This Tuesday morning was a new experience as we awoke in a very different place than our beautiful hotel in Managua. In this new place we don’t have any comforts of modern life, like a warm bath or fans. After our morning coffee and delicious breakfast, we loaded the cars with water, sunscreen, bug spray, and of course, ourselves and headed to New Jerusalem in Agua Amarilla. A name meaning “Yellow Water”. The ride was bumpy, but we all became a little more comfortable with each other considering we were practically falling into one another’s personal space.
New Jerusalem is beautiful and filled with wonderful people
and fearless wildlife (and by wildlife, I mean chickens, lots of bugs and some
doggies who were everywhere!) As we anxiously waited the arrival of the engineer
and surveyor, we completed small tasks like securing and painting railings,
finding rocks, and mixing concrete, all in order to enhance the area. Once the
professionals arrived and began surveying the land to begin the bridge, our
entire team lined up an assembly line style and commenced the rock transporting
from the creek to various piles along the bank. Not only did we do one session
of rock moving, we did at least three. In total, moving too many rocks to
count. Each session was filled with laughter and occasional singing.
We broke for lunch, but while waiting for it’s arrival, Pastor
Alex led some simple yoga movements next to the creek. Many joined in, even
those who live in New Jerusalem. It was a wonderful sight and definitely
something that will be done again this week. Lunch was a time to rejuvenate and
prepare for the afternoon- that was filled with more rock moving. In the case
of Marie and Melinda however, some of lunch time was taken to hold and rock a 1
month old baby boy living in New Jerusalem.
The entire day was filled with smiles from various parties
and a ton of rocks. The people of New Jerusalem were excited to see the work of
the bridge begin and our entire team got as much joy as the enormous volume of
rocks we moved. The smiles continued all the way back to Santa Luz when many of
us took a seat (or a ride) in the bed of the two trucks. The people we passed
were friendly and their faces instantly lit up when we waved hello. It was a
bumpy ride, leaving a few bruises on the truck bed passengers, but our
“Americanized holas” and laughter made it all the better. Not to mention, the
views were breath taking.
It was great to start work today, as it was apparent
many of us were ecstatic to begin. And as our day comes to a close, we can be
happy that God worked through us as we served others today. Even if to
bystanders it seemed to only be a simple task of moving tons of rocks, we all
know, that it was definitely not the case. We more than moving a ton of rocks
we laid the foundation for a bridge that will offer safe passage, for children
on their way to school and adults on their daily work.
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