Nicaragua June 2010~Travel day

Leaving Nicaragua wasn't easy (the emotional part at least, the physical part was simple). We got up and packed this morning and were at the airport in no time. We said our goodbyes to Javier and Joe and started checking bags. Once we were through security, we found our gate and waited. Some of us got iced coffee, others did last minute shopping and still others waved at no one excited thinking of the reactions of others around us. Once we boarded the plane, we either slept, talked or struck up random conversations with passengers nearby.

A couple hours later, we landed in Houston. This is where our problems began. After going through customs, we only had 40 minutes to get all 13 of our bags, go through security and get our bags rechecked and get to the plane. Well we found the bags in no time and started the process of more paperwork/ security stuff. While just about everyone made it out, Fernando was pulled for a random search that lasted close to an hour. Lisa waited behind while the rest of the team went ahead to security and attempted to hold the plane. The team managed to get to the plane 5 minutes before the doors closed, but we had to leave Fernando and Lisa behind to catch another connecting flight. This made many of us upset and frustrated and as it was later pointed out, satan's attempt to bring us down... pretty lame. When we landed in Denver, energy was low and stomachs were empty. We got to baggage claim only to find out that two bags were missing but that Fernando and Lisa's plane was just landing.

With all the baggage confusion, the traffic that held up Suzanne and Andrew's mom, we ended up getting to see Fernando and Lisa, transferring bags and sharing final hugs until Sunday. It was the perfect ending to a not-so- perfect day.

Nicaragua June 2010~ Day 9

We got to sleep in this morning to 8! After that we got dressed and ready to go to the dump otherwise known as La Chureca. We got into the van and headed to a preschool where we would meet up with Eugenio, the pastor of La Vina, who had a friend who ran ministries in the dump. There we would also partner with another North American church and Orphan Network.

Once we arrived at the preschool, we got a tour and a background of the mission of the place and what exactly they wanted to accomplish. After that Eddie, from Orphan Network, talked to us and told us what we were going to do in the dump that day. Because of the heavy rain, we were going to place tarp on many of the houses that are in the dump. Now it is very hard to describe what goes on in the dump but here is the run down. About 40 to 50 years ago, due to many different kinds of natural disasters, people were forced out of their neighborhood in Managua by the government. This caused mass amounts of displacement among the people and limited areas to live. People started to move to the dump, owned by some man, who had electricity installed and water brought through. Many people found they were making a decent living recycling trash and building their homes out of it. After so many people moved in women started selling themselves to truck drivers to get first dibs on trash and if that didn’t work they sold their daughters. This started an endless cycle. However there are many churches within the area and programs outside of Nicaragua who are helping and bringing in some hope.

Anyway, we started out with playing with the kids at the preschool. It was fun and interesting to see various team members jump right in and play with these kids. In the mean time, a team from Minnesota had arrived and was getting the rundown of the program. Then we loaded into their bus and headed over to the dump. Four members of our team had gone on a previous trip and therefore many of us had been prepared a little bit mentally, but it still wasn’t enough in some cases. We drove through and parked by the only school in the dump. From there we started dividing up, small teams of folks staying behind at houses that needed tarp. Many of us jumped in and started playing with the kids, holding them and looking for ways to start laughter amongst the little ones. Around noon, we all got to participate in a feeding program that a lot of kids from the dump attend. For some this is the best meal they may get all day. We handed out food, drinks and cookies that we had bought earlier. At one point we found Kevin holding a little baby that had been handed to him at random. A couple others got to hold this little boy, whose mother was very proud and her smile never seemed to fade. After all the kids got to eat, Orphan Network took both the Minnesota team and our team up to the highest point of the dump. It was heart breaking to see the mass amounts of trash and people going through it. While we all wanted to stay as long as possible, we also needed to get back to the preschool. So we loaded on the bus once more, were dropped off at the preschool and awaited our ride in silence.

Although it was lunch time many of us were confused and somewhat downhearted as to whether or not it was fair to go eat. We ended up at Mc Donald’s and tried to get our minds off of what we had just seen. Some things we realized we can not single-handedly change. We have to take the blessing that we were given and partner with others to serve areas like La Chureca.

