Building Homes in Nicaragua pt.1

We have been pretty busy over the past month hosting teams of high school students from Miami.  These kids are a part of a great project…building homes for families in need!  It is a pretty intense time.  But, by the time the trip is over we are standing together praying over a family who is receiving a house that may have taken them 3 to 5 years to do on their own.  It is awesome to be a part of and an amazing gift to give!

Palmer Trinity School (click here to view their blog) from Miami has an great program that integrates their students into these short term missions trips to Nicaragua.  They spend the year planning and preparing for the trip through garage sales, fundraisers, attention getters, etc…to make the trips happen.  When they come down, they not only bring a huge blessing of a house, but also contribute to the rest of our ministry here as well.  This is a program that has been going on for about eight years now.  

PTS sent two teams down this year, one in February and one in March.  These kids give up their vacations to do something greater!

Here are some fun photos from the work sites:

As I mentioned, the teams also made great contributions to our ongoing ministries; Club Esperanza, Casa Havilah & Casa Robles.  We are so very appreciative that they make an effort to also include these projects in their teams goals for the week.  This year they visited Club Esperanza and brought school supplies and clothes.  They also put on a dental hygiene clinic that actually drew the attention of some local media.  Even beyond that, they brought down a new computer for each location!  This was a great blessing and a wonderful suprise for Sheyla (Club Esperanza director), Angelica and Yuri (house parents at Casa Robles) and Jenny (house mother at Casa Havilah).  Computers are an essential for raising and educating children these days.  We are very blessed by these gifts…Thank you Palmer Trinity for all that you do here in Nicaragua!

And lastly speaking of drawing attention….whenever little Juliette comes out she gathers a little crowd, she stands out a little 🙂  This picture was taken with one of the families at the house dedication…I am pretty sure she is directing everyone on what to do!