I am being transformed through this experience. I am learning so much and being so challenged in my thinking and acting. God´s voice has been speaking intensely throughout this experience, and we are only half way through! What we are learning is important. I just spent two days on the Eastern Coast of Nicaragua on the Atlantic Ocean. The lives of the people there are so different than the lives of the people on the West Coast. It is 585 kilometers (or almost 400 miles) from coast to coast, but there is a world of difference. And on both sides, there is extreme poverty. The people on each side of the country are competing for limited resources. We visited indegenous communities who were affected by Hurrican Felix in 2007. And we visited with leaders from ecumenical organizations while on the East Coast.

To get these communities on the East Coast, near Puerto Cabezas, we traveled in the flatbed of a truck. There were plastic patio chairs to sit on. The dirt road was full of ruts and pot holes. At one point, we had to get out to lighten the load and push the truck through a tough patch. After a few hours we made it to a few communities of people who have barely received any aid since the Hurricane. They were patching things the best they could. Their main concern was seeing their babies die from lack of medical supplies, doctors, or from childbirth itself. It was so painful to hear their stories through two translators - first from Mesquito and then from Spanish. Even through two layers of translation you could see the deep pain of mothers who had lost children. They looked at us for support, and all we had the moment was our tears. They are stuck in a system of deprivation so deep and complex that they have no control over. They don´t know about what scientists are saying about climate change, they just know that in the last 25 years life has been more unpredictable. Before Hurricane Felix there was no word for such a disaster in their language. These people place all their trust in God because God is all they have. And we ponder ways that we can change these systems and environmental practices that harm so many people that are intimately connected to us, who we may never meet. Tomorrow we go to a Lutheran Church in Managua. It will be wonderful to experience worship in another country. I am so excited to praise God in Spanish tomorrow. My Portuguese is coming in handy since these languages are so similar.