Tuesday we spent our afternoon doing VBS at a church called Luz del Mundo. The building is a mere tin shack with a bumpy dirt floor and half of a flimsy metal wall in the back half of the church.
     We finished our VBS, which consisted of a prayer, songs, the story of Jonah and the whale acted out by willing kids, and games. Amidst playing hot potatoe, Jesse (our translator/protector/father-figure that we call Padre) noticed an infected gash on the big toe of a little boy named Michael. His one toe was twice the size of his other. Concern washed over Padre's  face and he brought it to mine and Jessie's (our leader) attention. I grimaced as Michael limped away to join a marble game after showing us his toe.
Jessie looked at me and suggested I pray over him. I glanced at the boy and felt a tug on my heart. I walked over and asked what had happened. After he told me an animal had bitten him, I told him I was going to pray over him in English. I knelt down, took his hand, and prayed for this little boy, no more than 8 years old, with an untreated wound that he should not be bearing.
     Turns out, God used me to answer my own prayer. I ended up running back to our hostel (for the sanity of my family, I was not alone) to get the medical supplies I had brought for myself. Who knew I would use them for something like this? God.
Returning to Luz del Mundo, I called Michael over and sat him down on a plastic chair across from me. Padre  appeared by my side and immediately began looking through what I had brought. He started washing the toe with water and wiping away layers of grime. Assisting him during that time became one of the longest five minutes of my life. We had to pin Michael's leg down and hold his hands while Padre cleaned around the puncture wounds. He worked at it until the raw wounds were visible, the infection was squeezed out, and the bacteria killed with rubbing alcohol. My own body was sweating and I could barely handle hearing Michael's wails, gasps, and screaming, let alone look at his face twisted from pain.
     His body shaking and wimpers escaping his trembling lips, this little boy sat exhausted after we had bandaged his foot. I wrapped his sweat-soaked body in a big hug before giving him the remaining bandages. He hobbled out of the building down the street, followed by a string of children giving him support with compassion etched across their faces.
     Helping this little boy in such a small way made my heart about to explode. When we go back to the church next week, I will bring more supplies and treat his toe again. I know if we had not been there to help him, he would have lost his toe, if not his whole foot. I hurt to think of all the other children in need of medical attention but I must remember that God is still God. He will guide our team to the right people so that we can become a piece in the broken puzzle of their lives.
     To Him be the glory.

Rilie

       Getting sick was not only a struggle for me to do my ministry, but also a target of attack from Satan is what I was told.
       For two whole days, I sat in Granada, Nicaragua away from my teammates who were back in El Guayabo. Two of the longest days of my life. Without my bible or my devotion book, I sat there until my stomach healed itself or until the medicine kicked in for those hours of pain.Slowly but surely, I felt a little better as time had passed. Getting to see my team on Monday, the 27th was amazing and I had the thought of; ´´It's going to be all better not.´´ Sad to say..it wasn't all better after seeing them. The rest of the day I would have to clentch my stomach and bend over with a discusted face of discomfort. I didn't understand why I had to feel so weak and broken down.
       The next morning, I woke up the same. Every morning we start our day with worshiping and singing to praise God, and I couldn't even get through worship time without holding my stomach. After worship, as we broke off into our own devotion locations, I sat on the edge of a flower bed right outside the prayer house.Before I did anything, I set my bible, devotion books, and notebooks aside to take a couple minutes to pray. I prayed for healing in my stomach and strengeth to worship. I thought that that is what God would have wanted me to do, but I guess not. I still felt as terrible as I did wakeing up. I continued on with my studies thinking there was nothing else I could do.
       The last couple minutes of my devotion time I sat there and sighed. Then, I closed my eyes and bowed my head one more time. I told God; ´´ I give up. Take me as I'm sick. If you want me to be sick, then I will be sick. If you want me to healthy, I will be healthy. I'm leaving this in your hands and I give my body up to you to do with what you want . I love you so much and I trust in you with all my heart. Amen. ´´
       Two seconds had gone by after my prayer and one of my teammates called me to come to breakfast. I got up slowly and ran to put my stuff away. I ran? I actually got up and ran to go to breakfast. I just ran when I was feeling so weak less than a minute ago and not being able to do anything at all for the past three days. Then, it got even better. I ate a whole breakfast without feeling sickness. I went about my whole day without being sick. That sickness then was gone for the week. And today on July 6th I am stll that healthy child that God wants me to be. I layed down my everything and put my full trust in him to show me who he wants me to be. 

       All glory and honor to God!

