In case you didn’t get the chance to see this video at Christmas, here are our partners – Open Hearts Ministry in Managua wishing UBC a Merry Christmas!

After a great week in Nicaragua, we made it back to Miami safely! We are thankful for the people we met, the experiences we had, and the mighty ways we got to see God work in and through us in Nicaragua. Thanks you to everyone who supported our trip financially and through prayer.

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news,
who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation,
who say to Zion,
“Your God reigns!”

Isaiah 52:7

Looking back on our day, it seems that we spent our morning as if we were all on a family vacation rather than a mission trip. Instead of visiting the school in La Chureca and spending time with the preschoolers, we took a field trip to one of the country’s active volcano sites in the Masaya National Park. The view from the tourist spots was incredible, but being the conquistadors we are, a good portion of our group decided to forge our own path around one of the dormant volcanoes. The scenery surrounding the peak could not have been more breathtaking and the peaceful silence could not have been more welcome. The hike lasted about an hour, but the memories will last a lifetime.

After lunch at a local Nicaraguan restaurant, where authentic cuisine was happily inhaled, we got our second wind and picked up the residents of the boys’ and girls’ rescue homes, Casa Robles and Casa Havilah.  We took the group of 8 boys and 13 girls to an indoor arcade, which seemed to be a treat for not only them, but the kids in our group as well. It was only smiles and laughter from that point on. Once again it was both bittersweet to say goodbye to these resilient children as they showered us with hugs and thank you’s and also heartbreaking to know the stories behind their smiles.

Tomorrow is our last day here in Nicaragua, and we are looking forward to returning to La Chureca in the morning to say goodbye to the children we have fallen in love with. Although these kids live in devastating circumstances that one cannot express through pictures or blogs, it is also impossible to convey the love and hope they exude. We are so thankful for our experiences thus far and hope this blog can communicate some of that to our readers.

-Mary and Chelsea Steele, 55 & 20 years

I love waking up to the sounds of the awesome mountain sounds of all the different animals, birds, frogs, crickets, etc.  They all try to out-do each with louder sounds. We are quickly reminded that we are in Nica country! It is a glorious day in God’s kingdom, and am so excited to have the opportunity to serve and care for the children of La Chureca.  Breakfast greeted us with an amazing shower storm, and by the time we were ready to load the bus to head to the school to see all of our new friends from the day before it was sunny and beautiful outside.

We took a different route into the dump today and saw many of the homes that the children from the school and our VBS lived, it was sad, shocking, and painful to experience. It was hard to imagine them leaving us at the end of the day full of smiles, laughter, love and light and heading back to their small, bare, dirty shacks. For many of them, the only food they will receive is the snacks provided at school and with us at VBS. The hugs, kisses and praise given will end when they get on the bus to head back home.

We have hope that they are loved by God and the missionaries abundantly, and they are protected by his Mighty Power. – The Lancaster Family

Driving into the dump for the first time was quite surreal. Chris Farrington prepared us by giving us a little history of the place, what we were to expect to see and asking God to keep us strong. Filth everywhere, trash everywhere, starving animals, people picking through the trash for food to feed their families. The smell so strong we had to put our shirts over our noses. Then you see where these people live. 1,000-1,500 people living amongst this filth. Homes made out of tin, cardboard, whatever they can find. Then you arrive at the school, La Chureca, in the middle of the dump. A safe haven for these children to get away from the abuse, to have a good meal, to just be loved. Immediately walking in three boys start climbing on Andy wanting to be carried on his back and shoulders. Big huge smiles, so happy to have visitors and other children to play with. Our children showed so much love to these little ones, playing soccer, pushing them on swings, hugging them, carrying them around.

Then we headed over to the compound to prepare our VBS, not knowing what to expect or how smoothly it would run. But how amazing is God that even though it down poured everything went so smoothly. The 29 kids we hosted danced, sang, colored and played sports all happy and learning about God’s love for them in such a dark world. I believe our children’s eyes were opened to the poverty of this world and how truly bad it is out there past our richly blessed lives. I believe they also learned to get past the language barriers and love and serve like Jesus called us to do.

