The second day in Nicaragua for the college mission team
began early this morning with praise and worship with children from the
orphanage and surrounding community. In addition to songs and dance, we were
able to play several interactive games with the children and observe their hearts
for Jesus. After devotionals with the children, it was time for breakfast. We would need the energy of our peanut-butter
pancakes to continue working on our
service projects around the orphanage.
We continued to dig the holes for the new septic system, and
although the sun was hot and tiring, the community and fellowship kept us
encouraged to keep working. After the morning of hard work, our efforts were becoming
visible and we began to see light at the end of the tunnel. With the help of the willing hands of the
maintenance staff of the orphanage our project began to look more promising than
ever. We concluded work on the septic
tank around noon, which was followed by a well-deserved lunch.
After lunch, and a bit of down time for personal reflection,
it was time to travel to the local market, Huembes, where were presented with a
real-life activity. We split up into 4
teams, which represented Nicaraguan families from different income levels. Our challenge was to buy enough food to feed
each family for two weeks time. For
example, one family was given the equivalent of 25 American dollars, which was
to feed a family of five for 2 weeks. As
you might imagine, this was not an easy task to complete, but with the
brainstorming of each team, we were able to complete the task and learn a
valuable lesson about what many families face on a weekly basis. After the challenge,
we were given a short amount of free time to shop for ourselves, as well as
friends and family.
After our afternoon outing and returning to Casa, we had the
time to play basketball and enjoy the company of the kids. After spending a few hours with the children
and working up a sweat, we fellow-shipped with the JMU college team for
dinner. After dinner we had a guest
speaker, Eddy Morales, who is the in-country program director for OrphaNetwork.
He spoke on the story of David and Goliath, and challenged us to search for
ways to impact the lives of others. He encouraged us to each lead our own legacy
of love for others through the love that Christ has shown us. We ended the
night with praise and worship and a recap of the day. Most of us will be going
to bed early tonight to prepare for our early morning field trip tomorrow to
the feeding centers in Posoltega and Leon. Thank you all for your prayers as we
continue our week of a lifetime!
