Mixing the blog up with a post by Amy!

What a day! Today was fantastically wonderful for several reasons. But before you get to hear about it - a recap of some very good moments pre-this-day.

While I was getting into bed I watched an ant running for its life (on MY pillow - they terrorize our beds!) and said to it, "You know I'm going to kill you, why you gotta run away like that?"

At the breakfast table Niquelle said to sleepy Greg "Leche me" which she meant to mean "pass me the milk for my cereal."  All of us had a fit of overtired, hysterical, uncontrollable giggles because 'leche' in spanish means 'milk'. So put them together and she said "Milk me."  Five minutes later, a confused Dave asked what happened and Niquelle (still laughing ridiculously) said "I told you to MILK ME!!!"

But as for the wonderfulness of this day, well here it is:

Again we were greeted preciously by dozens of smiling Managuan children. (Really though, I would pay money to see faces like these every day.) Before we even got out of the truck the kids had left their seats in class to grace us with hugs and questions of "Quieres jugar?" We may not speak spanish like pros but we definitely play like pros! Most of our day was spent with the much anticipated futbol and frisbie but we were aslo able to make sure every class got to make a wordless bible which the kids and even one directora loved.

Already God is working in our team and as for myself, well, he has changed my expectation entirely. I came into the trip thinking that I speak un poco de español and would be totally helpless in communicating with the kids. So I was completely willing to let my contribution be in the labor our team would do for the school. However, since Monday I have done nothing but run, kick, smile, throw, sweat, clap, juggle (con balones de fútbol), smile some more, and did I mention run, oh and kick. I now see that smiling and play are the universal languages and English or Spanish have very little to do with friendship and teaching. When I heard yesterday that we would actually be away from the kids to work on a soccer goal project for them, I was so happy that we would be making something the kids are going to go totally bonkers for. I was also sadened by the fact that I will have to give up the time I have here that I would much rather spend getting dirty with the kids.


Ok, that was about el dia now time to hear about la noche. Before you even know what happened I just want you to know that it was a total SUCCESS. We and probably 50 students or so gathered in a parking lot near our lodging where our team sang them songs, most notably a song Dana taught the kids about everlasting love that was muy divertido to dance along with and the song of the week "Mighty to Save", aka "Grande Para Salvar" that we learned en espanol and tried to teach to some of the students in english. After the songs we did two performances, the first being a comedy about how we are stuck in sin and not even the strongest man can pull us away from it - release from sin comes from Jesus alone. The second skit was about the worldly distractions that keep us from having the kind of dependant, fulfilling relationship we should have with Christ our creator. These were non-vocal performances and it was amazing to see the kids react and understand how serious the meaning behind them both were, I also think they enjoyed watching Greg prance around with soccer balls stuffed in his shirt to enhance his muscels (as a heavy weight lifter in the comic skit) - not that he really needed them...


Following the skits we heard two powerful testimonies by Dana and Ezekiel that could speak to everyone present about suffering but also the confort and protection that Christ can give to all his children.


As we do every night we convened on confortable couches to discuss and reflect our experiences through out the day/week. This evening we discussed spiritual gifts in reguard to missions work and discussed what we were seeing in ourselves and others. For some we are seeing not only what our strengths are but also the weaknesses we have that we need to work on through out the week but in the future as well. It was nice to hear that our team members view Kendra and I as goers, always ready play, interact, or help out somewhere, while others are great Mobilizers like Niquelle with her preperation of the crafts. Some of us are also finding out we are Prayers like Dana and others are Speakers like Ezekiel and Heather. Although I only mentioned a few of the serious stuff that is happening in all of us, our gifts continue to grow every day. 

On another note: the locals think that Americans' response to being whisttled at in the back of a truck is a a totally unflattering chicken squawlk. To our surprise that did not deter their attention.

AND as a community we probably have over 200 bug bites. Pray for our legs!