Days 3 + 4 -- RICH AND FULL

If I had to describe the past two days in two words I would use RICH and FULL. Our team has gone hard, had a blast, done some really cool things, and have run harder jumped higher and splashed more than I thought possible with all of their Nicaraguan friends.

Yesterday (Saturday) started with a 9:30am trip to the pool with 50 kids from Nueva Vida. The sun was out, it was beautiful and the kids loved the pool. After the pool we took all 50 kids to a pizza place, the little girl next to me had only had pizza once before, and it was most likely not in an air conditioned pizza restaurant. The staff from the pizza place were so great and had the room set, plenty of pizza and drinks ready, and the whole outing was smooth and so fun. After pizza we went back to Nueva Vida with the kids, hung out for a bit, then went and set up a movie night for the kids from two churches in Nueva Vida. Movie night was fun, a little hectic (passing out pop corn and cotton candy to 250 nicaragua children is recipe for a little craziness), but the night ended perfectly with the sun down and every child wearing a glow stick bracelet. Smiles were had all around. At this point we’d been on the go for 10 hours and our team was hungry and ready for a break. We decided to treat them to a fun night out on the “Nicaraguan town” and we went to a local fast food restaurant for Fried Chicken and then ended our night with a trip to POPS –the ice cream shop. We arrived back to the team center 13 hours after we left, a very RICH and FULL day.

This morning we woke up, had an early breakfast, loaded the bus and went straight back to Nueva Vida for church – when we showed up a lot of the kids and all the staff were proudly rocking their new Kingdom Rock Palooza t-shirts. We then spent all day in Nueva Vida with the kids. Again our team went hard and came home exhausted and full. After church, where our team was thanked over and over again for being there, we treated the church staff and their families to a nice lunch. Then we had some down time full of crafts, dancing, and lots of pictures. The kids have learned if we take their picture, there’s a chance we will send a copy back down to them. To end the day, and hopefully get the kids excited about our Nicaragua Palooza tomorrow, we had a Brinka Brinka (Jump Jump – Bounce House) more popcorn and cotton candy to have our Nicaraguan fiesta to gain excitement in the community for the Palooza we start tomorrow. I’m trying my best to take it easy on these long days, so I set up a chair on the side of the church and just took in all of the joy and chaos. As I sat in my chair and looked down the road I saw more and more kids come out of the wood work for the fiesta. Our hope of gaining excitement for tomorrow was a success. We knew the team was wiped so we made sure to get back to the team center with a little time to spare before dinner. Then after dinner some of the team went over to the orphanage to celebrate the July birthdays with games and cake, then we planned out the palooza for tomorrow and had a great porch time lead by recent graduates, Bailey Kreiser and Lindsay Gould. RICH and Full. That is what we all feel right now. Tomorrow we will begin the palooza at two churches and visit a new EL Faro, a new sewing initiative to employ women who live in La Churreca (the dump of Managua). So for now, Buenos Noches from Nicaragua. - Natalia