After we ate we reluctantly headed out to the market to get our tourist shopping done. We were done in less than an hour and ready to go back to Las Palmas and shower. However, we had one more stop to make. Leah, a friend of Andrew’s, was finally gotten a hold of and met us at a mall so that the two could catch up briefly. After that we drove to Las Palmas and cleaned up. We decided to spend out last night in Nicaragua happy and went out to play pool. We spent a couple of hours hanging out, talking, and laughing with one another and then we headed back to pack and have our final devo.

With that we processed through the day’s events, our concerns and our feelings. We ended in prayer and were off to bed in no time, ready or not, to head back to the states the next morning.

Nicaragua June 2010~ Day 8

We woke up in the morning, ran out into the rain and waved the kids off to school. As the morning flew by we got packed, ate and said our goodbyes to the staff and we loaded into the vans by 9:30. At 11 we were in Managua and getting situated at Las Palmas, the other property that Arms of Love owns. Many of us took naps, some watched the World Cup soccer games and others found two little kids to play with as most of us were already starting to have withdrawals. At 2 pm we were back in the van and headed to La Vina ready to do our outreach.

Once we got there we were split into a couple of groups, Vineyard of the Rockies with La Vina. The idea for the day was to go out to nearby neighborhood and pass out flyers for a fiesta for kids. The expected number of attendees was about 100… we surpassed the expectation by a 150 people or more. When people arrived, we had no idea that the new church building could hold that many people. Almost 300 women, children and men were packed in. We started with a puppet show that Kaeli put together and then sang some songs and ended with a dance that our team had learned. After that it was piñatas for the kids and pizza for everyone! Unfortunately, because we hadn’t anticipated so many people we didn’t have enough food for the La Vina volunteers and ourselves, but that didn’t stop our joy. We put our heads and wallets together and bought food specifically for everyone who was doing the outreach.

After the fiesta was over we had a bit of a break to clean up and prepare ourselves for the evening service. Luke was going to give a sermon and Andrew was going to translate, so they went off to practice for a bit while we talked and hung out with Vineyard folk. The service began with worship that rocked the boat and moved us all, Joe assisting the worship team on guitar. After that Luke and Andrew took the stage. Luke began the sermon with talk of being in slavery and then related it to his life. By the end it was evident that many of us were struggling with our own version of bondage and slavery. The service ended in powerful prayer and more worship.
As this lead us to wrap up, we once again began the process of pictures, goodbyes and exchanging of emails. What we almost forgot was that we got to spend more time with La Vina team while we all ate some tasty chicken.

Finally we loaded the van and headed back to Las Palmas and got ready for devotionals. Tonight, Fernando decided to share his story of growing up in Mexico and an orphanage. It was very powerful to hear him speak and know that his connection with the kids at Arms of Love meant that much more to him and therefore were that much more powerful for us to see from the outside. After praying for Fernando, we processed through some more details of the day and then went to bed.

Nicaragua June 2010~Day 7

Today was our last day at Arms of Love. It was pretty crazy but not at the same time. Most of the team had things they wanted to do with the kids, things to accomplish but with no real way in doing it. We did our usual morning with the kids, getting up early, taking them to school and then coming back to eat breakfast. It was obvious when the conversation was non-existent that something was going on in our hearts. We all had things to process through. Some of us were angry we had to leave; others were feeling attacked by the enemy and didn’t know how to deal with the emotions. As the day progressed the tension grew more and a lot of us were starting to feel it big time! After lunch 8 members on our team went to Alfredo’s farm and got a tour of the amazing fruits that Nicaragua is home to. We got to drink fresh coconut milk and two of us (Hannah and Kevin) got to chop parts of the coconut away, which was really scary.

When the kids got home we took on the task of helping the all of them write sponsorship letters. While the older kids knew what they were doing, it was much harder to keep the focus of some of the younger kids who were longing to go outside and play or just trace their hands. We eventually finished with a majority of the cards done, as frustrating and as cute as it was, many of us we happy about it.

