This post by: Will Thompson is a sophomore at the University of Missouri majoring in History and Philosophy. A native of Festus, Missouri, Will is a Peer Advisor for Residential Life at Mizzou, a member of Missouri Student Association (MSA), and a newly deemed member of Mizzou´s Tour Team. Beside his schooling, he enjoys camping, traveling, cooking, and is also training for a half marathon.


Today was a good day. It started out with our similar routine of breakfast, devotion, and then we packed up the Toyota van. We sang and whistled songs until our driver Jose turned on the radio, we still aren´t clear if he does it to provide music or because he wants us to stop singing. We soon arrived in La Joya, the same village were we worshiped on Sunday. La Joya is the town of Pastor Marvin, the president of the Lutheran Church in Nicaragua. When we got to the church we got to introduce ourselves to the kids. Our basic Spanish is improving each day so this process is getting easier, but I am still enjoying speaking through facial expressions. Nothing beats a smile :)

After arriving we soon headed to the sport fields to play with the kids. I´m a curious soul and I like to explore new places, but this sometimes gets me separated from the group. Well, somehow the group started heading to the fields without me and I came a few minutes late. However, this allowed me to meet Javier and  Benjamin on the road to the fields. Javier is 19 and Benjamin is 22, and as far as I could tell they were not connected with the church. They seemed eager to ´jugo beisbol´ so I had them follow me. We soon met up with the others and I got Javier and Benjamin each a ´guante.´ Again today, they wanted to play Nicaragua v. USA. The temperature was much more pleasant and breezy than the past few days. I´m sure it was still over 100 but knowing the actual number doesn´t make it more comfortable for me so I don´t ask. The competition and camaraderie we have in our baseball games really allows me to connect with the youth. Just by competing with, cheering on, and working with these kids, we are able build relationships with these kids that I know I won´t forget and I hope they won´t either. It has always felt great to group together after each game and pray with our brothers and sisters in Christ.


After we were finished playing baseball we walked by the school in La Joya and met up with the girls. They were singing and I was really excited to hear ´Alabare,´ a song I have not heard since second grade Sunday school. We soon went back to the church to grab lunch. After that we performed our bead skits. We had made many improvements to our skits and tailored them to captivate a younger audience. They were an attentive and captivated audience! We told our story and left them with a challenge to share it, and we are now leaving the rest to the work to the Holy Spirit.

After we were finished in La Joya we were able to take a brief trip to the market of Chinandega. The driving in these tiny streets would be very stressful, but our driver Jose doesn´t break a sweat as he slides between cars, bikes, carts and horses. We didn´t buy a lot today, we walked around and saw the culture of the city. However, we will go to the market again on Saturday and I´m excited to trying haggling for the first time.



Each day here has been a new and exciting experience. I´ve been able to eat mangoes picked from a tree, play baseball with a volcano in the backdrop, and most importantly, establish relationships with some of God´s beautiful children. They may not have as many iPhones and Wal-Marts as we do, but their is such beauty here in God´s creation. I´m reminded of it every time a child smiles at me, and thankfully they do it often. Today was a good day.