This photo was taken moments before we left the Skylark retreat Centre in Los Medranos Nicaragua. I do not for an instant think this was the end of anything. I clearly believe that this was a necessary part of each of our journeys - our journeys into the tangible Kingdom of Jesus here on Earth. How appreciative I am for this part of it. I am praying that He has coloured in and answered some of questions we each had - questions about discovering His heart and His desires for each of us.
We may have left Nicaragua but we now journey forward into the next adventure. I pray and hope that we do not tire or become adversely affected by a tough North American culture. I believe that God has work prepared for us to do and just like we learned in Nica, we need to seek Him out and discover the people and situations He is drawing us towards.
"Beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news"
I pray that we have been and will continue to be the people of "beautiful feet".
Jesus loves us all. Let's be His hands and His feet and carry and express His Kingdom wonders and beauty to others.

That is my prayer as this brief journey ends and the next begins. Thank you for your faithfulness and your hearts. May God bless you and keep you and even more importantly, may He use you in mighty and wonderful ways... Pete

Our Youth

I can't say enough about these young people who journeyed with us to Nicaragua. Working like this with these young servants is one of the highlights of my job at WMB and once again, they surprised and amazed us on this adventure. Thanks for that! You are all my heroes!

Sam B
Sam Bogart is just a cool kid. Sam is gentle and fun. He is a servant and very capable of working together with people or on his own. Sam was an absolute pleasure to have on this trip and everyone enjoyed his presence, his amazing sense of fun and humour and his servant leadership. I can't even begin to describe the settled calm and fun presence that he brings to a group. I would travel anywhere with this guy. Great work Sam!!! It was a privilege!

Adrienne F
Adrienne is a real dynamo and a leader amongst her peers. A dynamic presence, Adrienne was quick to engage in any activity and took ownership in everything she applied herself to. Adrienne seemed to enjoy getting dirty and really threw herself into the tasks at hand adding her radically fun presence to the various jobs the team found themselves in. Adrienne will make an impact in the kingdom based on her sheer presence. A pleasure to work with, a joy to be around, I am very proud and excited to see the young woman she has become...great work Adrienne. What a blast!

Leighton M
Leighton was a clear and gentle presence on this team. With an initial glitch and arriving late with his Dad, he seemed to overcome that very quickly and joined in full force alongside the team to serve and experience the Skylark and the Nicaraguan people. Leighton is incredibly easy to be around and to work alongside and has fun, likes to smile a lot and is very easy to relate with. A wonderful addition to the team, it was an absolute pleasure for everyone to get to know Leighton more and enjoy his happy easy going presence. Great job buddy!

Darryl S
Darryl is always a surprise. His powerful sense of humour keeps everyone on their toes and we enjoy simply being around him. Partner that with a gentle servant heart and a crystal focus on the new and you have a very dynamic youth. What fun it was to have Darryl apply a lime green bandage to my burnt nose as if this was the cure to everything. :) Darryl is simply fun to be close to and a tangible kingdom presence on the team. He could be thoughtful at times, comical at times and he was the only one who got up on a surf board. Way to go buddy. I would mission with you anytime! Great work and great servant heart!

Emma F
Emma was a gentle and thoughtful presence on the team with a very mature attitude to the adventure. I really enjoyed the interaction she had on this team and watching her serve in all the tasks laid out before her. Eyes wide open, she was very thoughtful and processed well the various experiences right up the very end of the trip. I really appreciate her attitude towards this mission and look forward to seeing what the future holds for this young Kingdom Walker. Thanks for your heart Emma!

Mackenzie D
Mackenzie is simply a wonderful and gentle soul with a servant heart. It was awesome to interact and fun to be around Mackenzie. Shy at first, it is clear that Mack loves to serve, loves children, loves the team and does not need to be in the forefront of anything but is always there gently serving in the midst of it all. I was so proud of her approach to this trip and how she was truly an example of a servant. Great job Mackenzie. I would serve with you anywhere. Salt of the earth would be a descriptor I would use for this young woman as she served in the soccer camp, with the vbs and then in the projects. Very cool! Great job!