Before we went off to dinner a situation occurred that presented an opportunity for our team to pray for a child. As we stood in the little kids’ house, holding hands and praying, God did something amazing. Several of the little kids watched and soon assumed the position in the circle with us and were even led to pray for their sibling. What struck most of the team was the powerfulness of the kids’ prayers? It’s odd how we know God won’t leave a child’s prayer unanswered and how we long, just like children to see Him move. After a good half hour to forty-five minutes of prayer, we solemnly headed down to Casa Grande for our dinner and our good-bye party.

It was odd how our attitude and overall energy changed once the fiesta started. Many of us were still overwhelmed with the prayer circle, but once the kids arrived we had to set our feelings aside to be present and focused on the kids. The kids quickly broke the piñata, the candy scattered and little hands scoured the floors for it. After that we enjoyed some dances that the kids put together and listened to them sing. At one point Fernanda, a little girl had fallen asleep in Kaeli’s arms causing us to remember how much we will miss all the kids. We ended our party with final goodbyes and long hugs.

After that the group met for a devotional/ process time. Many of us were overwhelmed and some of us were shocked that things had changed so much in just hours. By the end of the night, many of us had faced the truth that we would be leaving Nicaragua on Friday, but that many of us would continue our love and friendships with the kids.

Nicaragua June 2010~Days 3 through 6

Day 3
Our third day started with getting up with the kids and helping getting them ready for school. After some of us took them to school, and others helped with household chores, we were able to relax for a bit, eat breakfast, do devotionals and take time for rest. About midmorning half of our team went into town to buy screens for the houses. The day before, we had found that using wood to make screens was not only hard but unreliable in the long run. We were able to buy enough screens with metal frames for one house and make it back to Arms of Love for lunch. About 4 o’clock we started back up with the tournament. Team green and team yellow played capture the flag on the basketball court while team red and team purple played on the grassy oval in the center of the compound. It was somewhat disastrous. On the basketball court, green and yellow were able to play a more reasonable game with better rules and regulations while on the oval, red and purple struggled to score points against each other. In the end though only two teams won; team purple and team green.
Later, after the games had ended, Kim took the entire staff out for dinner. This left our entire missions team in charge for the night. We tried to divide as appropriately as possible but in the end it was Kids vs. Us. The older kids were very well behaved and helped out with the younger kids while we served them food and helped get them ready for bed. At one point Meylin was throwing rice everywhere, kids were crying and some had escaped to their bedrooms to play with Barbie dolls in the bath water. We were definitely given a run for our money. However, a game of musical chairs seemed to have solved several problems and got their attention focused on something productive. After devotions, which happen to be most of the teams’ favorite (mostly because the little ones are so cute in prayer), we spent a good 30 to 45 minutes getting the kids to settle down and go to bed.
By the end of the night most of our team had a better understanding of the hearts’ the house parents have as well as their patience to do this day in and day out. It was a crazy yet very wonderful evening.

