We were so thankful to be able to spend Thanksgiving with Americans here in Nicaragua. It started on Wednesday. We left extra early and pedaled hard to make it to Managua (about 55 km) before 10:30 a.m. We stopped to buy groceries and started up what we knew would be the biggest climb we’ve had yet. We were a little concerned, because it was already crazy hot, and we knew we had a huge mountain ahead of us. So after only 5 km we decided to stop and buy some cold water at a small convenience store we saw.

While we were in the convenience store, we saw an American guy who struck up a conversation with us. Turns out he and his wife are missionaries here. They invited us to stop in at their house just up the road and take a break and cool down for a little while. We took him up on it… even though we knew we would be climbing in even more heat later in the day.

After hanging out a while with Matt and Ellie, we started to pack up and head out again. We figured we could make it five miles up this crazy mountain and stop for the night. But then they invited us to join them for Thanksgiving the next afternoon. Well, that’s an invitation we couldn’t turn down! So we pitched our tent at their house for the night and joined them and several other American families for a Thanksgiving feast on Thursday!

Food and fellowship in Thanksgiving... what a blessing!

Most of these families who were a part of BBFI, a Baptist missions organization. They welcomed us like we were a part of their group and shared their food and their life with us. What a blessing to not only spend Thanksgiving with Americans, but to have wonderful fellowship and food with other believers. Then, to make up for our unplanned rest day, one of the missionary families drove us in their pickup about 40 km down the road to their home in Diriamba where we spent Thursday night. The timing of everything was absolutely perfect!

Since the truck was already mostly full of people, Dave got to ride in the back with the bikes... local style!

We are so grateful for the generosity of these families, and most of all for God’s perfect sovereignty in allowing us to meet them and make this connection. He is so good to us!

Grateful to finally use our tent in Central America! And the weather was actually lovely for it!