Well we are at least one country closer. Though it seems like we are worlds or centuries or eons apart from where we were when we “woke up” this morning.

Our day started early as we left for the airport shortly after 4 a.m. We were loaded into our van…17 people with 16 pieces of luggage and 15 pieces of carry on in one little van. Esteban, like a champ, got us there in no time at all by taking quite the shortcut. At one point Denver and I looked up and realized we weren’t really on a road at all. But then we saw a jogger and we realized civilization must be nearby.

We had many friends join us to say goodbye to us at the airport. Shirley and Richard came with their sons Milton and little Richie. Julio came along with them. Evelyn caught a bus with her daughter Tatiana and Hector. It was a warm departure…no tears, just moments of happiness shared with each other. We were happy to hug our friends one last time.

It was a little harder to say goodbye to Esteban and Will. They have truly become part of our team. Esteban has taught us much about the Nicaraguan culture and the intense sacrifice of a servant as he takes care of Wilber in Corwin’s absence. And Will has become our friend. He has helped us translate and he has shown us his excitement in becoming a part of our home. We are excited to have him home, God willing, very soon.

Our flights this morning were over in the blink of our tired eyes. We were peaceful as we boarded the plane and all fell asleep quite easily as soon as we got into our seats. It was nice, really, to be able to rest our minds and hearts as we leave this place we love.

Houston came and went and we arrived in LA around 3 this afternoon. There was a mix of emotions…some relief in the familiarity of home, some reality in the fact that we had truly left, and some anticipation in wondering where we go from here. We were met by Curtis’s brother, Ryan, and his band of interns from a church called Cornerstone Church here in LA. They graciously picked us up from the airport and brought us to their church where they have a skateboard and bmx park night. We were going to be a part of their evening, helping them set up and take down as well as just chilling with some kids.

The night started out great, the boys enjoying the skating and video games and the girls trying to get to know some of the people they have met. But, it was stopped short by a power outage about half way through. Corwin had been asked to share a bit of his testimony with his adoption with Wilber during something they call “halftime”. Even without power, we were able to gather together to hear a bit of his message before disbanding prematurely for the night. It was a cool experience, even though brief.

After the youth night we headed to In N Out Burger and started to get our first tastes of American fast foods. It wasn’t long before our tummies figured out we weren’t in Nicaragua anymore.

We are staying at the intern’s house. It’s a home owned by the church for those interning in the youth department. Two friends from home, Taylor Pfeifer and Curtis’ brother Ryan Hango, are interning here this year. It is cool to see where they have been living.

We are exhausted as we crawl into bed tonight. Just tired from the processing and the emotions and the traveling. We need rest. Both sleep and just peace and quiet.

Tomorrow morning we will have one last team meeting before heading to Huntington Beach for breakfast and then to the airport. We will be meeting the Belize team at LAX, an interesting time and place for our reunion. We are sharing our flights home with them and are looking forward to hearing more about there time there and to arrive back home with them.

We can’t wait to be home soon; to see our friends and family and share this time with you. I’m sure you guys are probably looking forward to having your young ones back as well.

As we sleep, please pray for continued safety in travel as well as our tummies. Some of us have the rumblies, especially Braden. Pray we are all feeling well as we come home.

So I believe this is me signing off. It has been an incredible journey to share with you and I’m grateful for your faithfulness in prayer and support. It has been an honour to share this with you. Bless you dearly.

In Him,
The Project Serve 2009 Nicaragua Team.

This is it. The last time I will write to you from my bottom bunk at the team house from the Orfanato Verbo in Veracruz, Nicaragua for 2009. We are all packed and awaiting our departure for the airport. We’ve said goodbye…and now we are coming home.

Its funny how we say we have no expectations but yet, when its all said and done, we realize we did because they weren’t met. In some ways, for some of us, that may have been the case today. We all had mapped out our exit strategy, how the goodbyes would play out and what it feel like. We learned today that it doesn’t always end the way we expect it to.

We enjoyed a little sleep in this morning because Sunday school at the church we are connected to starts at 10 o’clock. The girls were so excited to get up and get dolled up for church. We were excited to see our church friends again…to sing with them and play with them and hand out backpacks and other items to them. We had an extra excitement in our step as we loaded the van for the church. But, that quickly changed. Because when we got to the church, no one was there. It was locked up. The gate was just barely open. The doors were still locked and barred. Sometimes church starts late…but so late? We were so unsure of what was going on. Disappointment spread throughout us. We had invited so many kids from the community to come to Sunday school. Did they just cancel church?

