicaraguan corner store. We all left with full bags of goodies (especially the guys) and headed home to the Nehemiah Centre.

                To end off the night we watched a documentary called “Reparando” about the present day situation of Guatemala and its poverty and extreme conditions. Our translator, Lennin, later told us about how the movie relates to Nicaragua. All our eyes were open to how blessed we are.

                Despite the extreme heat, we had a very pleasant, relaxing day and enjoyed it thoroughly.

(Written by: Hye Youn and Sydney)