Trip to Nicaragua

On January 3rd, a group of five of us left Wisconsin for warm Nicaragua. On the way, we picked up the rest of our team members. In all there were 31 of us. Some of them came from Idaho, Tennessee, North Carolina, Wisconsin, California, and from as far away as Alaska. We arrived in Managua, the capital of Nicaragua headed for the facility run by Chosen Children, a partner organization. The facility was nice, and we were tired. The next morning we got up, had breakfast and devotions, and headed three hours north to Leon. Chosen Children has another facility near Leon, and that is where we spent the week.

Each day we drove thirty minutes down a dusty dirt road to work in the little villages and churches. There were four different teams within our team. One team worked primarily with the pastors from twelve different churches teaching them about soil pH and irrigation system. They actually got two of those irrigation systems set up while they were there.

The second team had 13 college age students who did a VBS outreach to a little town. They worked with the kids and played games and spent time with them. At the end of the week, seven of the children put their faith in Christ for salvation.

The third team worked with the pastors' wives. They taught an Experiencing God Bible study in the morning and did health and hygiene and food dehydration classes in the afternoon. They also did some crafts with the women and spent time getting to know them.

The fourth team did VBS for the children of the pastor's and with a large group of children from the community. There were about 60 children that they worked with. They read stories, colored, made crafts and played games.

I worked with the pastors' wives. It was amazing to me how interested they were in what we had to share. I had expected cordial interest, but they really asked great questions and took notes on everything! And the stories they shared with us really touched my heart. I loved getting to see how God is working in their hearts. Their struggles are just like ours, and sometimes it is easy to forget that.

The last day there, we packed everything up for the drive back to Managua. We quickly dropped our stuff off at the Managua facilities and drove up a mountain to a little restaurant. From there, part of our group went on a zipline, and the rest of us went to an old market built in 1802. After some shopping, we all went to an active volcano. It was fun to see it so close up. I don't think I will ever see one like that again, at least not here in the US. At the end of the day we headed back, had supper and devotions and then headed for bed. After breakfast and pictures the next morning, the first group left for the airport. A couple of hours later, the second group of us left for the airport.

I don't think that I will be going back to Nicaragua again, but it sure was a great opportunity to see God work in the hearts of the people we were with. I enjoyed getting to talk to the college kids and hear about how God is leading them too.

I also came home with extra appreciation for things I sometimes take forgranted, like warm showers and food that is not rice and beans every day. :)