Day 25

This is it. It's time to pack and go home. First of all I'd like to thank those who have taken some time to read my musings. I've enjoyed writing this blog and hopefully you have got something out of it. I've had a wonderful time and I am very grateful for the opportunity I've had to come here and have so many great experiences. This will by my last entry in Nicaragua. I feel I have so much to say because I've learned so much but I don't know where to start. It is so ironic that you just can't get ahead. I find that whenever I try to give service I always get more in return that I ever give. Perhaps that is why I like doing it?

Believe me I feel like we have done some good and accomplished some things that really will help some people here, but chances are they will all have forgotten about me in a year or two. I will always remember the month I spend in Chinandega though. I feel I have learned a lot about business and consulting, I've been able to practice and use my Spanish skills that were way too rusty, I was able get to know another culture and their food. I was able to indulge in my favorite fruit in the world that I can't get in the states. Here it is call mamon, in Puerto Rico it is called canepa. Either way it was a treat for me. It was great for me to attend church here and see the faith of the saints. It still kind of blows my mind that there can be two cars in a church parking lot and a full chapel at 9:00 AM while back home we can't make it there on time in our luxury automobiles. It made me want to try harder and to be more faithful. I was offered a great internship with Symantec while here by interviewing on Skype. I realized that life goes on without turning on a cell phone for three weeks. I laughed until I cried once (hasn't happened in years), and I made a great friend. I'll be getting on a plane tomorrow with a new perspective on life and more motivation to be a better person and serve my fellow man more.

There is one last thing I want to say. I realized this when I first got here and whether I wrote about it or not I want to talk about it again here. I learned something about happiness. As we walked and drove around I kept seeing little children that were happy. The smiles on their faces couldn't lie. These smiles told the story that they are content and happy with what they have. I'm struggling to describe but it was something you could see in their faces. Some of these children lived in decent homes and others lived in one room homes with dirt floors. It didn't really matter though. And what this taught me is that happiness is not based on material things. Granted it is important to have our basic needs met, but aside from that there is another source of happiness that isn't in material goods. My thoughts are that much of the unhappiness we find in our society is a learned behavior. We have chosen to be unhappy because we dont have this car or we don't live in that house. There is more to life than that.