Dance, dance, dance…

     Last December, my beautiful friend Ashley (pictured left) and some of the lovely ladies from Living Water Church really had the desire and heart to introduce dance as an outlet for worship and as a ministry of the church.
The Living Water team was able to spark a heart for dance ministry and then Ashley spent five months working here in Candelaria teaching the youth to express themselves and to worship through dance. She taught them how to worship, to choreograph their own dances, and rose up leaders from within the group. Because of her perseverance and work, the dance ministry has grown by leaps and bounds. Ashley poured her heart into the dance ministry. She sparked a fire in the hearts’ of the youth for ministry through dance. She taught them how to express themselves to the Lord in prayer and worship through their movements. I watched the youth come alive in dance!

    As Ashley and her husband, Jake, returned to the States at the end of May, Jovanny (pictured right), who is one of our youth and one of the most talented dancers I’ve ever seen, stepped forward to lead the dance ministry. He has done an amazing job! Under his leadership, youth who thought that they could not dance now dance with confidence. He has choreographed and taught close to 20 new dances. They have won regional dance competitions, performed in church, and begun using dance as a means to share God’s love with street gangs, the city of Chichigalpa, and surrounding villages. I have been amazing to see the movement of God in this ministry.

Some of my favorite moments have been:

*Watching the youth worship in a deeper way through dance. I remember one night the youth were dancing in church and part of their dance was an unchoreographed, free worship section. I loved watching Kenia twirl before the Lord and seeing on her face a joy that can only come from encountering the Lord. I just sat back and smiled as Anthony jumped around like a kid at a rock concert- worshipping in a way that was uniquely his, but so purely for the Lord. My heart cried out as I saw Jovanny pouring his heart out before the Lord through his dance on the night that his mom walked out on the family.

It was the only way he was able to express all of the hurt that he was feeling.

*Seeing the youth grow in self-confidence. They have begun to see their talents and believe in themselves. You used to have to drag Ariel onto the dance floor as he yelled, “No, no. I can’t dance. I can’t.� I remember the first night I saw him ask someone to dance. It sounds like a small step, but it was a huge leap in his self-confidence.

*I love seeing them learn to work and to move in unity. There is still so much work to be done in unifying the youth, but this ministry is teaching them unity.

*I loved seeing them celebrate together as they competed in and won a regional dance competition. They entered dances for choreography and traditional Nicaraguan folk dance. They placed 2nd in choreography and 1st in folk dance.

*This ministry sparked a passion for outreach and ministry. The kids have taken their dances to the local parks, to church in homes of the local gangs, and to New Song’s outreach villages. They are using dance as a platform to share God’s love and to show how He is working in their lives.