The team arrived last night around 7:30pm and we took a 30-minute bus ride from the North side of Managua to the South side where we found the Guest House and got settled in quickly. They had a quick team meeting, some saw their first giant toads and gecko's on the wall and then headed off to bed after a long days journey. This morning the team woke up and saw Nicaragua for the first time in the daylight, it set in a little bit more that they were indeed in Nicaragua and then we promptly ate breakfast at 7:30am and rolled out to La Chureca (the Managua Dump) at 8:30am after a quick briefing. We met up with the School in the Dump around 9:30am and the team had a chance to play with the children who were out of class for playtime. The team dove right in, and so did the children. Quickly the mission team had their hands full with about 100 or more kids hanging all over them, holding hands, hugging, and piggy back rides etc. Someone broke out a giant jump rope from the team and before we knew it we had a line of children waiting for a turn.
I love bringing teams to la Chureca. The kids in the dump need lots of love, many times our teams are timid and it takes time to warm up to the childrens lack of personal space! However this was not the issue today and I was blessed watching a mission team from my home state dive head first into something that I knew may be a bit new to some of them. The team got a good glimpse this morning at how this weekend will be at Campo Alegria. Our goal is to show the children love at Campo Alegria, a reflection of the unconditional love we experience from our heavenly Father daily. These children need it and they eat it up faster than you can dish out.
After playtime the team went on a tour of La Chureca and had a chance to hand out some food and gifts to families in need. There are hundreds of families that literally live in the Municipal Dump of Managua, they build their homes out of trash they salvage and make a living off of selling recyclables that they sort through daily. The trash that surrounds them is continuously burning and sometimes the fumes and smoke can be unbearable in certain areas. We prayed as we walked through the dirt roads greeting everyone we passed with a smile. We ran into some children who were addicted to sniffing glue and were close to permanent brain damage because of it, if not already. Glue sniffing is not just a problem in La Chureca, but in many areas of Nicaragua and even around the world. Someone on the team asked me "why do they do it?"; I couldn't find a better way to explain other than "they want to kill their pain". I suppose now if I could go back in time I would have said, "they want to kill the pain of loneliness". Most of the children in Nicaragua who sniff glue are homeless, many abandoned by their families. The loneliness that they feel at such a young age and the hopelessness that comes with that can be unbearable without the love and forgiveness that comes through knowing Christ. This discouragement and this hopelessness is what we try to battle at Campo Alegria. I am excited for this camp, we have an amazing team with ADios ministries and I know great things will happen this week and many more things will be ignited through this trip that only God will know about. After La Chureca the team ate a traditional Nicaraguan lunch at a local restaurant in Managua and then headed back to the Guest House in the afternoon to debrief and get some much needed rest in order to prepare for a big week ahead.
Thank you for your prayers as we travel tomorrow to Rivas and begin the preparation for the kids camp that will start on Friday. Please pray for the 40+ children that will be coming out from La Chureca. Pray that their hearts will be prepared to hear from the Lord and as they experience the opportunity to get away from their harsh surroundings at the dump and as they begin to build relationships with the ADios team members.
Also please pray for the individual mission team members as they are not only called to be a witness to these children, but as they begin to learn themselves what God is trying to teach each and every one of them on a personal basis
through this experience as well.
Thank You and God Bless.
- Adam
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