Feliz Cumpleaños Papi!
It was Dad’s birthday tonight and when I called home through Skype, I was less than overjoyed to see my family decked out in Xavier gear on the other end of the video. I leave for 3 weeks and this is what happens? When I get back, I plan on things being different. Goooooooooooo Dayton Flyers! FUXU. : ) Sorry Hermana Osa, but Xavier? Really? Just kidding. I couldn’t be happier or more proud of my younger sister (I can’t say little sister these days, she’s bigger than me). But seriously, the Xavier shirts have to go. : )
On the phone tonight however, when I mentioned that I could relate to the dog in my last blog, my grandma thoughtfully informed me I should take ExLax. I think I’ll just lay off the rice and beans for a while…
It was great talking/seeing the family tonight though. I always look forward to those moments. It makes me feel closer to home. I’m not homesick, but it’s always good to hear from them and my friends back home. I also called John tonight and got to talk to him. I wonder if he ever got all the rubberized synthetic field turf out of his shorts yet… A handful and a half can take a while to clean out. We talked about him and Kristen attempting a triathlon coming up. I’ll put bets on Buddy. He also told me that coming up in a few weeks the family is going to Centerhill Lake for vacation. Boy, am I going to miss that vacation. I’m holding out for a short end of summer trip to Lake Cumberland when I get back though. I think my life will be in peril if I don’t make it to a lake to ski/wakeboard this summer. My thoughts of summer always include the lake. Some of our favorite family memories always include the lake. I hope you’re reading this carefully Dad : )
Today we took the kids to La Carpio which is an impoverished town outside of the capital that is populated mainly by Nicaraguan immigrants. It reminds me a lot of what I saw in Comas, Peru. There is a lot of hope but little to eat. There is much love but little to survive on. Days go by when mothers can not feed their children. Housing is limited to where you can place slats of tin and wood to form a house. From what I understand the town is much further developed than in the past and legislation is moving along so that the immigrants can own the land, but life is still very tough. A bad day in the U.S. is when child’s Nintendo breaks. A good day in La Carpio means the person survived to make it to the next day.
These days are always the hardest for me at work. I go and I see that there is so much need and that our lives were meant for so much more, but that we rarely give of ourselves to others. It’s hard for me to watch some people come in and leave completely unchanged by what they have witnessed. I understand that most are here on vacation but all we ask for is 4 hours of selfless giving and sometimes even that is asking the impossible. It truly breaks my heart and I feel it in the deepest recesses of my soul the pain that come with living like this and that I have remained so stagnant in trying to make a difference. I don’t know how to make that difference just yet, but I trust God to show me the way. Even the very smallest effort makes a difference. I want to be that difference.
Today, however, was different. My group today was wonderful. They went into the kindergartens and read to the students and sang head, shoulders, knees and toes with them. I was so proud of these young students. At times, I felt as though they understood it more than adults sometimes do.
In some ways, this trip is much more than I could have ever imagined. I didn’t know I was going to be doing service down here, so that part is incredible to me. The next group I have is a service group. I am truly looking forward to that.
Anyway, this is long and I am getting hungry. Go figure : ) I love you. Take care.
Dios les bendiga,
Jessica Lynn
It was Dad’s birthday tonight and when I called home through Skype, I was less than overjoyed to see my family decked out in Xavier gear on the other end of the video. I leave for 3 weeks and this is what happens? When I get back, I plan on things being different. Goooooooooooo Dayton Flyers! FUXU. : ) Sorry Hermana Osa, but Xavier? Really? Just kidding. I couldn’t be happier or more proud of my younger sister (I can’t say little sister these days, she’s bigger than me). But seriously, the Xavier shirts have to go. : )
On the phone tonight however, when I mentioned that I could relate to the dog in my last blog, my grandma thoughtfully informed me I should take ExLax. I think I’ll just lay off the rice and beans for a while…
It was great talking/seeing the family tonight though. I always look forward to those moments. It makes me feel closer to home. I’m not homesick, but it’s always good to hear from them and my friends back home. I also called John tonight and got to talk to him. I wonder if he ever got all the rubberized synthetic field turf out of his shorts yet… A handful and a half can take a while to clean out. We talked about him and Kristen attempting a triathlon coming up. I’ll put bets on Buddy. He also told me that coming up in a few weeks the family is going to Centerhill Lake for vacation. Boy, am I going to miss that vacation. I’m holding out for a short end of summer trip to Lake Cumberland when I get back though. I think my life will be in peril if I don’t make it to a lake to ski/wakeboard this summer. My thoughts of summer always include the lake. Some of our favorite family memories always include the lake. I hope you’re reading this carefully Dad : )
Today we took the kids to La Carpio which is an impoverished town outside of the capital that is populated mainly by Nicaraguan immigrants. It reminds me a lot of what I saw in Comas, Peru. There is a lot of hope but little to eat. There is much love but little to survive on. Days go by when mothers can not feed their children. Housing is limited to where you can place slats of tin and wood to form a house. From what I understand the town is much further developed than in the past and legislation is moving along so that the immigrants can own the land, but life is still very tough. A bad day in the U.S. is when child’s Nintendo breaks. A good day in La Carpio means the person survived to make it to the next day.
These days are always the hardest for me at work. I go and I see that there is so much need and that our lives were meant for so much more, but that we rarely give of ourselves to others. It’s hard for me to watch some people come in and leave completely unchanged by what they have witnessed. I understand that most are here on vacation but all we ask for is 4 hours of selfless giving and sometimes even that is asking the impossible. It truly breaks my heart and I feel it in the deepest recesses of my soul the pain that come with living like this and that I have remained so stagnant in trying to make a difference. I don’t know how to make that difference just yet, but I trust God to show me the way. Even the very smallest effort makes a difference. I want to be that difference.
Today, however, was different. My group today was wonderful. They went into the kindergartens and read to the students and sang head, shoulders, knees and toes with them. I was so proud of these young students. At times, I felt as though they understood it more than adults sometimes do.
In some ways, this trip is much more than I could have ever imagined. I didn’t know I was going to be doing service down here, so that part is incredible to me. The next group I have is a service group. I am truly looking forward to that.
Anyway, this is long and I am getting hungry. Go figure : ) I love you. Take care.
Dios les bendiga,
Jessica Lynn
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