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 had the opportunity
today to visit a church and feeding center in Posoltega. The team began the day
by seeing God show up through a big soccer tournament that included separate
teams of boys and girls, referees, and a lot of friendly competition. In
addition to the fun soccer tournament, the senior group had the privilege to
meet one of the caretakers that has been an influential part of this church
community since 1998. She shared a short story revolving around the founding of
the church and feeding center. Her story described the devastation of Hurricane
Mitch in 1998 and the ways that God had worked wonders through such a terrible
disaster. She said, “My community is blessed to have God working through this
tragedy and so many amazing people, like you.” It was inspiring and challenging
to hear how this woman’s faith could be strengthened through such a life-altering
disaster. The team ended the day with fond memories of the Posoltega community
and the way that God’s power and providence were on display.
Senior Group 2
Senior Group 2 (Alexis, Steven & Andrew’s small group,
Christine’s small group)
Senior
group 2 returned to Esperanza today to continue to pour their love into the
niños and to teach them more about the ways that God is pursuing a relationship
with them. The day began with a short tour around the Esperanza community and more
information about the history of the neighborhood. The team had the privilege
to meet one of the woman caretakers that had started a free clinic for the
community a couple years ago. The woman described the clinic as a service that
provides for many of the needs of the people in the neighborhood who are unable
to afford healthcare otherwise. The clinic is in need of more fundraising
efforts, but the woman freely gives all that she has to help provide for those
around her. After lunch, the team was able to deliver a VBS lesson about prayer
and being thankful for the things that God has blessed us with. After the
lesson, each niño wrote down five things that they were thankful for and were
encouraged to share them with the group. The team was moved by witnessing people
who had so little, be thankful for so much. The team left Esperanza with the
challenge to think of all the things that they were thankful for as well as
inspired to see the ways God is pursuing people, even in the poverty of
Nicaragua.
Junior Group
The
junior group was blessed to visit the Esperanza community this morning. They
were given a tour of the community and learned more about the school that the
kids in the community attended and the ways that the church and feeding center
supports them. The team was stirred as they encountered children who once lived
in the Managua Dump. After lunch, the kids returned to Nueva Vida to continue
building relationships that they had begun throughout the week. The team gave a
VBS lesson and was pleasantly surprised to see the niños engaging with the
bible story. The niños were memorizing and absorbing the information that had
been given to them in previous encounters and it was evident that each VBS
lesson has been making a lasting impact. In addition to the VBS lesson, the
team brought a piñata that the niños could enjoy. With a lot of energy and
smiles from ear to ear, the niños were excited to quickly bust open the piñata
and get to the candy that hid inside. The junior group was encouraged to have
the niños remember them and genuinely be excited to see them return. As the
niños loved the junior group with all their hearts, the team was reminded that
Jesus’ presence is clearly seen in the least of these and that He has an everlasting
love for all people of all nations.
Sophomore Group
The sophomore group had the
privilege to return to the El Canyon orphanage for the entire day. They were introduced to more of the
staff at El Canyon and learned how the orphanage has been a bright light for
God in the surrounding community.
The orphanage houses 25 niños who do not have parents, but opens their
doors to another 35-50 niños from the community through the El Canyon school
and church. After learning about
the history of El Canyon, the sophomore group gave a VBS lesson on God’s
strength and followed the lesson with a couple fun crafts for the niños. Following a delicious lunch, the group
split up so that some of them could spend time with the niños and some of them
could clean up the orphanage grounds by picking up trash, raking, and leveling
some dirt. To finish the day at El
Canyon, the sophomore group joined the orphans and community niños for a movie,
popcorn, and cotton candy. It was
a special treat for everyone and it warmed the group’s heart to see the excited
faces of the niños as they were essentially brought a movie theater experience. Throughout the entire day God used the
sophomore group in mighty ways to spread God’s love through physical acts of
service and relational acts of love.
Porch Time
Porch time occurred in two
locations since senior group 1 was in Leon. During the porch time with senior
group 1, a few of the leaders shared encouraging thoughts about faith as the
seniors are preparing their hearts and minds for a new journey in their life
post high school. Senior group 2, the juniors, and sophomores all gathered at
Casa for porch time where it quickly became evident that God had been active as
the teams shared places where they had seen Jesus throughout the day. Luke used Luke 8:4-15, to help the team
process why their faith seems to make so much more sense down in
Nicaragua. He used the passage to
take a look at the “science of soil” in order to express how the environment on
the Nicaragua trip is perfect for the word of God to find good soil to land
in.
Following both porch times, the
team split into small groups in order to take some intentional time to talk
through their experience so far down in Nicaragua. God has begun to soften the hearts of each member on the
team and it was great to have some time to talk through what God has been
doing.
Reminder: There
will be a Prayer Night for the Nicaragua team in Moog hall, next Tuesday, June
25th at 7:30 p.m.
