As our day comes to a close each day, at our team time, I ask a question… “Where did you see God today?” We are learning to see with our spiritual eyes where God is at work all around us. We are also learning to hear with our spiritual ears, God speaking. This is always a favorite part of my trip to watch our students learn to see and hear God better. We know He is active and present and always speaking… we just have to learn how to tune in.

That is one reason why this mission has typically produced some significant life change in our students. Not only are they launching out and serving, but their whole environment changes. And many of what distracts, or worse, deadens us, is removed and we are able to see and hear.

This is also what we have been studying from God’s Word each night as we unpack John 10:10 – that we were born into a war and we have an enemy that seeks to destroy, but Jesus said that He came that we would have life… and not just any life – but a full, abundant life. Our team time and small group time has been so encouraging – despite being pretty exhausted by that point each day.

Our days start early and end late. After breakfast, team devo and then TAWG (time alone with God), we are off and running to camp. This was our last full day of camp when it came to our stations and schedule. During sports, we introduced the kids to the Tarzan swing that one of our teams built a few years ago and they had a blast! The kids are really engaging with our stations and our team has really bonded with the kids.

After lunch, we fired up the Ruby Ranch water slide. It’s hard to describe with words how fun the water slide is. It is carved into the hillside and boasts some amazing speeds and a few bumps that send you flying. Some of the kids were scared but many jumped right in line with our team and went zipping down. The rain ended our time, but it was time to transition to construction.

We completed one side of the Rancho when it comes to preparation for the sidewalk and retaining wall and moved on to the back side. The theme of this year’s work so far has been “move that dirt”! We feel we could invite Mike Rowe down here for an episode of Dirty Jobs… so if anyone has any contacts or if by chance you are reading this Mike – we’d love to have you down! Needless to say, it’s fun to finally get to the showers and watch your skin return to it’s normal color as the dirt washes away.

Tomorrow we will finish camp in a special way. We will have the kids in the morning, but we’ve invited the whole family to return in the afternoon as a community outreach. We are partnering with the local pastor and will be hosting over 150 at the Ranch. Please be praying for the opportunities to preach and share the Gospel and for it to fall on good soil!

For more pictures of our day today, connect with us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/wsm.mission.nicaragua