Nicaragua:: Day 2

Well we have made it through our second full day of work and again we praise God for a beautiful (although sometimes hot and very sunny) day today. It was amazing to see God present in our lives and in our midst throughout the day today. I challenge our students to be aware of God and where He is showing up and it keeps us more focused on His presence throughout the day... even in simple, but much appreciated ways like a cool breeze when we are hard at work.

We also saw God on the smiles of the children's faces today when we had some down time and we were playing duck duck goose, futbol (soccer) or even jumping rope. The children were out of school today so we had a good crowd around the work site. We see God in the enjoyment they get in just playing - even though we know they have so little and could be playing with so much "more."

God encouraged our hearts by allowing us to see some "progress" on the house. Extreme Home Makeover: Nicaragua Edition doesn't quite work like the show! We spent all day yesterday digging and then filling the holes we dug with concrete. Today we actually dug more, poured more concrete, but actually got to see some of the walls going up. We are going to continue work tomorrow before we break on Sunday.

So far everyone is doing well, although you can pray for Austin W. who fell a little nauseous under all the heat. Luckily we have a med team down here serving and they think it was a little heat stress. But our team is adjusting to the food, sleep and hard work!

Tonight after dinner we celebrated the 17th birthday of Taylor G. We had the cooks bake a cake and he got a birthday celebration Nicaragua style.

Our team time at night has been really encouraging to me. Tonight we looked at Jesus' attitude and mission (Philippians 2 and Luke 4). We were all challenged to think about our lives and the mission Jesus is calling us to - not only while we are here 'on mission' in Nicaragua, but when we return to our own mission field in Tallahassee.

We appreciate and covet your prayer support that God's name and glory would go forth to the nations!