Today is exactly one month until I leave Nicaragua. I can no longer avoid the thought of how heartbreaking the goodbyes will be. I have been asked many times, ‘’Why are you leaving us?’’ and ‘’Don’t you like Nicaragua?’’ For the first time in my life I am leaving something that is well established. After high school and college my entire cohort left along with me, but this time I am the only one leaving Nicaragua.
People also remark, “Oh my gosh, your two years here went by so quickly!’’ I respond with a smile and nod while I internally roll my eyes. In reality, no it actually did not seem to fly by. A lot of my time seemed painfully drug out. There were a solid six months where I hit rock-bottom.
However, I examine my life and look at where God has brought me to today. We are wrapping up the Nicaraguan Internship where I had the opportunity to invest in some of the brightest and most motivated adolescences of Masatepe (pictured above at a quinceanera). It brings me so much joy when I see them lead devotionals, share their testimonies, preform songs and dances for the elderly, and lead childrens’ ministries for the community.
My life group girls are doing so well! ‘The Lionesses’ as we are called, are more unified and involved than ever before. Thanks to Jeff and Nicole who started a Young Life ministry for youth in our community, the Lionesses have come out of their shells. It is so wonderful to see the fruit of all the time our team spent with them. For a long time now I have been concerned about what would happen to this group of girls after I leave. I’ve come to realize that my purpose with the girls was to prepare them for Young Life!
The fourth year of business with Beto’s Coffee Co. it is a critical make-it-or-break-it season. We have come so far with Beto’s goods being sold in over 20 stores in eight states. Not only were we able to hire Beto’s son last year as our fourth employee, but we have enough sales to give all four employees full-time work all year round. We are definitely experiencing growing pains transitioning from a few artisans fulfilling customized orders in the back of the shop, into what could one day be a well-known employer in Masatepe. But to even get to those challenges, first we have to find ways to consistently have large orders to fulfill. My goal before I leave is to help find and prove a way to have a steady stream of orders for Beto’s goods so that the workshop can not only stay open, but grow.
I am doing my best to leave everything I have going in good hands so that it can continue on without me. It’s hard to walk away from Nicaragua when there are so many great things happening. It’s hard to leave a town and routine that I have gotten to know so well. But is especially hard to leave people who truly know me inside and out. And as hard as this all is, what a blessing it is to have goodbyes that are so difficult.
I hope the people I am leaving don’t feel abandoned. I hope they know I’m not leaving because Nicaragua isn’t good enough. I hope they can continue to love missionaries who come in the future as much as they have loved me, even knowing that one day we will leave.