As a part of my welcome and orientation to college, we were asked to read Tattoos on the Heart by Greg Boyle. As a good old fashioned ruler follower, I actually read the book! Interestingly enough, I read Tattoos on the Heart right after returning from my first Mission Trip with Amigos in 2010, just a few weeks before I started my college career at Rockhurst University. My first mission trip completely flipped my world upside down. The combination of my first mission trip with Amigos and a specific chapter in this book created a path to my own life transformation and has inspired me along the way.
When I graduated from high school, I had my plan: I had been accepted into Rockhurst’s Education Department and Foreign Language Department and upon graduation from college I was going to become a French teacher and return to teach at the high school I went to. At least that’s what I thought my plan was before I took my first trip to Nicaragua. Upon returning from Nicaragua my head was spinning, and my heart was on fire. I knew being a French teacher was not in the cards anymore and that I definitely needed to start learning Spanish. My plan stayed put and God’s plan for me officially had started. While I didn’t know what the next 15 years of life would look like, I had a rock-solid belief that amazing thing were going to happen. And they did.
I remember so vividly pieces of my first trip to Nicaragua: the bus rides, the music coming from the speakers, the cheese on top of the gallo pinto, the plastic chairs we circled up in at Casa Blanca for devo, the side of the highway of El Chonco where we started the water system and sang worship together, the not-being-able-to-dig-well realization that I had, the laughs, the sweating, the joy and, above all, the amazing people on the Amigos Team and of Nicaragua.
Much like our beloved Monday Morning Meetings we have now, back in 2010 Amigos was doing something similar. Back then, we didn’t have a Rancho full of hundreds of Amigos team members; rather, then, the entire 15-person Amigos team joined us on Monday Morning to introduce themselves and their work. From start to finish, I was amazed by the light that Amigos, the team, and everyone I met exuded. It was a light that was worth following. And I did. After that first trip in 2010, I came back during my college summers in 2011, 2012 and 2013 and eventually moved to Chinandega in 2014 to work with Amigos. It was that light that brought me in and that light that led my path forward.
Right after this eye opening and inspiring first trip to Nicaragua I was packing my bags for college, hanging out with friends and preparing to move to Kansas City for my college career. In the middle of all of the prep, I had my copy of Tattoos on the Heart that I slowly but surely worked through in preparation for my first day of college. Greg Boyle has dedicated his life to working with friends who were once involved in gangs in the LA area. He founded Homebody Industries, and the organization provides hope, training, and support to former gang members. Tattoos on the Heart is filled with inspiring stories of his friends’ transformation, of growth and overcoming extremely challenging life experiences. While his work is different than ours at Amigos, we share something that cuts to our core: people come first. There is a specific chapter, Slow Work, of this book that equipped me to step into my life in Nicaragua and that I have carried with me over the past 15 years.
Greg Boyle, in this chapter, meets up with his friend, Pedro, who is currently away from home at a rehab center. In this encounter with Greg, Pedro is describing a dream that he had just the night before. Pedro shares with Greg that in this dream, he and his brother were in a pitch-black room. There were no windows, no visible gaps in the door, there was absolutely no light but they each knew the other person was there. Pedro shares that suddenly in this dark silence he realized that he has a flashlight in his pocket, and he knows, without any words being exchanged, that it’s his job to turn on the flashlight and point the light towards to the light switch for his brother to walk towards and turn on. Pedro shares that his brother thanks him for happening to have a flashlight on him and his brother walks with trepidation towards the light switch and then flips it on. Pedro says, “the room is flooded with light and the light… is better… than the darkness. You aim the light this time, and I’ll do it the next.” When I read these words, I quickly read them again. You aim the light this time, and I’ll do it the next. Wow! I continued to reread this over and over again. You aim the light this time, and I’ll do it the next.
You aim the light this time, and I'll do it the next.
This is the heart of service. This is the heart of transformation. This is the heart of juntos. This is the heart of Amigos. Somedays, we are lucky enough to be the ones to have the flashlight to light the path, and other days we are lucky enough to have someone else lighting the path for us.
Let’s fast-forward 15 years. At the beginning of February 2025, almost 250 Amigos team members came together to go on retreat together. While we had tons of time to hang out, laugh together, learn how to play pickleball, put puzzles together, go on hikes, and enjoy each other’s presence, a good bit of our time together was focused on who God has created each one of us to be and to reflect on what happens when we come together to serve, to make Christ more visible.
As we sat in our small groups, we each shared about life. We talked about moments in life that have felt like deserts, and we named who has come alongside us in those moments to lift us up and keep going. We shared about goals and dreams that we have that we need help and support to make them come true. We shared what gifts and talents God has given us and how we are using them to serve at Amigos.
As all these moments came together, we started naming how others lit our path which has led us to where we are now and how that has transformed us. In each and every one of our 250 individual stories there was a common theme: someone, at some point, held out that flashlight and said: here you go, you’ll do it the next time. As we shared these stories and tears rolled down many of our cheeks, we all had the hopeful thought: now it’s my turn. Now it’s our turn. As a team, we came together and created a vision that we will light the path to life transformation in Nicaragua and beyond. This vision comes from a combination of gratitude and hope. It comes from a place of gratitude knowing that the same has been done for us in the past (and will surely be done again). It, also, comes from a place of hope knowing that the best is still yet to come, and we are called to play a part in that.
Day in and day out, our Amigos team shines their light.
In our Community Development work, Sergio sits down next to parents who have struggled watching their kids suffer from being sick for years and he explains that now with clean water, a Modern Bathroom and new WASH practices they will no longer suffer from intestinal parasites and they will thrive. He shines his light. You aim the light this time, and I’ll do it the next.
In our Youth Development work, Ninoska sits down with all the little 3-year-olds in preschool at the Amigos Academy and casts a vision of what their futures with her promising to be by their side at every step. She shines her light. You aim the light this time, and I’ll do it the next.
In our Small Business Development work, Magdiel shows Doña May the vision of what her farm in San Benito will look like after just a few months of new crops and organic farming practices and shares that she will earn more money and help friends and family be locally employed through her small business. He shines his light. You aim the light this time, and I’ll do it the next.
In our Mission Trip Experiences, Manuel welcomes thousands of people who have left their homes, work, schools, their comfort zones and all they know to journey to Amigos for a week to experience the richness of life in Nicaragua and as he says, “Welcome home,” his light shines. You aim the light this time, and I’ll do it the next.
This light shines in every corner of our team. It shines through our Leaders in Action Program, our Baseball Academy, our Medical Mission trips, our Hospitality Team, our Finance Team, our Program Support Team and our volunteers. Everyone gets out of bed in the morning ready to shine their light. You aim the light this time, and I’ll do it the next.
At Amigos, our team is driven by this incredible and extraordinary invitation to transform the world, and we are motivated to light the path for life transformation in Nicaragua and beyond. Thank you for being a part of Amigos and for fueling this. Thank you for lighting the path. You aim the light this time, and I’ll do it the next.
