Nicaragua is exquisite. Everything is so incredibly beautiful. The trees are beautiful. The weather is beautiful. The volcanoes are beautiful. The people are BEAUTIFUL! I have already met so many great people who have the most beautiful hearts, and I have only been here just a few days!

Everything is beautiful here, but there are also ridiculous injustices. Here in Bethel (pronounced buh-tel) the main job available for men is working in the sugar cane fields. Every day, the men go into the fields and work extremely long hours and at the end of the day have about two to three dollars to show for it. What’s worse than the extremely low pay rate is what happens to the men over time as they work in these fields. Eventually, the men each get some sort of kidney disease, which will ultimately be terminal. Every so often the company that runs the field does tests on the men, and whoever is found to have a certain amount of the chemical that makes them sick in their blood is fired.  The company does not cooperate with investigations of what causes the disease. Not only have they contracted a deadly disease, they also cannot make money to provide for their families any more. It is an awful cycle that leaves so many children fatherless, and it breaks my heart that there isn’t really a solution yet. Please be praying for these families, and for the hearts of the bigwigs at the company, that they would soften and cooperate.

I feel so much pain for these stories that I’m just barely beginning to know, and yet the people that live with these burdens are still able to find joy. They are such an inspiration in how we should live, radiating God’s joy in all situations. They really live out Philippians 4, where Paul talks about being content whatever the circumstances. Seeing the joy in these kids’ faces is one of the most beautiful things I have ever experienced. In the midst of all the pain around them they have such precious, beautiful hearts.