It is always a difficult day realizing that it is your final day on the field. Of course, at 4:30 in the morning – you aren’t doing much processing. We had a long day of travel to return to the States and praise God a pretty uneventful one. We had two good flights and a really long layover in between to do some individual reflecting and to start decompressing a bit from the mission. There is so much about these…
Today we rode the wave of emotions in all of our activities and ministry time. We started our morning with a visit to La Chureca (the Managua city dump) which is always an eye-opening experience. There are so many parallels to the dump and the sin in our lives. It is heart-breaking to see the conditions that these families live and work in. But there is a ray of hope in the dump – Colegio Christiano Esperanza is the school…
The camp team traded in their hats today for some construction helmets as we went to work in Los Cedros today. Our team divided and one half tackled removing rock from the new room at the church and then back filling it will dirt to prepare it for the concrete floor. The other workers were busy welding and getting the support beams in place for the roof. It’s not quite ready to open for use, but it’s getting closer by…
We knew this day was eventually going to come… the last day of camp. As tiring as camp can be, it is always difficult to say goodbye to the kids. God has shown up in such a powerful way at camp. Not only has our team done an amazing job working together to pull off camp, but God really seemed to be at work in the lives of the kids. The kids asked great questions, listened well to God’s Word…
With each passing day I believe I understand more what Jesus meant when He called to some little children who had gathered around and said, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.” There is such innocence and joy in the eyes of a child. Yet wrapped up in such a small package is a heart that is sinful and separated from God. But praise God for the opportunity…
Today was our first full day of camp and we are thankful that God gave us the strength to make it considering the campers woke us up around 5:00 am when the sun is just coming up. Needless to say, no matter how much we “prepare” for this reality, it never hits you until it happens. Some of our teamies have the gift of being able to sleep through it… and probably a small tornado since that is what morning…
Our last relaxing morning where we could sleep in a bit is gone and will be replaced by the sound of children stirring around 5:30am. So while we could, we had some time to simply enjoy the beauty of God’s creation here at camp and have some time alone in His Word… just desiring to hear from Him. But shortly after… camp officially began! In the distance we heard the sound of the bus coming down the dirt road so…
Well the transition has taken place and the handoff has been made from our construction team to our camp team. We sent our construction team off bright and early to the airport, despite the girls sleeping through their alarm and having to move very quickly to get moving! The camp team was able to get a good night’s rest and transition to Nica time. We had a good team time together as we opened the Word and accepted the challenge…
Today really couldn’t have been a better day for the construction team. We started with our annual visit to the dump (La Chureca) which is home to an estimated 1200 residents with around 800 being children. It is such an eye-opening and heart wrenching place to visit. There are many spiritual analogies that can be seen to our own lives and our faith journey. Then after the dump we all gathered a Sister Ruby’s for a time of prayer and…
It is always a bittersweet day when it is our last on the worksite. We were excited to complete the construction of the walls and begin the process of having the interior ready for a concrete floor. The only thing lacking is to put on the roof, which is a bit beyond our skill set! We also completed the painting project at the school and it looks great. The tough part of the day, however, is saying goodbye. So many…