Our Camp Teams!

Campo

Wanted to post some quick photos of the past two days and of camp with the children from LaChureca. The internet here is a little spotty - will definitely get more up when we get back in town.

Sabbath

Sunday was a great day for our team to just be still, enjoy each other and God! We started the day out by worshiping with a packed house at Verbo Church. It is so amazing to see the resilient Spirit of God and contagious joy in these people who have so little - but yet seem to have so much. We are envious of their passion and hearts for God's kingdom and presence in their life. After church we came back to Quinta Havilah and watched the World Cup Championship, swam, and digested the best of Nicaraguan fruits and peppers. (more to the story…) Our team is really starting to gel and feel more like a family - it is great how God has brought unity to our team. Our night concluded with a great group time discussing the day and the hindrances in our life that can render prayers ineffective - we ended with a time of worship reflection and asking God to reveal to us anyone we need to forgive. Christ is healing and restoring us more each day - praise God!

Hanging with Havilah & Robles

Had a full day today but we were blessed to meet some beautiful people! Our team spent the day with the children from the two rescue homes - Casa Havilah & Casa Robles. Both homes take children out of the dump and provides them with shelter, food, education, God's love, and the means to heal from the emotional, physical & sexual abuse many of them have experienced while living in the dump. We also loaded them all up on the bus and took them to see Toy Story 3 - which they loved! Above are a few of the photos we took of what we've been doing...including Claudia's determination to grab some mangos on a tree limb above the bus.)

Estamos Aqui

We are here - arrived in Managua early this morning! Our team has had a good day catching up on some sleep, meeting the other teams who are being hosted by Open Hearts Ministry and Los Farringtons, and just getting situated for the week. We also got to spend some time this afternoon with kids who live in the city dump - cheering on their LaCrosse teams this week that were formed by Lacrosse the Nation. (more pics to come) We are looking forward to visiting and loving on the kids that live in the rescue home as well as getting ready to host our camp next week!

UBC in Nicaragua

Overwhelmed

We are coming home today. This morning as I sit here with God on the third floor I realize I am overwhelmed by His the love that He has poured out on us during the trip. Our times together as a group the last few nights have been incredible! On Wednesday we went into La Chureca in the morning. We went into the school and played with the kids during recess. We talked about how awesome their instantaneous love was, they just reached up and and held on tightly when you picked them up. They could play for hours and they had giant smiles on their faces. Such a humble blessing to be loved like that! We walked around the dump too and went by a clinic there too and there was this little boy crying. Janeen translated that he was with his mom and she fainted and they fell into a burning trash pile and his feet were burned. I know this is not an abnormal experience and it breaks my heart, I mean really breaks my heart...my heart aches when I think about how much God loves those people, they are His children and yet here they are, settling for the trash of this world. I wonder how often I break God's heart by settling for the trash of this world too. 

Wednesday afternoon we went to Ruby's, a friend of the Buzbees and Farringtons. She prayed over each one of us and it was such a raining down of the Holy Spirit. So refreshing and completely overwhelming that God chose to meet us and strengthen us and love us so much.

Wednesday night, during our group time, Janeen led us in a prayer time and then we washed each other's feet and wrote love letters to God. What a sweet time with the group and so powerful! 

Thursday we went to the market in the morning and then visited Casa Havilah and Casa Roble-the two rescue homes they have started down here. It was great to see the kids again, 14 of the 17 girls came to camp with us and a few of the boys came from Roble to camp, so it was nice to see them again, play a little and say goodbye to them.

We are coming home today and for me it's always bittersweet. I cannot wait to see my husband and son, but each time I come here, God connects my heart even more, and it gets harder to leave. Again I am overwhelmed by the love that I have felt for the people on this trip with me, by God's grace that He just lavishes on us, by how much I love the people here, by how humbled I am to be the "leader" of this trip and used in any way at all, by how majestic our God is and that when you come on a trip like this you realize that God is really God of everything everywhere.

