Turn Around Now!

My week has been full of crunching numbers, fixing retaining walls, trying to order "good quality" fence posts and exploding septic tanks. I have a lot written below so I will forgo the details for now on these projects. I will try to get more updates out on these ongoing projects including the trash and recycling/compost area construction for another time.

I also have photos I took today of the house construction posted online. I have decided to post them online to chronologically track the progress on the house. This way anyone who is interested can see the progress publicly from our website. Also I can send out notices via email without crashing Peter's ancient computer with email attachments. So the link with the most recent construction photos is: http://picasaweb.google.com/CampoAlegria/GuestHouseConstruction
I will be posting the older photos at a later time.

Tomorrow we have another interesting group coming to Campo for a Day, but there is a bit of a story about how they found us.

The day Peter's Family left camp I stayed around for a while to help clean with Oscar. Finally I headed home on the motor bike, as I was about five minutes down the beach I came upon on a group of young kids (girls) swimming in the water next to a flatbed truck parked on the beach. There must have been about fifty young teenagers in all and they seemed like they were having a blast in the water and on the beach. I immediately knew they must be from some sort of Orphanage or School. As I got closer I noticed there were some Nuns sitting in the sand out in the sun with some rickety old chairs with coolers next to them. I slowed down and just out of curiosity I pulled over to talk to the driver of the bus. The wind was blowing hard that day and so I had to yell for him to hear me and I attempted to ask him where he was from. He said they were from a Catholic Orphanage in Granada and that they had driven all the way (2 hours) from Granada just to swim in the lake in Rivas because the lake in Granada was so disgusting and polluted. I then proceeded to ask him how much longer they were going to be at the beach (my intent was to invite them to camp for the day). He must not have understood me correctly because he said only ten minutes. I was surprised because it didn't look like they were going to be leaving in ten minutes but I said "OK" anyway and headed on down the beach.

As I headed down the beach I couldn't get the group out of my mind, something kept telling me to turn around and double check their plans with the leaders. I convinced myself that it was my imagination talking and that I should get home because Rachel would be glad to see me for lunch. Further down the beach, again I heard a voice tell me to turn around. I told myself I was tired, plus I would look like an idiot going back there and bothering them again with the same question. Finally right as I was entering the road exiting the beach, again something said: Turn Around Now! I was so far away I couldn't see the group anymore at all so I stopped my bike and basically said: "God if you want me to turn around I will, but I'm not happy about it".

I turned around on the beach and drove all the way back down to the group feeling embarrassed as if I was some sort of stalker. As I pulled up I stopped next to the Nuns sitting on the beach in the sun and introduced myself in Spanish and asked them how long they were going to be on the beach for. One Nun looked at me with a smirk as if she knew I would be coming back and answered me in perfect English; "we just got here and we will be here all day". Suddenly I realized that I was meant to turn around, and that it hadn't been my own voice in my head I had been hearing.

I immediately told them who I was and what Campo Alegria was and that it was down the beach only five minutes. I told them they would be welcome to use it free for the day, they could use the kitchen and dinning hall for their lunch, the bathrooms would be available, that we had drinking water and places for them to sit out of the sun with hammocks and chairs. The Nun who spoke English suddenly sprain to here feet and said "YES, we would love to come"! She then proceeded to round up the girls in excitement telling all of them in Spanish that everyone needed to pack up immediately and hop on the truck because we were headed somewhere else for the day; suddenly this frenzy broke out of excitement and anticipation that I hadn't expected. The nun was telling all of the girls in Spanish: "see, God always takes care of us, always!"

The girls were all having fun and singing and talking on the truck as we headed down the beach; myself on a motorbike followed by a flatbed truck full of fifty singing kids and three nuns probably looked a little bit weird to bystanders. As we arrived at camp we pulled up in between the dinning hall and the first cabin courtesy of the new road next to the house. As we pulled up suddenly the singing and giggling on the truck simmered down and shock set it of what exactly the Camp was. The team must have been expecting a small shack on a sand dune or something similar because they didn't know what to do with themselves at first. None of them seemed to be able to believe that a place like Campo Alegria could exist five more minutes down the beach from where they were. As the group unloaded from the truck they kept asking permission to enter the buildings, I kept reiterating; "yes it's all yours for the day". The Nuns kept asking me; are you sure it's free? No cost? Nothing?

The team had brought a pot of beans that had been pre-cooked at the orphanage before leaving and had planned on eating it cold on the beach. Beatrice came up to help and we immediately fired up the stoves and began warming them up for lunch. The group had a great day lounging in the hammocks on the porches and swimming in the lake.
This group ended up being one of the most polite and considerable teams I have ever seen use the camp. The Catholic Orphanage requires all the attending children to take English, Music and Dance Lessons as part of their daily program. Throughout the day many of the children practiced there English on me as we hung out together around camp, played their guitars, sang songs and practiced their dance routines in the dinning hall. Oscar and I also saddled up some horses so the kids could take turns riding up and down the beach throughout the day.

As I talked more with the Nuns I learned that the Orphanage was actually a Mother Teresa Home for the Poor, and that all of the girls in the Orphanage had been rescued from situations in which they were either abandoned or abused. There was one girl who I will always remember, she was severely retarded and was unable to walk or talk and had to be carried around from place to place by the other girls. She was nineteen years old but looked like a ten year old and she had been found tied to a tree in Granada on a street. She had been at the Orphanage for about a year and was so cared for and loved by the other girls it was an amazing thing to see. The other girls all took turns helping her out and included her in everything they did, Oscar and I carried her down to the beach so she could sit in the water with her peers and it was an amazing thing to see how much love was in the hearts of the children that day.

The Head Nun also told me that earlier that day as they were leaving Granada the kids had asked her where they were going to stay in Rivas while swimming. She had responded, "I don't know but God will take care of us, he always takes care of us". She explained to me that when she saw me pull up on the beach for the first time and talk with the driver she had thought "this is it; God is going to do something". She also mentioned that she wasn't very surprised at all when I had come back the second time to talk to them again.

As the team started packing up to leave that evening Oscar and I were mingling around to say our goodbyes to the team. The group then asked if they could sing a song to us before leaving and of course we said yes. The entire orphanage proceeded to line up like a choir and pull out two guitars they had in tow. They sang one of the most beautiful Spanish songs I have heard and they were so happy radiant as a group. I had a true missionary moment as I stood there with the sun setting and the volcanoes in the background with a beautiful group of people who love God singing together. It was just another day at Campo for me until I turned around and went back on direction from God and it ended up being a day that I will always remember. It reminded me why I am in Nicaragua in the first place, and how when we choose to be obedient to God and trust in him he will bless us in ways that we could never imagine. This was my favorite day in Nicaragua thus far.

Oscar and I took a special trip to visit the Orphanage in Granada the week after and got to meet with the directors and have a look around. It is an amazing place.

Although we need to charge groups at camp for their usage to pay our bills, I'm afraid I have a small addiction to allowing groups like these to come for free. This group will be visiting tomorrow at camp; for free again, and I will be so glad to see them.