The Team is in DC

Our entire WCC College Mission Team is on the ground in Washington DC.  They will soon be en route back to Williamsburg.  We expect them to arrive at the Chapel around 10pm Friday March 12th.

The team cannot thank all of you enough for your support, prayers and encouragement throughout their trip.  They especially thank Claire Jacobs for her commitment to comment on each and every post.  Your prayers and verses from God's Word encouraged the team to live out the Gospel and shine the light of Jesus in dark places.

Our director of College Ministry will follow up with a post in the coming days with some closing thoughts and thank yous concerning the trip.  Stay close to the blog for that final update.

Missions is a community activity.  The readers of this blog have served as wonderful partners for our College Team's trip.  

Thank you

The Team has Landed

The first group of our Nicaragua team has landed safely in Houston. They are currently going through customs.

The second group's plane just touched down in Miami.

God has been very good to our College Missions Team. Continue to pray for both group's safe travel to DC and their arrival in Williamsburg later tonight.

Wednesday and Thursday, Final Activities!!!

Wednesday (March 10, 2010) we headed out to Nueva Vida, a hurricane refugee camp. We split up into five different groups and helped with food distribution. One of the groups was able to help out in one of the local bakeries, while others helped pass out and prepare lunch for the local children.

After leaving Nueva Vida we had a party at Verbo Church in Managua for prostitutes and their families. Women came from over four hours away to spend the afternoon with us and enjoy lunch and tons of games for their children. While most of our team was off playing with all of the children the mothers were able to go shopping through the donations that we brought for much needed supplies and clothing. We really enjoyed the chance to share Christ's love for them and get to know them and their stories.

Today (Thursday March 11, 2010) we spent the morning repainting the school at the orphanage and got to play with the kids during their recess and in between classes. After painting we had lunch and had lots of down time, which most of us spent playing with the kids and visiting families in Vera Cruz to say goodbye. We are getting ready to throw the kids at Casa Bernabe a goodbye party for our last night in Nicaragua and then enjoy one last porch time. God has blessed us with an amazing trip and many new friends that we will never forget. Thank you so much for all of your prayers this week and continue to keep us in your thoughts as we head out tomorrow morning for our early flights. Once we renter the states everyone will be able to call home and our student minister should be updating the blog so you all will know of our safe arrival!

We are all still in good health and excited to come back and share all of our stories from the trip!

Monday afternoon and Tuesday activities

Life continues to be a blessing during our time in Nicaragua. Monday (March 8, 2010) afternoon we loaded four buses and took the Casa kids to Mount Mombacho, a volcano about an hour outside Managua. We were able to spend that time pouring into the kids and getting to know them better, while enjoying the beautiful weather and magnificent views of God's handiwork here in Nicaragua.

Tuesday (March 9, 2010) was a tough emotional day for many of us, but a great chance to clearly see God's compassion for Nicaragua. Yesterday was Compassion Day here for us, where we tried to connect with the lives of many Nicaraguans by living out real life situations. We were faced with the decision to eat or buy much needed supplies for our families, just like the people we have been getting to know during our time here. We visited La Chureca (the Managua city dump) yesterday and helped out at a school that has been planted there. We were book buddies with many of the preschoolers and then were able to help during a food distribution project for lunch. In the afternoon, we ventured to the Managua market where we purchased supplies to distribute to families during today's (Wednesday) activities.

This morning (March 10, 2010) we will be visiting Nueva Vida, a refugee camp about half an hour away from Managua, then throwing a party for prostitutes and their families at Verbo Church. Please continue to keep us in your prayers and ask that God's hand be in the work that we are doing here. Thank for covering us in your prayers, we have truly been able to see God in all our efforts this week.

Everyone in the team is well and thankfully we have not had any accidents or illnesses. Praise God!

