Our trip is coming to a close. We did our last presentation to the only high school and middle school here in Nagarote. Here in Nicaragua children go to school in shifts. The first shift comes in at 8AM and leaves at 12PM. The second shift comes in at 1PM and leaves around 5PM. We had a rowdy crowd of over 600 students in our morning presentation. This is a public school, yet we were allowed to present the gospel in its entirety to these hurting teens. Elmo started with his magic to get the crowd warmed up. The students especially enjoyed when Elmo called the principal up on stage. I think some of them were hoping Elmo would make her disappear. Thanks to Pastor Dave´s talents, we adjusted our presentation to fit our audience. Our Life House drama, where sin keeps Tabby from reaching Christ kept their attention most, along with Daniel´s very powerful testimony. Oh, by the way, Daniel was treated like a superstar the entire time. The girls were going crazy over him. He was loving every minute of it. Pastor Dave shared Alex Riner´s story while Amaris translated. This powerful testimony continues to bring glory to God and is reaching the lost far beyond our little town of Winter Haven.
The second group of high school students were older and a bit more hardened. Yet, they were more attentive and seemed to grasp more of the messasge Pastor Dave was presenting. The response at first was slow. At the end many came to pray with our group. We went into each classroom after our presentation was over and handed out small bags of popcorn to each student. This is not like any high school found in the states. Each classroom consisted of three full walls and one partial wall with bars. These classrooms were generally connected. The entire school consisted of about 15 classrooms. Some "desks" only had a chair and a bar where a writing space should be. The only A.C. was that provided by the wind. There´s just so much we take for granted.
Pastor Rafael took a group again to Sueño De Luisa, which is a school ran by a sweet American woman with a passion for the children of this community. Pastor Rafael and the team handed out salvation bracelets and presented the gospel message.
Our shadows got shoes today. They gleamed with joy when they came to show us their brand new school shoes. These were not Nike, Converse, or Reebok. They were those ugly school shoes your mom used to buy you that lasted all year long. Now they could go to school and were very excited.
We had a little fun today and got to go to Gertrudis´farm. There was no electricity nor running water. There were cows, exotic fruits, and peace. The hotel host let us borrow two A.T.V´s. The look on Alisha´s face while she was riding was priceless. Dave broke down and actually was able to fix his A.T.V. See Rachel, he canfix something!
During our late evening meeting, one of the young ladies from the high school came looking for Amaris. She had three tracks and a letter stapled together. Our first assumption was that it contained a love letter for our infamous Daniel. There was a love letter, but there was also a letter of gratitude to the group which also included a very touching personal testimony. Amaris read the letter to us all. There was not a dry eye in the room. If in all of our efforts, we only made a difference in the life of this one young lady, we have fulfilled our mission of bringing the lost to the feet of the cross.
Thank you for your prayers. Everyone is feeling much better. Tomorrow is our shopping and fun day. Please continue to pray for us and for a safe trip home. We all miss you and can´t wait to be home again.
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