As a squad (all 19 of us) we decided to put on an afterschool VBS for a week begining two mondays ago. Day one 25 kids from the barrios showed up and they had so much fun that day two there was sixty. We walked through the barrios evertyday at 2:30 and as we walked past their homes and explained where we were going to parents, kids joined our parade of piggybacks and hands held. When they all arrived we piled under a gazebo or into the church house and sang Spanish songs with actions. They rotated between story, snack, craft and game stations, hearing the salvation message, making bracelets and playing kickball. At the end we would walk the excited kids back to their homes as the sun set. Check out Brittney Autrey's video summary of the VBS at brittneyautrey.myadventures.org!

     Friday night my team (me and six others) and a couple others drove to a nearby city called Massetepe because we had been invited to lead worship and speak at a youth service at a church there. We each picked a chair, and without knowing who would sit there prayed that God would give us a word for the person who sat there. Mae and Angela lit the place us with some lively songs and then Rachel, Kyle and Mae stepped out of their shells to preach and give testimony. It's so fun to see how a service can go when you intentionally do what God calls you too, instead of what makes sense. After a message we asked anyone who needed prayer to stand and we prayed over them, and them over us. We shared what God had told us to with the people in our designated chairs, and they were surprised and encouraged. :)

     On Saturday some of the girls from our team played in a soccer tournament against soccer teams from the barrios. 

     I live in a room with 12 other girls. Girls who sit together, cuddle together and lean against each other. We fit 25 into one van many times a week. The girls I live with hav so much love that they hug Nicaraguan children daily, visit the hospital and care for elderly and disabled people who have don't really prioritize personal hygiene. Thus, we have dispensed, over the last two weeks, more than a gallon of mayonaise and at least 100 combined hours of combing, picking and cleaning in order to attempt to irradicate lice from our home. I am one of the lucky three who have not been targeted by the beasts, but I commend my sisters for their smiles and teamwork even when covered with Mayonaise. 

     From Sunday until Tuesday our squad and a couple friends went up to a beach house to take a break and regroup for the second half of our time in Nicaragua. It was along a beautiful rocky coastline where the waves crashed with poetic haphazard and white froth sloshed perfectly. We battled an ant army, spiders and a tropical depression that meant perpetual horizontal rain... But we also had quality time together sitting in tidepools, swam and made castles in the rain, worshiped and relaxed together. Coming home last night, despite the rain, we have new vision for our time here and are refining our purposes.