Emily H
Emily is a dynamic personality and was a wonderful presence on this team, driving around every corner looking for the next adventure to be had. What a cool member she was on this team with her many funny faces and happy attitude. Emily is vibrant and fun loving and added a clear dynamic to the team. Diggin in wherever she was, she enjoyed the Nica children and was a positive fun loving ball of energy. I thoroughly enjoyed my interaction with Em and she certainly kept me on my toes. With this fun loving attitude and all of her questions she added exactly what the team needed. What a great team member! Thanks for all you brought to this adventure Emily and I'm looking forward to what the future holds for you.

Sarah R
Sarah was our soccer guru and that was very clear during the soccer camp. Sometimes in the morning very early, I would hear her and Beth doing their 5k run around the property (personally I thought they were a little nutty - however). Gentle in her approach to things, it was awesome to see her blossom during the programmes and I thoroughly enjoyed simply having fun with her. Sarah is quick to smile and has a gentle thoughtful side to her that was greatly appreciated. I really appreciated her attitude towards everything and her presence on this team. Thanks for all you are and how you live out Jesus. Can't wait for the next adventure with you. Great job Sarah!

Emma K
Emma was an awesome presence on this team! Emma approached everything thoughtfully but with loads of energy and a clear sense of fun. Watching her process this trip day by day, I really enjoyed getting to know Emma more and see the wonderful young christian woman that she is. Emma was quick to engage in any task and really led by her example and attitude. Emma also showed how much she likes to have fun. That was awesome and a real bonus to the team. Great adventure with you Emma! It was an absolute pleasure to have you on this team!

Renée S
Renée could be found on a regular basis, with her Ukele in hand pondering the day and gently strumming a tune on the patio. No stranger to mission, I think Renée was really some of the glue on this team. I found her gentle reflections really valuable for the team and also enjoyed some of her own personal discoveries. I am really looking forward to seeing where God is working in her life and what the future holds for her. She was a gentle active presence on this team and even brought a sustainable piece with her as she donated $100 to an agricultural project at the centre - from her class here in KW. Cool presence and wonderful team addition. Thanks so much for your heart Renée.

Emily P
Emily Potter is obviously casting in her vote for missions. Emily is a fun presence and loves to engage in these cross cultural adventures. Emily is a strong and happy personality and throws herself into tasks with enthusiasm and thoughtfulness. Emily hurt herself one evening and with grace, was able to experience private health care in Nicaragua - something new for me as a leader, for the centre staff and for her. Emily rides these adventures with a positive attitude and a servant heart and I appreciate her so much. Great work on this adventure Emily! As always it is a pleasure to serve alongside you.

Laura H
Laura is always a wonderful team member. She is thoughtful and focused and quick to share and explore new experiences. I have journeyed with Laura several times and as usual she always enjoys the local cuisine of wherever she is. Not sure where all that food goes but it is impressive to watch. Laura is always in the thick of things and has a clear presence and thoughtfulness to everything she does. It was nice of her to bring her Dad this time. Thanks for that gift. Once again it is an honour and pleasure to serve with this young woman and I look forward to what God continues to build into you. Great experience!

Maddie J
Maddie is a wonderful young servant who is gentle and fun loving and simply a pleasure to have on a team. Maddie is a bit of a chameleon when it comes to looks and dress. One day she looked like a north american teenager and the next she looked like a 1960s hippie. Then her hair would change and be totally braided and then not. It was new look everyday and pretty cool. Maddie's gentleness was wonderful to watch as she interacted and played with the Nica children and there was no hesitation to get covered in paint or filthy dirty at one of the job sites. Thanks for your heart Maddie and sharing this experience and your gifts with this team. It was an absolute pleasure!

