The Second Month of LASP: How to survive Nicaragua and lots of Conferences and changes.
by Kalie Boyce, Bethany Kok, and Alexandra Lewis

So here is a brief overview of what we have been up to, and how we survived our trip to Nicaragua, the transition from Core Seminar to Concentrations, and other themes and topics we have been discussing.

Nicaragua Trip

So, you may ask, what does a circus, a traditional restaurant, a city dump, a two hour monologue in the form of a play, and multiple church visits have in common? The answer would be easy, Nicaragua. We had the privilege of going to Nicaragua for 2 weeks. For one week we lived with families scattered throughout the country, but for the other week we were together in Managua, Granada, or Masaya, three towns in the southern part of Nicaragua. While we were in Managua, the capital, we toured the city and were able to see a statue of Sandino, the National Palace, the theatre of Ruben Darío, and many other memorable monuments and sights. We also had different lectures periods with speakers ranging from missionary kids to Latin American scholars who spoke on the current and historical state of Nicaragua. We also had the opportunity to go to the circus one night, which was very interesting and fun, as well as attend a performance of the play El Nica by César Meléndez capturing the life of a Nicaraguan immigrant in Costa Rica.
One of the most memorable experiences we had was in our trip to the Managua city dump. We boarded on our yellow school bus and headed towards the dump, and once we arrived, we had to push up the windows so we did not let any of the air into the bus, however, at the same time, this created swelteringly hot air inside the bus and we soon began to sweat from the heat in the bus. Soon after we entered the dump, however, that sweat was not only from the heat, but also from the awkwardness and pain that we saw through the smog of the dump. We were smothering and suffocating inside the bus, but the hundreds of men, women, and children outside working in the dump were suffocating because of the burning garbage and terrible fumes and smells. We stopped and talked to a man who told us that he too is a Christian and daily receives blessings from God in the form of half-eaten food and garbage to sell. We were forced to seriously reconsider the word blessing and all of our material wealth as we went to a mall after the dump to talk about what we had seen, heard, smelled, and felt. It was a tough, but a growing experience.

Homestays in Nicaragua

Imagine yourself waking up to the sound of wood being chopped and your neighbor’s rooster crowing. You roll over and your clock tells you that it’s 5:30 am. As you lay in bed, you notice smoke above your head, tickling the clay tiles that make up the roof. Though your instinct tells you that the house is on fire, you soon realize that the smoke is only coming from the open fire in the next room where your Nicaraguan mother is cooking a typical breakfast of gallo pinto, eggs and tortillas. Thus begins a normal day in the campo of Northern Nicaragua
Staying in the home of a family in Pasmata, Nicaragua was like nothing I could have imagined. In my community there was one church and one general store. Nearly everyone in the town worked in a nearby tobacco field, including children as young as ten, who would work from 6 in the morning until 11 and then go to school for the rest of the day. I spent everyday amazed at the contrast between old and new. A clay and open fire stove; a shiny blue pickup truck. A rusty pipe that brings running water for only two hours out of the day; a soap opera on TV. Washing clothes on a cement slab by the river. Conversations about airplanes.
Though I could see poverty everywhere in Nicaragua, from the barefooted school kids to the houses without electricity or water, I also experienced an abundance of generosity. In the church services that were held every night, no one refrained from giving an offering, even if there were only pennies to give. We were showered with food wherever we went. Three plates full for each lunch and dinner! Oranges galore as a snack before a hike, a bag for the walk home and 10 pounds for the long bus ride back to Costa Rica. Bags and bags full of breads and other baked goods for the long trip back as well.
Never before have I felt so loved and accepted so quickly into a community as I did in Pasmata, Nicaragua. This is the beauty of the worldwide body of Christ. The truth is that we are all part of one community. Though we live very different lives, we are all unified as members of the body of Christ. Everyday, people would ask me when I would be coming back to Nicaragua to see them. I had no answer but, “In God’s time,” and I know that is the truth. If I can’t go back to Nicaragua to see them, I know we will all be together again someday, with Christ our Lord and Savior.

Finishing up Core Seminar

While our trip to Nicaragua gave us the chance to more deeply explore a lot of the issues we have been dealing with in core seminar, we have also been learning a lot here in San Jose. We finished our Bible study on the Gospel of Mark and many of us are left with more questions than answers about what it means to serve the poor and put our faith into action. We’ve also been trying to apply our faith to issues such as development and globalization. We heard from journalist Kevin Cook who works with World Vision, and were challenged to respond to the injustice and poverty that Don Cook’s slide show so vividly illustrated. While grappling with development and growth issues, we were able to visit a small organic farm called ASODECAH, located in the beautiful hills of Cartago. ASODECAH combines organic farming and sustainable development education as an example of sustainable living and development that benefits the community and the environment.
As the end of the core seminar drew near we were bombarded with papers, group projects, and presentations. We were forced to take a stand on such controversial issues as the war in Iraq and the role of the church in Latin America today. Although many of us are still questioning and trying to make sense of what we’ve been learning, there is no doubt that we have been learning: about ourselves, Latin America, and our role as Christians in a fallen world. As we break up into our concentrations, Advanced Language & Literature, Environmental Science, and Latin American Studies, we are challenged to really apply what we are learning and find tangible, dynamic ways to live out our faith.