Day 6

Hi friends & families! 

It’s your favourite sunburned and sizzling hosts KIA (Kai) and Haven.  We just came back from a full, exciting, and messy day at Centro De Fe. WAKA WAKA AYY AYY was the wake up call this morning, and to our surprise, it had rained during the night, so we were blessed with an overcast sky. It was very nice considering we were all in long pants and skirts, expected to be painting outside all day. After a filling breakfast and a backroad trip to CDF (thank you to our great bus driver for getting us there safely), we arrived at the school and began devos led by Ryan. After a quick activity to get to know our fellow students, we all sang a couple of worship songs, in Spanish AND English. We are sooooo twannnny (Nicaraguan slang for cool.) As you can tell, we are quickly adapting to the culture here, jajaja.

 After devos, we split into 4 different groups to visit the houses of some of the students here. It was a lot of fun, especially for Mikayla’s group as they were surprised by a FIESTA for her 18th birthday on Friday. We had a piñata, lots of fruit, candies, bracelets, and more. The families were all incredibly hospitable and we could not be more grateful for our translators (shoutout to our awesome translators) because they allowed us to connect with so many wonderful people. After our home visits, we returned to the school, and with a quick outfit change, we ate a typical plantain-rice-bean-meat lunch with a refreshment. Once our bellies were full, it was time for painting! Kai and I made sure to apply LOTS like I mean LOTS of sunscreen. Even though it made our blisters sting, we were not trying to get more fried. (Spoiler alert: we beat the sun!) 

Our group split up into starting to paint the infamous mural, a random wall, and some desks. We had a lot of fun connecting with the students here, practicing our Espanol and getting paint on each other. Haven and Carly convinced some of our friends to DoorDash some McD’s to Centro de Fe. The fries and the ice cream looked like it hit the spot, even though we didn’t try any because we were muy full. Carly made sure to share, don’t worry! Haven and Carly eventually migrated to the back wall because the sun + haven’s burn = no bueno. Back there, we spent lots of time jajajaing (laughing) with our Nicaraguan friends. You know the saying, time flies when you’re having fun? Safe to say we’re living proof because today went by in an absolute flash. Kai, on the other hand, had to spend some jail time in an AC’d room, because the sun almost (key word ALMOST) beat him. We all ended our time at the school today with paint splatters, but just wait for tomorrow, because that’s the day we can actually go loco (crazy!)

 On the bus ride home, accompanied by the sunset and Mr. Carvajal’s sweet, tender, precious, loving snores, we stopped at La Union (the grocery store) to buy coffee, and a whole bunch of snacks. We eventually made it back to our home, where we had a delicious Italian style dinner (lasagna) and some students met a little local lizard that goes by Geoff. Soon after we had team time with a beautiful devotion led by Ryan (againnnn) and Carly, consisting of simply worship. It was maravilloso (wonderful) to sit through. And now we’re trying to relax but shaking in our boots because we can’t wait for NATHANS 18TH BIRTHDAY ON THURSDAY!!!!!!! We are looking forward to another great day at Centro De Fe and savouring our last moments here in Nicaragua. We miss you all and talk about home every night. 

P.S. Our beloved Kajito is cuddling with his flotation devices each night, so need to worry about him Van Egmond Family! 

P.P.S. As we were writing your innocent Kaj managed to turn a ballpoint pen into a hand grenade of INK. Sarah unfortunately experienced the aftershocks of the explosion. 

Singing off (and hopefully our sun burns too)

Kai & Haven