More Tales from Nicaragua

Happy Thursday!

I have no transition here... basically, here are some more adventures from Nicaragua.

People have asked me what was my favorite part of the trip, and no contest, it was doing VBS and then playing with the kids. 

Here are some pictures from our VBS time:

The first two pictures are the kids leading the songs. We had papers with both words and pictures, hoping this would help them learn the songs.

From left: Carlos, Maria, Jose Lois, Fabian

From left: Alexandra, Larry, me, Calloway, Elena, Nadaling, Fabian

On the last day, we had a party. Paula brought face paint materials, and after every kid had one painting, several came back for seconds...or thirds. Here is Stella and me each painting an arm for Carlos.

We had crafts each day, usually involving coloring. Here are a couple of the kids with their artwork.

This is Noel. Check out those dimples!!!

This is Jose Lois, one of the sweetest boys there.

And here's some of the gang working on their pictures.

Here is Mauricio with his finished art. The story was of Jesus multiplying the fish and loaves.

Now that everyone is on cuteness overload... :)

One of my favorite things was playing cards with the kids after VBS was officially over. There were a lot of kids who would jump rope with me for about an hour after VBS ended, and then there were two kids who usually stayed until after our lunch and would play cards until their moms were ready to leave. {There were a handful of ladies who came every day and cooked lunch for us- such a blessing! And the food was delicious, every single day.} 

Playing with these kids was the highlight of my trip. It was amazing how quickly the group grew. I originally taught Go Fish to two kids; the next day, there were 5, and the day after, half of VBS was asking to play! I was so grateful that Stella had brought two decks of cards so everyone could play, and I was so impressed with how well the kids all played together.

Here's what blew my socks off: I was feeling guilty or weird about playing cards with the kids in the shade for most of the day while my team was outside in the sun sweating it out and moving boulders. I mentioned this to Stella, who mentioned it to Bill and Gina {my Kentucky parents and Nicaraguan missionaries}, and they both told me that I needed to keep doing what I was doing and that building relationships was more important than building the houses. They told me that being with the children was obviously a strength of mine, so use it! That really blessed me, and it freed me to be able to wholly give myself to the kids, because I wasn't distracted by thinking I should be outside laboring. God is so cool like that!

I count this trip as one of the best things that I've ever been a part of. Can't wait to go back!