Summer 2010 Nicaragua Trip

Day 6
Our last full day in Nicaragua started off with an amazing worship service. The Verbo church is adjacent to the Orphanage, so we made the short walk up to their sanctuary. Once again, a number of our group members played with the band singing praise to the Lord in both English and Spanish. The CFC teen group is also here now and they were here as well. Their group leader gave the sermon and Pastor Earl, the anchor of this ministry here, translated on the fly into Spanish. It was a great service which lasted about 2 hours. For the first 30-45 minutes, there was no power, but then it came back on and we were all able to see the slides and sing along with the Spanish parts as well.

The afternoon brought a lot of excitement not only for the American's visiting but the kids too. We spent the afternoon at the river, where a majority of the children come from. It was amazing to see the smiles as we arrived. We thought we had seen big smiles but they were even bigger when we got to the river. Many of the kids spent the time swimming and playing in the water but the older ones spent a majority of the time jumping off the 20ft cliff into the water. Tyler's beard is getting so long that one of the little girls spent some time trying to wash it for him.:)

Days 4 and 5
Ola, Buenos Dias! Good day from Nicaragua. We have been blessed with good weather and have been able to make substantial progress on the house that we are building here. Yesterday we were able to finish the walls, and today we finished the flooring on the porch and inside the house! This was a great service project in that there was a lot of visual progress in a short time. The ministry here does not allow volunteer teams to do roofing, but the fine gentlemen that we have been working with said that they will be able to finish that early next week. A lady who is a member of the Verbo church will be able to move in shortly. It is a small house, but big enough for a couple rooms. We are told that she has 4 children. We have many pictures which we will try to get posted when we return.

In addition to that, one of the most special moments of the trip occurred yesterday as we were finishing work. The house is a short drive or a medium walk from the Verbo campus, and we were waiting for the truck to return to pick us up as well as all of the building materials and tools. It had been threatening rain all day long, and the rain storm was finally upon us. It is the rainy season here, so the storms can last a while. Each of the neighboring houses had been helpful, primarily in terms of letting us run power cords for the saws. On one side, the neighboring family was also out building an overhang on their side door, and the kids were watching us working intently throughout the day. When it started to pour rain, they invited us in and welcomed us into their small house. Although they did not really know us at all, it was incredible for them to do that, and it was very neat for us to be able to see their home and their living experience, which was a very simple one. I don't know the exact number of people who lived in this small house, but it may have been about 10 or 12. We had a chance to talk with the 4 younger daughters, and using what basic Spanish we have, asked them their names, how old they are, and also if they believed in Jesus (to which they said yes!). One of the girls does not speak, it was not clear why, but her sisters also told me that she does not speak at all. She was the first one, after about 10 minutes of being inside, who gave me a big hug. This was, without a doubt, the highlight of my day. The love of Christ is most certainly here in Nicaragua, and to be able to share that love with our brothers and sisters in Christ is truly a great experience. As we left, we gave hugs to all and said goodbye.

We were also surprised to see that we had other visitors during our work experience ... 3 cows were roaming around and walked right around the house as we were working. We also saw some chickens as well.

We have been blessed to have the ability to continue morning devotions with the older boys. Today, we talked about Jeremiah 29:11 and God's plan for all us. Each one of these kids is special, and I am thankful that we had the opportunity to reinforce that God knows this, and has a particular plan in mind for each one of them.

Day 3
Greetings from Nica. Let the glory of the Lord rise among us. The day was jammed packed with activities for different members of our team. We began this morning with our project build for a lady who works at the verbo church. Her home is a 10x10 room with a small porch. Next to the home is a shallow well that holds little water. We worked with 4 other men from the community who are well versed in building homes. In the 6 hours today were were able to get three sides on the house and tomorrow our hope is to finish the floor and the roof. The afternoon allowed time for those who were interested in playing for the worship service this evening to prepare songs to lead worship. What an awesome sight to see the Body of Christ singing songs and worshiping Jesus Christ in spanish and english. As we are now approach the middle of our time being here, many of us have started to connect with kids at the Orpho. in different ways. It has been incredible to see the kids warm up to us and begin to share their hearts for Christ and how God is a part of there everyday life. This morning Darren led a bible study with them in Romans 8 and many of the boys knew it by heart. It is a great inspiration to see the word of God on their hearts and minds. The glory of the Lord is setting among us! Blessings from Nica. Tyler Tollefson

Day 2
Praise be to God for the amazing day here in Nicaragua that He has given us! We have all learned that we are operating on Nicaragua time, because of logistics, we were not able to start our construction project today, we are planning to do that tomorrow. However, this gave us more time with the kids today. They are truly amazing group of kids. For our Bible study, we translated some skits about the Fruits of the Spirit into Spanish, and two of the older boys played the parts of the characters and read the lines. Many of the kids laughed at the funny parts, and they all could recite all of the Fruits of the Spirit from memory. This is truly an amazing ministry down here, and we all feel blessed just to be a part of it.

While some of the younger members of our team were playing with the kids on the playground, one of the boys got scared on the Monkey bars. He looked at Luke and then said calmly, "God is watching over me, right?" Another special moment occurred when one of the boys, who up to that point had spoken no English at all, asked Ben "Do you believe in God?"

Although our bags are still in transit, we are making do with what we have and God has provided for us every step of the way. The people here are wonderful, everyone feels very welcome, and the meals they have prepared for us are terrific! Certainly my plans to start a diet have been put on hold :-)

During our morning devotion, one of the things we talked about is why has God brought each one of us here individually and as a team. We certainly do not have all of the answers, but with each hour that passes, God is working to reveal Himself to us and He has a specific purpose in mind for each us. As we experience God's love for us, we are trying to share that love with these kids, and in the process, we are getting back as much if not more than we are giving. Blessings, the Nicaragua team.

Day 1
We have finally arrived in Puerto Cabezas! Our travels started Monday morning with a prayer asking God to bless this trip and then we were off on our short bus ride to Dulles. A few plane rides, many card games, discussions, and a stayover in Managua later, we arrived Tuesday morning.

We were pleasantly surprised to find out that the kids at the Orphanage finished their exams early, and this morning was a short day of school and now they are done for the summer. So we will be able to spend much more time with them this week than we had previously planned, which is a blessing both for all of the us and hopefully for kids. For a good number of those in the group, this is a second or third visit here, and it was wonderful to see the reunions with the kids. Even though it may have been months or longer since many have been here, the kids remember them by name and even ask whether other family members are here.

Today we were able to spend all afternoon with the kids and played soccer, volleyball, played card games, did paper plate artwork (which was a great idea to do an art project with minimal resources), and just hung out with them which was very nice. Tomorrow we start our house building project!