Amy S
Amy is always a dynamo on these teams. Amy moves forward and seldom stands still. She is thoughtful and reflective but does that while actively engaged with people. Amy definitely brought a presence and her leadership to this team and kept us moving forward and engaged at all times (except early in the morning - Amy and I share an aversion for those early mornings) I have always enjoyed adventuring with Amy and I hope that will continue. (I guess it will in the Philippines next May) Amy is very physical very focused and a natural born leader. Great work on this team Amy! Great work and always a pleasure!

Jenn and Dan H
Jenn and Dan have journeyed with me several times over the last few years. They each bring a focused, prayerful,christian heart to the table and a a massive servanthood focus. These two are planners and Jenn was exceptional in her prepping of her Spanish skills and her stepping into the role of translator on a regular basis. Wow! What Spanish skills she has developed! Dan is an obvious physical dynamo and was a real asset to the builds and the soccer camp. What a privilege to serve shoulder to shoulder with these two young people and see what God is doing in their lives. Beautiful to see a brother and sister doing this so well together. As always, this was an honour for me to serve with both of you and I am so curious as to where God will lead you. Thanks for your hearts and your example to all of us!

DJ McIlwraith
DJ was a latecomer to the team and I am so thankful that it worked out and he could join. During the soccer camp, it was so cool to watch little brown soccer players crawling all over him on the field as if he were a jungle gym. DJ is clearly a kingdom servant with a gentle and vulnerable heart and a willingness that is impressive. He fit so well into the team and was always there to engage and to reflect on the experience. DJ sees things through a Jesus lens and to see this in someone so young was wonderful. Whether playing or praying, DJ was fully engaged. For me, I constantly enjoyed the quick smiles and the welcome whenever we ran into each other during the day. Great team member, great follower of Jesus. Great job DJ!!!

Our Leaders

Jason and Samantha Dewit
Jason and Samantha were a natural addition to this team. Having been in Nicaragua before, they brought a love and a clear heart and focus on this country and these people. Both of these leaders love our youth and were an instrumental part of this experience. Samantha's new command of Spanish was so helpful and we could all see the joy she experienced connecting with the Nicas on a more personal level. Jason is firm and focused and natural leader with a clear and communicated presence. Jason organized and saw that morning devos were led by groups on the team and those experiences were one of the highlights of this trip. Great job! Great people! They made this adventure so amazing!

Romy Hergott
Romy was a first timer missioner on this trip. Romy is fun and gentle and an amazing worker. Joining his daughter on this trip, he was a huge impact on the build at the little community church and I could always find him in one of the trenches levelling stone or teaching one of our youth how to mix and pour the concrete for the foundations. Romy is a natural teacher and a servant. Those are powerful skills on a trip like this. It was and continues to be a pleasure to process this experience with this man. An amazing guy - I would journey with him wherever.

Pam Hartman
Pam is a long time youth leader and a definite presence on this trip. Looking after "her girls", Pam is authentic and real and an amazing example to the youth of how to be a Kingdom walker. Pam was deep in the trenches with the wall build at the centre and was quick to try her hands at all the tasks - digging, cement mixing, rebar bending and wiring of the rebar supports. I have always loved having Pam along on these adventures because of her calm and present wit and humour. Quick to smile, Pam is also quick to feel her way through these experiences and has no problem being vulnerable. Another amazing leader.

Beth and Chris Wolf
Beth and Chris were a wonderful and much needed addition to this team. Both of these missioners are Phys Ed teachers at Bluevale and they definitely brought the critical piece to Nicaragua around the soccer camp we ran for 4 days. What amazing leaders! They were able to organize, plan, and then execute an astounding soccer experience through the work of all the youth on the team. It was quite a dance and it was wonderful! Through their work, 80 Nicas experienced this soccer camp and some wonderful times with Canadian youth as. Beth is determined, focused and has a gentle open heart which was evident on this adventure through some tears and prayers. Chris is a physical dynamo and a wonderful leader with a gentle open heart to the plight of others and a willingness to serve. I hope they continue to mission, and explore the world, leaving their fingerprints on the lives of others.

