If only my camera could catch what my eyes saw...

Day 6. Wednesday May 19 2010
        If my camera could catch all that my eyes saw all this trip just maybe Americans back home could understand the hopelessness down here.
        Government housing, Government Hospitals and Americans think they want more Government programs.
        This morning we painted building at SINAFA (the orphanage) This afternoon we went to House of Hope. It is a center for a recovery center for women who were once prostitutes and there children. We had a group of about 9-10 mothers's and there children. There were 44 all together.. Thats a lot of kids. I sat there and tried to figure out many children there were per mothers. We did a few dances and passed out juice and cookies along with crayons and coloring pages.. The children here were shy and did not attach as fast as the other children we have meet earlier in the week.

         I have to admit House of Hope was nothing like i thought it would be, it was dirty, and they were in rags, but it was safe and in the middle of no-where. We gave them some shoes, shampoo, and conditioner. Most of the kids had very little clothes and no shoes. It makes me wonder how long they've been there? and how many of them actually now whats going on?
      
         I'v been here 6 days and my Spanish is getting a tiny bit better.
         Update on the food, we have eaten out twice. When we went to the beach, we literary ate on the beach. yesterday we went to a pollo resteruart and had fried chicken  with fries and Cole slaw. it was pretty good. We have eaten at SINAFA twice, other than that we just eat at Shalom. The cooks here are good. They are trained to cook so that we don't get sick. The Pineapple is amazing we have it for breakfast every morning. We also have rice and beans.
        I think i am getting use to the heat down here. Some people have gotten sick on our team, but thankfully i haven't.
        Tonight us girls just wanted to get some chocolate, Karen talked to Dwayne. We hoped in the back of his truck and went to Le Union, its like a Wal Mart. After we got back we played a game were you put a ulcer in your mouth and and drink a fresca, and see if you can hold it in while it fizzes. It was fun to watch but i didn't do it.
         This week i have learned so much about the power of prayer. Nica's believe that through prayer God can do anything. In the state i feel we doubt God's power.

Day 7. Thursday May 20 2010
          This morning I woke up to the sound of a down pour, it was cool. It continued to rain through out the morning, leaving it very wet, but not as hot.
          This morning we went to another market. We only had about an hour there. It was much more of a tourist market. It much more cleaner. This afternoon we went to a school and did a program, there was about 300 kids. We did our everything skit, people where clapping. Afterwards i got to play frizebees some where playing soccer. We did a lot of bonding with Kings Castle, we sing and dance together we have a blast with him.
           My low today was that my camera broke, but thank goodness other people have theres. I feel like i'm starting to smell like it down here. Tonight us girls just stayed in are rooms and talked. Tonight the thunder shakes and the lighting lights up the whole sky.

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Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me"...Matthew 19:14

       

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Matthew 19:14

Day 4. Monday May 17 2010
       This morning we went to a hospital. My heart which broke the first night.. ached when i saw the kids. When we first got there we got the opportunity to take a tour of the hospital. We were able to see 2 of the 5-7 wings that the hospital was divided into. We saw the heart wing and the Pneumonia and Malaria wing. We had the great opportunity to pray over the sick children and there family members. The rooms were enter at your own risk. My heart aches tonight, it really does.. Some of the rooms held up to 7 kids, when really in perspective there rooms were not the big, and should have only held 4 to 5 patient in each room. In the hospital as a patient you are excepted to bring your own bedding along with a few other things. Mothers and fathers walk miles and miles.. took buses to get to this hospital which was said to be one of the biggest children's hospitals in Nicaragua. It was nothing but clean. 

         After we had went through and prayed our group was taken out into a court yard in the middle of the hospital.Here we did our Children's service, we danced and did skits. There was about 100-150 sick children plus there parents. It was a lot of fun. 
         This courtyard was everything but clean. The kids came out with Iv's in there little arms and legs. some had no shoes on, with a dirty little body. In America you wouldn't leave your hospital room with and IV, let along sit in the dirt in the hot sun. The parents of the sick children love having us pray over them. There faith seems so much stronger than ours... they have faith that can move mountains.
          After our skits and dances were done. We passed out cookies and juice, Dawane got out a bag of stuffed animals, they loved those.



