The streets around Jinotepe, Nicaragua have been a bit louder, a bit crazier, and a bit more full of the joy of Jesus this week! Our team of 13 has been busy these first 5 days of our trip! Our first day (Wednesday) included several legs of travel to get us from Reading, PA to Jinotepe, Nicaragua.  After carpools, van rides, and flights we arrived tired, but safe many hours later close to midnight at Casa Mateo!  Thursday morning we hit the Nicaraguan-ground running with our morning and afternoon spent at the Church base in Diriamba.  Our first day’s activities included playing with the kids at the preschool, praying for some of the teachers and leaders, and visiting the nearby barrios (neighborhoods) and greeting the community members and passing out invitations for Friday’s Bible School Day!  Friday required every last bit of our energy as we worked with pastor Jorge to lead the bible school with about 60 youth and children in the morning, and close to 200 kids in the afternoon (a few more than we expected).  After a full day of worship, games, Bible study, and meal service we were quite ready for some rest! Saturday, was another super full day, as we facilitated a multi-church conference here in Jinotepe at Casa Mateo. The theme of the conference was “Hunger for God”, and as we led worship, shared testimonies, preached the word and prayed for the local church we became well aware of the hunger and hope the local believers have for a revival here in Nicaragua!

Sunday was full of several church services. One, here at Casa Mateo, with Pastor Carlos, and a second afternoon service in Diriamba with Pastor Jorge. Today, we spent most of the day at Jinotepe’s central plaza, sharing Jesus with the park passers-by via worship, prayer, preaching and even some drama and dance!  Our evenings are spent debriefing with the team, and enjoying the hospitality of the staff of Casa Mateo, an abandoned hotel-turned-missions-dormitory for teams such as ours.  The roof is open and perfect for night-time worship sessions (and also fun light-painting camera fun).

Our trip will be over before we know it.  After 5 days of hard work, we will spend our Tuesday at a nearby beach, enjoying some rest and relaxation, and then Wednesday we will head to Managua to lead one final church service before an early morning departure Thursday morning.

For those of you who have been interceding for our time here, THANK YOU!  Please continue to hold our team in your prayers as we move around Nicaragua and seek to make the most of every opportunity we have to be the love of Christ wherever we go!  A few of our team members have been under the weather today, but, it seems the symptoms are simply the result of limited rest.  We definitely feel your prayers and intercession! God has been moving in the lives of our brothers and sisters here in Nicaragua, and also in the lives of each member of our team! I have no doubt each of us will be returning with a fresh awareness of God’s goodness, as well as a transformed perspective of the world in which we live!

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