Sonya....

Sadly, on most of the times that I have great stories there are no pictures... I was serving and most of the time it never occurred to me to stop and take photos. So I am sorry.. I did not come back with enough photos. But here is one of many stories.

Before I start, let me restate. My trip to Nicaragua, though it was tough, I would not trade my time there for a second. God did some amazing things and I am so glad for this opportunity to have gone again. When I last posted, I started that I was hard on myself and yet, God pulled me out of my negative pit and showed me the GOOD that was completed. Glorios a Dios! Again though I had one of those negative days, I would return to Nicaragua in a heart beat. I am so grateful to have been able to serve with some pretty amazing people.

On to the true story..

There is one neighborhood that most that live there are prostitutes and their children. All of these children have usually come from their mothers profession. El Shaddai has been working in the area and one of the prostitutes made the choice for change and has been working in her neighbourhood to introduce them to Jesus. On most Thursday afternoons, a few of us would head to their neighboorhood and have a Bible Study.

While I was there, a government project was happening for getting zinc (metal roofs) for different families. A few in this neighbourhood were able to apply.

One family who received government zinc is named Sonya (insert picture here... sadly.. I don't have.. I'm sorry!)

Sonya, being a single mother of 4 children (10 years-8 months) was not able to personally place her zinc on the house for a couple reasons. Firstly, let me tell you, that zinc is not only heavy but awkward. If I have my internal measuring tape correct they are about 8 feet long by 3 feet. Secondly, Sonya's house was leaning to one side and we could not determine if it would fall over with the new zinc plus people on the house to install the zinc.

Yet, God is the orchestrator for His good.

The same week that the zinc was delivered, there was an American team coming who had also donated money for a roofing project. So instead of buying more zinc, we bought new logs to hold up the zinc. (meaning, Sonya and her 4 children were getting a new house!!)

Sonya and some of her friends dug the holes for the posts (7 plus later 1 more needed to be dug) and the American team plus El Shaddai (and me! the only woman on that project) went to work! We constructed the truss, installed the zinc, and used brand new plastic and the some of the old zinc (after washed) to the sides of the house.

Due to the nasty looking sky, we could not tear her house down until after we had at least a roof on the new house to move her valuables over. This meant that one side of the house could not be closed in due to the fact that her old house was inside her new house! It was an interesting project!

I really enjoyed watching Sonya and her family watch in awe as their new house was coming together. It's really hard to imagine 7 logs (that in no way shape or form were straight or the same length!) sticking out of the ground will really eventually look like a house.

The house was not completely finished when the American team needed to head out but not before they stopped and prayed for Sonya, her children, blessing her home to be blessed with good things, and that she will be able to provide for her family in another way.

The El Shaddai team kept working and mostly finished building the house that day. The excitement of the children and the tears in Sonya's eyes made a hard day of work well worth every penny..

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Another story of that day, was that I was introduced to biting ants... Her house was under a tree and the ants lived in the tree but were being tossed onto the workers below by the construction team on the roof.

I was never so happy to have been wearing a tank top and a t-shirt that day..

I tore off my t-shirt, with help, took off the ants, and washed the bitten spots with soap and water..

Sadly the itch didn't go away.. so the t-shirt came off again and hand sanitizer was spread on me! hahaha.. Ohh the experiences!

The best part was one of the El Shaddai youth telling my ant story and trying to act like I had! I had a good laugh.. However, I am sure I looked a little more crazy.. :)


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Just because it feels weird not to post at least one photo..



More stories to come!