BeelyKreesteen

Before us, there was only one other couple who volunteered through the program Volunteer Missionary Movement here in San Nicolas. Locally, these highly-acclaimed gringos are known as BeelyKreesteen. This past weekend, along with the rest of San Nicolas, we had the pleasure of a visit from BeelyKreesteen and the newest addition to their family, Weelee'm.

Billy and Kristin Byrnes lived in our house and worked in the community of San Nicolas for the 1.5 years before we got here. They taught English at the high school, taught religion and catechism classes at the church, worked on the organic farm La Garnacha, and became an integral part of the community through their many friendships with people in town. You still hear their San Nicolas joint name (BeelyKreesteen) pronounced all the time, and people often get their gringos confused and call Davie “Billy.”

Anyhow, Billy and Kristin left San Nicolas last June with a baby in the belly and some big shoes for us to fill. William, junior was born in October right when we arrived, so this visit eight months later was the first overlap we had with Billy and Kristin in this place that has come to mean so much for all of us.

When we heard that Billy and Kristin were coming to visit San Nicolas, we couldn't wait to tell people, knowing how excited everyone would be. Our across-the-street neighbors immediately leaped upon the idea of planning a surprise party for them on the night that they arrived. So we spent the week before they got here running across the street to ask what kind of dessert we should make, and who was going to make the welcome sign and how would we know what time they got into town? Having a mutual secret is always a great way of bonding, and by the time Billy, Kristin, and William stepped into the dark room to a chorus of “Sorpresa!” we had already become better friends with our neighbors.

During the next few days with the Byrnes family, we ate a lot of root vegetables, watched the final San Nicolas baseball game of the season, watched a lot of San Nicolaseños dote on the cute gringo baby, and witnessed countless reunions of people so happy to see Billy and Kristin and meet their made-in-Nicaragua baby son. People killed chickens and pigs to make special-occasion dishes for their special visitors, and we were lucky enough to be invited to some of these meals too. It was a whole weekend long of celebration.

We also got some quality time to sit down with Billy and Kristin to talk about our experience, commiserating on the parts that have been difficult and celebrating the joys of living in this community. Here are a few reflections that came out of those conversations:

• Though our work here is not always countable (many of the kids at the high school know no more English now than they did when Billy and Kristin started teaching), what is just as important are the friendships nurtured visiting someone's farm way out in the campo or asking someone to teach us how to make a traditional Nicaraguan dish. In these instances of cultural sharing lies the love which is at the core of our service.
• We will keep making friends and experiencing these moments throughout the rest of our almost 1.5 years left here in San Nicolas. Just because our time here has an expiration date, that doesn't mean that we will hit a point in which we need to stop making friends and drop into a more strict routine.
• We have developed our own niche in this community. Much of our experience is similar to Billy and Kristin's, but we have been able to share our unique gifts and interests in different ways that are specific to who each of us is.

It was a great weekend spent getting to know both Billy and Kristin and the people of San Nicolas a little better. We are so grateful to the Byrnes for their great precedent of work in San Nicolas and for all of their support of us and our work too.