          Tonight, we drove a little over an hour to a beach. We had a lot of fun tonight. It was different than our beaches back home, but it was fun. People are selling things, and there are stray dogs everywhere. We had dinner on the beach tonight. it was different. The boys had the chance to play soccer with some of the local surfers. A lot of the streets near the beach were brick so it was a pretty bumpy ride. 
           On the way home tonight, as i looked out of the bus window i noticed that a lot of people lwho lived near the beach lived in a little house, with dirt floors, and almost next to nothing but they have a big screen TV. I found out that to a lot of them  it is like insurance. They buy a big TV and if something goes bad or they need money they know that they can just sell there TV.
          The heat is starting to get some of the people on our team. Tonight i will fall asleep to the birds and the guard whistles and the cars.. and i will once again wake up to them in the morning. My heart is heavy.

   Did I tell you that we have a guard dog inside our compound. Its supposedly not friendly they let him guard at night, and than lock him up during the day.   









Day 5. Thursday 18 2010
       The smell is of sweat, dirt, humans waste, cattle, burning trash. Today we went to a suburb of the dump. We were told the dump was too dangers and that they were rioting, so we were advised not to go, so we ended up in a suburb of it. 
       Dirt floors, they go to the bathroom out in the open, there food came in a trash can. My heart is heavy. 
       We performed our skits and dances at the school. it was more like a roof with sides that only went half way up. We had a lot of fun with it. It was as hot as ever, but the children just wanted to be touched, and held, there little dust bodies pressed against our sweaty ones. priceless. They were dirty, with unbrushed hair, and flee bites all over there little bodies.. how could someone live like that.. But they had the prettiest smiles. We sat with them, and asked them there name, and what there favorite color was. they were such a blessing, and they loved taking photos. 



        One little boy that i had the chance to hold on my lap, pointed to the Ethan a boy on our team who was playing Jesus during the skit we were watching.. The little boy pointed and said "es Jesus" And i just smiles and said "si, es Jesus. Muy bein" Although my Spanish was not that good, and that the little boy couldn't understand anything i said in English. Him and I could communicate on the most important topic, Jesus Christ. This little boy was 5, and i fell in love with his perfect white smile. I wish i could have brought him home with me.. 
        This afternoon we went a orphanage for handicap. You could tell that there were people on our team a little uncomfortable. For me it wasn't a problem.. you just need to remember that no matter what, they are still a child of the most high God. 
        The place was small and we had almost no room to perform are dances and skits, but we tried our best. Some were unsociable and very shy. Others wanted to join in with our dancing and hold our hands and give us hugs. 
         Passing out cookies and juice one would have thought it like a birthday cake. They loved it. One of the leaders of the group and stayed back while the rest of the group went on around the orphanage and passed stuff out. While we stayed back we had the opportunity to feed this one very special lady. She was completely helpless all i prayed was God fill there hearts, make them whole. send people to love on them and supply there every need, physically and emotionally,  God made everyone for  a reason, God made everyone for a reason.. I don't know how many times i repeated that inside my head today.. 
         Before this trip i prayed the Brandon Heath song.. Give me your love for the broken hearted, give me eyes so i can see everything that i been missing.. people's hearts are breaking on my team.. We can see it and i know they can feel it.. For my own heart is aching.  
         Tonight for fun we went to pop's fro ice cream. it wasn't bad. i accentually ordered the wrong thing for me and Megan, but it was still good.Tonight is one of the first nights i will be going to bed by 9 there time. Everyone is worn out physically and emotionally... so i fall asleep to the noise of a third world country right outside these compound walls. 
          Ps. Did i mention the driving here is Loco! 


          

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Fellowship With Other Believers.