Day 4
Beach DAY! God blessed us with amazing weather on Saturday. We left the compound around 9 and arrived around 10 at La Boquita. However the first thing many kids noticed was not the beach, but the soccer games of the world cup. Today was the day that England and the U.S. played and many kids were rooting for England. The theories behind this were pure humor and based on the fact that because England spoke English and colonized the U.S. they were going to win. Joe had to point out that the U.S. had won the Revolutionary war, the Cold War and bailed England out of WWII. This still didn’t change their minds.
We were all aware of the little kids and being careful not to loose them. The waves were particularly big and the under toe was challenging many of us young adults so the importance of holding on to the kids was even bigger than usual. It was a joy to see the faces and hear the laughter of the kids as they jumped in the waves and played in the water. At one point, Hannah and Kevin decided to go horseback riding on the beach. After they ran the tiny horses up and down, they started taking the kids for rides with them. Many of these kids had never ridden a horse and a couple (Herman, Kealin, and Fernanda) had never been to the beach before. It made the day so much better and gave many of us the feeling that God was giving us so much more than us a day on the beach.
As usual, something has to happen to Andrew’s feet. Today it wasn’t as horrible as being stung by a Jellyfish or getting blisters. Rather it was Andrew walking barefoot on the beach after the horses ran by and stepping in horse poop. None the less it served its purpose of being a comic relief in the midst of all the caution and seriousness of watching the kids. Andrew was able to rinse off in the ocean and then shower when we got home. Still… Tradition carries on.
After lunch, the kids started to wind down, the game between England and the U.S. started so most of the older kids had left our tent and went to find a T.V. while the staff stopped to enjoy the afternoon peace. Breanna and Kaeli even gave some of the house mother’s massages and of course, Kaeli was providing the laughter amongst them, cracking jokes in Spanish. About 4 o’clock we started to pack up and leave the beach. Many of the kids ready for a nap, some a bit disappointed that the U.S. tied with England and other’s relieved that they would be returning to Arms of Love for a shower.
Due to a hard situation with one of the kids, the team stepped up and helped get the kids showered, changed and fed so that a couple of the house parents could deal with it. As the kids picked out their clothes and we combed their hair, we found that this night was so much easier than the night before. Either it was because they knew that we had already done this or because they were worn out from the beach, we didn’t care. It was just nice to have well behaved kids this time. When the house moms returned we left to go eat rather quickly and then divided again amongst the houses to spend time with the kids. After the little ones went to bed, the ladies on our team went to the Heather house (the girl’s house at Arms of Love) and spent the evening doing crafts and decorating sandals. It was a fun way to end the evening and some of the girls surpassed our own expectations or notions of creativity.

Day 5
Vamos a La Vina. We got to go to the Vineyard in Managua with the older kids today. It was hot, humid and so much FUN! . La Vina had just moved into a new building, which is very nice but hard to ventilate. Our church had sent four ceiling fans and after giving them to La Vina, there was definitely a feeling of relief. Although it’s not much, it’s something. As usual the worship is wonderful (Sven they still rock out!), the people are welcoming and the bus ride is always interesting. After we got our welcome and our coffee we settled in for the message. It was a good sermon about how we are God’s servants, His shepherds and we are charged to go out and spread the word of the Lord.
After church we got to mingle and talk to the congregation a bit and then we took off to get lunch and take the older kids shopping for shoes. We stopped at a mall and ate at the food court. While some of us managed to find seats in the middle of the massive room we realized that this was partially due to the face that the tvs were visible on the other side, which had the soccer games playing. When everyone had finished eating we took off for the market to get school shoes for the kids. It was definitely an experience. We were able to strike a deal with the vendors and as the kids found the shoes they liked and that some so desperately needed we noticed the excitement in the faces of some of these kids. Kim commented that for some kids, this is the first time that they get to pick the shoes they wear all year at school. It’s not often that they get to go shopping and it made many of us soak in the importance of the moment.
About 3:30 we reloaded into the bus and headed back to Jinotepe. About half way home the bus broke down due to the radiator. Instead of moping about the issue many of the team members looked at this as an opportunity to take pictures, tell jokes and experience something knew. 30 minutes later another bus arrived and although some of us had been eaten alive by ants and other bugs, we left content and happy.
As we approached Jinotepe we dropped off Luke, Joe, Javier, and Juan to purchase some pizza for our fiesta. The rest of our team was charged with decorating and getting ready for the night we hoped would bring joy for the kids. The girls on our team dressed “crazy,” another words, 80’s and found this definitely new to many of the kids. Due to the fact that we had spent an extra 30 minutes to an hour stuck on the side of the road we were behind schedule. In the words of Kevin, “Nicaragua always wins.”The decorating was finished by 6 but the pizza didn’t arrive until 7 causing us to try and find fillers and other activities to get the kids excited and ready for fun. After we ate we danced some more, laughed a lot and the team did a dance that we had spent so much time learning, “Beat it!” The kids were amazed/ impressed/confused. Around 8 the energy started to drag and it was obvious that some of the kids were ready for bed. It looks like we will have to finish parts of our fiesta for Tuesday night.
By the end of the night, we had danced, laughed and learned that not everything goes as planned, but all that matters is that you enjoy the time you have and the experience you get from the situation.