-Kay

Please pray for the medical team who is on their way here right now!

 

Goodbye Campo Alegria

This morning was a slightly gut-wrenching mix of relief and nostalgia. After breakfast we had worship, then did our Bible, English, and art classes as one big group. Then we swam for a half hour, pulled the sheets off all the bunk beds, and had the kids pack their muchilas. After a few great group photos and a ton of hugs, we loaded the kids on the big yellow bus and ran after it, waving and yelling our best Spanish farewells the whole way. 

Quick sidenote-- Chachi told the first-time Campo Alegria counselors among us that if they didn't run after the bus they weren't really Christians. Normally I would scoff at such nonsense, but this time I was in full agreement. You can't spend four days with those kids, then just hug them and put them on a bus and stand there while it hauls them off.

Five minutes after they were gone, I found myself looking at the photo in the wooden frame I decorated Monday in arts & crafts class. I swallowed hard and replayed the last 90 or so hours in my head. Dabbing at my eyes, my thoughts landed on the revelation that tonight I would most likely get a full night of uninterrupted sleep for the first time in four days. This week was a lot of work, but I can't think of anything more worthwhile or more fun that I could have been doing.

-Jason Richards

Monday in Nica

There are few moments in Miami when you find yourself really slowing down to take in each moment.  I feel like every minute here is like that.  The children here are teaching me so many lessons, like how to be thankful for what you have and how to have some crazy fun sliding down a 15 foot pile of sand and gushing water without fear! Their smiles are contagious and I find myself enjoying the lack of technology and the abundant time we have to spend with one another as a result.

Some of the girls have taught our team the Hanana Montana dance which is awesome that some things are cross cultural (haha)!  I have been working with 15-17 year olds and we named our team the green crocodiles singing "We will, we will rock you" accept we re-wrote it as "Vivan, Vivan los verdes...vivan vivan los coco-drilos."  I don' think it makes any sense but you still gotta love their creativity.

God is all over this place.  It's been awesome to worship as one big FAMILY and to love on these kids.  I think one of the biggest things God is teaching me is that we are all missionaries.  It doesn't matter if you are in Nicaragua or in Miami we are on mission all the time called to LOVE each person we meet.

~Jenny Becker

First Day

Well, the kids arrived yesterday morning and we had our first day of camp! It was awesome! We have 35 kids here from the ages of 6-15! We had a great time getting into our groups and having our rotation times (arts n crafts, bible, english, and rec). Last night we had our worship time and we talked about how we can worship through the arts. We talked about David and how he worshipped our God. Girls from Casa Havilah did two dances-a folklore Nica dance, and a praise song dance. It was beautiful to see them dance! Our theme this camp is "I can worship...". Today we are talking about how we can worship God through serving others. It should be a fun day and the sun is out this morning and we are ready to go! The kid were up this morning at 5am! :) 

Please pray for our counselors and the kids-that we have the energy :) to keep up with them, that we can have fun and really show God's love to the kids, and that they leave here at least knowing that they can worship God in all areas of their life!

-Kay Gackle

In Nicaragua!

We have internet now at Campo Alegria! First year!

We made here safely to Nicaragua yesterday! Everything went smoothly and the 2 hour drive to Campo Alegria was uneventful and relaxing! We set up the camp store, rec and arts and crafts last night before dinner. We had a sweet prayer time together as a group before heading to bed early-we were tired! :) 

The kids arrive today to Camp! We are so excited to get to meet them and love them for the next  days! 

Thank you for your continued prayers for us and this trip~

-Kay Gackle (and Nica Camp Team 09)

Open Hearts Has A New Website!

Just wanted to let you know our ministry partner in Nicaragua has launched their new website. Check it out!  There is a lot of great information about Open Hearts Ministries and easy ways to both connect to their ministry and make your donations now online.  I know this has been a goal of theirs for awhile to get this up and running. Congrats Buzbees and Farringtons!

