What to expect when you visit the Arms of Love home in Nicaragua.

Accommodations
Ministry Opportunities
Church Relationships
Recreational Opportunities
Scheduling Your Trip

Accommodations

We have a large and comfortable Short-Term Team Center known as Casa Grande which accommodates up to 50 people. Casa Grande includes a large kitchen and a substantial dining area, as well as meeting areas and spectacular views of nearby mountains and volcanoes. Visitors sleep in bunk beds and share bathrooms with cold-water showers.

Visitors receive 3 meals per day. Your team will be served local Nicaraguan foods as well as more traditional “gringo” foods. Nicaraguan food is quite tasty and not very spicy. You will eat lots of rice and beans and enjoy spectacular Nicaraguan coffee.

Our property sits on 20 lush, tropical acres. There are trails for walking, and “zip lines” through the tropical canopy for the more adventurous. There are always basketball games to join on our court!

Ministry Opportunities

Crafts, basketball, baseball, water balloon fights…there are endless possibilities to connect to the kids. During school season (February-November), the kids don’t usually finish their studies until 4:00, so your team will want to plan other midday activities.

We often have various work projects that teams can help with such as painting, light construction repair work, landscaping, clearing brush, etc. Please ask us what our current needs are when you schedule your trip and let us know what your team’s special skills are.

Teams often like to venture out and do ministry in the community providing more opportunities for team (and faith) building. You can plan an outreach to a neighborhood in Jinotepe or Managua or we can arrange a visit to the La Chureca dump (where a large number of abandoned kids live). These are all wonderful ways to challenge and stretch your team.

But the most important part of every trip is ministry and relationship.  Your team will have many opportunities to share your faith with the children, to pray with them, and to encourage their spiritual growth.  The staff also appreciate receiving ministry, as caring for our children can be exhausting work.  By building relationship with the staff and the children and ministering to them, the body of Christ is strengthened across cultural and geographical barriers.

Church Relationships

One of the principal values of Arms of Love is to develop each project as a ministry of the local church to its own community. The children who reside at the Arms of Love Children’s Home attend services at La Rocha church in Jinotepe. We are also in a close relationship with La Vina Comunidad Cristiana Norte, (a church affiliated with the Vineyard) that is pastored by Eugenio Maltez Lacayo. Most teams like to go into Managua to attend church services there. We hope to be part of the Vineyard’s efforts to plant a La Vina in Jinotepe. Teams are welcome to join our local churches in ministry to the wider community.

Arms of Love is currently coordinating its efforts in Nicaragua with the help of a partnership of Vineyard churches in the United States led by Pastor Glenn Schroder, the senior pastor of the Vineyard Church in Portland, OR.

For additional information about La Vina Comunidad Cristiana Norte, please visit their website at http://usuarios.lycos.es/vineyardnicaragua/.

Additional information concerning the Vineyard partnership for Nicaragua can be found at http://www.vineyardnicaragua.org

Recreational Activities

The centrality of Jinotepe makes our location convenient to Managua, tourist sites and recreational areas. Your team can make a day trip to beautiful Granada, the colonial capital, and take a boat ride on Lake Granada. You can see beautiful views from Catarina and hike at the Mombacho volcano. The beach is only about an hour away, which makes it a perfect joint outing for the team and the kids. The kids also love the nearby waterpark. A day trip to Managua is a must where you can visit the Huembes market and buy gifts for family and friends.

Scheduling Your Trip

To schedule your trip download the Team Information Form and send it to us today. Your team members will complete the Volunteer Information Form and you will send them to us a month before your team arrives.

For a details about traveling to Nicaragua and team life read Making a Trip to Arms of Love Nicaragua.

For more information about bringing a team to Nicaragua contact us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Helpful Downloads
Making a Trip to Arms of Love Nicaragua
Checklist for Teams
Team Information Form
Volunteer Information Form
Short-term Teams Manual