Usually this time of year, a group from Dorrisville Baptist Church in Harrisburg travels to Nicaragua to do missionary work.
This year, though, they were able to host their translator for the holidays, and she's really hoping for a white Christmas.
Genid Silva lives with her family in Nicaragua and has served as a translator for the Dorrisville youth group when they visit the mission where she lives.
Her family is involved with the mission work of the Rev. Tom Seipel in Managua, Silva said, where the Dorrisville group visits each year.
"Most of us here have traveled there the last two years. We really clicked and became best friends," youth group member Callie Oxford said. "We've always kept in contact, and we thought maybe we could bring her here for Christmas."
Silva arrived last Wednesday and joined her friends Thursday evening at Mackie's Pizza prior to enjoying Harrisburg's Lights Parade. Indeed, the restaurant's ever-popular marquee greeted Silva and friends that evening while the group waited in the warmth of the festively decorated party room in sharp contrast to the cold temperatures outside.
Silva said she was thrilled that the group was able to bring her to visit the U.S. for her trip, which will last 10 days.
"They all got together and made it happen," she said. "It's my dream come true."
Silva said at her school, which is part of the ministry and mission where she lives, she was asked to be a translator because of her skills both in Spanish and English languages.
"They also look for people who are good with people and can make good connections," she said.
Silva graduated from high school in June and is taking a gap year and working as a preschool assistant.
She said this isn't her first time in the U.S., having been on a trip with her family for a church camp two years ago.
And, if she's lucky enough to see some snowflakes, it won't be a first either. It will be for the first time in many years, though, she said.
"I'm really hoping maybe we'll see snow. I haven't seen snow in 10 years," she said. "That first time was in Lake Tahoe, California. My sister and I had the opportunity to travel there with our parents."
She's also looking forward to a few more sights. Besides sampling Mackie's Pizza and seeing the Lights Parade, she and the group plan to go ice skating in Nashville and visit a Chick-fil-A before she returns home to Nicaragua.
"There's a lot I'd like to see before I go home," Silva said.
