Day 7

Hola amigos y familia! It’s Carlita y Lucita here!

This morning, we mixed up the morning wake-up routine. Instead of Profe Saúl waking us up with music, all of us girls woke up early and serenaded the boys’ room with a loud “Happy Birthday” song for adult Nathan. 

Breakfast was omelettes, fresh fruit, and gallo pinto as usual (rice and beans). Shortly after, we hit the road and headed to visit our amigos at the school. 

We started our day off strong with a worship session, singing in both English and Spanish, and then hearing powerful testimonies from both Canadian and Nicaraguan students of how God has worked in their lives. We ended with prayer and then sang “Feliz Cumpleaños” again to voting-age Nathan. 

After devos, we had a quick turnaround to change into our work clothes and got right to work, continuing to paint the outside wall and our beautiful mural! While working, we were treated to some Taylor Swift and other classic bangers by a friendly neighbor who we guess saw us and thought we needed some music to get the job done. Which we did, by the way, although Anna probably got more paint on Lucy than she did on the wall.

For our lunch of rice, chicken, beans, and plantain chips, we got split up into four different groups, each with a translator to help make conversations easier and more meaningful. During these conversations and getting to know the students better, Profe Mike came around and handed out Canadian maple candies (although many of us had never seen them before) to students willing to answer his questions about which superpower we would want.

Then, we wasted no time in getting back to work. One group put a second coat of paint on the wall, while the rest of us finished painting out parts of the mural. Meanwhile, we could hear some of the Nicaraguan students practicing their dance for the talent show (to be seen tomorrow!).

While finishing up the mural, we got our hands dirty and covered each other’s shirts in colorful handprints, names, and Nicaraguan slang! Of course, it was only a matter of time before the paint wasn’t only on our shirts, but also in unwanted places. Right before our eyes, a big bucket of Minion yellow paint wobbled on the table and teetered over, hitting the ground with a loud kaboom, coating shoes, the floor, the table, a student, and, gasp, our beautiful mural. Thankfully, it didn’t splatter on any of our Picasso-worthy masterpiece, just narrowly missing the artwork. 

Then we got all cleaned up within a few minutes, with Profe Saúl diligently keeping paint off the bus by having each of us gracefully twirl in front of him and onto the bus!

We had a calm ride, with Nathan, the birthday boy, having the privilege of choosing our driving music. We listened to TobyMac and some classic oldies to match his adult status, while some of us rested our eyes and recovered from the long day of work.

Home again, many of us took cold showers to get relief from the heat or had quick naps before dinner. Joining us for dinner was a local guest and his family. We enjoyed delicious mushroom chicken, rice, beans, and pico de gallo. This was followed by yummy birthday cake, with yet another “Happy Birthday” song to both birthday chicos!

Soon after, we sat down for a fascinating story of the history of Nicaragua from our guest! 

Following our history lesson, we had our nightly team time, where some of us got the giggles as we practiced our Canadian foods presentation. It’s very hard to take Ryan seriously when he was talking about ketchup chips, which “taste like ketchup on chips,” according to him, especially for Profe Saúl, who had to look away for the rest of his slide.

Then we took some time to read over all of your lovely comments (keep them coming por favor!) This week has flown by, and we can’t believe that tomorrow is already our last day! 

We love and miss you all (but maybe not your weather). Adios de todos!

Carlita & Lucita