A little bit about our team’s mission. We are in Managua, which is the capital city of Nicaragua. Managua has 1.5 million people in a country of over 5 million.
Ours is a two part mission. First: we were asked by PAN a year ago to help them construct a warehouse for their newly purchased property. Currently they have no place of their own to store the materials and supplies that are donated to PAN. At present the goods are in various locations around the city of Managua, Nicaragua and these locations are not very secure and, as in many impoverished nations, thievery is common. So the plan is that the warehouse will provide a place to sort and store the goods that will be donated to various Nicaraguan agencies. The warehouse is 40’ x 40’ by about 20’ high. It is made of concrete block about 4’ high and the rest will be steel siding with a steel roof. Pictures will be posted next week. This project is far larger than can be accomplished in our time here and so we will be assisting Nicaraguan workers with the help of Samuel, our translator.
The second part of our mission is working (playingJ) with the kids in Pastor Elvis’s barrio. This is the barrio where previous KPC teams had served building his church. We will be working with the sports ministry playing soccer and baseball. So the work days next week will be divided about 2/3’s on the warehouse site and 1/3 playing games with the kids who never get to play organized sports. In fact most sports are played on the street with equipment that we would find in our dumps...
Today we got to drive around the city seeing landmarks of historical significance such as the former residence of General Samosa. We saw the city from a high point and gave a prayer for the city. Anywhere we stop in the city, we get noticed by children who come looking for handouts. Generally we don’t give them anything because other children will come out of the woodwork so to speak. However Brian has a soft spot and give a cordoba (Nicaraguan currency—20:1 American dollar) or two right at the last minute...A couple of us were called Gringos which interesting.
This afternoon we went to watch a baseball game between a team of one armed men who were going to represent Central America in a handicapped baseball tournament. They were late and so we were just tossing the ball around when some Nicaraguan men came onto the field and we played a four inning game against them. It was great great fun—I think we even won! The “One Armed Bandits”, as they called themselves, showed up and we played one inning against them which also was fun. I don’t think we pulled any muscles, but there were 4 or 5 skinned knees.
Supper was rice and chicken and salad, eaten in a bit of a rush as we got ready for going to see Pastor Elvis. We arrived there around 6:30 and had a time of re-introductions and a time of prayer and of worship. A couple of songs were sung both in English and Spanish which was very cool. The barrio has been particularly hard hit by their rainy seasons and the road that the church is on is virtually impassable which has greatly impacted all who live there, but particularly those who earn a living in the barrio.
We are back now at Jenny’s house having a discussion, a de-briefing of sorts about our day together. Enjoy the pictures. We the team members send you our families our love. AC, RC &LAKABAJA.