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.