A Saturday to de-compress

Saturday morning and up at 6am one more time.
We gathered to share stories about how mission experiences have affected us and how God is writing our story with these experiences. So amazing to hear these young teens reflect on what He is doing in their lives through short term mission. Thank you for sending them! Amazing results!!!
The team is off today to have some decompression time. A large group will stop at a zip-lining place and soar through the trees with the local monkeys. Another group will head down the coast a bit to try their hand at some surfing. Another will go directly to San Juan Del Sur and enjoy this little beach community where the Pacific meets the Nica Coast. Everyone will gather in San Juan Del Sur for lunch and for the afternoon - some well deserved downtime.
A time to reflect. A time to blowoff steam. A time to be alive and enjoying somewhere else that God created. A time to be readied for the adventure back home.

Everyone is fine and preparing to return. We had a giant team dinner last night on the BBQ under the tropical stars and even had a visit from a Mariachi band right here at the centre - so much fun.
Late last night Emily Potter was playing and slipped and fell and injured her wrist. Off we went (after some first aid) to get her checked out at the best private hospital in Managua. Emily had hyper extended her wrist. We had her checked, her wrist x-rayed and diagnosed. All was well except for some swelling and pain. Young people are so resilient. We got some prescription anti-inflammatories and we were home just after midnight. I was very impressed with the centre staff, the hospital staff and quality of the hospital, and the timing of it all. From fall to return to the centre was about 3 hours. Emily will not be zip lining or surfing today but she is smiling and happy and just fine. Praise God.

Today Maddie Janzen and I stayed back at the centre. Maddie's feeling under the weather so we both chose to stay back, enjoy some meds and snooze quietly for the day. She's reading and snoozing in a hammock and I am quietly typing into this blog outside under a grass roof. Again, all is well. The rest of the team is under the direction of Darryl and we have 9 amazing leaders out there surfing and zip-lining shoulder to shoulder with your kids. Pretty cool. Great group!

Tomorrow the adventure here will end, we will have a day of travel and good group time and then a new adventure will begin. Please prepare yourself to listen to the stories coming home. It may take them some time for the team to unpack those stories and I would ask that you be patient and be open to these stories as they emerge. It's all part of the discipleship process - the discipleship of our team and frankly the discipleship of you.
May God bless you and challenge you on the next part of your journey together.
Pete