Monday, February 15, 2016

Ministering & Teaching in Nicaragua!




From January 25th through January 31st, Create, Minister, Teach! had the opportunity to travel to Terrabona, Nicaragua, a small rural town 2 hours outside of the capital. What was our mission? Several!
  1. To spread the message of the Gospel to rural Nicaragua 
  2. To provide support for FestiNiños, a children's outreach festival
  3. To plant a creative ministry team
  4. Anything else that was needed!

Rehearsals

I focused on directing the 9 youth from Iglesia Jesucristo Es El Señor Terrabona who had committed to working together for the week. Our first meeting and rehearsal was on Wednesday. The goal was for them to be ready to present a program for both FestiNiños... the first one on Saturday!!!

I immediately dived into prayer and rehearsal with them. I took time to explain the purpose of our ministry, the delicate task and privilege that we had been given, and a general overview of the program we'd be presenting, a Spanish adaptation of "the Original Love Story." The program featured video segments narrating Creation and the life of Jesus and I served as a bridge for the video and performance pieces with illusions and stories. Our songs included Spanish-language versions of:

  1. "Indescribable" by Chris Tomlin (featuring Blacklight Hand Mime) 
  2. "Superhero" by Hillsong Kids (featuring Blacklight Puppetry) 
  3. "Alive" by Hillsong Young & Free (featuring Choreography) 

We began by tackling our most challenging song: the hand mime piece. If you're unfamiliar with hand mime, using white gloved hands, dark clothing and blacklight performers can combine their hands to create a variety of images and words. If you're having trouble understanding what I mean... try being those youth! 

By the end of that first hour of rehearsal though, I video'd the 30% of the song they had learned and was delighted by their excitement when they finally saw what they were twisting and forming their hands into. 

Fast forward through a Friday evening rehearsal, a bit of stress from feeling like I was too short on time, freaking out over the stage we built failing to stand up, a Saturday morning rehearsal where I felt much better... and our first FestiNiños was upon us!



FestiNiños 

FestiNiños is an annual children's ministry event that Iglesia Jesucristo Es El Señor Terrabona hosts as an outreach to the children of rural Terrabona. It is their way of offering these children an afternoon of play, treats and a message of God's Love through Jesus Christ. 

Imagine my joy when I learned that one of the members of our ministry team, Freddy, was a product from FestiNiños! And now he was serving in FestiNiños and reaching out to the next crop of little ones.

We had 125 children (many unchaperoned) join us for what proved to be an immensely rewarding but beautiful afternoon of kid mania. We kicked off with songs and a devotional and moved into tournaments and carnival-style games for prizes. They were each sent back home with a goody bag and an invitation to come back after supper with a friend and their parents for a creative ministry spectacular!

Presentation Time!

After only about 6 hours of rehearsal, and with no formal dress rehearsal... or tech rehearsal... and without being 100% sure if our stage would even stand... it was showtime! 

Our first presentation was in Terrabona on Saturday night and what a joy it was to see little ones raising their hand to accept Jesus as their savior! Our second presentation was in Chaguite Grande, the site where our church, Iglesia Jesucristo Es El Señor, has been building a church and community center.  This is a very rural mountain community about 5 hours outside the capital.

We left at 6 am to arrive in Chaguite Grande by 9 am... to find the center already packed with about 200 people waiting our arrival! We quickly divied up tasks so the adults could prepare and host a FestiNiños and we could set up for our presentation. 

After years of supporting the construction of this building, it was very gratifying to finally see the vision coming to reality and walk the grounds of the church. Our team worked to quickly assemble our stage and set up our show. Meanwhile, the adults worked with somewhere near 150 children to host FestiNiños Chaguite Grande. Each child received a goody bag and a t-shirt proclaiming "Jesucristo Es El Señor" (Jesus Christ Is Lord).

By showtime, nearly 300 people had packed into the center! After a few hiccups with the power (they had just installed electricity the week before our arrival), the second run went beautifully. More beautifully, many, many hands of both children and adults alike were raised to invite Jesus as their Savior.

Mission Nicaragua: "Indescribable" (ft. Hand Mime)

We only had about 3-4 hours to rehearse this song with 9 volunteers. This was performed in Chaguite Grande, a rural community about 5 hours from Managua, as part of FestiNiños. Our church has been building this community center and they just had electricity installed the week before our arrival! Want to support our mission? Visit https://www.gofundme.com/67bff3jq

Posted by Create, Minister, Teach on Monday, February 15, 2016



Home

Our drive back to Terrabona from Chaguite Grande was another experience. I forgot to mention that in order to transport our team of about 30 volunteers 2.5 hours up the unpaved, rocky hillsides, we rode in the back of a large cargo truck.

Riding back high on energy and encouragement, our group joyfully sang praise and worship songs back down the slope. Can you imagine what it must've been like for the communities we drove through to hear a mobile choir passing through their roads? I thought it was so fun to see adults and children poking their heads out of their homes as they heard us driving by and singing praises to our God.

I'm so grateful for the opportunities I've had over the years to use my gifts for ministry and encouraging others. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine my ordinary self being a part of such extraordinary things with our God. 

"God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another." 1 Peter 4:10

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