After months of prayer and planning our team of eight people leaves at 5:45 pm today. Six of us are returning members of the team that went in July, and two are new, but all are excited to go and minister to the children at Jinotepe. We'll be there until Tuesday, January 27th.
We plan to work on a couple of projects, painting areas of the houses that need refurbishing, and building some tables for the kids to use for study and play. We are building the tables with adjustable legs so that they can grow taller as the kids do. Also, we're bringing a sewing machine that has been donated, and will work on making clothes and drapes while teaching the kids to sew.
It's not going to be all work, though. We have many craft items with us to make with the children, from beads and other cool stuff for jewelry making to coloring books and tons of crayons for artistic expression. No doubt we'll have many soccer and basketball games, and JR will be playing guitar with the chicos (the older boys).
Thanks to the folks at Vineyard Community Church who shopped and wrapped and tagged everything, we are going to have a big celebration of Christmas in January, combined with a party for all with January birthdays. We have a complete outfit for each child (shirt, pants and shoes), and will have a birthday cake, songs, skits and a big sugar rush!
These children are so wonderful and deserving of love and attention. Many have had traumatic experiences of abuse and neglect in their past, but Arms of Love gives them a home where they are cared for and experience the love of Jesus. Thank you, readers, for your generous gifts for the children, for your donations that financed this trip, and for your prayers for us. Please continue to pray for us while we are in Nicaragua. We need the wisdom and discernment of the Spirit to know how to minister to the children, we need the love of Christ to overflow our hearts and reach them, and we need unity as a team.
We'll send posts and pictures from Nicaragua as often as possible.
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Praying daily for each of you! Dianne