I can’t wait for tomorrow to see these beautiful children again and to watch our own children bring a little bit of sunshine to their lives. - Megan Palmer

Hey, it’s Max! Today is our first day in Nicaragua. It was a lot of fun. The first thing we did was wake up and go see George the pet monkey, he is awesome.Then we had breakfast – eggs, toast, fruit, and beans. Then we went to church in spanish and is was cool because I was able to help people that could not speak spanish.Then we came back to the farm and we got ready to go to the market. When we got there it was amazing and there were so many interesting things, especialy the food. I bought a sling shot and back at camp I practiced my shots…it was awesome!!! We ate dinner and had a devotional, where we talked about “letting our light shine.” I am very excited about going to La Chureca tomorrow and making a lot of new friends…. Viva Nicaragua!!! – Max Diez, 10 years

Hey guys – this is Jose Diez. Today was a very special day. We got to spend the whole day with the team. We are coming together as a family. It is an awesome group!! We went to church early in the morning, a spanish speaking church, great worship and more than 600 people on Sundays. After lunch we went to a local market where we got the opportunity to buy some unique local artisans and we got to talk with some local people.

When we came back we unpacked more than 30 suitcases with donations we brought from Miami. We got all these donations classified and ready to go to the rescue homes. Clothing shoes, medicine, books and toys. It was great to work together men and women and all the kids. It was fun and very rewarding to know that tomorrow some kids in Nicaragua are going to smile big time as they receive very cool stuff donated by families from Miami.

After dinner we had a devotional where the kids share their thoughts about letting their light shine tomorrow at the dump. It was inspiring to see the families, specially the kids excited about serving tomorrow. We are enjoying every minute of this amazing experience. – Jose Diez, 52 years

We arrived in Nicaragua… After eating dinner, we unpacked, and then enjoyed  a night together as a team before we start our week of camp with the children from La Chureca.

Keep checking back this week for team updates, pictures, and ways you can pray! We are so thankful for all of you readers and the way you’ve supported us financially and through prayer. We can’t wait for the week ahead!

This day can easily be described as a day full of mixed of emotions. Since it was the last day we would see the kids of la chureca we played harder than ever. Goodbyes were full of tearstained faces and smiles that were remembering the fun times that were shared, and that was just our morning. After lunch we were lucky enough to meet some of the middle schoolers and high schoolers that had graduated from the school and were granted scholarships to continue their education. We enjoyed the rest of the beautiful afternoon relaxing and playing on the beach. I find it mind blowing how such good friendships were made in just a few hours. Our day ended with a bonfire where we worshiped, encouraged, and reflected on how God has worked in our lives during the trip.

Even though I am devastated to be leaving the friends made and experiences had I am so ready to bring the God I experienced here back to you all in Miami. I hope you are ready for his power and love, it’s overwhelming. – Rebecca Medina

Today was absolutely amazing. I’m not sure of other ways to describe it, except that God was present in everything we did. We woke up this morning and headed to the home of Miss Ruby. Miss Ruby passed away about a year and a half ago, but her legacy lives on through her home and family members. For the next 4 hours (seriously 4 hours!) we prayed for each other and everybody on the team will tell you it felt like it only lasted 15 minutes. The Holy Spirit was present as we prayed and our team cannot wait to share the experiences we had in Miss Ruby’s home when we get back to the States. So many times we put God into a box of our expectations and our preferred methods of worship… but there is so much power when we tear down the box and let God work in serious ways!

The rest of the day was full of joy. We picked up the boys and girls from Casa Havilah and Casa Robles – which are two rescue homes for kids from La Chureca. These homes serve as safe houses and house between 10-15 kids at each. We brought the kids back to where we are staying and had a POOL PARTY! We played and played and played and once again gave and received so much love from these children. After they returned back to their homes, we spent some time sorting through the bags of donations we brought and making it easy for the missionaries to distribute those items.

Our night was capped off with a birthday cake and celebration for our youngest team member, Katie Gray – who turned 6 today! Make sure and wish her a Happy Nicaraguan birthday when you see her back in Miami.

Thank you to all the parents for allowing your students to go on this trip – God worked a miracle in the team of 30 He assembled. And thanks to everyone who is praying for us.