Yes, yes they did. We drove down the road to find Shirley at a Pulperia. We asked her what was going on and she made a phone call to the pastor that provided all the answers we needed. You see, when we were in church on Saturday night, there was another Caucasian couple there. They were much older and the pastor welcomed them and said they were part of a “crusade” from the other side of Nicaragua. They were missionaries. Little did we know those same missionaries were planning a “door to door visit” morning the next morning and that, because of that, church would be cancelled. We were devastated by the news. There was no way to salvage it at all. Instead of getting that one last hug with our favourite little friends or singing that one last song or taking that one last photo…we got no closure. We drove away feeling like there were kids we may never see again and we just didn’t get to say goodbye to. It was a little tough to chew on.

We headed to the work site to take a team picture and see if some of our friends from there were around so we could hand out some of the back packs that we didn’t get to the day before. We had fun snapping pictures and playing with these children which have become like our little brothers and sisters for the last time. It seemed the disappointment from church’s cancellation was wearing off.

After our last team lunch at Shirley’s we split up. The girls went back to the house we had built so we could decorate it for the evening’s celebration. The boys headed over to Hector’s house, the house we built last year, for a chance to play with Hector and his friends one last time. Us girls had fun decorating with Shirley, blowing up balloons and tying up crepe paper. Shirley was excited for the celebration later tonight to dedicate the house. The boys enjoyed playing soccer with Hector and his friends. Those boys have such a strong connection with the teams who come down with us that its hard to deny how wonderful they are.

We were fortunate to be able to spend a good amount of time with the community kids as well as at the orphanage on our last day. The kids get bussed into Managua for church and sometimes, afterwards, some of the kids go to the houses of others in the church for the evening. As we approached the orphanage in our van, there were not many kids playing outside. It seemed that some of our friends wouldn’t be there. We felt a little disappointed as we looked for some of our kids who weren’t around but then tried to spend the time we had enjoying our time with the kids who were there. The boys played outside and the girls spent time dancing in the dorm or braiding hair outside. It seems like our whole team has adopted a few little friends…ones whose faces light up when they see us or who call our names or come running just to us. It’s like they have claimed us. And we are happy to be claimed. Curtis spent time playing guitar for his little friend Panchito. Kirk hoisted little Richard up onto his shoulders and carried him around all day. Angelo showed Braden his favourite spot to go when he wanted to be alone. It was our last chance to connect with them. We were unsure if they realized that we were about to leave and be gone for the very last time…so instead of dwelling, we just played. We loved them with every last bit of energy we had. We didn’t have to say goodbye just yet…we would be able to sneak into the dorms after our celebration service tonight and say our last goodbye.

Walking back to the team house as the sun was setting on our last day was so humbling. God blessed us with smiles and memories of things that have changed us forever. As a chance to commemorate this time together, we shared our last supper together at the team house. Our tables sit underneath a roof but there are no walls around us, allowing the sounds of the jungle and the light from the sunset to soak into our scene. We cherished it as our final meal together as a family here in Nicaragua.

Once supper was done we headed off to the house for the celebration. I had the distinct pleasure of wearing a very brightly coloured Nicaraguan dress that Mama Shirley had gotten as a wedding gift for me. At first I was a little self conscious, the team bugging me that I was in a moo-moo…but when I saw the absolute joy it brought Shirley to see me in her country’s beautiful clothes…it made it all worth it. It reminded me that one thing this place teaches us to is to let go. To look out and see what we can do for others and care not about what we ourselves are fearful of. To love with no boundaries.

The house celebration was a party! There were balloons, streamers, and a yard full of little red plastic chairs. People from the community and the church filled those chairs with warm smiles and handshakes. The church had set up its sound system and keyboard and a few microphones and it was turned up so the neighbours couldn’t ignore that we were praising God there tonight. We sang and worshipped together and a brother from the church gave a message. Our team got up and sang Open the Eyes of my Heart in English and Spanish and then sang another special song that we had practiced for them that just declares how wonderful our God is. It seemed perfect to share the gift of song with them…because we know it means so much to them. And to see them respond with such love.

