Our Final Update
Friday morning we woke up early and after a rushed devotional time we made our way to Hogar de Fe to say our goodbyes to the orphans living there.
We spent the hour or so that we had running around and playing games with the kids
A line-up of free throws on the basketball court.
A play-wrestling match that broke out in the courtyard between Tyler, Josh, and half a dozen students.
There were far less tears than when we left Pochocauape—but not because we care about these kids any less. Rather because these children have more access to the Internet (the school at the orphanage has a computer class), and some of them already had email addresses and Facebooks.
Swapping contact information with the children.
Nonetheless, saying goodbye was still hard. We had spent an entire week building relationships with these kids—and most of us wished we could stay longer.
This little boy refused to let go of his friend’s hands, even as she was backing up onto the bus.
We left the orphanage and drove directly to the Managuan airport. It was a bittersweet time. Most of us were tired and looked forward to the rest we would get upon returning home, but it was so hard leaving the people we had loved on over the past 8 days.
Filling out our customs information.
The trip home was long and uneventful. Most of our students passed out from exhaustion once they were on the plane.
Debrief:
We had the debrief for our trip Sunday night. We discussed what it was like adjusting back to American culture, how hard it was to tell people about the trip, and our highs and lows for the entire week.
On life after returning from Nicaragua
“I went to a neighborhood get-together. They’re all like “where’d you go, what did you do…did you go like build houses or something?” and it’s just so hard to explain. I tell them that we put together a service and we go around and give them a service, but for them that’s just another boring day at church. They don’t think it sounds any fun. It’s so hard to explain in a way that they could understand.” Bob Hilt
“I don’t know if I felt an actual presence, but now that I’m home I feel like I’m on a Jesus high. I’m just so excited. Right now I feel like life is good. I just want to go out and talk about Him and do everything about Him.” Sarah Ganster
“I just feel so much more confident after coming home. I’m a senior. I have one more year at my school—one more year to impact lives there. I really want to share my faith and reach out. Because why else are we here? I don’t want to just sit in class and learn, I want to be there spreading his Word. We did it in Nicaragua, why not here?” Megan McKinley
“I think something that impressed me was how excited all the little kids at Hogar de Fe were about church. Megan and I were working with this group of boys and one of them put all of the books of the Old Testament in order. It just pushed me to learn more about the Bible. I mean they were 8 years old!” Carlee Hilt
“Yesterday I was in my air conditioned house, on my laptop, watching my big screen tv…asking myself What am I doing? How am I worthy? Why do I have all of this and they don’t? It was very hard.” Natalie Will
Everyone who shared their testimony essentially said the same things during our debrief. We all feel invigorated—like a weight has been lifted off our shoulders and we want to help people by sharing our story.
Some of the highs, lows, and reflections on the trip.
“I’ve seen pictures and I read the newspaper and such, so I know a lot of the things going on down there, and I knew what to expect. They say that as Americans we feel superior, but driving in I just felt like another human. It was completely humbling.” Tyler Dewar
“My low would be going to the dump and seeing how little everyone had, and seeing how happy they were even though they had nothing.” Alex Poissant
“I think we can now all say that we truly understand that happiness doesn’t come from materialism and things. I used to be all about getting the big screen TVs when everyone else had them…but once I got one I just went on to the next thing. But this whole week was nothing but relationships! Relationships with each other. Relationships with the kids we served. Relationships with Christ, and the time we spent in prayer and worshipping. I think that’s truly where total joy and happiness comes from.” Bob Hilt
“My high was going to Pochocuape and seeing everyone and how they remembered me. I thought there are lots of missionaries down there, we can’t make much of an impact…but one of the mothers remembered my name, despite the fact that last year I hadn’t even thought that I would be going back.” Maddie Collins
“I always believed in God, but I never knew why….but after this trip I started understanding God and knowing why I believed in him. Now I know I believe in him for the right reasons.” Izzy Smith
“At the English Festival the students kept saying ‘Our family’—not ‘our class’ or ‘our school,’ but ‘our family.’ And it really is like a family. Here we are one unified thing. I think of the times where we’d be together in our own group in the mornings and at night, how we’d be singing songs—and we really were like a family. And then on that last night in the church when the teenagers came up and joined us to worship. We were jumping around and praising God as if we had known each other forever.” Nate Wade
Keeping the Momentum
We have some big plans for the year ahead and are confident that God will be using our experience in Nicaragua to continue developing our group.
Our students desperately want to keep the focus on fellowship and community that they experienced in Nicaragua. We want to stay in the Word and continue developing our relationships both with each other and with our Savior. We want to hold onto the spirit of openness and reliance that we experienced while sharing our testimonies.
In the past we’ve stayed at Pochocuape, where we were in constant contact with the children there. This year, however, we were living at a guest house at least twenty minutes away from any location we worked at. Because of this we weren’t simply focused on service and missions but we had numerous opportunities to grow as a family of believers together—as we see in Acts chapter 2. It is because of this that I personally feel, and I think most of the team agrees, that we had our most successful trip. God moved within Salt Company this week.
Pray that this experience—this encounter with God’s Spirit moving through our group—is not simply a spiritual high, but a catalyst for what is to come!
I had a number of prayer requests for this trip. I prayed that Salt would experience God’s Spirit. I prayed that we would see the outpouring of spiritual gifts. I prayed that we would stay healthy and safe. I prayed that we would see leaders step up and developed within our community. I prayed that we would not desire that God make everything go smoothly, but that we would learn to follow his plan when things didn’t go as we intended. I prayed for Christian fellowship within the men of Salt Company. And I prayed for the opportunity to share my testimony.
Every single one of these prayers was answered. We saw people step up and become more involved with Salt. We have already started a men’s discipleships group since we have returned from Nicaragua We got to experience stepping back and letting God take control (like on Wednesday night). And this is the only Salt trip where no one got ill! I could go on but the point is this: Our God is a God who answers prayer.
So I implore you to continue praying for Salt. Pray that our experiences in Nicaragua this past week will be the start of something new! Pray that we will continue to see the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on our students! Pray for continued openness and vulnerability within our group! Pray that we will continually rely on God’s plan for our ministry! And most importantly, pray that we will not fall back into our old habits and insecurities, that we will be passionate and on fire for God, constantly desiring his Spirit, and that we will passionately pursue him both within Salt and in our own personal journey of prayer and devotion to his Word.
Because our God is a God who answers prayer.
Flying home, crossing the coastline into the United States.
