Nicarauga Always Wins

Andrew and Jeremy about 10 hours into hanging at the Norfolk Airport


Ever since I started coming to Nicaragua, there has been a phrase that has remained a favorite…“Nicaragua Always Wins”. At least once a trip, something happens where our plans are completely shifted due to something Nicaraguan. For example we have had random national holidays pop up during a trip that we didn’t plan for, a bus driver who slept in, or a work project that couldn’t be started due to a lack of supplies. Well, this year Nicaragua beat us before we got started. Only one flight a day goes out of Atlanta, and half or our team missed that one flight. And when we arrived in Nicaragua we were missing 80 bags.

But in each of these instances over the years we have seen God’s hand at work when OUR PLANS are put on hold, and the same happened this year. We got to Nicaragua 24 hours late, and in that 24 hours we saw God’s grace over and over again. Our flight took off in Norfolk just minutes before a storm came rolling through and our pilot was within minutes of expiring his time, and we landed in Atlanta between storms. The team was absolutely great with their attitudes. Then once we arrived in Nica everyone pitched in and shared clothes, toiletries, and everything in between to make sure those of us had what we needed to make it through another day without our bags. And by God’s Grace we just officially got ALL of our bags! And everyone is here ready to hang with kids.
So to give you an update on the last 24 hours of our time in Nicaragua. We arrived and went straight to the Verbo church, had lunch and was welcomed by an OrphaNetwork representative. After lunch we FINALLY arrived at Casa Bernabe and our team of students pretty much ran off the bus to see the kids at the orphanage. Our kids who had been to Nicaragua before were reunited with their friends and all of the first timers jumped right in to love the kids. We ended the night with a time of large group games and skits with the older kids from Casa and a testimony from Roger (a team member who grew up at Casa)!


Lindsay at the feeding center!

Today we woke up, and those of us who came in yesterday went to the market while the rest of the team did a work project. Then we began our mission for the week which is to put on Vacation Bible School at two separate churches in a community called Nueva Vida. Trinity went to one church and Spring Branch went to the other. At the churches we helped with the feeding time for the kids, met the pastor of the churches and planned out the next three days of Vacation Bible School, which starts tomorrow!
Well, it has been a chaotic beginning to the trip, but as I sit here on the porch of the Team Center I am once again humbled by the fact that I am here again with such a great team. Thanks again for all of your prayers for our trip! Next post we’ll fill you in on all the excitement around the Vacation Bible School!


Logan and Karson loving on some kids.