Day 7 – Team Day

As the students learned about God resting on the seventh day yesterday in Community cares, the team got to experience its own type of rest on the seventh day of our trip! While quite not fully recovered, the whole team was well enough to join on an adventure to the Mirador (lookout) at Caterina, which included cute shops, sweet treats, and a breathtaking view of the Laguna de Apoyo, a lake formed in the caldera of a dormant volcano. On the way, we got to see stores with hand-made furniture made from the local Cedro trees. We even saw some rocking chairs that looked like the ones we have been spending our evenings in!

When we were done browsing the shops and eating our ice cream bars, we ventured onward to the other side of Laguna de Apoyo for a hearty lunch and swimming in the lake. The restaurant had a super steep and slippery water slide – kids of all ages (yes, ALL ages) found the slide to be incredibly fun, and we’re still in awe of how warm the water was. There was a consensus that the lake was indeed warmer than our showers. This truly was a great time of bonding for the team, and we’re profoundly grateful of the fact that we were able to be together as a whole team given where we were yesterday with the various ailments we’ve been dealing with.

Upon returning to Brazos, mentally rested but physically exhausted, we were welcomed with arms of love from some of the younger boys – they came running up to our bus and gave us each a warm hug as got out. Even after our amazing adventure, it was so wonderful to be back to the place we have called home this week.

We wrapped up the night with our sixth and final devotional. Each team has now gotten to spend an evening with each house twice. Name games have been getting easier, worship has been fun as ever, and the kids continued to engage well with the crafts and activities we provided. All the while we trust that God is engaging with them all the more as they learned about how big his love is for them.

Tomorrow will be a bit of an all-hands-on-deck day, with our final iteration of Community Cares, more roof construction, and an additional Father’s Day celebration activity (Nicaragua celebrates Father’s Day on June 23 every year).