Hello again! Casa Bernabe gave the team much rest and a welcomed breakfast for the start of our second day here in Nicaragua. We left Casa Bernabe following that meal and visited El Faro's "Mission 14" work site. El Faro is a church that translates to "The Lighthouse," and it supports women in the community who lived in the city trash dump. Mission 14 has a sewing factory that, in addition to sewing clothes, creates art, and crafts jewelry. One of the necklaces available for purchase was even made of recycled paper from the very dump they had escaped! Amazing to see God redeem people and places, and enable them to join in His mission.
From El Faro, we journeyed to the ORPHANetwork Headquarters. We dropped off our donations, and were also able to tour the offices and learn more about what ORPHANetwork does. The Mission of ORPHANetwork is to: 1) Rescue abandoned, abused, and orphaned children, 2) Prevent vulnerable children from becoming abandoned, 3) Create opportunities for new life, and 4) Share Christ with everyone. Operating with two mindsets, "life-saving" and "life-changing," there are orphanages that serve kids in need of physical support, and there are LCI's (Local Church Initiatives) where the hope is to prevent kids from needing the orphanages in the first place. ORPHANetwork approximately supports 163 Life-Saving locations, and 41 Life-Changing locations.
After our tour there, we left for Leon! Upon arriving at the church, Verbo Leon, we assisted in feeding the kids lunch, helping wash hands and serving food. After lunch, a miniature soccer game broke out, laps were ran around the church in fierce games of tag, and children were spun and lifted before a VBS message provided by Luke. He discussed the Two Sons from Matthew 21, and after the scripture was read, we broke up into three groups and some of our team shared a moment in their lives when they were disobedient and why obedience in our faith is important. We played a game of Simon Says to practice obedience and following directions, and then we made crafts with them to help us remember the two sons from the story.
We said "bye" to our new friends after the lesson, and made way to our hotel for the week. Here at Hotel San Juan, we ate a wonderful meal and got ready for our first Porch Time. This is our nightly gathering that features a segment we like to call "Remember That Time," where we recall funny moments throughout the day. It then has a moment we call "I Saw Jesus," where we reflect on where and how we saw Jesus in those we encountered in the day. There was a moment of worship, and Luke spoke on how Jesus sent out the 72, who left all behind to serve and preach the name of Jesus. Our small groups discussed the things and the people we have left behind at home to come here, and how we might be encouraged in our time to meet the needs of those around us. It's been a great day two, and we can't wait for what will surely be a wonderful day three! Stay tuned!