The woman and her family that we gave the house to were so elated. Orlando, her son in the wheel chair, sat at the side with a smile on his face, excited to make his new home. Sbietta, her daughter, wore a plastic crown…smiling all night long. I don’t think she would have needed that crown for us to treat us like the princess she is. She danced with us and smiled with us and held Jaclyn’s hand all night long. At the end of the service, their family wanted to give us all presents to show their gratitude. We all got a little wooden box, a keychain, and a glass bottle of coke, as a memento of our time there. Such tiny gifts, but what they meant to us was larger than even we could know.

In what seemed like a moment proclaiming the sovereignty and goodness of God, we cut the ribbon to the house and opened the door with the key. This was it…the house was theirs. Everyone rushed inside and danced and took photos and sang along with the loud worship music in the background. It was such a time of celebration…what a great house party! It was the perfect way to end our time there.

It seemed to soon when Corwin said we had to say goodbye. It was hard to hold the tears back when we were looking into the faces of those little ones, who had become our family, and say goodbye, knowing full well we may never see them again. We had shared so much with them. They are forever imprinted on our hearts and we will surely never forget them. We so said goodbye, we held them and told them we loved them, and then we got in the van and drove away. On our way home we dropped Juan off at his house, presenting him with payment for his work and a love offering the kids had gotten together of all their extra cordobas, to give him a little more help. We parted ways and headed back to the orphanage.

As we drove up, an unsettling feeling entered some of our stomachs as we saw that the lights were dark and there were no kids outside. It was only 15 minutes earlier than we usually stayed there…but it seemed that that may have been enough for them to hussle off to bed. Corwin popped his head into the boy’s dorm and saw they were still awake. With hope, us girls ran to the girls dorm…hoping for the same outcome. But, to our disappointment, no such luck. We knocked on the door til some one awoke to unlock it. We stumbled in the dark, trying to find the beds of the girls we loved so much. We found two, and only one successfully woke up. We tried to tell her we were leaving…but she didn’t understand and just said goodbye and told us to have a good sleep. The girls left the dorm feeling sad. I went back to Soche’s bed and woke her again. She told me good night, again, and I looked at her and, in my very broken Spanish. Told her we are going back to Canada and the team wouldn’t be back. Her eyes shifted. She got it. She sat up in her bed and blinked at me. She suddenly threw her arms around my neck and told me she’d love me forever. I returned the love, held her and kissed her cheek, and tucked her back into bed.

And that was that. Goodbye, for the most part, was said. Not in the ways we would have liked…but it couldn’t be corrected now. It was what it was.

Our team meeting tonight was quiet and somber. We shared our thoughts from the day…speaking with emotion and sadness and a sense of awareness of our departure. Some shared of their frustrations from the day’s events…the people we didn’t get to see or share one last moment with. Some of us just spoke of frustration with hope…and not knowing how to believe that these kids can actually have it. Some tried to rap their minds around the possibility of never seeing some of these people again. Some just spoke of our fond memories, the time we had here, how we and only we have shared it together, and how on earth we are gonna come home and help you see all that God has done. One last time we prayed together, huddled up, and gave God the glory for all He has done.

It is thrilling to see the way God unites those who love Him. It’s inspiring to know that we can be filled with love even when our own ability to love fails. We have been exposed to living a God-infused life and I don’t think we’ll ever be able to forget that. We have learned to love people we have just met and can hardly communicate with. And we have grown to love and sacrifice for one another. We have become a family, with each other and the people in this community, and nothing here on earth will ever separate that.

We have spent the last few hours extending our last bit of Nicaragua. Sleep has escaped us and a carafe of hot coffee has been our companion. We have sat in our rocking chairs and laughed together. We sorted through our thoroughly messy rooms to find our things, potentially marked with perma-dirt, and pack them into our bags. We’ve thrown crickets at Cloe till she almost pees her pants and we’ve run off into the jungle with our new machetes and chopped branches and mangoes (with Kirk at the helm, of course). We’ve played UNO with Wilber and stretched out in our hammock. We’ve taken one last cold shower. We’ve done as much as we can to be a part of this place to the last very moment. Its all we can do to make it last a little bit longer.

And now here we are, about to leave for the airport, and transport into what, right now, seems like another dimension. For some our transition will be easy and simple, for others…another culture shock waiting to happen. Whatever it holds for us, we’re in it together, and that’s all we need to know right now.


