Mariachi Blow Darts

Apparently when you celebrate any type of big surprise party in Nicaragua you do so with a Mariachi Band.....and this was our alarm clock at 5:30am this morning.  Just imagine; sleeping peacefully in a hammock on the porch in tropical Nicaragua, some birds are singing honey sweet melodies to the raising sun, sleep is beautiful......... and suddenly out of no where "reeeeeeeee rrra  ra ra ra" and then an amazingly loud procession of trumpets, violins, guitars, and well dressed singers all at 5:30.......in .......the........morning!  ah the memories. Carolyne, the owner of this hostel we are staying in, had her surprise 60th birthday party. She had no idea it was happening but she shared the experience with us. The mix of reactions in the group was quite varied.........lets just say we found out really quick who the morning people of our group are. Hey, it's not everyday you get woken up by a mariachi band.


Work time started with a bang today.  We finished cutting the steps into the hill, laying down the stonework and mortaring, putting a second coat of paint on the 1st floor class rooms and hallways, painting a 2nd floor class room, painting the water tower, and tons of land scaping. Everyone has been working soooo hard and everyone is having soooooo much fun at the same time. Our energy as a team was palpable.

During our outreach today our Skit team did a skit that Caleb wrote about how God's special creation, us, chose to not follow him. It showed how sin separated us from God and how God made a way for us to come back to him. The did an amazing job! It was received very well and many people made decisions to  live a life of  for God.

Volleyball time today was even better than yesterday. I'm not sure if it was due to watching Brian, the missionary, and Wilfredo, the pastor at the church we are working with, being the biggest kids in the joint, or if it was the Blow Dart Game we taught all the Nicaraguans, or if it was the final stage of the volleyball tournament. The Blow Dart Game has become our official team game and truthfully it has done a lot to bring us together as a team. It goes like this: you have to call someone's name, make eye contact and then blow an imaginary blow dart at that person. If that person looks at you and makes eye contact with you when you call, they have to put their hands around their neck to block your blowdart. If you don't get your hand up in time you have to become paralysed until someone pulls out the imaginary dart. Daniel taught this game to the Nicaraguans tonight and that was just crazy. So when you see a bajillion pictures of everyone holding their necks you know they were protecting themselves from deadly venom.

Tonight around dinner everyone spontaneously started telling about the day and everyone was feeling and seeing the same thing: God is at work.....in our lives.....in the Nicaraguan's lives.....and through our team. Keep prayin it up!