DAY FIVE
We had another seven o’clock breakfast. In addition to stumbling through our morning routines, we had to make sure that everything was packed away in case we had to catch a flight later that day. For breakfast we had pancakes, bacon, fresh fruit, scrambled eggs, and to our surprise and chagrin: no beans or rice! Some people were devastated, truly.
Packing the bus after breakfast had a foreboding feeling until we got to the school and again the sight of the many happy students lifted our spirits like they did last Friday. After Makenna lead us in a devotion about peace with the grade elevens, we had a few minutes of group prayer in groups of four with two students of each culture. For the Nicaraguan students, we prayed for feelings of peace with the various types of unrest here and for success with their final projects and exams. For us Canadians, we prayed for peace and comfort with the Corona virus and the uncertainty surrounding it as well as protection for our families back home. Each student prayed for the others in their native language, not caring about the language barrier, instead simply came before God as one.
After this we regrouped in the sanctuary to get into our assigned groups to lead the grade in some crafts. Without exception, each class exclaimed with happiness when we came to help them with their crafts. Grades one through three made paper bag puppets with five Canadian animals. With moose, beavers, foxes, owls and bears one the roster. The students were instructed by students of ACS via translator to colour their animals and were helped with the cutting and gluing. Grades four through six got to make paper spinners. The spinners had little maple leafs all over. With assistance from the ACS students to pin the spinner to the end of a holographic pencil, they were set. I remember handing one boy his completed spinner and seeing his face literally light up with pure joy. That moment made the hours in the sticky hot heat completely worth it.
After each craft the halls were packed with joyous children asking everyone from Canada for their names to be written on paper and showing their friends their new creations. With some kids coming back for our names more than once. After the second craft, the upstairs hall was full of the younger students incessantly asking for piggy back after piggy back from those upstairs.
Once everyone was thoroughly exhausted we came down for another lunch with the grade elevens. Another scrumptious meal of fried chicken, beans, rice and tortillas. Shortly before lunch the Nicaraguans and Canadians had a spontaneous singing session singing Oceans in both English and Spanish and some good ol’ Frank Sinatra with Fly Me to the Moon.
After we finished lunch there was some time to hangout before we left in four separate groups to tour the homes of some of the grade eleven students. My group went to Hose/Leonardo’s home, where he lives with his grandparents, little brother, eight of his cousins and one of his grandma’s friends. It was a small house, no bigger than an apartment in Vancouver, but from the moment we walked in, we could feel the love and the trust in God that filled every room. As she showed us around her house, she told us stories of her children and other family members, and how the ongoing unrest in Nicaragua has affected them. We heard about her daughter, Leonardo’s mother, who was exiled to Costa Rica, her son who was a registered refugee in the United states, and her other son that had to leave Nicaragua to find work in Canada. She went on about all her family members in all four corners of the earth, all the while emphasising how much God has blessed and protected her family. As we left she expressed how honoured she was that we had come to visit her home, asked us to pray over her home which we did gladly. We then went to a near by park and hear the testimony of Leonardo. As we walked back to the school I was overwhelmed by the display of God’s love we had seen today.
We finished our day with yet another rambunctious pilgrimage to the local grocery store where we were instructed to buy snacks for only one day. Which we all promptly ignored. When we returned to the Nehemiah Centre, we discovered that our sheets and towels had been washed and after we out our bags away, we were updated on our travel situation. We were initially overjoyed to discover that we would not have to repack the bus for the following day, and then were again dismayed to discover that we might have to leave early yet.
All in all a very good day that has left us exhausted and willing to go to bed an hour earlier than usual in order to rest up for yet another big day tomorrow.
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