Thank you for walking with us. Your comments on the blog have been ones of inspiration and strength and encouragement. It is amazing to know you are following with us and trying to make sense of this journey we’re on. Its comforting to know that many of you will know the names of the faces that are ever imprinted on our hearts and that when we speak them, you will understand.

Please join with us in prayer as we make our way home. Pray for health and rest and safety. Pray for Corwin, as he leaves his son, and pray that God keeps fresh in our hearts the lessons we’ve learned here.

We’ll write again from LA…24 hrs from home.

Blessings,
The Team

As you are reading this we are most likely starting our last full 24 hours here. We probably have emotions running high through our minds and hearts and are thinking and feeling things we never knew we could. We are in a bittersweet place…anxious with the thought of home…but heartbroken to think of leaving this place. In the next 24 hours, both emotions will run vividly through us.

Because all of the work that we need to do is completed at both work sites, today we got to spend time with a lot of families and kids in the communities. It was awesome. Not having as much work as we first assumed has been such a blessing for us because we have had so much opportunity to play with kids and do other things that have opened our eyes to the reality of this place.

We went to the worksite this morning to see the finished project. A few people, like Denver and Marshall who had been working at the other site, hadn’t seen if for a few days now. There was a roof fastened to it, doors in place, and some bars being put on the window. As we walked around and took pictures and visited with the kids who we have come to really love, there was an excitement about the house. A family was now going to LIVE here…there were going to have a house to themselves which they had never had before. For me, the thought was overwhelming.

It was fun to watch the kids get excited about the parts we helped with. I talked with Anthony about how, if we hadn’t started this whole process, this house wouldn’t be here. Anthony just kept saying that that thought blows his mind. He then felt even more blessed when he got asked to help weld some bars into the windows. It means something very special to put your fingerprint on something so huge.

We continued to spend time in the committee all day. We went to a Mini Super (small supermarket) to get a few things that will remind us of Nicaragua once we are home. We also visited Evelyn’s house. We loaded the van up with backpacks and clothes from the packs we took down so we could hand them out to the kids in the community there. We had made some back packs for specific little friends, and others just for those who would fit the clothes and things inside of it. It was a hard experience for us. We only had so much and there were many more hands to give to. We started by bringing stuff into Evelyn’s house and handing it out from there. But more and more kids came and more and more was needed. Denver and I hopped in the van to hand things out and all of a sudden there were kids we didn’t know, moms with babies, even grandmas standing at our open door with hands out. It was heartbreaking. We wanted to give them everything we could. But we knew just giving them that would not be enough.

The orphanage was next on our list of places to drop stuff off. We brought duffle bags full of toys, hygiene products, clothes, and stuffed animals to them. Since we cannot give backpacks to specific kids and not others, we lined them up along a pic-nic table to pick their items. They loved to sift through everything and pick clothes and toys that they would like. They had fun showing us their new treasures…laughing and playing with each other. One little boy named Richard got a Yahtzee game. Right after he took it, with delight on his face, he tripped and fell and the top, the whole game part, broke off. He lost most of the pieces and was so sad. But, in moments, he realized he still had a part that worked and he went back to being content and excited. He got over it and made the best of it. We could learn a lot of lessons from him.

After supper we had the privilege of going to the youth service at our church. There has been a special speaker in town for the last week and he was speaking last night. Because of him, there has been a lot of people coming to church every week. The little tiny room was packed and overflowing out the back of it. Of course, there was music. So loud that I’m sure the whole village could hear it. We sang and danced and clapped. We also had the beautiful chance to join into the service. We had prepared a song to sing together in both English and Spanish; Open the Eyes of my Heart. We got up as a team to sing and the joy on people’s faces was incredible. Then, after finishing the English part of the song, it was unbelievable to lead the worship of so many Nicaraguans, singing with us in a language most of us hardly know. There was a powerful unity, a oneness in the body of Christ, that resonated with each word. The sound of our voices mixed together is what I would expect angels to sound like…not necessarily perfect, but unified in the love of our God.

Jaclyn and Braden both had the distinct honour in sharing their testimony in the service, with the help of Esteban. They shared about what being a follower of Christ in your teens years is like in Canada. They were open and honest and so well spoken. I sat with tears in my eyes as I watched them, so proud of how far this team has come and how much they have been stretched.

