June 12, 2017 marked the beginning of an incredible journey to San Francisco El Arranque: a small, remote farming village located within poverty-stricken Nicaragua. For a year prior, our group had been working hard to fundraise in order to build a school and lead a girl empowerment workshop for the girls/women of the village. June 12, 2017 also marked the beginning of a complete shift in my perspective on life, joy, and gratitude. There were countless things I learned during my time living in San Francisco El Arranque, and today, I would like to share some of the most important ones:
1) No matter my circumstances, I can choose to be grateful.
Prior to this new school that we helped construct, the 71 students of the village were attending a one room schoolhouse with a dirt floor and an unstable roof. Below is a photo of the kids’ old school…
…above is a photo of the parents of these schoolchildren cheering when they learned that their children would be able to attend a new, safe school in just a short time 🙂 …
…and here are some of the children outside of their new & safe school, gleaming from head to toe.
Despite their situation, these families radiated with hope and joy and gratitude for the present. Though their circumstances were not ideal, they found a way to be grateful by thanking God for every meal spent with their families, every article of clothing they owned, and every day spent in their tiny town.
My host family included my mamá (Rosivel), mis hermanas/my sisters (Carla + Aurora), and mis hermanos/my brothers (Anderson + Wilson). They lived in a small home constructed out of wood planks, all slept in one bedroom, and ate arroz y frijoles (rice and beans) for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, 365 days a year. And yet, multiple times daily, they verbally thanked God for their life and all of the las bendiciónes (blessings) He has given them. Never before had I witnessed such beauty among heartbreak and hard circumstances; a beauty that came from choosing to find the good in what the current situation may be and finding contentment through choosing gratitude.
Not going to sugarcoat here… living amongst poverty for a week was difficult. It was no easy ordeal. Working in the incredibly strong sun for hours each day with only manual tools and then coming back to sleep on a cot with roosters roaming around and mosquito nets draped over your face is not exactly the most “comfortable” situation… but it was the living situation I needed to experience in order to be able to truly see the abundance of blessing that has been poured over my life here in the United States. It was the experience I needed to have in order to see fully the overwhelming amount of incredible resources I have been blessed with, like a stable home and a safe school to attend and clean water and an amazing family and an abundance of nutritious food to nourish my body.
2) Draw. Paint. Laugh. Explore. Smile. ENJOY every moment.
Every night, after long days spent in the hot Nicaraguan sun working on the school and experiencing the amazing culture, each set of roommates headed back to their host family for dinner. After washing off in the bucket shower, Delaney, Ellie, and I would sit down with our host family and talk (which was great practice using my Spanish, as none of the village members spoke English), play simple games like UNO, do puzzles, draw in our notebooks, dance, laugh, and cherish our time together. One of my favorite memories was when Wilson, one of our little host brothers, found Ellie’s portable battery-powered fan, and would not let it down. He thought it was the most amazing thing in the world. And not only was it adorable, but it opened my eyes to something: that to these young Nicaraguan children, every new item or experience was merit to be excited and jump for joy. As an outsider watching all of us playing UNO on the plastic table in their home, you would think it was the coolest game on planet Earth– not because of what the game looked like or how expensive it was, but because we gleamed with big smiles and laughs and excitement as we played it.
When our host siblings asked us if they could draw in our notebooks with our pens, we said “por supuesto”/”of course” and they did a happy dance. 🙂 Things like pens and markers and notebooks–things I so often take for granted– are luxury items to these Nicaraguan people. I saw how their faces lit up as they colored and explored the pages of my lined notebook and drew out their favorite things and dreams.
Since then, I have learned to laugh and draw and paint (well, I am still working on this one… but I ordered quite a few painting supplies from Amazon! 🙂 ) and smile more. It’s amazing what happens when you begin enjoying each and every moment.
3) Learn to find fulfillment through giving, not receiving.
When Delaney, Ellie, and I first met our host family, we were met with overwhelming amounts of hugs and cheek-kisses. They were so excited to host us, and we were so grateful that they had opened their home to us. At the time, however, we were unaware that they had built an entirely new wooden room within their home so that the three of us would be able to have privacy during our stay. Now, let me remind you, they only had one bedroom as it was. So the fact that they were generous enough to use their resources to build us this structure was absolutely mind-boggling. Never before had I witnessed such generosity. And though she barely had enough to provide for her own family, our mamá was joy-filled and excited to show us the structure she had built us in her home.
This was one of those moments where I needed to take a step back and analyze my current levels of giving and how generosity made me feel. Was I always joy-filled when I gave? Do I always remind myself that God has blessed me so that I may bless others?
These are questions I have to ask myself constantly. I want to make sure that I am filling up the majority of my “fulfillment bucket” by giving, not by receiving. Like my host family in Nicaragua, I do not want my generosity to be dependent on how much or how little I possess. No matter what I own, I want to find ways to be generous and bless others.
4) Though I may not always have the “happiest” moments, true joy comes from gratitude.
There are moments where I am not the happiest. Happiness is defined as “the state of being happy”, and I believe we all have those hard moments where we are hurting or struggling. But joy on the other hand…joy comes from g r a t i t u d e. And if joy is the “source or cause of delight”, as defined by Merriam Webster, then delight for our day is not dependent on whether we are having a happy moment… thank goodness!
The people of San Francisco El Arranque were the most joy-filled people I have ever encountered. They have incredibly hard circumstances, yet they live each day filled with gratitude. And this gratitude they possess creates a profoundly engrained joy within each and every one of them. After our mission trip, I recommitted to finding gratitude in every circumstance life throws my way. I want to live each day with a joy-filled spirit, even when in the midst of an unhappy moment. If I ever find myself in a moment where I am ungrateful, I remind myself of the people I met in Nicaragua. If they can find gratitude in their circumstances, I can easily find it in mine. Remember, a grateful heart equals a joy-filled heart. 🙂
Always,
Elle
P.S.– To the people of San Francisco El Arranque, I miss you more than words can describe and I can’t wait to come visit again! I can not express my gratitude for how generous and kind you were to us during our stay. You are absolutely amazing. I love you and will be back. 🙂 Thank you times a million.