His light shines on El Chanco

We arrived with a group of eager teachers ready to jump in with games and crafts but no kids were anywhere in sight. Kelly and I took a walk through the village. One by one, kids started running towards us with excitement while their parents waved and smiled in the background. My words are falling short of doing justice to what our visits are like to this rural community. Most of these children, like Belkie and Vanessa from my previous post, have never stood under running water. The water they cook, wash clothes and drink from comes from a large barrel. What little they have has been paid for and walked many kilometers in each direction.

These are parents and children that now know us by name after having worked in their community for over a year and a half. They offer the only plastic chair they have for us to sit and visit with them. Pray that these conversations continue to move from horizontal to vertical; because He first loved us, we are compelled to love others. Very soon we will celebrate having clean running water right outside their doors.

Settling in...

I've been permanently moved to Nicaragua for about 2 and a half weeks now. Just started on my second 2000ml bottle of water for the day, got one more to go to get my usual gallon and a half. It's 92 today. Friends, enjoy your winter.

The first week I was here, me Jeremy and Steven, 2 other full time missionaries down here, went on a cross-country exploration trip. Jeremy heads up a program called Mission Adventures. We were searching new terrain for rock-climbing, camping and other adventurous excursions for future mission groups. It took us 5 days to get across to the east coast and back. Four of those nights were spent at random Nicaraguan's farms along the way. We were sleeping amongst piglets, calves, chickens and ducks al night. It was quite an experience.

We are preparing for our first wave of groups. All of March Casa Blanca will be full of short-term mission groups.

Last night all of the boys cooked a huge valentine's dinner for the girls. It may go down as the best meal in Chinandega ever.

More Soon.
Joey