Day 6
Team Day! The morning started with our usual waking-up-early-taking-the-kids-to-school routine. After that we got ourselves ready for a day of exploring Nicaragua. Since Joe just happens to be so cool and has earned Javier’s trust, Joe drove us around, making it not only easier for Javier, but for himself as well. As we took off from Jinotepe to Granada, we were pulled over by some police. Now normally this wouldn’t happen if we had a Nicaraguan driving us, but a van full of Norte Americanos can cause some suspicion. Luckily we had copies of our passports and as we waited patiently for them to attempt to pronounce all of our names (we think they were hoping for a bribe), we were finally given the go-ahead and were on our way. After we arrived in Granada we split up, walked around and explored the European colonized town. Joe had found a nice little restaurant that provided some delicious food and fun experience.
When we finally left town, it was nearly 3:30. We decided to go on the canopy tour near Mombachu, a volcano near Granada. Unfortunately we had to navigate around a funeral march that took up a majority of the street. Finally at 4 we arrived for our canopy tour, signed in, got harnessed and were ready to take the 8 cable route on the zip line. The staff of the company were funny and very informative (yes this is a sales pitch). We were able to go hands free on some cables, superman or super chica and upside-down, which happened to be a favorite of most of the team. We got pictures of all and afterwards, were able to see the facial expressions of everyone. Joe did a wonderful job navigating and driving us home and after dinner we went to hang out with the kids as it is our second to last night at Arms of Love. Some of the team played soccer with the boys, while the other half went to the little kids’ devotionals, then over to the girls’ house to help with sponsorship letters.
After that we ended the night with our own devotions and worship, getting closer to the God we all love and yearn to know more.

Nicaragua June 2010~ Day 2

Day 2 de Nicaragua
We started the morning helping with daily chores. Two of us got up to help wake and get the little kids ready for school. It is total chaos! How the house mothers do this everyday is beyond us, but we find it very inspiring and admirable. Some of us rode to school with them in two vans, each with 12 or more individuals packed in. Meanwhile, a couple of our team members stayed behind at the compound and helped with mopping, which is a tedious and at times, a pointless task since it is constantly raining and people are tracking mud in and out.
We started the soon to be world renowned tournament. We divided the team and the kids into four groups and brainstormed team names and chants. With the teams divided by four colors, we had team “Jackson 10 Leones” who are purple, team “Arsenal” who are red, “Los Punks” who are yellow and “Mean Green Fighting Machine” who are green (hence the name). We also had the impossible mission of making a team flag with fabric paint, which luckily was fairly controlled. Afterwards the games began. We started with a game called “Down by the Banks” and ended with Team green winning. Soon after, we played a very competitive and almost violent game of musical chairs. This ended in a triumphant win for team purple.
We also spent part of our day helping with homework and drawing with pastels. Drawing is something that all the kids like to do, young and old, which is great because it gives the kids a chance to express themselves without words. We draw too, but not all of us are as talented artists as some of the kids.
We want to tell a funny story, to keep all of you readers out there intrigued but apparently because of all the events that happened yesterday we can not seem to pin-point one story that sticks out among all. However we will end with this: God has been doing some very powerful things in and around our team. We are working together, spending quality time with the kids and learning more about ourselves and the love that God so freely gives us.

Nicaragua June 2010~ Travel Day and Day 1

Travel day and Day 1 at Arms of Love

Travel went smoothly with no big or major problems. We arrived with all our bags minus one carry on, but none the less we got here safe and sound. Basically there is nothing big about the travel day. We got on two planes, we flew, we ate greasy airport food, went into the Duty free stores and tried to sleep upright in the airplanes… Really nothing exciting. However, as soon as we hit the ground in Nicaragua the air changed, excitement grew and although it took two of us twenty minutes to get through customs with our visas, we were still excited. We were greeted by the older boys plus one friend from the states, Joe. This got some of us even more pumped up to be here. After our hour long bus ride we arrived at the children’s home around 11 pm, quickly met up to discuss the next morning and then went to bet fully decked out in our bug nets and fans.