Day 3: Sunday May 16 2010
     Sleep, didn't wake up once last night. Today we spent 7 plus hours working on choreography for the upcoming week. We are working with a group called Kings Castle. They are great group of brothers and sisters in Christ. We had a lot of fun with them. 
     Church tonight was two and a half hours long. We attended a Assembly of God church with the Kings Castle group. Music was about an hour long. There worship is amazing, nothing like i have ever seen in the states. You could really tell that they wanted to be there, and that they were there to worship. They were singing, shouting, dancing, jumping, clapping, it was defiantly better than the stiffed neck people who fall asleep in church in America. I sat right beside Martin, He is one of our translators. It was really a blessing sitting by him, because he was able to translate what i could not understand. Also in church tonight we witness what they called a women who was "In Glory" I am skeptical to tell you the truth. Did I mention how hot it was. The church was packed full of people, people in the pews, people sat in the floor in between the pews. and people were outside watching through the windows and doors. It was awesome to watch how everyone seemed thirsty for what the preacher had to say. At the end of service they said a prayer for us, and we probably shook everyones hand twice.
     After the church service was over we were invited to have a little traditional meal. So we all pilled into a little room which was behind the church. We were served beans with a bread stick and some kind of cheese. They also served us a desert which was amazing, it was like a rice pudding with a cinnamon flavor. They also served us Pepsi the interesting thing about that one of there leaders Oliver said, Did you know that this is Obama's choice of drink? We all laughed. We'll by this time of the night most of us had to use the restrooms, so we got up and went over to the restrooms, Everyone ended up holding it till we got back to were we were staying. They were unbearable.  Before leaving we sang a song, How Great Is Our God. Our team sang it in English, and they sang it in Spanish. It was amazing to feel the presents of God that night in the little room behind the church.
     The bus ride home from church was one full of excitement and joy. We sang every song that we could think of, lets just say it sounded bad.
      Everyones feet and hands are swollen. Food so far is mas-o-manos. Some is better than others, but we do have rice and beans for every meal. Which i am loving. Tonight Kelsey tried playing a joke on the girls, she took boards out of peoples bunks so that when you get in them you fall through. lucky we found them before anyone got on them. We are not happy with her. We made her put them all back. I'm pretty sure you sweat in the shower down here and the flies are everywhere.

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My first Steps Off the Airplane.

    

No training or preparation could have prepared me for the things that I experience those two weeks in Managua Nicaragua.


Day 1:
     Flight was delayed in Austin, Texas thanks to thunderstorms. We reached Nicaragua around 3am (American time) That morning we had been told to pray about getting past customs once we were in the Nicaragua Airport. We were told that groups going before us had been stopped and that the things they had brought were not making it through customs. Along with our personal items we had filled and brought rubber maid containers and green army looking bags filled with shoes and stuffed animals. No one bothered to stop us that night. They let us walk right out of the airport, with our bags being untouched and unchecked. What an amazing way to see God answer prayer on our first day.
     Tiredly we loaded a bus waiting outside the airport for us and began to make our way through the city of Managua. (Did i mention as soon as you stepped off the plane you began to sweat.) Although dark outside,  I was able to see that which I had never seen before. Coming into this trip my main prayer was that God would break my heart for what broke His, my heart was broke that night on the bus. I saw homeless, prostitutes, little business, graffiti everywhere, trash, and numbers of little shacks people called homes. My heart broke for these people that i hadn't even meet yet. These people who knew no different than the life they had or were living in.  Not only did my heart ache for the people of Nicaragua, but it began to ache for the people back home. We have so much to be thankful for and if anyone would just take one bus ride through Managua.. I'm sure they would applicate their medium side house and two car garage.

Bed Time: around 5am (american time)

Day Two: Saturday, May 15 2010
     Sleep not so well last night, but made it through the day. Weather, one minute sunny the next minute rainy, always hot.
     The streets are filled with poverty and filth, my heart breaks for the people of Nicaragua.
      We went to a Market today. People and items are constantly being shoved in your face. The meat section of the Market is enough to make one be a vegetarian. The raw meat lies out in the heat, fly infested with stray dogs waiting for the perfect moment to grab a piece. Things you find there are very cheap, its amazing that they make a living off of it, but than again they are not living on much. Kids are parent less,  filthy and constantly begging. The smell is nauseating at times. I don't believe I have ever seen so many bananas.We meet two kids today, a brother and a sister. They sell candy while there mom is a prostitute in the same Market.
      This morning I had the opportunity to go with Duane to pick up breakfast which was pastries and juice. We stopped at a bakery and also got to go into there version of a Walmart. It has a lot of what you would find in an America Walmart.
 I got to meet Erika tonight, I was so excited. Before the trip we were matched up with kids at the orphanage that we would be praying for and get to meet and hang out with once we were in Nicaragua. At the orphanage we celebrated birthdays of the kids there at the orphanage. Erika is very shy and knows no English. Communication got better as the night went on. My Spanish is not the greatest.
     The kids down here are such a joy. Today felt like it was never going to end, but here it is finally drawing to an end. I will fall asleep with the nose of Nicaragua right outside our compound walls.

To Be Continued.

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