Painting and More…

We are currently here in Jinotepe, Nicaragua where team Ignite and my team, Beloved One, have joined to do ministry for the next three weeks.  We are working with a couple from the States, Glenn and Lynn, who have lived here for many years.  They own the hostel we are staying in.  About 15-20 minutes away from the city they have land with a community center on it (where church is held, town meetings, youth group, a Bible study, and whatever else they need it for).  They also have a small school on the grounds, an orphanage, a clinic, and a house where friends live.

This past week, Ignite has been spending their time at the grounds laying bricks and painting while Beloved One has been here at the hotel painting.  Monday we painted part of the outside of the building.  Tuesday consisted of us painting two full hotel rooms.  Wednesday we painted the front lounge area.  And today we worked on the hall spiral stairway leading from the lounge up to some private hotel rooms (maybe used for hotel staff or something).

Our time here so far has given us the chance to spend more time as a team and do ministry together as well.  Later on we will be doing a carnival at the park for the kids and families in the area that would like to come.  Next week, we will also have the opportunity to spend time in the barrios getting to know those who live in small huts or shacks and have very few material possessions.  We were able to walk through the first day and just visit with a few of the residents, some who go to the church and others who don’t.  We had the opportunity to pray for several as well, which was really exciting and they gladly welcomed the prayer.  Some we prayed for healing, some for their hearts to be turned back to God, some for God to provide financially and the list goes on.

I am very excited to go back and get to know those who live in that area and hear their hearts.  I’m excited to play with the kids and see them smile.  It is also neat that we can be a blessing by painting and doing manual labor around the area.  I have had the opportunity to get to know a few people who work at the hotel and they are really neat people!  I’ll have to share more about them later.  But this is a little overview of what has been going on here in Nicaragua.