Thank you for your love and support!

Visiting with Yadira and her family

We want to extend a big thank you to everyone that supported us this summer! We could not have done it without you. We had an amazing summer, full of church missions teams, kids hanging all over us and many construction projects accomplished. Over the course of the summer, with the help of multiple church teams, the soccer field was finally completed! Beyond just that, numerous Nicaraguan “homes” were plastic-wrapped and protected from the heavy rainy season, and many feeding programs were held to help the community. Through prayer walks we covered most of the families in personal prayer and gave out the generous donations from several churches.

One family that Paul and I grew particularly close with over the summer was Yadira’s and Rosa’s families. Yadira and Rosa are sisters, both pregnant, and each have young children already. Rosa’s husband is no longer in the picture, but Yadira’s husband is. Because of the family situation, the young father who stayed took on the responsibility of both sisters, and all the kids! Paul and him actually became good friends and we spent much time with the family. Amazingly, there was extra money for the construction project, and we were able to hire the father as an extra worker. He was so thankful for the work, and it was a blessing to help encourage him.

Our last week in Nicaragua was the perfect week to wrap up our time there. The final Sunday, we took Paul’s bible study boys to church as usual and then had a pizza/pool party afterwards. It was a great time for them to just hang out and be boys together. Later in the week, we took them on a little field trip to downtown Managua. We spent practically the whole summer with those few boys, but we especially relished every minute with them that week, knowing that it may be a while until we see them again. We grew very close to the kids and families of Los Brasiles, so our last day in Los Brasiles was a very bittersweet day. We played a huge inaugural soccer game on the new concrete field and said more goodbyes than we could even handle. We even got stopped when trying to drive out of the community with people who wanted to hug us goodbye, as the kids all hung on the side of the truck. It was a tremendous experience and God worked greatly in that community.

Overall we saw God demonstrate His power in so many ways during our time in Nicaragua. It’s hard to even summarize all that we experienced and the Lord accomplished. We want to just give Him the glory and also thank you for all your support you gave in every way.