Pictures from Camp.....

Here are some quick pictures of camp from last week. Like Kay wrote below, it was an awesome experience for these youngs girls from La Chureca and a great time for all of us. Praise God!

Chris & Krista Farrington

Our week so far...

Well, we have now finished our 4 day camp for 30 girls from La Chureca (Managua's city dump). It was amazing! Our camp theme was Who Am I, and we talked about the girls being made special by God, His own unique creation, how they each have a purpose and how they each have gifts and passions to further the kingdom of God.

We talked about Esther, and how before she became queen she had to go through a years worth of beauty treaments, but this was all so she could become queen and help save her people, and so on that day, we gave each of the girls tiaras, and did a spa time too. We gave them facials and put little cucumbers on their eyes, we gave them pedicures and manicures, and did their hair. They LOVED it!!!!

Everyone from our group really has been doing an amazing job-they loved on the girls, had fun with them, and really poured into them for the 4 days we had them.

We went into La Chureca yesterday for the first time, and for half of the group it was their first time seeing the conditions from which the girls came, and it was...and always is an intense thing to see. To drive into this dump and see children working in the trash, and smoke from burning trash and flies are all around you, skulls and carcases from dead animals are in the trash too, it is filthy and gross. But when you go into the school there, El Colegio de Esperanza, there are smiles and laughter from kids who have escaped the trash for a few hours for school and meals. We were able to go there too and love on some of those other kids during their recess time. It is so sad, but this missionaries are giving the kids hope of a different kind. Praise God for that!

I think that our overall feeling for the team is gratitude for the chance to work alongside these missionaries in their effort to give hope to these kids and to show them love that is beyond human condition. What a priviledge that has been for each of us.

Today, we are going to Casa Havilah, the girls rescue home here, 5 of those girls went to camp as well, so it should be a nice little reunion time too! :)

-from Kay and the Nica camp group

Campo Alegria Send Off!

Just dropped off the Nicaragua Donations to the team at MIA airport.  They will be doing a camp (at Campo Alegria) for the girl's who live in the Managua city dump for the next 7 days.  

Please continue to pray for the work God has in store for them.

(picture of Kay and Heather unloading UBC truck this morning at airport)

Summer Missions Trips to Nicaragua

Last year we shared these stories in our Newsletter. We thought you would enjoy seeing pictures and reading about last year's trips to Nicaragua. We hope to see some of you on the trips planned for this summer!!!

UBC sent down a medical team in July. They had two doctors, two nurses, two dentists, a dental hygienist and a large supporting cast. We spent two days in Rio Blanco, a day in Los Cedros and a day in La Chureca. Over those four days they saw nearly 800 medical patients, pulled over 150 teeth, did nearly 80 teeth cleanings, and even performed a couple of minor surgeries! It was quite an exciting week.
Our time in Rio Blanco was especially sweet with pastor Sergio, who we mentioned last month was a pastor Open Hearts supports. We did this clinic under the banner of the church which was great. Though we were there meeting the physical needs, our hope was to make connections with people who have even deeper spiritual needs, which are equally if not more important. God has greater plans than we even know...please keep praying for Rio Blanco!

One of the best parts of the summer is getting to take kids from the dump to camp on the lake at Campo Alegria. In July, University Baptist Church (Chris’s home church) from Miami came down and took 40 kids from La Chureca to camp. In fact, UBC put on the first camp for kids from La Chureca four years ago, which was a huge part of Open Hearts getting involved with ministry in the dump. So it was a really special time at camp. Camp went awesome! What more could a child ask for?...wild games on the beach, arts & crafts galore, camp store with lots of prizes, lots of food, your own bed, interactive Bible time and a movie every night! Calling it awesome is even an understatement! God blessed our time at camp...our prayer for each kid is that He changed their life forever this week! Amen.

See ya'll this summer!!!

Chris & Krista Farrington