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.