Hello family and friends!!!!!
My squad has arrived in Nicaragua!!! Many of your faces may be distraught as you currently read this, you may find yourself immediately thinking you’ll be praying safety over my squad that’s in a country on the bubble of a potential civil war. I want to assure you the country is safe, I am safe, our ministry is safe and we would not be sent into a place without full confidence of all of this. (Although constant prayers are always appreciated.) Also, we are entering a SECOND ALL SQUAD MONTH! Whoop whoop!
We started our time in Nicaragua with a Leadership Development Weekend. In these three days we got to share sessions on what the Lord is calling us to teach our squadmates or something He has placed on our hearts in our first few months on the race. We learned about homeless ministry, spiritual warfare, abandonment, we worshiped morning and night, and on the last night given a special treat. Our PPC (party planning committee) organized a bonfire, roasting marshmallows we put on Chickys (Latin Americas favorite chocolate covered cookie) and snuggled up in blankets and flannels to watch The Greatest Showman on a projector in the pavilion outside. The feelings, the taste, the smell, all sent me back home to an October fall at the lake. How good is our God to give us something so special right when we need it.
Update on everything else Nicaragua!
Location: We are staying on a farm on the outskirts of Granada, Nicaragua. Granada is one of the oldest cities in Latin America located on the edge of Lake Granada.
Housing: We live on a 70 acre farm in dormitories that house about 15-20 people per room. We have a wonderful wrap around porch with large sitting chairs and beams to hang our hammocks. The property over looks a volcano and a forest of banana and plantain trees. It has a volleyball net and a soccer field. We have a large outdoor but sheltered pavilion where we worship and watch movies as a squad. (Also great beams to hang hammocks – all about the hammock life on the world race.) We get our meals on a small patio outside a kitchen area, dinners are under string lights with the glow of the stars in the distance. We are cooked for, cleaned after and loved so well by the workers on the property.
Fun facts:
There is no access to wifi close so posts are be limited this month. Warning: once they come – they will all come at once as an overload.
We have dogs that are trained for guard dogs, they just had babies and so we also live with four baby rott wielers! They are incredibly adorable and give us some emotionally stability when we get to take them on walks and play with them. EEEEK!!! .
Ministry: REAP Granada is the name of our ministry sight, started by Scott and Jen Espisto. This month we are heavily involved with multiple ministry projects.
The projects include:
-evangelizing with local churches
-prayer walking in communities praying with families in their homes
-sports ministry giving messages for kick ball, softball, and soccer leagues along with playing with them
-work at the community center, hosting kids care with games and bible stories. Also opening up the building for ages 14-35 to play games and get them off the streets.
-Tamarindo project, they’ve been designing jewelry out of seeds from a Tamarindo tree that the women harvest and teaching them how to make jewelry to sell and create jobs for local woman.
-Going to hospitals and nursing homes to create fellowship and pray over our new friends
-Going to the dump to feed over 100+ kids that do not have access to much food on a daily basis
Granada is safe but it is broken. There is plenty of hurt and pain here from the political turmoil from this past year. Many missionaries have left, fled the country. Now more than ever Nicaraguans need our hope. We have been treated with the upmost hospitality, faces covered in suffering change to smiles the instant our group comes in, they welcome us into their homes pulling out their nicest chairs so we can sit and talk. God knew exactly what He was doing when he placed us in Nicaragua. Through prayer and love we have brought hope that our God is good and that He is a faithful God.
We are reigniting the fire in their souls all they needed was a match.
Much love and many blessings,
Rachel
Photo by: Amanda Williams
