A Long Journey Home…Mrs. Margarita

We shared with you recently that we were in the process of helping Mrs. Margarita move home…well that trip spontaneously came together last Tuesday.  We got a call Saturday that her daughters were coming to Managua to pack her stuff because they had two days off work.  This was news to us and we just rolled with it.  Sunday we found a moving truck.  Monday four of her children packed up the truck.  Tuesday we rented a fancy SUV from Budget and by 8 a.m. we were on the road.  Mrs. Margarita was dressed in her finest and her daughter Elvita rode with us while her son Jean rode with the moving truck.

Now, the trip was smooth sailing for the first five hours getting to the city of RAMA which is the gateway to the East Coast of Nicaragua.  Most people take boats from this point to Blue Fields and beyond, but a few years back a new road was put in to Pearl Lagoon.  Well…that new road is hardly a cow trail and has so many huge holes you can’t go over 10 mph and you still can’t help but hit your head on the window.  At one point we asked Mrs. Margarita if she was OK.  “Brother my head hurts a little…because I keep hitting it on the window” she said with a big laugh.  We slowed down even more and three hours later we got to Hallover, a small town just before Pearl Lagoon.

As you might expect, as we pulled into town there was a pile of kids near the entrance of town…Elvita hollered out to them and they ran up to the car…all great grandbabbies.  Both Elvita and Margarita started yelling at them to get on home!  We rounded a turn and slowed for others to come out and hug and kiss Margarita through the window…”we are gonna come by later Ma.”  We slowed down by another house that was under construction and two more grandkids were up on the roof working, all smiles.  Then we pulled up to her house….a big crowd greeted us, which probably wasn’t even half of her whole extended family.  Margarita’s sight is failing, so a young man came out to help her down from the car and walk her to the porch of her recently rebuilt house.

Once Margarita realized who was helping her she started calling out “Bibi…Bibi…Bibi”.  Bibi is her grandson who she actually raised from birth until he was 14 when she left for Managua.  They hadn’t seen each other since!  She kept slapping him and hugging him…So many more faces that she was seeing for the first time.  She looked to us once and smiled real big saying “brother I don’t know most of these kids”.  It was so sweet watching family members young and old come up with hugs, smiles and tears.

We are going to miss Margarita so very much!  But it was such a blessing to be with her on this journey home.  Please pray for her as she adjusts to living back home…she is 94 years old so there will be lots of help needed…it is good that she has her family!  Also please pray for the prayer house…we plan to keep going down there to pray as long as it is standing.  Margarita’s son Evans is going to live there for now.

It was quite a ride…a good ride home!