Hello again!
I heard that in most of the places that you live
its freezing cold. Well I just thought that I would let you all know
that Nicaragua is holding fairly steady at a lovely 85 degrees,
nearly everyday. I am sweating as I type.
This week we were having a discussion
about bringing more ministry into our ministries. Is it enough to
just do good things for the community? If we do not share we others
the love of Jesus what does it all really mean? Will we have a
lasting affect?
Since the beginning of our trip, every
Wednesday afternoon we do trash pick up in front of our church El
Puente. It is in a rougher neighborhood and we thought it would
really make an impact on the community if they saw us picking up
trash and that maybe when we leave we could leave this ministry in
the hands of some of the locals who live in the community. However,
we realized that we are just picking up trash. Not that that is a bad
thing. Most people will tell you that trash in Nicaragua is a big
problem. But after we leave will people really understand the reason
we are picking up trash? Yes to keep it clean, but more importantly,
because we love God, and we want to help share his love with others
by doing good works for Him.
Normally, trash pick up involves us
going out and picki
ng up trash for a few hours. Local kids from the
community come out and help and we have started forming some really
good friendships with them. They are normally waiting for us. Its really fun to go out and talk with the kids and play
games and pick up a little trash while we are at it. But this week,
we decided to try something new. Two other girls and I planned a
small 15 minute children’s ministry to do at the end of trash pick up
with all our friends. We were not sure how it was going to go.
We just decided to keep it short and
simple for the first time. Game, message, song, prayer. It would be
simple and hopefully they would get something out of it. We spent the
night before planning and we thought we were set. Still a little
nervous but excited at the same time. We were using this to take this
ministry to new places. Hopefully, if the kids are into it they can
get their parents and it will start something.
So after our pick up we told all the
kids to get there brothers and sisters and friends and meet us at the
soccer field in 5 minutes. There ended up being like 20 kids there.
3/4 of them were not even at the trash pick up and a lot had just
stopped by on their way home from school. We played a simple game
that was similar to tag and then told a short message about how God
loves us and wants to hug us, and that He loves us no matter what. We sang Jesus loves me in
Spanish. I was surprised at how well they listened and wanted to
learn the song. They didn’t know it. When we had finished we were still
sitting in a circle and I think the most exciting thing of the day
happened. None of the kids moved, they continued to sitting waiting
for something more.
We are excited to go back next week
with more things for them to do. This was an amazing first time
thing. Children’s ministry is never easy and I feel blessed that the
children cooperated as well as they did. Our translators did an
amazing job also, we gave them no warning about what would happen. I
would like to thank Go do letting this ministry be so successful.
Without Him behind us we would have nothing. Hope you are all doing
well, enjoy the cold and I will see you on December 19th!
