A Weekend Review
Dennis Allan
We climbed to the summit of a mountain and played hide and seek. The photo that leads this post is the view from the summit of the mountain we climbed. We made the ascent after eating lunch with the children at an ecolodge in the mountains of northern Nicaragua. We played tag in pairs, one child with one member of our team. I was paired with Jan, one of three young boys who lives in Casa Libertad y Sanidad. We won the last game of hide and seek and as I carried Jan back to the mountain's summit he said, "Thank you," over and over. At dinner Diana, Bianca, and Margine, three of the girls who live in the children's home, sang songs and danced for us. That was Saturday for our team.
On Sunday, we ate breakfast and read and reenacted the Exodus story. Then, we ran relay races, played soccer, and had lunch before making the three hour drive from the ecolodge back to Managua. As Daniel and I were discussing which Bible story we would teach this morning he said that it had to be one that we could act out. I must have looked at him funny because he said, "We used to do it when we were children. We loved it." He told me that when his family couldn't make it to church they would read a Bible story and then act it out together. I doubt that Daniel's parents, Bruce and Kathy, ever thought that their family tradition would impact seven children in Nicaragua. Yet, it has. It made me wonder what my wife, Julia, and I are cultivating in our family that will get passed on from our children to their children and have a meaningful spiritual impact. If you're reading this and you're a parent, take a moment, maybe right now, and think through the culture you're creating in your family. Which parts of it do you hope your children will pass on to their children and which parts do you hope will not get passed on? If you don't have an answer to what you hope your children will pass on, then create something this week. Seriously. Don't wait. If you had an answer to what you don't want your children to pass on, then stop it this week. Seriously. Don't wait.
The goal of the weekend was to build relationships between our team and the children. For our team, despite a language barrier for some, to play alongside the children and through a shared experience begin to build a relationship. Our team came to Nicaragua wanting to love the children. I don't think our team came to Nicaragua expecting to receive love from the children. On the way to the ecolodge Diana and Bianca fell asleep on Liz, a member of our team. On the way back to Managua from the ecolodge Margine slept the entire way in Chloe's lap (Chloe is also a member of our team). In between we played alongside the children, held their hands, hugged them, laughed with them, and smiled with them.
Our team offered love and received love this weekend.