Well, this was our last week in Granada before we come home for
Christmas. We are leaving on Tuesday for
an orphanage on a nearby island, Omotepe, to work there for a week and then we
are flying home! 

 

    Another fun part
of this week was the start of the 9-day processional of the Virgin Mary around
the entire city of Granada. They literally take her down from the front
of a cathedral and put her on a huge float and she processes throughout various
streets around town each night. Street
vendors, lights, fireworks, and thousands of people all come together and make
this quite the event. The parade was on
our street two nights ago and it was so much fun walking around before and
after, running into literally everyone we know, it seemed, and taking in all
the tradition and community that surround this event. It was such a snapshot of Latin American
culture. 

   It's hard to
believe we are about to head home...that is has been 3 months already. Time has gone by so quickly and relationships
feel much deeper than the short amount of time it has been. We said goodbye to the kids who live on the
street where we do trash pick-up and it was so sad! We told them Merry Christmas (or, rather,
"Feliz Navidad!") and the good news: that we'll actually be living on that street when we come back in
January! Our team is moving into the
back of El Puente, the AIM base, where they will just have completed a house
for missionaries to live in. So, we'll
continue pioneering this experience as we move into a completely new setting
next semester. 

 I will hopefully
blog once more before I fly home, to tell about the orphanage. Please pray for focus and energy this last
week...that our minds would be present here in Nicaragua, not looking too far
ahead to going home. I am certainly
excited to have a chance to come home, though, and feel blessed to be able to
do that! Looking forward to seeing many
of you!