Managua and the girls at the Villa continue to treat us so well! I’m pleased to bring you another update of a fun and beneficial day down here.

Our night last night was spent eating dinner with the girls. To remind you, there are 23 girls living at the Villa who have come from the dump where they were subjected to various abusers. Here, in a type of paradise, the girls are getting hope. It has been a blessing for us to meet the girls, eat with them, and play with the young ones. What is so astonishing is to see their happiness knowing that they all came from such dark places. This place truly is a village of hope.

The grounds and rooms are extremely nice and the students were greatly benefited with a wonderful meal and a name game with the girls. We went to bed early because some of us had a long day of flying. Also, as the rain fell, the bugs ended ruining our time outside

We were up this morning by 7am and I was able to share my story with the team. We prayed and ate breakfast and then it was off to church!

El Faro church was incredible. To see the faithfulness of the people and to see their worship gave me great hope. It was so encouraging to hear from them: that they are ministering with the same Spirit, dealing with many of the same problems, and holding on to the same hope, Jesus Christ. I’m hoping to get a student to blog about it tomorrow.

We ended up spending the afternoon with the girls and getting to know them more. We’re learning a lot about God and his people by starting our trip with some low-key things. We’re focusing on building relationships and while that is slower, it’s much more rewarding. Like one of our students shared tonight, “We won’t remember a wall that we painted, we’ll remember the relationships we built – both with God and people.”

The students shared courageously tonight during our “debrief session” and I can already see the seeds of how God is working in their hearts and lives. Please keep praying that we would be on this trip with our hands open and our hearts focused on the Lord.

God bless you all – the week is looking good!

Ali and I are in Houston with the final 6 students. We enjoyed a beautiful landing here as the sun rose across the gulf of Mexico. We’re waiting for our plane to Managua by playing cards, eating breakfast, reading, and talking. All is well…we’ll update from Managua most likely.

Pastor Chris

Thank you for dropping in on the blog!

This is the place to come if you’re wishing to follow the team of 38 going to Nicaragua in one week. We’re very excited! Be looking on this main page for the blog entries that begin with FIELD NOTES as a header. We’ll also include this snappy graphic (thanks Sarah Hellems!)

We will have Internet access in Managua, however just like in any developing country, anything can happen to where our Internet is down for a week. So while I plan on updating this blog at the end of each day, it just might not happen due to a number of different reasons. Don’t panic if we go a couple of days without a post.

With that, I’d like to also post this video, sharing the heart behind our trip along with a call to join us in prayer while we are away June 16-25. Pray for the 32 students and the 6 leaders who will be following God to Nicaragua and make sure you come back right here to this site for updates while we’re gone!

I’m excited to give you a glimpse into the summer. Because we have some volunteer staffers going home for the summer (Multnomah students…), we are going to be short staffed and suspend our small groups over the next three months, until the end of August. Also, with the various trips we have planned, we are not going to be meeting EVERY Wednesday Night. We have created a new schedule over the summer, which each student will receive tomorrow night. We’re calling it: “Two-on, Two-off.” Simple. “On” refers to a day we will have group at 7pm and “OFF” refers to a day we will not be hosting youth group. Check it out:

June 1st: ON
June 8th: ON
June 15th: OFF
June 22nd: OFF
June 29th: ON
July 6th: ON
July 13th: OFF
July 20th: OFF
July 27th: ON
August 3rd: ON

The rest of August will most likely be “on.” If you’re keen with our summer schedule, you’ll notice that the four weeks we have off are during our Nicaragua Trip and our Malibu Camp. We’re taking these weeks off simply because we don’t have the staff to keep Wednesday Nights going for those weeks. It also gives leaders a break too.

The benefit of this is that while there will be no Wednesday Night, God will be working mightily in the students who are going on a missions trip or camp. These students will be experiencing God is a profound, new way, and will be able to bring that energy for the gospel back to Willamette. We’re trusting God for big things!

Next WEDNESDAY NIGHT is going to be awesome because we’re having a night of worship in the main gym area. How cool? Check out this video and get pumped. 7pm in the main room, this Wednesday May 18th – look forward to it!