Monday, August 8

 

After being able to observe the Sabbath since arriving in Nicaragua, this morning we were able to join in on a devotion this morning at the Accion Medica Cristiana (AMC) headquarters- which was able to make a correlation between the sport of Baseball and grounding yourself in God- going through the bases of life- with Christ. Then we departed the capital city of Managua into the mountainous region of Matagalpa- where we will be working for the next few days.

 

 

 

After the four hour drive with an absolutely amazing view the entire ride- of the mountainsides and the villages that line the route, switching vehicles- that warranted two of our team members to stand on the back of an ambulance, holding on to the rack on top- we arrived, with a fantastic reception.

We unloaded the top of the vehicles arranged our sleeping arrangements and then were able to get an update on our worksite that we will be able to see for the first time tomorrow- and get to work. We have been partnered with the task with the beginning stages of building a pedestrian bridge, that will allow children to get to their school and residents to get to the market to sell and buy necessities. The current bridge in place is unsafe and about 80% of the year is impassable due to the high volume of rain during the rainy season.

 

The update on the worksite was twofold. One… We were able to learn a little more about the area. Through AMC people are able to purchase land at an affordable price as a part of a land bank. In this area of Matagalpa (a state of Nicaragua) called New Jerusalem AMC purchased enough land for 24 families to purchase just about 3 acres of land that they can use to support their family and live in a healthy way. Zaida, the coordinator for this area through AMC spoke with a lot of the families that now live in the land banks. She said, and I paraphrase, ‘These people don't have electricity. These people don't have safe and secure homes. These people don’t have access to money. But now they feel proud…now they are able to work for themselves and support themselves. Now they feel happy.’  It is amazing work that AMC does and we are so blessed to be able to partner with them this week.

Now onto the second update. The original plan was for the work to have been started already starting last week, just to get the ball rolling before we arrived. Sadly, that wasn’t able to happen. Just a few days ago, a young man- a teacher at the school that the children of New Jerusalem attend was on his way home. Because the water was high, and the bridge was unsafe to pass, he proceeded to go through the river. Some friends on the other side of the river saw him, and decided to go fetch a rope to help him across. While they were gone getting the rope, the young teacher was overtaken by the currant of the river. His friends returned with the rope, but could not find him, they first thought that perhaps he had made it safely across. A day later they found his motorcycle where he had left it-odd. The next day they found his clothes in the river. That is when they decided to start a search. The next day they unfortunately found his body. The efforts that originally were planned for the beginning of the project- went to potentially a more important purpose.

Why is this important? Our task is to build a bridge, very close to where this young man drowned- because there is no other, safer option. Our purpose is to begin the construction of a bridge, a bridge that will make it possible to safely cross a 75 foot wide river. I wish, I pray, that this project could have started earlier, and been at least completed just enough to be passable for this man.  

Tomorrow we are able to start the work- working with the connections that we have been able to make throughout the past few days to be a team, a cohesive unit. We are excited, I’m a little perplexed to think of how this task is going to be possible, we are ready.

With love, peace, and appreciation,

Brinna Kolitz

on behalf of the entire Nicaragua team 2016