We got a chance to stop by the orphanage and say good night to our little ones as we were heading back to the team house. They were full of energy from the Saturday off and the gifts they had received. Many of the young ones just carried around the dolls and toys we had brought them and wouldn’t let them go. They have all come to know us. They often call us by name as we walk up to them. They run to us with open arms and don’t let go. They are precious little parts of us now, never to be separated even by time and space.

As I was playing with two little girls that I have come to love very much over the years, I had a stark realization. I had printed off some pictures of me and some of the kids from last year and brought them to them the other day. Today when we were visiting, I walked up to one of the little girls beds and she was looking at a photo album. I asked her to show it to me. As I looked at it, I saw the pictures I gave her first in the book. Then she continued to flip the pages. And I saw similar pictures as the ones I had taken with her…but with different faces in my place. Picture after picture there was a new person, holding her and smiling or having her sit in their lap or hold her hand. And it gave me a sick feeling in my stomach. As the week has progressed the team has communicated feelings of guilt for leaving these kids, like every one else in their life. When I watched this girl flip through this photo album, I felt the same thing. Are we just a face in a picture that comes and goes? I felt like all of these people had just loved and left this girl. It made me angry and sad and I felt alone for her.

Later, as we were walking back to the team house from the orphanage, I was talking with Curtis as we both felt that same guilt creeping in on us, and then we realized something. I would rather have that little girl have a photo album full of pictures of people who have come and given her love then her not having one picture cuz no one has come. These pictures are reminders to her of God’s constant love given to her through different people at different times. She is learning to trust him, solely, and know that He will always take care of her. The thought warmed me. We need not feel guilty for leaving now. We just need to acknowledge that we are an extension of the long term love that God is showing them.

In our team meeting tonight, we talked about the inevitable…leaving. How are we gonna just leave this place? This place that has now become a part of us…sewn into our hem. It cannot be separated from our being. God has taught us things and shown us things here that we could have never learned with the distractions of home. And though home offers comforts and a normal we are used to, we have realized that we are now part of a “new normal”. When we first got here there was so much that was novel and unique, but now it just feels like home. Its normal to smell burning garbage around every corner…to see dogs wandering in and out of people’s homes, to have feet so dirty they look burned, to eat beans at every meal, to have people pop their heads in your car when you are stopped at signs or lights, to fall asleep hot and sweaty from the heat around us, to have bats fly very low overhead, and to have geckos crawl up our walls, to have children ramble to us in a language that we don’t understand and then to just smile and laugh with them…these are the things that feel normal to us. Its in these situations that we don’t feel displaced or abnormal. It is strange to be caught between two worlds…one that is our permanent home and one that has come to be our home for this small time. How do we leave one normal for another?

The team’s mentality is clear; savour every moment, treasure each smile, give more energy than you have, engage in the family we have built, and leave with absolutely no regrets. That is clear in their days here. The next 24 hours will be filled with much emotion and heart break, but every second will be worth it.

Thank you for your continual commitment to lift us up in prayer. How grateful we are for knowing that you are behind us, encouraging us through the Lord. We need you now…as we enter into this vulnerable time of saying good bye.
Please pray for:
-our goodbyes; that we would give all we have in these last few hours
-Corwin; as he says goodbye to Will until they meet again
-our friend Meg visiting the orphanage; she got very sick today and has to fly home on Monday. Pray she recovers and can spend one last full day with the children, she means so much to them.
-the house dedication tomorrow night; that we can celebrate together that goodness of God and the new house for this family
-the continued health of our team; we are run down, tired, under-slept, and emotional. Pray our health stays strong in the next few days as we leave and travel home
-The Belize Team; who we are sure are going through many of the same feelings and emotions as they leave. Pray also for their leader, Kristin, who has an infection on her leg from bug bites. Pray their last days are filled with love and laughter.

It seems weird to say we will see you soon…but we will. We continue to be reminded of your partnership with us every day. We love you. So dearly. Know you are being prayed for as well.

God IS good…

-Chan & the team

Hello again to you all. I’m excited that we have been able to post every day so we can share with you guys what is going on here in Nicaragua. It seems absurd, as I write to you today, that there are only two more full days left here in our new home. Where did the time go? It has swept past us and left us scrambling to just take in as many sights and sounds and smells and tastes that we can before we leave here Monday morning.

