College Nicaragua Day 5

                Hola from thousands of feet above Nicaragua! We just wanted to give you a more descriptive overview of our last day in Nicaragua. We began our day with a 2 hour drive back to Managua, the capital city. It’s amazing to witness the driving in Nica- running red lights, paying no attention to stop lights, and hundreds of cars crammed onto highways with no speed limits. It’s been a relief to see Jesus this trip in our bus driver keeping us safe amidst many close calls.

                Once in Managua, we toured El Faro- a silk factory designed for single mothers. El Faro hires single moms, where otherwise the mothers would be unemployed and have no way of providing for their children. Under Armour provides them with the microfiber materials! We then took a tour of El Faro church, the feeding center and local day care for infants. This day care is free of charge and allows parents to provide for their families without feeling the burden of worrying about daily childcare. 

                Next, we were off to our final feeding center, located at a house. Rosa, the owner of the house, has children of her own, including a 17 year old daughter with a baby of her own. On top of caring for her own kids and grandchild, she opens up her cozy house daily to many other kids so they can have their only nutritious meal of the day. We spent most of the afternoon there, feeding the children and then spending time with them.

Heather was very patient with a baby she was holding which seemed to last forever! Her arms were sore to say the least. Tommy was constantly running around per usual and helping kids climb up the trees. The kids were ecstatic about the soccer ball that Evan gave them to play with and keep. Mackenzie quickly found a new friend who couldn’t seem to let go of her legs; ironically her name was Gabriella, just like Kristina’s friend Gabriella in Leon who couldn’t let go of her side, either. Kristina was extremely gracious as she let a little boy color her legs and arms all over and never stopped smiling at him. As we were leaving, Gena, Jerome, and Dewey were extremely generous and let some of the kids keep their sunglasses.

Before heading to the hotel for the last time, Big Al went to the market and had time to browse around and check out some Nicaraguan handmade goods! Alfred was such a wonderful ONET guide- we couldn’t have asked for a more caring and charismatic presence on our trip. We will be sure to request him next year when we come back!

Please continue to be praying for our efforts in Nicaragua. Pray that we impacted the lives we came in contact with and pray that ONET can have to resources to continue saving and transforming lives and can continually grow to reach more kids! We are scheduled to be landing at Dulles International Airport in northern Virginia around 3:00 for anyone wondering!

                

College Nicaragua Day 4

Que tal, amigos y familia!? (How's it going friends and family?) Sadly, today was our last day in Leon. We began our morning by touring the Basilica Catedral de la Asuncion, which is the oldest church in Nicaragua, founded in 1747. It was really cool to be able to walk about the streets of Leon and tour the church!

We then headed over to Verbo Leon for the last time. We sat in a circle with some pregnant women and teenagers from the church and encouraged them with a seminar about our worth as children of God and the beauty inside of each of us, despite what we may think sometimes. In accordance with Ephesians 2:10, the women then created works of art by painting picture frames and making beaded bracelets because God made us all His masterpieces. During the seminar, Gena and Mackenzie were holding infants so the mothers could have some space. Heather also encouraged a sweet 17 year old named Carla and they spoke about pregnancy.

After lunch, the children who attended the nutrition seminar yesterday attended a "graduation" in which they all excitedly received t-shirts and refreshments. All the boys were very excited to take pictures with Jerome and Dewey. Next, we all spent our last hour with the kids by playing games and running around with them. At one point, Tommy was chasing about 20 kids around the church! Evan was surrounded by little boys whom he picked up as they laughed hysterically while he tickled them. Kristina's little buddy, Gabriella, was very sad for her to leave, but was comforted by a note Kristina gave her, along with her cross necklace. Right before we had to leave, all of the children played Red Rover with the gringos which was a perfect way to end our time with the kids- everyone together and laughing.

It was sad to tell the children that we don't know when we'll see each other again, but I hope we've impacted their lives as much as they've impacted our lives. Tomorrow, we'll be heading back to Managua and visiting a larger feeding center with the other college teams (JMU, Virginia Tech, UVA).

Thanks for checking our our blog site and following along with the mission trip. Please continue to be praying for our team, the pregnant women we met today, and  the children at Verbo Leon church! Adios!

College Nicaragua Day 3

Hola! Day 3 in Nicaragua took place at Verbo Leon church, where we spent the entire day. To begin our activities, we spoke with a few middle school and high school kids about how to balance middle and high school life with their social lives. Our panel answered their questions and gave them various applications on how to be a better student while still having time for fun. Kristina did an awesome job speaking Spanish with the kids on our behalf so they could fully understand the message.

                Then we helped the caretakers serve lunch (rice, beans, bread, and juice) to the orphans as they trickled in throughout the lunch hour. For some of these kids, this is their best (and sometimes only) meal of the day. During lunch, a 10 year old boy named Marvin Jose befriended Jerome and Mackenzie and showed them his notebook for his English class, and they showed Marvin how to pronounce the English words.

                After lunch, some of the children stayed around to play with the Americans. Heather was racing some girls, even with one little girl on her back! Evan was constantly spinning kids as if they were flying like he always does.

Then, we put on a 90 minute seminar for the 7-12 year olds about nutrition- some of the kids didn’t even know what nutrition was. The children had fun drawing on their paper plates the proper food to eat in order to grow up big and strong. A skit followed, which included Gena and Tommy. Dewey acted as “Super Sano” (healthy hero), whom the kids loved. Tommy then taught the kids a Spanish song to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star about washing their hands before eating, which they could sing while they washed their hands!