The next morning many of us caught up on sleep and we ate breakfast at 8 am. The kids had already left for school and would return around 1 pm. So we took the time and went into town and got to explore the markets and town area. For some reason it tends to be tradition that Andrew has problems with his feet. Andrew had decided to wear a pair of sandals meant for hiking (apparently he usually wears them with socks but this time he went without). Anyway as we were getting ready to leave town Andrew started limping. Blisters had formed and popped and it was causing him pain. To relive his pain he ate a banana. Now this may seem odd or even unrelated to his foot problems but afterward he inserted the banana peel into his heel area of his sandals. As soon as this was done, Breanna realized she had Band-Aids in her purse the whole time. Andrew proceeded to remove the banana peels and then applied the clean band-aids. We then began to walk and went into a pharmacy to purchase more since Breanna only had one. We convinced Andrew to take a taxi back to Arms of Love with Juan, Stacy (who had to use the bathroom-emergency status) and Sarah. The rest walked.

After lunch some of us took some time for ourselves. Hannah ended up sleeping for several hours, catching up on her beauty rest. In the meantime some of our team mopped Casa Grande, where we are staying and played with the kids once they got home from school and had done their homework. Stacy and Joe practiced worship songs, others played a violent game of soccer. With all of the little kids it was hard to keep up the energy, especially playing Vas a Cielo or “up into the clouds,” a game involving our male team members swinging the kids by their hands and feet. We ended the evening with devotionals with all the kids. Parts of our team went into the little kids’ house and tucked them into bed. The rest of our team was divided between the boys and girls’ houses. The girls from our team got to experience and contribute to the devotional time and open up a little bit about what Psalm 61:1-3 means to us.

Finally we ended our first official night with our own group devotional. We talked about our first interactions with the kids and what our experiences were of the first day. We sang some worship songs and attempted one song called Se Lleuve Pequito. We failed, kinda. It was fun which is all that matters. It was a very powerful evening and definitely a foreshadowing of what is going to happen throughout the rest of this trip. We know there is going to be healing for some of us, rejuvenation for others and reflection for all.

And so ends our first day in Nicaragua.

We are home

Thank you for your prayers! We look forward to sharing our experiences with you all!!!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

home again

We will be leaving tonight to head back home. But before we do we are going to split up. Vance and the girls will be going to the Nazarene church while David, Logan and myself (Sean) are going to the Ballad to talk at an Egyptian Church. We are super excited and pray that God will use us to minister to these people. Please pray for a safe journey home over the next 2 days.

thanks for all your support!!!!

Sean

The Sweetness of the Moment

It was a simple map to follow to get from point A to point B, a 15 minute walk turned into an hour and 15 minutes of stress and anxiety, we were lost definitely lost and annoyed at each other. But God was doing something on the journey, it wasn't just about the destination. Last night we were headed to Oasis; an English speaking church. Jennifer and I(David) decided to walk and enjoy the cool evening and amazing sunset that is typical of the middle east. We started off with a map and a confident sense of direction. LOL. Along the way some how we got mixed up and lost our way. Along the way we forgot to stop and pray and ended up getting lost in Amman a city of more then two million. Along the way we asked for help and we ended up getting even more lost and even laughed at by some teens. We were so focused on our destination that we forgot to enjoy the journey, the moment, and relationship. We realized that we were using a wrong starting point and decided to go back to the beginning of the map and went from there. We got to Oasis just in time. God used that experience to Give a Word to Oasis about enjoying the sweetness of the moment with God. Doing Gods will is not about the future. Its about savoring his presence and trusting him with the rest. Vance was able to lead an amazing worship set and the tangible presence of God was felt in that place. Bristow and Jami Hood have been super encouraged by our team loving on them and praying for them. Its seems like they have a renewed sense of energy. And they even expressed more clarity of vision. It has been amazing to be a part of what God is doing in the middle east through supporting and encouraging the Christian community.

Just wanted to post some pics...