Here are some pictures from the first day:

Since "rainy season" in Nicaragua just finished in December, the roads are not 

completely dried out!  Here we are stuck in the mud on a windy mountain road this 

morning, while our kind and wonderful hosts helped to free us from the mud!

What a wonderful site, to finally arrive at our destination: the newly established 

village of Tierra Nueva, founded by our mission partner, Agros International.

The village families loved the banner we presented them from New Community Church.  

Their favorite pictures were the pictures of their own smiling faces from last year.

We were thrilled to see a number of finished homes in the village.  Our lunch time meal 

was enjoyed in a home which last year's NCC team had helped to prepare the site for.

After a very long hike over many hills, through the woods and muddy trails, we arrived 

at our destination for the day: the coffee fields where two year old coffee plants were 

neatly planted in rows alongside a huge mountainside.  The first job of the day

was to help cut down the weeds in between the rows of coffee plants.  The students

were thrilled that they got to swing some serious machetes to accomplish this.

One of the village men showed us how they climb trees to cut down 

branches, allowing more sun to get to the coffee plants. 

After we were done swinging machetes to clean the paths between the coffee plants, we moved on to the next task: caring for the coffee plants by weeding much closer to the plant and then spreading fertilizer on the high side of the hill above each plant. We did this, plant by plant, row by row.

After another long hike back to the village, we gathered together.

We broke out some activities and games for the kids including frisbees, hacky sacks, and jump rope.  Our students jumped right in and played with all the village kids.  What a joy to see the laughter and community shared between our team and these wonderful Tierra Neuva families.

At first the little girls were the only ones who would jump rope, but soon and we got 

the men and women of the village to get in on the fun.  The man in the picture above is the 

president of the overseeing board of the village!

Ryan Greene did a great job teaching the young boys how to hacky sack.

It was wonderful to see everyone laughing and smiling at all the fun!  By the end of the day, 

we felt right at home in Tierra Neuva, with a sense of unity in Christ that broke down any 

barriers in language or culture.  We can't wait to get back to the village tomorrow!