Darryl Milne
Darryl is our illustrious Youth Pastor. The start to this trip for Darryl was rocky with some passport glitches with Leighton - but he pursued and persevered and ended up with us on the Monday following our arrival. Darryl was a gentle leader and enjoyed the construction end of things. He was often to be found walking down the Los Medranos road, pushing a wheelbarrow full of supplies for the church and chatting with members of the team. Darryl was very curious about the Centre and the work of Threefold in Nicaragua and was able explore some of the other aspects of what they do in country including some initial work with street women. While there he was definitely a pastoral presence with the youth and the team.

Cecil and Carole Hayes
Cecil and Carole really seemed to hit a new level on this trip, in my eyes. They were so much fun to be around and were a definite presence and were involved workers in the wall build at the Centre. Constantly laughing and engaging with me, the team and the local workers, it was a joy to see them appear at the end of the day, filthy dirty, broad smiles and full of stories from the trenches. Great leaders, great supporters, I am so happy they chose to join their two children and the rest of us on this adventure.

Pete Olsen
Once again I simply felt privileged to journey with these amazing 26 people on this adventure. I do volunteer work for Threefold, sitting on their Board of Directors and it was pretty special to bring this wonderful team to Nicaragua to experience the Skylark and the Nica people. For me this is absolute and pure discipleship ministry. We spend time in prayer, in Scripture and working with our hands serving in ways that are hard to find at home. I have the privilege of watching God work in the lives of these leaders and our youth. It doesn't get much better than that!! t am so grateful to God for this church, for these youth and for these leaders. It is simply an honour to serve beside them.

Taking my time but it's coming!!!

Hey folks,
So I am taking my time with these final words for this blog because I want to add a comment about each member of the team - individually and reflect a little about what I saw in each person - leader and youth. I've also been working on the photos (over 4000 of them) and getting them ready.
Hope you can be patient with me...Nica style
Pete

PS - Remember where the team was when I took this photo?

In the air from Atlanta - late

Hey folks,
So we're in the air again from Atlanta. I believe we're almost an hour late. Our flight was overbooked so there was a 40 minute delay boarding, then there was a paperwork issue and then we had to wait for a long time on the runways so...we're finally up an!d flying home. Everyone's pretty pumped to get home. I can hear conversations turning to school and courses and jobs as reality settles in. I watched as people enjoyed specialty sandwiches and hot dogs and such at the airport - a long journey from chicken and rice and beans.
So here we come...better late than never.
Soon
Pete

In the air and coming home

Hey folks,
No time this morning to post about the Sunday adventure in San Juan Del Sur - sorry. loads of getting ready last night and this morning. It was cool this morning. We were up at 6am this morning and met at 6:30 for a silent walk into the community of Los Medranos and a prayer time at the little church we worked on. very poignant and several tears. It is hard to serve hard for a week and then suddenly say goodbye. We prayed separately and then together we said the Our Father. Perfect ending to this adventure and beginning to the next.
We were off to the airport at 9am - arrived at 10ish and checked in. Everyone is settled and relaxed (very different than how they were on the journey here) and we were able to grab a Sub sandwich before we left.
We are just beginning our descent into Atlanta and will be there for a few hours slogging through customs as we pick up and re-check our bags. I do so love the security process through the States. Perhaps if they were nicer to the world, they wouldn't require to x-ray me and pat me down. However, at least I have 26 other friends who are there with me to feel my pain.
Still planning to be home around midnight and to the church around 2-2:30am. Everyone is ready to be home. Everyone is gently pondering what they have experienced. Everyone is a little fragile, perhaps a little broken and definitely ready for some family time and loving arms...
See you soon
Pete and the team

PS. I gathered tons of photos of the trip to the ocean yesterday which I will post on Monday with a reflection on each team member and a final word. Wait for it...wait for it
Peace.

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

Friday AM Pics