Friday 12/24 – Arrival into Nicaragua

Today, the first of our group arrived. 38 New Wine missionaries from America flew from Miami into Managua. We met our host Pastor Arturo at the airport and a big yellow bus with volunteers from the church were there to greet us, eager to introduce themselves and help us with luggage, whatever we needed. It was a little surreal at first, having traveled only about 3 hours and being in a completely different land. The weather was warm and inviting. We were all very excited!

There was a small group staying at a hotel, while a larger number from our group went to stay at Pastor Arturo’s orphanage called ‘Casa Betesda’ (House of Bethesda).

After a chance to freshen up, we met back at the hotel for dinner with the orphans. As a special Christmas treat, the children from the orphanage had gone shopping for new shoes in the morning, and the hotel we are staying at let them swim in their pool all afternoon. These kids had never been anywhere like the hotel before and it was fun to see them so excited. We had dinner on an outside terrace overlooking the pool, and then Georgian gathered everyone together in a circle and we sang Christmas carols together. Afterwards the orphans took turns telling us how thankful they were that we had come to Nicaragua, it was very obvious that these children are surrounded by lots of love and that they truly love Jesus. It was a wonderful way to spend Christmas Eve and a great start to the trip!