Day 9 Día de Despedida

In our planning with the Brazos de Amor, today’s purpose was to have fun with the staff and kids and to have a Goodbye Party (Despedida).

Our day began with a traditional Nicaraguan weekend breakfast of nacatamales. They are different than a Mexican style tamale because of their filling – they have rice, meat, potato, bell peppers and olives. Our juice this morning was delicious dragon fruit. One more example of the amazing local food we have been served!

After breakfast we headed to a local soccer park with the residents kids and a few staff. For one and a half hours we played soccer together. It was delightful to run around and play with the kids!

For the return trip to Brazos we decided to put our team and all of the Brazos residence in the micro bus at one time instead of making two trips as we had earlier in the morning. There were over 30 of us jammed into the bus! When we spilled out of the bus at Brazos it was like a clown car where people kept coming out!

The time of goodbyes continued on campus. We shared a delicious barbequed chicken lunch with gallo pinto and tajadas (fresh plantain chips). Then we had a sharing time where Emilio led worship, some Brazos residence said thank you’s, we played a fun balloon building game and our team was prayed for by Brazos staff.

The fun activities continued outside on the Brazos grounds. Prescott and Wes led the kids in a rousing game of wiffleball. Elaine and Jen managed a happily chaotic water balloon fight with refillable water balloons. Shaina sought out kids to take more pictures that she printed for them. Some of the pictures used a frame that the Brazos staff decorated in honor of our team.

This evening we have had quieter alone time as a team. We spent time packing and reflecting our time here at Brazos. Our translator Ronnie, who has joined us for many of our trips, has become a full member of our team this year. He shared about how this week has been deeply impactful to him. As a former Brazos resident, he feels the kids see happy people and enjoy the play times but don’t know or understand the depth of care and love we as a team have for these children. Ronnie is grateful now to see a fuller picture of how our team genuinely delights in these kids!

Tomorrow will be a long day. After breakfast we are heading to Managua to have brunch with Brazos alumni who are a few years older than the alumni we had dinner with on Friday. Then off to the airport for the long bittersweet journey home. We arrive at SFO just a few minutes before midnight – to be met by friends and family for the drive home!