Day 4 here in Nicaragua and the team is really firing on all cylinders. We started the day with a great breakfast (as usual) and jumped onto the big yellow school bus for a 1-hour ride out to the Ruby Ranch.
The Ruby Ranch is this magical place out in the country side. It’s equal parts horse farm, camp ground, rec center, and waterpark. Doesn’t it sound awesome? It’s cause it is!
We spent the morning doing VBS activities with the kids from Club Esperanza. The kids arrived about 5 minutes after we did. Smiles on their faces from ear to ear. Since this is our 3rd day with the kids, they kinda know us now so they seek us out and greet us with warm hellos (sometimes even hugs). We opened with some worship via dancing and singing. We then broke the kids into 4 teams and moved then through our activity stations. We had:
• Bean bag toss tic-tac-toe
• Relay races
• Some crazy “look up in the sky and tell me what you see” activity
• Pony rides – not really sure they were ponies, too big to be ponies
Then, lunch. Red beans and rice, yummy chicken, and Pepsi (or as they call it hear, gaseosa).
After lunch, we moved on to the main attraction of the day, the Blue Monster. The Blue Monster is a 40-foot water slide carved into the side of mountain. Imagine a huge water slide at a water park but make it out of blue tarps and carve it out of a mountain, literally. Then let 30 kids loose on it. Mildly controlled chaos, but awesome, awesome fun. I’ll summarize by saying, a good time was had by all. No one was injured, well, almost no one 😊
After a few hours on the Blue Monster, it was time to say good bye to the kids. Clearly the toughest part of our trip thus far. We’ve had so much fun getting to know these amazing kids over the past 3 days. We prayed with them and said our goodbyes. It was tough on our kids (and our parents too).
We ended our time at the Ruby Ranch with a hike up to their mountain top chapel. The chapel has a dozen wooden pews, facing a 20-foot wooden cross, overlooking the beautiful countryside below. The Farrington’s lead us in prayer and worship. Truly a special place.
After our time on the mountain top chapel, we jumped back into the bus and headed back to our base camp at Casa Farrington. We ended our day with a great dinner, and our usual devotional time up on the 3rd floor. The kids are getting so much out of this experience.
The Lord is doing amazing things with Team Nicaragua. Can’t wait to see what tomorrow holds.
