Hey all! It's Katie for the last blog in Nicaragua! (tear)
Wow. Today was an exciting, happy, and sad day, all rolled into one. First off we got to sleep in a little (which we all loved) and wake up around 9:00 for breakfast. We had a hard time getting up until we heard we were having CORN FLAKES for breakfast!! We all literally jumped out of bed when we heard that haha. After breakfast we got ready for the day and jumped in the van for a 30 minute drive to the Volcano Masaya. It was set up a lot like a National Tourist Park where you had to pay an entrance fee, and before you got to the volcano they had a little museum you could walk through to learn about the history of the volcano. We were all anxious to see the actual volcano, so we went through the museum pretty fast :). Then we hopped back in the van, and drove right up to the mouth of the volcano! It was AMAZING! You could look over the edge, but you couldnt see very far down because of the smoke. Then they had a really long set of steps up to the top of a little hill right over the edge of the volcano that had a BEAUTIFUL view of the volcano, and the view around it as well. We took a lot of pictures. Then, on the other side, we walked up a really steep path to look at a crater hole that was next to the volcano.
After all this hiking and taking pictures, we were starting to get tired and hungry, so we hiked down to the van and headed to Papa Johns!! We were all extremely excited about this, especially Ellie since she had been craving American food for a few days now. The Papa Johns seemed even better here in Nicaragua! We stuffed our faces, to say the least. After we ate, they had a little play area like they have at some McDonalds, and we were able to climb and play in it. Its always fun to be little kids again :).
After our awesome American food, we were ready and energized for some shopping! We went to a market that was set up, and made our rounds looking at all the stuff we could buy. We weren't able to do a lot of bargaining because they had rules against how high the vendors could price their stuff, but we had Mario and Karen to help us out whenever something was a little overpriced. I personally went crazy and bought A LOT of souvineers, and I'm hoping I dont get stopped at the airport for one of the things I bought ;). (It's a present for someone so I can't say what it is). We ended up spending more time there than we thought, and got a late start back to the compound. However, we were all really excited about the things we had bought!
Once we got back, we met for a debriefing session to end the trip. It started out good, just filling out a questionare, but once Mr. Yeager started asking us questions about the trip, we started to get emotional. Karen our translator started tearing up when she was talking about her favorite part of the trip. Her answer was the testimonies. She said every single one of our testimonies impacted her because she had struggled with the same thing at some point in her life. Then, Paige broke down in tears, talking about how she really wasn't ready to leave yet. This got us all crying! We all noticed how much God had worked in our lives, and used us to make an impact in the lives of the Nicaraguans. We NEVER would have expected that God would have used such an unlikely group of high school girls like Emily, Paige, Ellie, Tabi, and I (even though I just graduated); and of course Ruth, Jerry, and Mr. Yeager, to make such an impact here. Mr. Yeager even said that they had almost pulled the trip because it was taking so long to get set up; but God has amazing timing, and obviously had a plan for us here. After our debriefing, we had a prayer time, and then were sent off to pack up.
While Ellie, Tabi, and I were packing up, Paige and Emily burst into our room crying and attacked us! We all started crying again and went looking for Karen to thank her for not only being our translator, but also our very close friend. We found her at the computer, and attacked her too ha ha. She started crying too and thanking us all for everything. Then, since we were at the computer, we decided to make her a facebook! Now we can keep in touch with her when we get back to the United States.
Now we are all packed up, and dreading our 3:30 wake up call to leave for the airport. We probably wont sleep at all, and we're thinking about just hanging out and partying! RAVE! Ha ha thats in inside joke that we've had all trip :). Although we're all sad that we have to leave, were anxious and excited to see you all back at home! Thank you all SO MUCH for your prayers! They mean so much to us, and God has been faithful! See you soon!
Love and God Bless,
The AIA High School Girls Soccer Team :)