August 3-6 2009

Buenos dias! Sorry it has taken so long to get this first blog up but our access to the internet is limited. We didn´t have access to this blog either but all is well now. Our first day was all travel from 7 in the morning until midnight when we arrived at the orphanage at Jinotepe. Everything went smoothly except we had our peanut butter confiscated at the first security checkpoint in Denver. It was a sad moment for everyone. In Houston, we were able to connect with some random people due to our hacky sack skills (which are not the best), but God uses anything to reach out to others. We forgot to bring a frisbee with us and these people were promoting their website on frisbee´s and gave one to our group. The car ride from Managua to Jinotepe was interesting to say the least. People don´t obey traffic laws but they merely give warnings with their horns. We also got very acquainted with each other because the van was tiny and we managed to fit our whole group in there as well as the three Nicaraguans that came to pick us up. Despite all of that, everyone was in high spirits and ready to rock Arms of Love. Upon arrival at the orphanage we were exposed to their giant tarantulas who are very sneaky and fast. Since then we have seen three, one of which was right next to a bed in the girls room. We also found a scorpion while working, but so far we have only been bit by mosquitos.

On Tuesday we all got up early for some devotional time as well as breakfast and worship. The kids are at school in the morning so we have a lot of preparation and bonding time with each other. We used the time on Tuesday to attempt riding a unicycle (nothing like embarrassing each other to get some quality bonding) and playing some pick-up basketball. We also had time to organize random cement stones that had been broken to make a cobblestone walkway to the childrens playhouse. The kids were back from school at this point and many lent a hand and were very helpful. A kid named Ronnie removed the stinger from a scorpion so us Americans could hold it. After dinner was play time and boy do these kids have a lot of energy. We were drinking coffee at 830 in the evening just to keep up. When it was time for bed, we split up the young and old kids for devotional time. The younger kids stood up individually and talked about what God had done for them during the day, and many were thankful for the "white people" who came to play with them. The prayers then turned into random worship songs and it was probably the cutest thing any of us have ever witnessed. When that ended, the children lined up to hug each one of us and say goodnight.

On Wednesday we started our day bright and early again. The morning was dedicated to planting trees, which is funny because we are doing eco-work in Nicaragua, which is a jungle. Everyone worked hard and we got a lot done. The kids returned in the afternoon and we played for many hours once again. Since it rained, we engaged in indoor activities, including a lot of jump roping. The kids decided it would be funny to play a prank on us and had us line up in a squated position with our hands out in front of us. We thought it was a strength bonding game where we would have to use each other to balance. They counted "Uno, Dos, Tres!", and pushed all of us over. They punked us for sure! After the kids went to bed, we all got together and shared our stories on how we ended up in Nicaragua. We had a guest named Elizabeth who was an orphan for 18 years. She told us about the impact a missionary on her life who later adopted her when she was asked to leave the orphanage. She told a heart wrenching story of abuse and neglect which is now turned around due to a seed that was planted in her many years ago by this missionary. It was very encouraging to us and inspired us to really reach out to these children. Elizabeth is currently working on a degree in social work at Pepperdine University, and already has a degree in non-profit business administration. I think everyone feels very blessed to have this opportunity to be here and possibly change someones life as radically as Elizabeths was changed. Running out of time so we have to leave. Pictures will be up soon!