Nica update
We are only 10 days away from boarding a plane and flying away forever...
Just kidding! But in 10 days we will be arriving in beautiful Nicaragua. We will land in Managua and then take the hour drive to Granada to El Puente or The Bridge. Terrell and I have officially raised over our amount of money to fund our trip. We are so blessed by a fantastic church that pays the main amount for their leaders to go, so when we embarked on this years fundraising we thought it would be super easy and literally it has. We wrote letters, told people what we were doing, prayed and God provided through our generous, encouraging and fantastic friends and family. But! There is always that beautiful, human moment where we doubt that the money will come through. In essence, we think that God wont provide. I hope I always have these moments so the Lord can continue to knock me to my knees and remind me that his Grace, provisions and plans are far greater than my tiny little mind can comprehend. Some of our students are still struggling to raise all their money and I am so grateful to get to be a part of their experience learning the same lesson.
El Puente houses a ton of different ministries and is seriously changing the barrios through people's hearts. They not only run church services, feeding ministries and Young Life, but they are teaching the people an honest and sustainable way of life. Along with the locals, they have created a project called The Jicaro Project where teenage boys and women create different types of items and art out of a Jicaro. A Jicaro (pronounced with an H not a J) is a softball sized, hard fruit that grow abundantly on trees. The boys hollow them out and make all kinds of great things from candles to ornaments to bowls to belts with them. The woman use magazines to create beautiful and intricate jewelry.
All the profits go to paying them for their work and they are required to start a bank account with some of the money to save. The idea of saving is foreign here, where the money you have goes to take care of your family immediately and no one plans for the future, but everyone lives in uncertainty. This project is teaching the participants about running a business and planning for your future. I love being able to participate by buying their gorgeous creations and you can too! Check out their site: The Jicaro Project
We are so anxious for the trip to be here. The past 2 months have literally just disappeared. I cannot believe we are this close and I am so excited to see what the Lord is going to do in our little group. I love watching new groups form and create a culture of their own. It is so funny to see your first impressions of people be so completely inaccurate. The dynamics of this group are beginning to be apparent and I can't wait for them to really come alive as we no longer are strangers meeting together a few hours a week, asking nervous questions; to go to a family living together, serving together and literally be all each other has for a life altering week. How did we get so lucky....
If you missed our original post about our trip read it here!