Hola de
Nicaragua! (Hi from Nicaragua)
Senior Group 1
Senior Group 1 (Craig, Dante & Tim’s small group,
Christa’s small group)
Senior
group 1 was thankful to return to Esperanza to continue to pour into so many of
the niños that they had previously met throughout the week. The team engaged in
fun activities and played with many of the niños. Today was an interesting and
new day because the team was given the opportunity to interact with one of the
Pre-K programs and its’ caretaker, Norman. Throughout the feeding centers that
ORPHANetwork supports, around 300 centers, there are only three Pre-K programs.
At these Pre-K programs, the caretakers teach the niños letters and colors, in order
to prepare them for Kindergarten. One of these three Pre-K programs is located
in Esperanza and senior group 1 was thankful to spend time engaging in the
program and learning more about the caretaker, Norman’s, life. In addition to
learning more about Norman and his Pre-K program, the team also was joined by
another American team that was in Nicaragua to serve the Esperanza community.
The team saw Jesus as both teams united to do God’s work and it reminded them
that God has a plan for Nicaragua and has placed this country in many people’s
hearts. The team ended the evening playing a lacrosse tournament with the niños
from Esperanza. It has been amazing to see the ways that God can use sports and
competition to bring people past language barriers and into deeper
relationships with each other. As the day came to a close, the team recognized
all of the wonderful ways that Jesus had worked in and through them during the
week and they look forward to traveling to different places in the morning to
pray for the communities that they have been serving in.
Senior Group 2
Senior Group 2 (Alexis, Steven & Andrew’s small group,
Christine’s small group)
Senior
Group 2 had the privilege of spending one last full day in Leon. They were
thankful to have the opportunity to serve through the local church initiative
that is supported by the Chapel family. Throughout the day, the team shared 2
VBS lessons and 2 health lessons with the niños. It was wonderful to see the
niños engage in learning about the Lord and learning about their health at the
same time. In addition to sharing more about Jesus to the niños and teaching
them good hygiene habits, senior group 1 had the opportunity to serve them
lunch. It was special for the senior team to serve the caretakers by giving
them a break from their daily work responsibilities and to serve the niños as
they lined up, ready for their share of rice and beans. As the team spent time
in this community, Pastor José had a chance to share his story. He shared his testimony
about how he began serving two churches in the Leon and Posoltega communities.
After he shared his story, he used the opportunity to pray for the senior
group, to thank God for bringing them to serve his country and asked God to
bless them. The team also prayed for the Pastor and for his community, but they
were humbled and astounded that the Pastor had prayed to God to bless them, even
though they felt as if they were already blessed with so much. At the end of
the day, the seniors realized that God’s presence is not dependent financial
prosperity or poverty.
Junior Group
The
junior group was excited to have a full day in Somoto helping meet the needs of
the people in the community. After
breakfast, the team went to the local high school that provides education for
about 1,800 kids and painted one of the classrooms. Pastor Oscar, who is the pastor of the church in Somoto,
recently became friends with the director of the high school, so he was excited
that the director allowed the junior group to work there. Oscar thinks that his relationship with
the director will be key for the growth of God’s work in Somoto, so the junior’s
work at the school was vital for Oscar’s plan of evangelism. In addition to painting, the junior
group split up to visit classrooms at the high school and pick up trash around
the building. It was clear that
the team participated in Pastor Oscar’s vision of evangelism to the school and
they were overjoyed to be a part of that vision. After lunch, the junior group went to the feeding center
that the church runs in Somoto and fed lunch to the niños. After lunch was
served, the team took a tour of the surrounding community and prayed for all of
the people. They were moved by the
poverty in the village as most people only had sheets of tin and plastic to
build their houses. As they were
praying, the team began to recognize some of the niños that they had fed
earlier in the day. It broke their
hearts to now know the conditions these niños lived in, but challenged their
view of joy as many of the niños ran to them with smiles on their faces. God was clearly at work in Somoto and
the junior team ended the day thankful that they were able to meet the
wonderful people in Somoto and share in the spreading of God’s love.
Sophomore Group
With
joyful hearts, the sophomore team shared their last full day with the niños.
Their day began with a trip to the El Faro business initiative, where a few of
the other groups have had the opportunity to visit thus far. Jesus was present
in this place as the team learned more about the sewing business and the hope
it is bringing to so many lives. Before leaving, a few of the team members
contributed to the business by purchasing shirts, post cards, and jewelry. The
sophomore team was thankful to spend the rest of their day at Ciudad Sandino so
they could see their friends that they had made throughout the week. During
their time at Ciudad Sandino, the sophomores helped the caretakers with serving
the niños their lunch. It was wonderful to see the sophomore team use their
servant hearts in this way. After feeding the niños their lunch, the team spent
their lunch in a special way. While they ate, a large cake was prepared with
candles and a card was signed for the Pastor of the church that supports the
feeding center. Today was Pastor Freddy’s birthday and the sophomore team
wanted to take this opportunity to celebrate him and to celebrate all of the
wonderful things he is doing in the Ciudad Sandino community and most
importantly, for the Lord. After we surprised him with cake, he thanked God for
blessing him and bringing him to this moment of celebration. The rest of the
day was spent playing spontaneous games with the niños, such as red rover, red
light, green light, and soccer. When the time came for the sophomores to return
to the bus, it was obvious to see the strong bonds that were created between
them and the niños. The team was very grateful to have spent an amazing week
with such beautiful kids. They are looking forward to returning to Ciudad
Sandino one last time tomorrow morning to pray over the Pastor, the church, and
the niños.
Porch Time
As
we finish the week of serving, we have begun to transition our thoughts back
towards Williamsburg and the lessons that we can bring home from Nicaragua. At
each porch time location, a message was given about “What now?” and it served
to equip each team on ways that they can make the things that they have seen
and heard in Nicaragua more applicable and salient in their lives back at home.
All of the teams will be heading to our Debrief site tomorrow, where we will
use this time to intentionally focus on the lessons we have learned and the
things we have experienced.
Reminder: There
will be a Prayer Night for the Nicaragua team in Moog hall, Tuesday, June 25th
at 7:30 p.m.