Before heading back to our hotel, we stopped by a neighboring hotel to jump in their pool! This was very exciting because the government has restricted water usage to lots of the city due to the dust storms. We had fun feeling clean, cooling down, and goofing off.

After porch time tonight, we will be planning out the rest of 2015 on how to raise our team goal to benefit ONET so they can continue changing lives of the orphans. Please be praying for God to give us practical ideas and that He can bless the Nicaraguans through us as we continue the second half of our trip! Hasta luego! (See you later!)

College Nicaragua Day 2

Hola from Leon, Nicaragua! For anyone wondering, we are currently staying in La Posada del Doctor in downtown Leon until Wednesday. This Sunday morning started out hot and sunny, like most days here in Nicaragua. But the past few days have been quite dusty due to the peanut farms; in fact, this “dust bowl” that we’re currently in is a phenomenon, and many of the Nicaraguans have never seen the country get this dusty before.  Why bother tanning when we can just walk outside and instantly become five shades darker?? Although dirty, it’s certainly a humbling and memorable experience.

                This morning, we went to a short church service at Verbo Leon, which was awesome to be praising the same God while in Nicaragua while singing in English and Spanish. Tommy Verab even volunteered to lead the congregation in “Open the Eyes of my Heart, Lord” while our translator/guide from ONET, Alfred (“Big Al”), sang “Father Abraham!” It was amazing to see a girl whom Kristina befriended on Day 1 run to and sit with Kristina during the service, continually embracing her. Afterwards, we hung out for a little and played with the children.

                After service #1, we couldn’t get enough of Jesus, so we headed over to Verbo de Posoltega, another church that ONET partners with, for service #2! This service was a bit larger and longer, but equally as rewarding. Big Al and Tommy helped to lead some worship songs again, this time Tommy sang in Spanish! The entire congregation welcomed each and every one of us with open arms, literally! How comforting to be felt welcomed and loved instead of feeling like distractions.

                Next, we stayed at the church and 3 soccer games ensued. The Nicaraguans from church versed the Americans, and we lost badly 5-0, but in the third game we only lost 4-3! However, Evan’s goalie skills were quite impressive and he stopped countless shots, thanks to Mackenzie’s sub-par defense. It was fun to watch Dewey and Jerome try and play futbol instead of American football; once they toned down their strength, they were successful in keeping up with the Nicaraguans, who had lots of fun competing with them. Gena was awesome at entertaining her posse of kids with dancing, goofing off, and showing them some American games. Heather was equally as competitive in soccer as she was patient with the girls trying to stick leaves and seeds in her very curly hair. Before leaving Posoltega, a little girl hugged Mackenzie and said, “La quiero mucho” (I love you so much) after such a short period of time. We then left in our mini bus with trails of children running alongside waving goodbye.

                Returning to the hotel, we all showered and ate dinner, followed by “Porch time”- a time to reflect on the day, point out where we saw Jesus, and get into some scripture. Evan has been doing a superb job in guiding and sharing his wisdom with us, especially as we looked at Luke 6 and Matthew 6 tonight. It certainly was eye opening to see and experience how the people down here don’t have much, but they have a lot more than us (spiritually speaking). These kids embody love and joy- true representations of Jesus; never have we felt more loved and accepted. We’re excited for the rest of this week and can’t wait to see what God has in store. Adios!

College Nicaragua Day 1

                Hola friends and family! We have officially begun our mission work down here in Leon, Nicaragua and everything has been awesome. Yesterday morning, we began our day driving to the Orphan Network (ONET) office and dropping off the hundreds of pounds of donations we brought for the children.

 From there, we drove in our mini bus to Verbo Leon, one of the churches that ONET partners with that acts as a feeding center for the orphans. ONET feeds 30,000 children daily!! It was such a humbling experience pulling into the church because all of the kids began chanting and as each one of us stepped off that bus, there was a constant group of children eagerly waiting to welcome you with hugs and smiles. Although the language barrier can be tough, smiles and laughs are universal. We played with the kids for about an hour, and boy was that hour tiring! Dewey and Jerome had lines children waiting to be picked up and thrown around- the football players were picking up 3-4 kids at a time! Kristina, Heather, and Gena had fun offering piggy back rides and carrying kids around while Tommy and Mackenzie lost tons of energy playing “el anda” (tag) with the children. It wasn’t hard to spot Evan as the tallest man there who enjoyed spinning the kids around and throwing them up in the air! Amidst a very dirty dust storm, everyone was still able to have fun.

We then met with Pastor Jose, who spoke to us about the history of Verbo Leon. Afterwards, we took many of the caretakers to the beach! We wanted to take the children, but the waves were too powerful. Somehow we managed to fit 25 people in our short bus! The water was nice and refreshing after such a hot and dirty day! We played in the ocean, jumped in the waves, and then played soccer on the beach. To end our day, we dropped off the caretakers and headed to our hotel in Leon- La Posada del Doctor. 

College Nicaragua Team Update

The college nicaragua mission team has arrived safely in Nicaragua! We apologize for the delayed post. The team has accidentally been posting to a secondary blog site instead of this one. For a full report of their activities so far, please check out:
http://wcccollegenicaragua.blogspot.com/

Thank you for prayers and your support.

The team will be posting the rest of their updates at this blog as planned.