It was a beautiful yet stressful, Sunday morning in Chinandega, Nicaragua. I myself, was not ready for the task that was, whether i liked it or not coming my way, in just a few short hours. This task was climbing one of the most active volcanoes in Nicaragua, Cerro Negro. Picture if you will, a large, and when i say large i mean, whatever small and insignificant "hill" you are currently picturing, double it to the point that it is almost unrealistic to call it a volcano at all, because it is that vast and large, and you my friend have painted a picture of the VERY realistic yet insane, Cerro Negro volcano. I myself had been to Nicaragua once before, and every Sunday, when a new group of missionaries come to Nicaragua, the organization "Amigos For Christ", takes the group to this volcano, to climb in order to push themselves where they are not only vulnerable but WAY out of their comfort zone, to basically show you, that whatever you think you can't do, anything is possible, but only if you step out of the doors of normalcy.
Since i hadn't made it up the first time i tried, my youth minister, Dan, was pushing me out of that door way even if he had to carry me up that volcano himself. It was a little less than an hour before we all loaded on the bus, to drive to the volcano to meet our maker. To be completely honest with you, i felt like a pig about to walk into a slaughter house. I knew right there, inside our house "casa" as i sat eating coco puffs that this very well could be my last meal, i was so incredibly sure that, today i would not make it up that volcano, i was going to die on the side of an active volcano in Leon, Nicaragua and that was that.
As my trust in the whole idea grew weaker, and weaker. There was this faint feeling in the pit of my stomach that i needed to climb this volcano, at the time i thought it was just my friends words of encouragement getting to me, but as i look back on it now, i see that it was God, asking me to trust Him, promising me that if i were to trust Him, and climb this volcano, then he reward me, in amazing ways. So during our Devotional time, basically praise and worship, i sat in this plastic chair, and directly told God what i wanted, (I am more or less sure, as i look back at this moment, God had a good ole laugh, as he listened to me, a selfish teenager demand things to Him. Woof!) I straight up told God that if i climbed this volcano, that these would be the terms and agreements: 1) I better not die. 2) I better get one heck of a tan. 3) I refuse to climb it alone. 4) The reward better be good, scratch that, it better be GREAT. 5) I better not throw up those coco puffs. After me and God had our little discussion, it was off to the volcano. As i picture it now in my head, i remember getting done talking to God, lifting my head and opening my eyes and seeing this long termer, named Kelly Garcia. If you have ever had one of those, "things just clicked" moments, well as soon as i saw Kelly I new, she would be the person i would conquer Cerro Negro with. By this time Devotional was over, i got up and went over to Kelly to ask her if she would climb Cerro Negro with me.
For those of you who haven't been fortunate enough to meet, or talk to this wonderful woman, Kelly Garcia, for a lack of a better term is phenomenal. I am 100% positive she is the funniest person i have ever met in my life. The humility and holiness within her heart, is truly remarkable and i am blessed to call her my friend. Something you folks at home should know about Kelly is that she is also one of the sassiest people i have ever known, if she wants to do or say something, or she wants you to do or say something, she will make it happen. So as walked toward her i was assured she was the right person for the job, for getting me up that volcano. I kid you not when i say this is how our conversation went; "Hey Kelly" "Hey girl what's up" "I need you to do me a favor..." "Yeah girl what do you need?" "I need you to make sure i get up that volcano." "You got it, of course!"
That was that, i did it, there was no getting out of it now, i didn’t matter if i was bleeding from my eyes while barfing up my liver, Kelly was determined to get me up that volcano. We arrive at the bottom of Cerro Negro, Kelly walks with me the entire way up that volcano, she stayed with me during the 5,000 breaks we took, she listened to me and i listened to her, as we got to know each other better, and a friendship developed and had begun.
I can honestly say that if it wasn't for Kelly Garcia not only would you have not read this, i wouldn’t have wrote it, and i wouldn’t have been able to climb up to the top of that volcano, look at God's beautiful creation, and stand in awe. I owe a lot to Kelly; she will forever hold a special place in my heart. Thank you so much Kelly for being an amazing inspiration to me, and allowing me to be vulnerable and climb that volcano with my arms wide open. I can't thank you enough. To all those folks at home, if you take anything away from reading about Kelly, and her amazing Yes to God and how it affected my life so profoundly, take away the thought of what a life could be like, if you trust that things aren't always easy, normal, or really all that sane, but rather, and most importantly, that those same uneasy, not normal, insane things are very much possible. Thank you again Kel, I love you so much!
God Bless!
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