We had many new experiences today. It seems that, this trip, we have just had so many opportunities to do things we’ve never done before. New connections have brought us to different places and God has just continually taught us more and more through them.

As Corwin has been walking along the path of his adoption process, he has had a chance to share with many people in different places the things he has been doing here in the past several years. Many people have been inspired and blessed by his love and devotion to this country. One such person was a judge that he encountered. This judge was so moved that he asked if Corwin would consider helping out a cause that was near and dear to him. In many of the small towns outside of Managua there are very few and hard to reach schools. Some children, especially young ones, can’t go because they cannot ride the bus or travel that distance. It is a terrible thing for communities that are saturated with little minds wanting to learn. This judge goes to a church in Managua that has set up a kindergarten in a small town. The church completely supports it and pays for it. The judge asked if Corwin would consider paying a visit to this kindergarten while we were here. Corwin asked what their needs were and he said that they would really love to repaint as it hasn’t been done in quite some time. Corwin felt like it was our honour and privilege to visit the kindergarten and bring them some paint.

The kindergarten was one hour away from the orphanage. As we drove we took in the country side of Managua, the dry fields and the trees and the little shacks at the side of the road. When we got to the town we were amazed when we saw how small the kindergarten was. In one tiny little room there was 70 kids!! Just 70 little kids running around and listening and learning. A man at the kindergarten explained that the church pays for as much as it can, providing the kids with teaching and a meal every day. It is the responsibility of a different family every day to prepare the meal for all the little kids. They have no school supplies, so they are only taught by ear. The kindergarten seemed like a positive place to be…and they were sure excited to get our paint. They started painting before we even left!

The children loved us. They smiled and laughed and played with us. We didn’t have long to stay, so as we were leaving the kids ran up to the edge of the yard yelling “Adios!” at us and waving their little arms off. It was humbling…to realize we have an education system so advanced that so many just grumble about attending. We have an ideal education class size of 20, or whatever the number is, and these 70 kids just squish in this little hot room and scrounge up as much knowledge as they can. The contrast seemed so blaring.

After we left the kindergarten we headed to the market place, also another fun experience. On the way Corwin taught us the boundaries of the market area, which is huge and is easy to get lost in. He taught us how to barter, explaining that it's very offensive to agree on a price and then try to continue to barter down again. And he also told us to just have fun as we fumbled with our Spanish asking for different colours and sizes and products.

The team did so well with it. It seems this team has been extraordinarily willing to use Spanish as much as possible to communicate. They pick up words left and right and are constantly asking questions, which is what we like to see! They had fun picking out their nick nacks for friends and family and comparing all the good deals that they got.

After the market we headed back to Veracruz. We needed to put some finishing touches on the mural in the house, finish the project for Evelyn, and sort through our donations so we can all make a back pack up for a kid who we have connected with in the community as well as dividing everything else up for the orphanage. The hole which we were digging at this year’s project is as far as it can go now and so we don’t need to be digging any longer.

Marshall, Denver, and Will headed to the worksite at Evelyn’s. They did whatever they could do to help, mixing cement and filling trenches. They loved working for this woman and her family. Her hospitality last year spoke to us all and she was also so humble and grateful. She has a beautiful smile and an ability to communicate her love without words. It was our honour to provide her with this.

Erin, Jaclyn, and Bobbi went to the house to finish the mural. We ended up painting all four walls of the room. Three walls have green paint (for grass) up to about the middle. The main wall of the room has a sunset with daisies and sunflowers. The wall to its right has a tree and some horses, running on the horizon. The wall to the main wall’s left just had hills on it…and we let the kids have those hills to pain flowers and hand prints on as they wish. The last wall at the back was just painted a mish mosh of colours. On that wall we painted “Dios es Amor” (God is love) in big letters. It was our pleasure today to put the finishing touches on it all. Sbietta, the little girl going to be living in that room, and Cindy, her cousin and best friend who she currently lives with, were happy to watch us as we completed the project. We have grown to love these girls…playing with them and braiding their hair and getting them to paint along side of us. They are near and dear to our hearts and their smiles have encouraged us all week long that we are doing something so much greater for them than we realize. When we’ve been discouraged…one look at them changes everything.

