In some instances the challenges faced abroad are not related to tough digging, broken pieces, lost parts or hardware shortages. In some instances, it’s the unexpected red tape of bureaucracy that seeks to slow down the work we’ve been called into. No matter how many questions you may try to ask ahead of time, when your feet hit the ground and you show up with the playground and shovels, things get real! For months we have been planning to build a playground at a rural elementary school in coastal Nicaragua. Whether the school’s leadership just didn’t think we were really going to show up or they genuinely didn’t know until the last minute…but shortly after we arrived we were told that a permit from the Department of Education would be required. Initially, it sounded like it would be a 20-minute process, but by the end of the day, after countless phone calls and attempted workarounds, we discovered that the permit would take at least 6 months to obtain. That night our prayers amped up both on the team and from our support back in the US. Little did we know that even more prayers were taking place than we could have hoped for, but we quickly found out when we arrived at the school the next morning and found it swarming with people. It seems that the student’s parents had heard that the playground was no longer being built the night before and had gathered together in prayer and in planning. They ardently voiced the importance of this playground and rallied to ensure their children were fully provided for. Like these parents and to such a stronger degree, God refuses to let principalities and powers get in the way of the abundant life He has for His children. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”