       -Sadie

This past Friday my team and I went to a Orphanage just for girls. Earlier in the week someone explained to us that most if not all the girls in the orphanage are not really orphans. There parents are most probably still alive, but their parents did not want them, so they brought them to the orphanage. After hearing this it made me want to go even more. So Friday we set off to go. After about a 10 minute walk we were there. After a Teacher unlocked the front gate so we could come in. The teacher told us we had one hour to spend with the girls. As we walked through a few girls meet us with big hugs. The girls grabbed our hands and brougt us to where we would be for the remander of the hour. As we were setting our water bottles and the rest of our things on a table, more girls came flowing in. As soon as we had set our things down we started singing and play with the girls. It did not take long to realize the girls are starving for people to love on them. And we are just the right people to do so. As I walked back over to the table where I had set my water bottle I notice a little girl sitting by herself, a walked over to her to ask her if she wanted to join in all the playing and singing. When I asked her and just shock her head no, I then sat down and started talking to her in a little to no spanish. After I had said everything I knew in spanish, I just sat there for a few minutes. Thinking that the the 6 year old girl really did not want me there I started to stand up, once she realized what I was doing she grabbed my hand and told me no in a much louder voice than she had been using. I sat right back down knowing that this girl just wanted someone to love and spend to with her. I was completely out of things to say, but me just being there was enough for her.
I only spent about 20 to 30 minutes with her, but it was one of my favorite things so far that I have done in Nicaragua. This girl was probably brought to the orphanage by her parents because they did not want her, and she probably knows that. She might go to bed at night every night thinking about the family that left her. But God does not look at this little 6 year old girl as orphan or a unwanted child. God sees her as a child of his, a child that he will never leave.
I wanted to tell her all this and more, but my lack of spanish would not let me tell her all this. The only thing I could do for this little child was to pray in silents as she colored. And all the time I heared God say was the world might see her as a orphan or a unwanted kid, but to me she will never to a orphan.
That night when we can back to the place we are staying I put my earphones in and listen to Orphans of God. And for the first time when they sang There are No Orphans of God I saw the face of the little girl. Not just the word Orphans.

Before I had to come to Nicaragua, I had always had this fear of praying out loud, or praying over people. I would only feel comfortable if I prayed by myself, in my room, and in my head. I always felt that if I prayed out loud or for people, I would mess up, or say the wrong thing, or just sound stupid. If someone would ask me to pray out loud, I would freak out, and just make it as quick and easy as possible. I did not like it at all. During this trip, I feel like God is showing me that I can pray out loud, and theres nothing to worry about. He has showed me the power of prayer, and that prayers can heal others. Because God has shown ths to me, I feel like I can pray out loud or for people. I don{t need to worry about anything. Prayer has become very important to me, because of what God has shown me here in Nicaragua.

The other day my team and I piled up in the back of a truck and rode to the city dump. After about 10 minutes riding we turned off the main road onto a dirt road. Soon after we turned on the dirt road I could begin to see trash. After about 5 minutes on the dirt road we came to a stop, after we all piled out we could see mountains of trash, through out the mountains you could see people digging through all the trash trying to find anything to eat or to sell. The site was heart breaking. Flies numbered to the hundreds, and dogs went around trying to find anything they could. There was kids there as young as 1 and 2 years old. Looking at all this it was extremely overwelming. After trying to talk to a few kids me and another girl from my team had to leave because Heather had gotten stung by something and my wrist was messed up. They wanted to make sure my wrist was not broken.
As we were walking out we saw one of the most if not the most beautiful butterfly ever. It was bright orange and black. Even though it was small, and most people would not even care about it. It is like God was saying even in the worse and saddest places I am still with you.

On Monday of this week we moved from the lakefront one room brick house in El Guayabo, Nicaragua to the luxury of El Puente in Granada, Nicaragua. This was probably the hardest challenge I have faced so far. In El Guayabo life was different, instead of wasting time on material things the people spent their time in fellowship with each other, because they didnt have those other things. Lester was the first kid that ever spoke to us there, we pulled up and opened the door of the car and there was his smiling face. Immediately I fell in love with him. He is an 8 year old boy with a huge heart. Every day he would yell my name and sprint into my arms and it would never fail to make me the happiest person in the world. He has two little brothers named Heliceo and Samuel, who like any little brothers would follow in Lesters footsteps so naturally they were always around. I couldnt have asked for anything better. They taught me how to love with reckless abandon and without fear. I knew that whatever love I poured out to them would be poured back into me 10X more. I left my boy with two pictures of me and a bracelet I made him and I have every intention to send him letters and keep him as a part of my life. I refuse to let go of him, because he has taken a piece of my heart. I smile with genuine joy just thinking about him. I hope with all my heart that I can go back and visit him someday because i hate the idea that the last thing we remember about each other is our tears pouring down, not wanting to say goodbye. I know God has a purpose behind everything He does, and Im so glad he gave me my boys and a whole new understanding of unconditional love and joy.