Happy Ash Wednesday from Nicaragua!  This morning we headed back to Nueva Vida to help the church/feeding center we had been going to the last couple days with a work project.  We helped them remove their current barbed wire fence, and dig a ditch for the foundation of the new cement block wall.  The Sun was out in full force (documented by some of the team’s sun tans) but we got a lot of fence taken down and dirt moved.

We then split into three groups to serve three of the feeding centers in the Nueva Vida area.  All of the feeding centers have the same process.  The kids sit at tables with their plates and cups that they bring.  We then went around and collected their plates and cups by table and took them to the kitchen.  After we got them back we would return them to their owners filled with rice and beans with a little meat.  The kids would help us and each other out to make sure that everyone got to eat.  One member of the team made the observation that it seemed more like a large family sitting down to eat together, than any school cafeteria we might have experienced in elementary school.  None of the kids begged for their tables to be the first ones, they waited patiently as the rest of their ‘family’ was served.  Following lunch we had time to play with the kids that we have been building relationships with though out the week.

We loaded up with some of the kids from Nueva Vida and headed to a ‘talent show’ with the group from Virginia Tech.  The event was fun and the kids seemed to have a great time, there were dance acts and singing acts, and other assorted talents.  The act that just made the event was a little girl from Nueva Vida.  She went up there in a white dress and ribbons tied to her wrists and danced to a worship song.  None of us could understand the words but that didn’t matter at all.  It was absolutely the most beautiful picture of worship.  The whole room was mesmerized.  That little girl showed us all what it means to worship God with all your heart, in such pure and true way.