Sunday afternoon and Monday morning activities

Praise God for another day in Nicaragua. We worshiped with many families and the Casa kids at Verbo yesterday, Sunday March 7, 2010. After that we returned to Casa and had lunch with the kids. Everyone took some time to rest after our meal, then we loaded up for afternoon activities. A few buses took some of the older Casa kids to play in a soccer tournament, while the others loaded up with the young ones and met up with other service teams at a park outside Managua. After games and activities everyone went out to eat for dinner. At this point we said good night to the Casa kids and we departed for Porch Time at Hotel Ticomo with VT, JMU, and UVa. A translator gave us all a Nicaragua history lesson and we finished the evening with a surprise dance party with a mariache (sp?) band.

Monday, March 8, 2010, we started our first work project after breakfast. We planted a field of citrus trees for the agriculture projects here at Casa. We are currently having some down time before lunch and an afternoon activity with the Casa kids. The plan is to go visit a local volcano and see some more of Nicaragua.

Please keep us in your prayers, that God's hand will continue to be in our time here. That God will bless the work that we did this morning, so that those fruits may serve to sustain Casa. Thank you for following us and keeping our team in your prayers.

Saturday's Activities and plans for Sunday

We awoke yesterday (Saturday) and today (Sunday) to more fabulous weather here in Nicaragua! After breakfast on Saturday, we loaded up the buses and headed to the beach for a full day of fun and fellowship in the surf. Our W&M team, combined with UVA and JMU, played and ate lunch with around 75 kids from the Casa Bernabe orphanage, as well as El Canyon, another orphanage that works closely with the teams from JMU and VA Tech. Around 4pm, we returned to the buses and headed back to Casa, tired and ready for dinner. After our evening meal, we enjoyed a little down time before getting the opportunity to hear from Eddie Morales, the field director for ORPHANetwork. He thanked us for spending the week with them, and encouraged us to continue to give and pour out our own lives so that God would have space to fill us back up. After Eddie's talk, we broke up into our different teams, and our W&M group gathered for our evening "Porch Time," highlighted by a talk from one of our fellow team members, Greg Menna. After Porch Time, we split up into our different "equipos" (our 4 smaller discussion groups) to further debrief about the day and our time down here. After equipos, we relaxed until it was time for bed.

Today (Sunday, March 7th), we ate another delicious breakfast at Casa, and got back on the buses to head to church with the kids from the orphanage. Our team is currently enjoying a Spirit-filled worship service in the new Verbo Church building. After church, we will return to Casa for lunch, and spend the afternoon at a park with the kids, playing games and building relationships.

Please pray for continued health and safety for us and the kids. We have already seen God show up in many ways, and we pray that He will continue to reveal himself through the kids and through each other.

Safe Arrival and First Day's Activities

After a long journey, we finally made our safe arrival in Nicaragua yesterday (Friday, March 5th) around 1pm. After rounding up our luggage, the buses picked up the team and took us to our home for the week, the Casa Bernabe Orphanage, approximately 45 minutes away from the Managua airport. After arrival at the orphanage, lunch was served and the team felt refueled. We spent the rest of the afternoon touring the orphanage and the town of Vera Cruz, meeting new friends and reconnecting with old ones. We capped off our evening with a joint worship service led by some of the older students at Casa, and a wonderful message from their director. Afterwards, our team broke away for a few minutes to have a quick Porch Time and debrief on some of the day's activities.

Today, Saturday March 6th, we are taking students from the orphanage and the surrounding village for a fun day at the beach. Please continue to pray for safety and that we would continue to bond with fellow team members and with the wonderful Nicaraguan people we encounter.

(Due to limited internet access, we are usually only able to our blog in the mornings. Thanks for your patience.)

College Nicaragua Trip to depart on Friday, March 5th

The WCC College Mission Team will depart this Friday, March 5th for our annual spring break trip to Nicaragua. We will do our best to provide daily updates of our time in Nicaragua via this blog. In case of an emergency, please contact Minister of Students Travis Simone at 757-650-9120.
As we approach our departure, please pray for safe travels and that God would be preparing our hearts (and those of the people we will be serving) for this adventure. We will post another update upon our safe arrival in Managua.