Kayla Balangue

After a long week of hard work and an almost 24 hour day of travel, our Central America A team is home safe and sound!

Join us in praying for them as they readjust to life back home and try to get some rest before the semester starts back up on Monday. Ask a team member to tell you more about their trip and their experience in Central America, and stay tuned for a team recap soon!

Hello to all our friends & family! Thank you for your continued prayers & support of our trip, I think I speak for all of us when I say what a blessing this trip has been. This week has been full of laughter, good food, hard work, & an overwhelming sense of joy. 

Today we finished our last day of construction &  had a dedication ceremony with the church. The Convoy of Hope office team, pastor, & community of the church joined with us to worship & pray. It was a wonderful experience. The pastor of the church told us how we had been helping plant a seed that others would continue to water, but that God would grow. He thanked us many times & assured us that we would always be in their hearts & prayers. 

The people of of this country are known for their hospitality, & we have been so loved by each person here. From the church members embracing us, the construction team who was so gracious with us as they had to explain things to us, to our field team members who we are so blessed by. The warmth of these people is unlike anything I have experienced before & I am so grateful to have the opportunity to. 

After the dedication we hopped on the bus to see the women’s empowerment program, which is one of many Convoy has. We met several women in the program who spoke of how grateful they were for it, & how much it has impacted them & the lives of those around them. At the particular site we went to, they had a bakery that is used to teach women how to bake, provides jobs once they learn, & also feeds back into other programs Convoy has within the community. The women had graciously prepared cake for us to try, & it was one of the best things I have ever eaten. It was a really unique experience to be able to not only hear about the program, but see it, hear the testimonies, & enjoy their hard work. Of course, we all had to buy a bunch of baked goods, & each thing we ate was better than the last! 

After that we headed back to the hotel to rest & ate dinner at a delicious chinese restaurant. We enjoyed time together & tried deep fried ice cream. We ended the night with a debrief & sharing all the ways the day impacted us. I am really thankful for the time we have at the end of the day, because three days of labor in 90+ humid weather is extremely tiring, but being able to share & hear from the team about all the ways they saw God that day or appreciated each other always refreshes my soul. 

Thank you again to our friends & family, we love you & would not be here without you. We look forward to seeing you all soon & telling you more about all the wonderful experiences we had on this trip! 

• Emily, Daniel, Jake, Bianca, Brian, Caeden, Cooper, Naveh, & Sofia <3

After an amazing weekend of meeting the Convoy team, touring their distribution center, and getting to see some of the beautiful scenery in this country -the team woke up Monday morning ready to get to work! 

Breakfast was at 6:45 sharp… Even though that was extremely early for most, everyone made it on time, which was the first miracle of the day! 😉  There were others and I’m excited to share those with you and to commemorate them in this blog -as our goal is to make some memories while we make a difference!

To start our day, we nourished our bodies with some delicious local cuisine and our souls with prayer and some encouragement from Cooper who led us in our devotional. There was a sense of excitement that you could feel around the breakfast table and in the bus ride to Fountain of Life Church as this moment was months in the making. 

Fundraising, planning, meetings, spinning wheels and pies in the face followed by red eye flights, flying over oceans, bus rides and jet lag etc etc …all for the chance to do the work we started today!

Convoy of Hope sets the bar for loving people by meeting needs. They wisely ask the many communities they serve  (all around the world) what it is they need. Oftentimes it’s very different from what we would assume or guess. For example: Fountain of Life Church serves an entire community and has no permanent bathroom and nowhere for people to wash their hands, so they asked Convoy to help solve this problem. This is much more than convenience… its directly connected to health, sanitation, and hygiene.  Here in Central America, the church helps to educate the importance of these things to the children and families in the communities they serve 

We assisted the construction crew with the foundation work for these bathrooms… While they framed the rebar support structures, we moved very large piles of soil and gravel from the front of the church where the dump trucks could access, to the back of the church property where the bathrooms are being constructed. This required just under 100 wheelbarrow trips across the property in high temperatures and high humidity! We also helped mix the concrete with the sand and gravel before delivering this mixture into the footings via 5 gal buckets.

This was hard but rewarding work! Each of us had to dig deep but every single team member contributed in ways that made an impact.

Towards the end of the work day, we were approached by a man named Manuel that lived in the community we were serving. He saw us working and wanted to share his heart with us. Tears filled eyes as he spoke of his time in this country’s military. He shared many stories and in them you could hear both a deep sense of pride and deep sadness for what he saw and experienced… He was also deeply grateful to America for what he considered our help when he was younger. He brought us a plate of food as a way to say thank you for the work we were doing. While we didn’t eat the food, we accepted it and recognized the weight of this gesture. 

After listening to Manuel’s stories and doing our best to encourage him, we were able to pray with him and speak some life into the broken parts of his heart that he shared with us so vulnerably. 

