"What do you love so much about Nicaragua anyway?"

I hear this from a lot of people. a lot. I usually respond with a sort of blank look and I say something generic and stale like, "The people are just so great, and the culture is amazing".
That's crap, just to be honest, because as I'm spouting out this by-now formulaic nonsense, behind my glazed-over look I'm seeing all the things I can't put into words. What do I love about Nicaragua? In Nicaragua, people LIVE. Nicaraguan people don't care about buying nice things for their house, about what they will wear the next day, or about how much money their friend makes. It's not considered lazy or unproductive if they spend their entire day washing clothes, cooking and enjoying their families. Nicaraguans are insanely hospitable, and family has a much broader meaning there than it does here. Nicaraguans will stop on the street to help a complete stranger, they will give their last bit of food to someone who has less, and they will walk miles to go pray with a sick friend. They will do all this while daily overcoming obstacles that would stop any of us in our tracks, and they'll do it all with a smile on their face.

Here are things that people say (or seem to want to say, but feel rude) when I talk to them about Nicaragua:
1. "They're probably only like that because they are so poor and have nothing else to do all day."/"They're only happy with so little because that's all they know."
2. "But they could get so much more done if they would learn how to be more like us."
3. "There's no hot water, they don't have fridges in their homes, they don't throw toilet paper in the toilet, and you STILL want to live there?"
4. "Are there even real roads in Nicaragua?'
5. "How could you live without air conditioning?"

Here's how I respond...
1. and?
2. Is "getting more done" better? Are we really doing so great?
3. YES!
4. Um... yes. Maybe broaden your horizons/vacation destinations a little.
5. Easy- I do it about 11 months out of the year anyway.

Sometimes I actually try to provide a heartfelt response that tries to convince them of the beauty of this overlooked country.

Sometimes I just smile and tell them that I am not like them, that I thank God that he opened my heart and allowed this love to grow in me, and that I think it is all beautiful. Every last bit of it.

Obviously, Nicaragua is "behind" the US. They take longer to do everything, they do most things in (what seems to us) bizarre, wacky ways, they are much poorer, they aren't as technologically savvy, they are "simpler", and they don't plan things out very far ahead of time. From practically the moment I stepped off a plane in July 2005, I fell in love with all of these things.

But riddle me this: If Nicaraguans are so "behind" us, why are their people so much more able to love each other purely and completely than we are? Why are they able to live every day in faith in ways we only dream about and talk about? Why do they seem so much happier than we, as a country, do? Why are they so much more full of joy living with so little than we are living in a world of plenty?

P.S. I practically wore out my delete key with this one. I've never had such a hard time putting thoughts into words. I suppose it because it's incredibly difficult to take seven years' worth of thoughts and to compile them into a few neat and tidy paragraphs. I so badly wish I could just let you in to catch a small glimpse of what I see when I close my eyes, because it.is.breathtaking.

P.P.S. I know there are MANY other places in the world where you can find this kind of love, hospitality and joy in every day life. I just haven't been to them. That's why God had me go to Nicaragua. I could have fallen in love with many other places, I'm sure, but my heart belongs in Nica, so there it shall be.

P.P.P.S. I also know that our country is absolutely beautiful and I am extremely proud to be an American (cue Lee Greenwood now). I never, ever forget that I was blessed by being born in a country full of opportunity and freedom that produces amazing individuals every day. I am the person I am because of how and where I grew up. Please don't take away from this that I am one of those, "Screw the USA; I've been so spoiled by my upbringing that I now refuse to even recognize the merit of living in this country". Not at all. I just want people to open their eyes and see the world around them. There is so, so much more to this world than us and our ways of life. And it's not all bad.