Nicaragua - Jinotepe

Family night jamming outside 

Nicaragua we stayed at a town called Jinotepe for a week or so at a church missionary base. It was so great staying in my own bed!! A major highlight was that my friend Aleeza (we know each other from Mozambique earlier this year) came to visit me for a few days so that was so great, we spent a lot of time just hanging out, she really encouraged me and this was a good refreshing time for me. Some of our team were staying at an orphanage close by in a neighbouring village so we went up there a few times to minister and play with the children, held a couple of church services and one afternoon we went into the neighbourhood barrio (township) which was so great, we shared the gospel with so many people and had so many beautiful children hanging onto us. All was well until I saw a lice jump onto my arm, and then I saw all the lice literally crawling through the kids hair. Err.... The memories of our lice outbreak in Guatemala were just too close to home! Another day included taking the bus into Leon, a town 3.5 hours away by bus to see Central America's largest Cathedral. Pretty disappointing if you've been to any Cathedral in Europe. But a good day out. While I was in Leon some other people from the team went to minister at a local seaside village which was a great success.

Nicaragua is a really beautiful country, quite rural in many ways, like the roads are made up of buses, cars, pedestrians, cyclists plus don't forget all the horse and carts as well as just men riding horses! Lots of horses. Kind of felt like I was driving through a big farm which happened to be a country called Nicaragua.

A highlight of the week was a family night where the team hung out as a family. It started with a bit of a dance party outside (see the photo above with Josiah demonstrating a swan dive for us) and finished with us blessing and praying for 3 of our team members who were leaving the group and going home the next day. Maria, Victor and Serena we love and miss you guys!