Summary of the trip and Kids' Clubs

Hey everyone!
First, I thought it would be good to highlight the main things we did on our trip. We arrived in Costa Rica late Wednesday night (July 14). We basically went to bed as soon as we got there, because it was like 11 PM. Thursday and Friday we spent at the base of Pura Vida Ministries. During our time at the base we had worship, sessions, and we worked on skits and songs. Thursday and Friday were packed with sessions and training. Saturday we spent almost the entire day traveling by bus up to Managua, Nicaragua. We had to spend a few hours at the border to get our visas and go through customs. We arrived in Managua Saturday evening and immediately upon arriving we attended our first Nicaraguan church service. After the church service we met our host families and got settled in for the night. Sunday we went to another church service and in the afternoon went to a Nicaraguan baby shower. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were all fairly similar. We did work projects in the morning, including painting, spackling the walls of the church, and collecting trash around the city. At 4 PM we would have kids' clubs. We sang songs, did some skits, and had a craft each day. We would give the kids candy and animal balloons. Monday and Tuesday we went home after kids' club and spent time with our host families. Wednesday we had a birthday surprise for the pastor at the church. There was a Mariachi band that played, and we did some of our skits and songs. Thursday morning we had to say the dreaded "goodbyes" :( It was a really sad time and our whole team misses the people that we met, but we also will never forget them. Thursday we did some touring. We bought souvenirs and saw some important government buildings. In the afternoon we took an awesome boat tour of these islands on a lake! It was beautiful! We spent the night in a hotel across from the airport that night. We woke up and left for the airport at 5 AM, and after a day of traveling, safely arrived home

Now that I've summarized all that we did on our missions trip, I want to tell you from my personal experience some things that God really showed me while we were there. The first thing was something God showed me through the kids' clubs. I have always loved children, so it gave me so much joy to love on the Nicaraguan kids and to show them God's love. One day at the kids club, a little girl that I had had some previous interaction with the last few days up came up and gave me a hug. There was another little girl standing nearby that I had never even met, but after she saw the first girl give me a hug, she came up and gave me a hug too. Through that I realized that God can use the simplest things to make a difference. Through a hug I was able to minister to a little girl. All week through balloons, skits, and songs we were able to show God's love to his children. I thank God that He can use even the little things to make a difference. It was a reminder to me that I don't need to necessary do something huge to bring God glory. Secondly, the other thing God showed me was how He is always with us. There were several times throughout the trip when I was worried. I was in a strange place, with people I had never met before, and I was supposed to somehow use my gifts to minister to them. Even during the times when I was absolutely out of my comfort zone, God constantly reminded me of his presence and of his protection. That was really awesome for me to see!