Nicaragua Pilgrimage Day 3

Hello my brothers and sisters in Christ,

We began the day by heading to Las Mangas where we first met with our scholarship students. I was able to talk with Maria, Maria Isabella, Oscar, Jasser, and Engel about their favorite things and my family with them. Isabella and Engel are cousins sponsored by my parents. Jasser is sponsored by brother, David and Oscar is sponsored by my sister, Ali. It was really interesting the connections that were made with the students. I found out that Isabella and Engel's favorite food is pizza which happens to be my mom's favorite food as well which the students thought was really cool. Oscar sponsored by my sister, Ali, is hoping to pursue a profession working with people that have heart problems and my sister is a cardiovascular ICU nurse. He was intrigued by the work that she does and was very kind in saying that he hopes to help people in his life in a similar way. Maria and I conversed about her cat, Bimbo and that she enjoys learning, helping her parents and painting with colors. I was very blessed to be able to meet with all the students and hear more about their families and them. Next we were able to witness a dance competition by the community and several people sang. Kate, Kim, and I sang Silent Night and Jesus loves me, following this there was a presentation of gifts to each of the communities that had gathered in Las Mangas. Lots of the children and I took photos together and I was so grateful that they wanted to take picture with me and that I could meet all of them. Several of the Las Mangas community members opened up their homes to share with us their experiences. Andrea, one of the community members, makes tortillas from scratch as well as grows papaya, bananas, melon, and pitiya. We got to learn that Pitiya is dragonfruit. We ended each visit at the home with a beautiful prayer led by Kate. Before we headed back, we got to see the Rainbow Network office and there we played an intense game of Uno with everyone that led to us having many good laughs.

Blessings,
Olivia Isaacks