We all woke up with the reality that we were on our final full day in Nicaragua.  But we were able to  get off to a great start by heading over to Ruby’s house for our prayer time.  This is always such a special part of our mission and it always brings back great memories for me of a sweet and Godly lady whose legacy and passion lives on beyond her passing from this Earth.  Our prayer time is always very intimate and personal, yet also is very encouraging and unifying for our team.  We started our time of prayer and worship and before we knew it we were 4 hours in.  Time seems to fly by in God’s presence.  His Spirit was palpable and His words to us were needed.  He did a powerful work in all of our hearts.  And personally, it is so awesome for me to have the privilege to join the Buzbees in praying over our team members.  It’s actually a confirmation of what Sister Ruby prayed over me so many years earlier.  

After our prayer time, we loaded the bus and ate our lunch on the way to the market.  The market has also become an annual tradition for our mission teams.  It’s a crazy place filled with souvenirs, clothing, food and of course, hammock chairs.  We had a good time wandering around and shopping.  It seemed a good break for our minds and hearts after having such an intense morning.

But after the market came the surprise for the team.  Because of their hard work on this mission, I took them on a canopy tour at the Mombacho Volcano where we harnessed up to ride the zip lines.  It seemed to be a fitting ending to a hard week of work, love and service.  Apparently we have a pretty brave team… flying down the zips doing the superman and flying bat (upside down).

We finished with our final dinner together and team time.  We completed the book of Philippians after walking verse by verse through it each night.  I believe we were all challenged to take an more introspective look into the maturity of our spiritual life based on the characteristics Paul laid out before us.  Just spending this week together serving, developed more maturity in each of our hearts, but we were all faced with the reality that we have so much further to go.  Thankfully, we know God’s grace and the Spirit at work within us allows us, like Paul, to say, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

Our last day… it never comes easy for sure.  It’s always amazing to me how quickly our team adjusts to life in Nicaragua, builds relationships with those we were able to minister to and bonds together as a team.  And it all takes place in a matter of days which makes it so much harder on our team to leave.  Please pray for us as we travel home.