This team continues to amaze me with their perseverance. After trying to speed up our team time and small group time, we managed to get everyone in the bed by 10 pm. That seemed to make a big difference in our day today. We still had to leave some behind – four today, but praise God the two from yesterday rejoined the team. It is really hard to leave teammates behind and we certainly feel the loss, but a day of rest usually does wonders. But even with a few down, the rest of the team pushed really hard today to get two projects done.

When we first arrived, we walked from Ruby Ranch up to the school in Las Parcelas where our younger campers go to school. We made it just in time for recess and really enjoyed playing with the kids – baseball, soccer, tag and whatever else they wanted to do. It seemed a nice break for the teachers as well. Being at the school also allowed us to see the finished paint job at the school. Some of the kids mentioned how pretty it was. We continue to look for ways to invest in this community and share and show the Gospel in all we do.

After our school time fun, we headed back to the Ranch for some hard work. It was another hot, sunny day which combined with moving dirt is the recipe for being filthy. It’s now become a badge of honor. We had a few that had to take it slow today, but everyone picked up the slack and we got our power line project done. We finished trenching, then strung the power cable through the PVC pipe. Once we had all our connections, we covered back up the pipe (yep, moving more dirt) but it was great to check a project off the list. Our next moving dirt experience was up to the new volleyball court. We moved countless wheelbarrows and then I hopped on the tractor to level out the field.

The guys we hired to help us lay the cantera stones were off to a great start getting all their lines and levels. We hope to start mixing cement and laying block tomorrow. It’s doubtful we will bring this project to completion before we leave (as we ordered over 1,000 stones) but we hope to get a good start.

We always enjoy our bus rides together, but today some really enjoyed some serious napping on the way home. I guess that’s a sign we are working hard. But thankfully, we arrived back at the Buzbees with some much needed time to relax and swim some before dinner. Although with the guys playing animal ball, there wasn’t much relaxing. We were encouraged to see those we left behind doing a bit better. Not out of the woods yet, but hopefully everyone is getting extra rest and is asleep while I am typing this!

During team time, we celebrated Preston’s 16th birthday (a day late) and John Michael’s 15th birthday a few days early. I know it is hard being away from home on your birthday, so we do our best to make them special. We enjoyed some Nicaragua cake that tasted quite a bit different than ours!

Our team time tonight focused on spiritual warfare and many are feeling the effects of it. I know having our spiritual eyes more opened allows us to see it, but we also know that Satan loves to steal, kill and destroy the full heart and life we are meant to have. We are feeling and experiencing some of those attacks on our team. Please pray for us and pray for God’s protection and healing!

As always, you can catch more photos on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/wsm.mission.nicaragua