The Vine

We made it! We arrived in Nicaragua safe and sound and we are very excited to see what God has prepared this week.

As soon as we arrived at the church, the hugs were not long in coming with a warm welcome prepared by the local church.

VIP Connection (Vision, Influence, Passion) was the motto of the youth congress that took place.  What an amazing experience!

Nothing better than a group photo to end a night full of passion for Jesus with the youth of the church.

 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

                       Matthew 6:33

We begin our second day of mission asking for God's direction to lead us and spread His kingdom in the community that we are serving this week.

Pastora Raquel and her cooks are doing a great job taking care of us and preparing the delicious Nicaraguan meals that we are eating.

We packed 20 bags of food to deliver to some members of the church. We are very excited to see what God has in store for us while we do home visits and get to know the families.

We really enjoyed our time getting to know the families in the community that we are serving. They were so welcoming to us and we had the chance to pray over them and share the Gospel.

Today, the team went to the soccer field to support Pastor Silver's local league. There were 11 teams involved and today was the finale. Pastor Silver uses sports as a strategy to bring youth to the Lord.

As brothers and sisters in Christ, we are called to spread the love, mercy and hope of Jesus here in Nicaragua and back in the USA.

This afternoon Matthew shared his powerful testimony about the way he found his identity in Jesus Christ. He also challenged the youth to turn away from sinful ways and follow Jesus.

After playing soccer and listening to a powerful testimony we shared a snack with the soccer players and the fans. What a wonderful time!

We had an amazing service at church Comunidad Integral. We praised  Jesus with our new friends in Spanish!  When the Lord is the center, there is no language barrier!

We brought some gifts to share with the people that live in and next to the dump in Managua. We are so excited to share the love of Jesus with all of them.

We had the opportunity to preach, serve, give and love in the garbage dump today.  We put into practice the preaching of Pastor Silver last Sunday at church!

It doesn't matter what situation we are in!  One prayer is enough to move the heart of God and He will change our lives.

When hearts are connected by love, joy, passion, and the mercy of God there is no barrier that prevents us to talk about His great love, and everything that Jesus has done for us.

We had so much fun painting the front fence and some walls inside the church building.  We are here to serve and we will not stop!

Today we built even more relationships with the locals in the name of Jesus. Every single time we feel the love of the locals when they invite us to their homes with open arms and hearts.

We were able to share God's blessings giving food and drinks to the people in the hospital shelter.  What an honor it was to pray for those there.

With the breathtaking view of the community of Managua, we had the opportunity to pray for the country and for Pastor Silver's dream that is to get a piece of land and plant a new church.

Pastor Silver and his congregation planned a birthday party for Paige. We had so much fun, jumping, eating cake, dancing and getting candies from the piñata. We love to feel how God is so good and his love passes over all borders and barriers.

This morning we had the opportunity to visit Escuela Centroamericana de Comercio.  We talked to the principal and she shared with us her testimony about how God healed her from cancer!  We know that our God is powerful and He is confirming to us that his love is unconditional and limitless.

We visited the classrooms at the school and we shared testimonies, games and a powerful prayer with the students. It is always worthy to talk about our great God.

We got the chance to spend a whole afternoon with more than 60 local kids rejoicing in their smiles.  We had so much fun with them all!

What a better way to finish the day by worshiping the name of Jesus. We are so happy because during the service there were some came and dedicated their lives to honor Jesus!

We went to Catarina Overlook and had the chance to buy some souvenirs and take pictures. We enjoyed the beauty of Nicaragua.

Getting souvenirs from local stores was very fun.  We want to take back home something that reminds us of this beautiful country and it's beautiful people.  We will also remember the love and grace that God showed us while we served.

Lake Cocibolca, Here we go! 

God's creation is amazing!   We took a boat ride in the lake of Nicaragua. We saw many islands and even fed the monkeys.

The team had the chance to visit an active volcano in the city of Masaya. We were so amazed because we were able to see the lava and smoke coming out from the crater.  God's creation is so incredible!

Pastor Silver and Raquel gave a sweet recognition gift to The Vine team for all their hard work, passion and love shared during the week!

We will miss our family in Nicaragua. This week has been incredible as we experienced God in many ways. We can't wait to see them all again.

We took time this morning to pray over pastor Silver and his family. We are sure that God will keep using him to bless the community of Managua. We are so glad to be partnering with his church this week and have a lot of expectations to be able to come back next year.

We are ready to go back home. We can't wait to share our experience with our church, family, and friends about how powerful the love of God is. God's work has no borders nor limits.