Last Official Day

Today, December 12, 2014, is officially my last day in the Cohort of Missioners. Guissell and I told Roberto we would not being doing any more work for him as Caminantes after 12 pm today.

Guissell and I this past week at her birthday party with our Nica friends

This past week, we have engaged in evaluations of the program, our work, personal reflections, and goodbye parties. It has been a time of critique, thanksgiving, surrendering, and celebrating. I'm thankful for my year in Nicaragua as a Caminante. There were ups and downs, struggles and victories, things to learn and things to teach... Thinking about life here when I entered the year and what it is now, there have been a lot of changes. I have forgotten some of my original ideals, but I have also grown in many ways.

The Caminantes: Adrianna, Mark, Guissell

I learned a lot. Originally I thought this would be an opportunity to learn more about how to BE than about what to DO. During the course of the year, I think I lost that focus. Nonetheless, being a Caminante has shaped who I am. It has taught me how to be and how not to be as well as giving me an answer for what to do.

Creative expression during a quiet time on our trip to Guatemala

I'm glad that I got a chance to return to Nicaragua. It was a dream come true, and I did not expect God to give me an answer to my prayers in a such a full way when I dredged up a goal for myself two years ago and "return to Nicaragua" surfaced. I have learned so much about myself, about working overseas, about Central America...

A mural imitating the Last Supper with the faces of martyrs in El Salvador at a Christian Base Community

Working in community development and church partnerships, I got to see a lot of different communities and learn a lot of ways people are trying to change their neighborhoods. For example, you see a lot of garbage in the streets of Nicaragua because people throw it wherever they want, and so others in the communities organize cleaning brigades. Developed, organized neighborhoods are often cleaner.

El Ojoche, a model community now for development strategies, has monthly cleaning days

I really like Nicaraguan food, especially gallo pinto, which is rice and beans stir-fried together, with a hot, fresh corn tortilla and salty white cheese. You can find this simple, filling meal in all sorts of street eateries and in most common houses. People walk up and down the streets, calling out that they are selling tortillas, vegetables, cooked beans, cheese, or whatever else. It's a game to understand what they are saying. Each vendor has a unique call.

Typical meal with gallo pinto and a taco with cabbage salad

When I leave Nicaragua, I will miss how simple it is to leave my house, get something to nibble, and sit in Central Park to watch the people go by. I enjoy my city of León, but I also like traveling to other parts of Nicaragua. It's really hot in León so I would often go three hours south to Diriamba to spend weekends with friends or my aunt and uncle on the farm. It is cooler in Diriamba, and there is more wind.

My friend, Marg, and I in Diriamba sharing our birthdays with Baked Alaska cake

As part of the Cohort of Missioners (Caminantes), I made some really good friends, especially my housemates, Guissell and Kelsey. Guissell and I had a connection from the beginning of my time in Nicaragua, and we were fellow Caminantes. Together we got to travel to Guatemala and El Salvador to see the context of other Cohort groups. We also worked on recommendations and policies for the future - along with Mark, the first participant in Nicaragua. As a special goodbye trip, Guissell and I got to go to Corn Island, off the coast of Nicaragua in the Caribbean Sea.

Kelsey, Adrianna, and Guissell on a roommate date

My favorite part of service in Nicaragua was working with pastors of different denominations and seeing them work together. I got to see this a little with ETU because there are leaders from various churches who work in neighborhoods with local leaders, but I saw it most clearly in church partnerships. Three pastoral couples in León started meeting regularly to share and pray for each other because they realized their partnership was not only with a church in Canada, but also with each other. Five churches in Chinandega planned activities together for their sister-church's visit from the US. My favorite moments come when they are talking and laughing together, being themselves with each other, before the Lord.

The pastors in León hanging out after a meeting together

How has Nicaragua been? Unforgettable. Life-shaping. An answer to prayer. A lesson I will continue to learn...