To end the day, we spent some time on the patio of the hotel. There we ate dinner, talked about God moments that we experienced, and then encouraged each other with “shout outs” to recognize the gifts and efforts of our team members. Everyone had something powerful to say about a moment they shared with God or a team member… or both! 

D Gluck brought his guitar and we capped a long and productive day with some songs we sang by the pool…our Convoy contact Katie and Bianca’s tia ( who joined us for dinner ) also joined in on the fun and led some worship songs.

We are looking forward to getting some rest and to what tomorrow will bring! – Jake 

Greetings from Central America! This morning we started our day with an amazing breakfast where we were able to try new foods we probably never had before, We then ended our breakfast with a devotional led by Katie, our Convoy leader, in which she gave us a motivational word to prepare us for the day.

As a team we went to a church, Fountain of Life, where we were welcomed with open hands by their main pastor, Adolfo. He even stated that he would welcome us back again. During the service, two of our team members, Naveh and Cooper were able to give a small testimony, followed by worshipping with the children.

Secondly, we were able to sing to them the songs that we learned (Spanish & English) for them to enjoy and sing along. Then we as a team were able to see them break piñatas, while singing and dancing some more. We finished our time with them by helping their church team feed the children the food that was prepared.

Later after church, we headed to lunch where we were able to enjoy some authentic food and talk more about ourselves with our field workers. One highlight of our day was visiting a ceramic making place called Taller Escuela de Cerámica which has been run by generations of indigenous Nahua families where they work to keep the culture of ceramic pieces made with many processes. All of their art is handmade and done with incredible detail. After seeing how all these are made, I can say that I won’t take ceramics for granted anymore!

Later in the afternoon we visited a small tourist district in which we saw many vendors of all kinds, like food, clothing, cultural pieces that represent the country. We also went on the trail walk around the rim of a beautiful lake set in a volcanic crater. On the hike we say monkeys and more volcanoes! We finished our day with a filling dinner and then headed back to our hotel to debrief and get a good night’s rest to prepare for our first day of helping the community in any way we can.

Thank you for your time and keep our team in your prayers. This will be a great experience for all of us and we are looking forward for this week of service.

Bryan (for team), Bianca, Sofia, Emily, Jake, Daniel, Naveh, Cooper and Caeden

Friends & Family –

Greetings from Managua! After the first overnight flight to Miami, we took a short 2.5 hour trip from Florida to this beautiful country today. This country is called the “Land of Lakes & Volcanoes” for a reason. As we descended down over the landscape, we passed multiple volcanoes, lakes, and took in the green countryside before touching down mid-afternoon. As we walked down the jetway, we immediately felt the 90+ degree heat, but our hearts raced with excitement. Touchdown was especially meaningful for Bianca – who’s extended family originates from this country – her first visit!

After collecting our luggage and getting acclimated, we went via bus to Convoy of Hope’s nearby distribution warehouse. Here, we shared a meal with the local staff, and heard a presentation of their impactful work providing food assistance to families all over the country. In fact, they are one of the primary organizations assisting the local government’s food programs. Additionally, we learned of their development of grass-roots agricultural centers, where locals can be trained in methods to diversify their food sources, which helps them adapt to the effects of climate change here. They also have an extensive “women’s empowerment” program which teaches women business, work skills, and savings techniques.

A highlight of our warehouse tour was seeing pallets from a recently delivered shipping container, full of food packaged by Feed My Starving Children in U.S. Several of us on the team have participated in past events to pack these essential resources, and it was fun to see them on the “other side.”

Later in the afternoon, we had a unique opportunity to visit the hope of Bianca’s Tia (aunt) Francis, and her daughter Celeste. We loved sitting inside a local home, visiting with them, and sharing dinner at a local Fritanga (a local favorite cuisine) Restaurant.

We are so grateful for your prayers – and praise God for smooth transit! Flights on time, no lost luggage, and even a little sleep on the plane. =) Other than a bit of fatigue, all are well and ready for a good night’s rest. Tomorrow we will visit Fountain of Life church, where we’ll soak up the opportunity to worship with our brothers and sisters here, and a couple of us will share testimonies.

So grateful for all the prayers, encouragement and support that got each one of us here! This is sure to be a powerful experience. Blessings and we look forward to updating you again soon,

Daniel (for Team), Bianca, Bryan, Sofia, Emily, Jake, Naveh, Cooper and Caeden

After one red-eye flight & a second midday flight, the team finally made it to Central America safe and sound! They’re settling in at the hotel and getting ready for an introduction to the ministry this week.

Let’s pray for their energy and excitement for this trip to continue to be sustained as they serve the community and grow closer to the Lord and each other.

Our first Global Outreach team of 2025 is officially on their way to Central America! They are excited and ready to spend their Spring Break serving with Convoy of Hope.

Please pray that the team gets some good rest on their red eye flight, that they arrive safely to their destination, and that their energy is renewed and sustained by the Lord this week.

We will update again when they arrive safely in Central America!