I got my first introduction to life in Central America back in 2014, when I came to Nicaragua for a week.
My life has been filled with it’s own unique set of twists and turns. I have served in the military for 8 years of my life and seen many places around the world during that time. I have served as a police officer for 13 years of my life and seen a lot of things that I wish I could forget during that time of my life. I spent 3 years of my life working on Afghanistan, which was a real eye opener for me to be in an actual combat zone.
I first came to Nicaragua on a mission trip for 1 week with a close friend of mine, who had been to the country several times and was my first personal experience with life in a “third world country”. That term is not something that I have been particulary fond of and am even less so now. That 1 week in the country left so much of an impression on me that after I came back to the States, the decision was made to come back to Nicaragua for 1 year of ministry. I literally sold or gave away everything that I had, gave 2 weeks notice to my job, cashed in my employee savings fund and headed back to the country. The money I had saved up covered the expenses for half of my time in the country and the organization that I was attached to covered the other half of the time there.
This experience really opened my eyes to life outside of the United States and what it was like. Although life in this country has its’ own unique set of challenges, the attitude and vibrant culture of the people was an incredible thing to witness. The people here were always willing to open their doors to me and share what little they had. It was a very refreshing experience, especially compared to the rat race of life back in the States.
I will share more of my time and experiences here in the next entry. I hope you enjoyed reading this one and let me know your thoughts or questions about anything.