Personal Narrative: My Mission Trip To Nicaragua

As I stepped out of the airport, followed by my family, I was unprepared for the snowfall and icy pavement that is so commonplace in January in Michigan. If I had thought enough about it, I would have worn winter boots on the plane and maybe brought my puffy white coat to block the wind. Instead, I stood shivering in brand new, pink ballet-flat shoes, while snowflakes filled my eyelashes.

My parents have always raised me to be grateful for what I have. I live in a safe and wealthy town with a superior education system, I have amazing friends and family, a roof over my head, and proper food and clothing.

Going to another country can be a little bit scary, especially if you are going to a third world country and you don’t plan on staying in the safe touristy areas. With this blog, I hope to appeal to others who are going on a mission trip to Nicaragua for the first time. Through my personal narrative, I hope to calm those first time jitters that people are inclined to get before doing something outside of their comfort zone. It can help when you have an idea about what you are getting into, but there are some things that no one can understand until they have been there, and that’s okay.

My trip to a third world country opened my eyes to see that everyone is not as blessed as we are here in America. Nicaragua is a very poor country. People in Nicaragua are robbed of the luxuries we Americans have. Such as, simply, having three meals a day. Most people have to travel far just to find food to bring home to their families. I felt like God had called me to go to these people not so I can bless them, yet so they can bless me and my eyes would be opened.

I witnessed true comradery, I learned how to be compassionate and experienced a love I’ve never known before. I learned how to give without expectations of something in return (other than the good feeling accompanied by it), I learned to never judge a book by its cover, be grateful for what you have because some aren’t as fortunate, and most importantly be kind to everyone!

Imagine a time where you were at your lowest, a time in your life that nothing seemed to make

My father had cardiac problems. He used to Nicaragua. I was eleven when he suffered a stroke. Immediately my brother toke him to the hospital but there was not a cardiologist not a neurologist available. The only neurologist available was in Managua the capital which is approximately four hours away from Jinotega It was too late when we arrived to Managua he had passed away. Three hours later he started breathing .That was defiantly miracle. My father had an intestinal surgery two weeks after. Then he returned back to the U.S. My Father couldn’t move half of his body and he was losing weight. He saw the doctor and they found out that, Nicaraguan surgeon mistakenly left a small residue of a contaminated gauge in his body due to that my father

In June of 2016, I got a summer job working for Jeffco Open Space.I wasn’t excited but I wanted to go on a trip to the Dominican Republic. I needed to save roughly $3,000. I was gonna be working on trails all day in the summer heat and I required to have at least one 32 ounce water bottle. I went online and purchased my first Nalgene bottle off of Amazon, I think it was around $15 with shipping and handling. It came in the mail and it was about three weeks before my job started and I loved it! It’s pink with a silver-grey lip. At first, I didn’t decorate it with stickers but in July I went to Pride Festival and got my first sticker. Its circle, it has this rainbow background, and in block print it says PRIDE. Then I eventually added my

Members of the youth group from Henderson Hills Baptist Church were split into two groups over Spring Break, one of which served in Nicaragua, and the other of which served in Belgium. The decision of which students went where was decided by (youth group leaders?), but students were able to apply specifically for which trip they preferred.

The day has finally come to go on vacation and my family, and I departed promptly from our house at 4:30 in the morning. Our flight was scheduled for 7 in the morning at Pittsburgh International Airport. We had to arrive there early because all people flying international had to be there two hours before the flight. All of us boarded the flight out to Punta Cana, which is located in the Dominican Republic. I can remember that I was so excited to go, and I was the first on the flight. I am almost positive that it took over three hours to get to the Dominican Republic from Pittsburgh. It was a really long flight to me because I could not wait to get there, and I just wanted to land. Finally, the moment has come, and we landed. When we departed from the plane, they had hula dancers dancing around us, and it was the coolest thing I have ever seen. They had people that would take pictures of you when you got off the plane. My family and I obliged and got our pictures taken. After all our pictures were taken, we went inside the airport and

Moving to a new country is very difficult for every person, even more, if it does not have anything in common with your origin country. Crossing borders, taking airplanes, and risking your life can become part of the immigration process. In this essay, I am going to explain the history of how I get out of Cuba. Also, I will be explaining how I reached this country. It was hard, but not impossible, and it was paid off already.

They say home is where the heart is and I’ve found out to be very true last year. I stayed in Palacagüina, Nicaragua for three months with an absolutely wonderful family with four of my friends. The five hour bus ride up to the dry dusty Nicaraguan mountains made me think this was quite an uneventful place. Don’t get me wrong.. Palacagüina is quite a boring place but the people there are so real and so truly amazing and it brings so much light to that city. Nicaragua has a way of making everything brighter. As soon as we met our family we were staying with they made us feel right at home and apart of their family. They started loving on us like my parents or any of my family would, which was so comforting.

Serving other people has always been one of the most important things to me. What I would consider one of my most cherished project was a mission trip I took to Jinotega, Nicaragua. I went on this mission trip during the summer between my sophomore and junior year of high school. I was beyond worried going into the trip, my fears of something going wrong were over taking the joy I knew I would be bringing to the people there. Not only would I be going to a country I knew little about, but it was my first time out of the country ever. I pushed all of those feelings to the back of my mind because I knew that I would be protected and enjoy my time there.

“What is that horrid smell”? I had just landed in San Jose, Costa Rica with my church group, and before we could admire the beauties of this new place, we were greeted with the most pungent stench of our lives. It was day one of a two week mission trip, and we were already nose deep in one of the most poverty stricken areas in Central America. For the vast majority of the group, it was the first time getting to experience a new country in an authentic way; living among some of the least wealthy people in Costa Rica. The goal of our mission was to rebuild the church’s gate as the slum it was situated in is one of the most dangerous slums in the country. In addition, the pastor of the church we were staying in had a special request to our group.

I learned to be thankful and grateful for all the great things and people in my life. Through my aunt and her life I saw how ungrateful people can be. This changed me, I want to be someone who overuses the words “ I Love You”, and “ Thank You”, instead of not using them enough. We never know when the last day we will have with someone will be, so why wait until it's too