Hola friends and family!
We've spent another day being covered in the love and blessings of Christ as we've lived here in Nicaragua. Hearts continue to be changed and lives continue to be filled with hope as we encounter Christ among the people of Nicaragua. Our team is still enjoying good health and we're thankful for all that we've been able to be a part of the past few days.
This morning the Senior Team stayed at Casa Bernabe Orphanage where we are staying to complete work projects started by the juniors yesterday. They painted ceiling tiles, then repainted and repaired the benches and tables from the dining facility. These facilities serve all 65 children that live at Casa and our students were excited to be a part of something that will remain here with them after we leave Nica. They enjoyed lunch at Casa and then continued work projects during the afternoon, as well as teaching English classes alongside Professor Regan. Their leaders have commented to us that today was a great day to see these kids' servant hearts for Christ and their friends here in Nicaragua.
Our Juniors continue to build relationships and serve the children and families of Verbo Sur, a church plant in Managua that houses a feeding center. During the morning the boys completed a work project to build a wall that will protect the church from Nicaragua's legendary downpours during the wet season. The girls enjoyed time teaching the kids songs in English and playing lots and lots of duck-duck-goose as the rains came down outside. They all served lunch at the feeding center before hosting a VBS service for forty of Verbo Sur's children. After VBS they loaded the kids up in buses and they spent the afternoon teaching swim lessons and playing with the kids at a local pool in Managua. The Juniors returned to Casa for dinner and time with the seniors.
The Sophomore Team had a long day of work projects and service at both El Canyon Orphanage and the Nueva Vida community. During the morning half the team served at El Canyon by finished the work projects started yesterday before spending the afternoon teaching English lessons, hosting a VBS, and playing games with the children. The second half of the team served at the feeding centers in Nueva Vida after completing a work project during the morning. For the afternoon they hosted VBS for the Nueva Vida church and then spent their last bit of the afternoon playing games with the kids.
Our Seniors and Juniors enjoyed a special treat tonight as they joined the Casa Bernabe kids for their weekly Friday worship service under the rancho. Older students from Casa lead a time of song worship before an orphanage caretaker gave a message on living out our dreams by serving Christ. This is always such a remarkable opportunity for our team to slow down and simply worship their Lord and Savior right alongside these precious kids that Christ is allowing us to serve. The barriers of language, wealth, and culture kind of fall away as we sing songs of praise to our God.
The Sophomores took another trip to Casa tonight to share porch time with the juniors and seniors after Casa's worship service. Our students continue to have life altering moments of encountering Christ both amongst themselves and through the people of Nicaragua. It is always so encouraging to hear them share all the places they saw God as they worked throughout the day and spent such precious time in fellowship with one another.
Thank you so much for all the prayers that you are covering our team with. We couldn't make a journey like this with any hope if we did not have people like you offering our time up to Christ everyday. We'd ask that you continue to pray for the people of Nicaragua to feel Christ's love through our team, that our students would have hearts of service as we spend another day here in Nica tomorrow, and for our health that we might continue on our journey of meeting Christ in Nica. Blessing to you all!
Love in Christ,
SM Staff Team
