Ay, Nicaragua. 
How long has it been? Nine years ago this week I returned from a Mission of Peace to Nicaragua. That trip (through the United Methodist Church) changed my experience/understanding of self, vocation, community, God, and the globe.
I am so excited for those who have just returned from the 2012 Mission of Peace to Nicaragua. I can imagine their excitement, and the conversations with stateside friends who will just never understand, even though you talk about it constantly to them. And I am praying for those returning MOPers, that the experiences never leave them, but that their experiences of God only deepen with time…
But thinking of those students, makes me ask: how long, indeed, has it been? I returned to Nicaragua once since Mission of Peace. It’s been four and a half years since I worked at Proyecto Chacocente for a summer, on a project I helped to start five years earlier as a high school student. (Really? I did that? It sounds so much more impressive than what I really did —- I cried, and prayed, along with a lot of other people, and then I came home and asked people for money.)
How long ago has it been? Only nine years. And yet, one of our number has died. I’ve fallen out of touch with most of the rest. And when I went back in 2007, one of the women we had met five years earlier, who had been learning English and dreaming of her future, was working in a sweatshop. I was attending a wealthy private university and trying to decide between grad schools.
Nicaragua, Nicaraguita. Yo te quiero mucho más…
Brought tears to my eyes…a good reminder that we should continually reflect on what our “mountaintop” experiences did, and DO, in our lives. even years later.
Gracias, Sara! Nunca olvidare la fiesta sorpresa que me habias dado antes de la mision de paz… Que chevere
Diane, you gave birth to a dream that is continuing to unfold. While in church one night this trip I was thrilled to see and hug Karla. She is as beautiful as always. Itamar too, and her grandpapa Ramon. You will always be Nicaragua to me, Nicaragua will always include you.
Thanks, JF. I cannot wait to hear more about this year’s MOP! I’m hoping some of the West Virginians can come speak at Crossroads. If you have pictures of Itamar and Karla, I’d love to see them!