Back at Shirley's, our duffel bags full of donations exploded on the ground as we began to fill all the backpacks we brought with us. Because the at the orphanage they share everything, we cannot just give one kid a back pack and one now. We will huge duffle bags with things and let them come and pick a few items. But we can make back packs for our little friends from the worksite or from church or from the community. We’re able to pick clothes and toys that would suit each of them. It was fun to make up our back packs together and be excited about giving a gift to these new friends of ours.

If you looked out the window through the gate of Shirley’s house, you could see a swarm of kids. It was like they all knew what was going on and, maybe, if they could, just getting a glimpse would guarantee them a back pack. It made me sad to know we don’t have enough for them. That all the stuff we could bring down, trip after trip, could never be enough. It was a sobering thought.

Because it was Friday, we got to eat supper at Delpha’s. Delpha is a lady that has a fried chicken stand outside her house on weekends. She makes chicken and platanos (plantain chips). We like to support her business and eat her yummy food. As well, it gives us a chance to spend some time in the community.

After supper we headed to the orphanage to play. The kids were excited to see us and ready to tire us out. We ran around with them, skipped with them, played soccer with them, and laughed with them. They rode on our shoulders and held our hands and became like sons and daughters or little brothers and sisters to us. Part way through our time there we all got called into the dining hall for a Bible study. We sang some songs and then the director of the orphanage read from the Bible. The older kids seemed to listen intently, but some of the younger ones nodded off. Erin and Bobbi had two of the cutest little girls I have ever seen fall asleep in their arms. We had the honour of tucking carrying those girls to bed and tucking them in. We told them we loved them and wished them good night. There is nothing more satisfying then telling an orphan that you love them as they are about to go to sleep.

This week, at the orphanage, I met a woman named Meg. Meg is a volunteer that comes down on her own accord twice a year from Virginia. She came with a missions team for the first time in 2003 and fell in love with the orphanage and the children. She remembers everything about them…their stories, their backgrounds, their families. She is just like a mom to some of the girls who she has seen grow up in the last several years. She is so loving with them and they love her…they bury their faces into her and hug her and tell her they love her. Some even call her mom. The girls on our team have been getting to know her little by little and hear her story. It is so comforting to see God calling people, consistently, to this orphanage. To know people like Corwin and Meg don’t just walk into and out of these kids lives…but that they keep coming back, showing them that there are people who will not abandon them. Meg was elated when I told her of Wilber’s adoption. She said she will get her whole church, who has sent many teams down, to pray for it. God moves…so evidently…and we are seeing it all around us here.

After playing at the orphanage we had a surprise for the team. We all got in the van and, as we started to drive away, Corwin “surprised” us by telling us we were going to…the gas station! It seems silly, but the hoots and hollers and excitement that shouted outta the back of the van was astounding. When did the ESSO become something to cheer about? When you’re in Nicaragua. Because things are simple here. We don’t need something flashy or huge or expensive. We don’t need more and more and more. When you have little, a little more seems likes a whole lot. The excitement that came from a few simple ice cream treats at the gas station was a symbol of the clarity this team is processing with. The knowledge that God has given so much in forms that we, in North America, sometimes just don’t see.

As we debriefed as a team we shared the experiences that have been moulding us. During our meeting Esteban pieced together even more of the puzzle of the family we are building this house for. He said that this woman, who has had so much taken from her, has been obediently following God. A few weeks ago, when we found out that we could not build for the initial man we thought we could build for, this woman was being broken by God. She was at church and, as an offering for a new building was being taken, she felt God saying “give a whole month’s salary”. She was so broken she said “God, take all I have, it is only for you”. And so she gave everything she had with joy. She came home to tell her family they may not have much food for the next month. One half hour later, Shirley came to her house to tell her the news…we were going to build the new house for her! An act of faith rewarded by an instant blessing.

It is hard to believe we are about to leave. We are just getting into it all…learning much about true wealth and community. Trying to understand more of how to live like it asks us in James, favouring no one and not allowing wealth to rob our faith from us. Bobbi made a comment about having “safe faith” in Canada…faith within a limit of always knowing there is a safety net. There are no safety nets here.

Insight is clear as we enter into our last 48 hours. Please continue to pray that God rocks us…that this whole thing continues to mess us up and change us. Pray we love til it hurts and leave with no regrets. We are only ensured this one chance.

It will seem like only moments till we see you again. We send our love, as always. Bless you!

-Nicaragua

P.S. Jenna…I gave Suyepa your pictures and a hug from you. She was SO excited!