Mom

Mom,
   How can I begin to thank you enough? There are no words that adequately describe your importance in my life. I know people say things like this all the time so it sounds extremely clique...but I have no idea where I would be without you. Actually, I do have an idea and it is so not pretty. There are so many things that I should thank you for but there is not enough time and not enough words to write them all...so I will just mention a few.

Thank you Mom for being the one who always welcomes me with open arms in all my mess and failure. You are the person who since I was born has been there for me day in and day out when I mess up big? You are there. When I am excited about something you are excited too (mostly haha). When something makes me sad, you sit with me and make me feel better even if you don't say any words. When I completely don't know how to do something I need to do and come to you crying like a baby, you pick me up off the floor and help me figure out how to do it. When I make a mistake and have to come tell you how stupid I am and you say "I still love you".  Mom, how do you do it? You seem to somehow make all (me, Seth, Abbey, Jess, Heath, and dad) of our lives still work and have your own too.

Thank you Mom for all the nights you spent with little to no sleep taking care of me. For the times when I was a baby and fully dependent on you to wipe my butt and give me food.  For the times when I was a bit older and could walk and talk but got sick and spent the night in and out of the bathroom or coughing so much I couldn't sleep, you were there holding back my hair or rubbing my back.  Or when I got my license and was out late with my friends and you waited up to make sure I got home safe. And those nights that I couldn't go back to sleep because I had a bad dream that felt too real. One thing remained the same...you were right beside me, with a warm rag for my forehead, with a bowl, with the nasty cough syrup, and best of all your arms that wrapped me up tight so I knew it would all be okay in the morning.



Thank you Mom for helping me know how to treat others with kindness, love, and grace. For teaching me when I was young that I should treat others with the same kindness I would want to be treated with. For showing me in many different ways how to love people who are different than us, in whatever way that might be. For being someone who asks people into your home and showing me in very practical ways what it means to have hospitality and helping others to feel comfortable in your home. For making cookies and meals for people who maybe had a surgery or is new to the neighborhood or church. Because doing that was a gift to those people, but also a gift to me by teaching me what it means to take care of those who may not be completely able to do that for themselves. And welcoming others into something that may seem unfamiliar and uncomfortable and letting them know that they are loved.

Thank you Mom for being my teacher. Whenever I think about being home schooled I remember how blessed I am to have a mom that would spend her time teaching me when she could have sent me to school somewhere else. I think about how you had five kids and somehow home schooled us all..at the same time and survived with sanity in tact...that is impressive to say the least!

Thank you Mom for never wanting us to miss out on an opportunity whatever it may be.  No matter if it it meant you bending over backwards to get us there and then having to wait around so we would have a way home. I am sure there are countless hours you spent driving us around to the different things we were doing whether it was music lessons, youth group, baseball, fundraisers, ect. And even after all that still having a home cooked meal on the table for dinner...you truly are an amazing mom and a top chef if you ask me :)


Thank you Mom for pushing me to achieve my dreams, but also speaking truth and reality into my life. For giving me balance and level headedness (apparently thats not a word but I'm sticking with it anyway). For raising me to be my own person and for allowing me to do so even when I seemed a little weird to you and the rest of the family. Hahaha!  I know there were times in which you probably would have made a different choice than I did, but you allowed me to make my own because you didn't want to control my life. And thank you for supporting me in it.
 

Lastly, and most importantly, thank you for always telling me about Jesus. Thanks to you (and Dad) I cannot remember a time in my life that I did not know who Jesus was.  It is because of you that I stand today and say that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. Without you telling me, taking me to church, showing me through your life, and praying for me I am not sure I ever would have known Christ. Thank you for raising me in a home that allowed the Holy Spirit to lead and actually following even when it meant moving away from family. And for leading me to Him when my focus was just not quite right. It is because of you, Mom, that I have the courage to do what God has called of me. I remember the day when I told you and dad that I felt called to be a missionary and I will never ever forget what you said.. "Do you think we are surprised?" because you knew even before me. You knew that because you raised me to know Christ it meant that he may someday have a call on my life that would lead me this way.  Thank you for making God greatest in your life so that I might see that and get to live by the example you placed in front of me.

Mom, you are my biggest blessing, my #1 cheerleader, my best friend, my nurse, my counselor (Lord knows I need it), my safe place, my constant, and so so many more things. You inspire me to be better each and every day. To be loved by you is more than I ever deserved. For all the times I didn't say it, THANK YOU!  For all the times I won't, THANK YOU!  Happy Mothers Day!

I love you Mom! <3

Seeing the growth

It has been an exciting couple weeks here in Nicaragua, specifically at the Pochocuape church!  God has been working in this church and these last couple of weeks we have gotten to see some of that in visual representation.

I love serving in this church and getting to see what God does in this place.  Something unique about our church is that we don't actually have a building yet, we have a small area which has some posts that hold up a tin roof, and as of Saturday we have two walls made out of plywood.  It was a pretty exciting thing for us to be able to enclose our space a bit in that way because this time of year is extremely windy...I have never experienced wind like this before.  People call Chicago "the windy city" but that is only because they have never been to Pochocuape.  The wind is actually painful.  It knocks small children over, and since I'm already clumsy enough it surely doesn't help my balance.  We were also able to add a wall made out of pallets for the space we have childrens sunday school in so that we might have a bit of protection from the wind over there.  Something else we have been up to is clearing/leveling a space to use for games, soccer, baseball, football, ect.

This last week we had a lot of different construction projects going on!  One more that I haven't mentioned is getting the space ready and putting the baptismal (water tank) into place.  We have a really awesome group of men who lead this church and their dedication to God never ceases to amaze me.  They spend countless hours doing all sorts of different things as we build this church, I have learned a lot from them about really and truly being sold out for serving God.  They are pretty much willing to do anything they are asked to advance God's Kingdom and Church here on earth.  This week they worked hard to get all these things ready for our weekend services so that we might see God work in new ways. 

 

On Sunday we had our very first baptisms!  Oh it was so exciting and so fun to be part of.  It was also Pastor Marcelo's first time getting to baptize.  We had four of the people who have been saved over the last year choose to get baptized and become members of our church!  I love watching people make the choice to show their faith in Christ by getting baptized and obeying what God has asked of them.  I can't wait to see how God continues to work in all their lives!  We now officially have 8 members at our church in Pochocuape!  I am so blessed to get to be part of what God is doing here!

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing."                                                                                                                                  1 Corinthians 13:1-3

It has been waaaayyyy too long!

Hello again, I know it has been far too long since I have written.   If I were to try to tell everything that has happened since we would all be here for a while...so let me give you and overview and try to share some of the cool things along the way. 

I guess I never wrote again after I told you I got to Nicaragua in October...so let me see what I can remember about the rest of that month and November.  While I was here for a month I got to continue some of the working I had done over the summer and see some fruit of it as well.  I also got to translate for an amazing medical team and saw God do incredible work in three of our churches here.  And of course I got to continue building relationships and start some new ones.  I headed back to Wisconsin the day before thanksgiving with a heavy heart not sure what was next for me.

I got to spend the Holidays with my family and friends in the States and freeze my booty off while doing so!  Haha.  I had been invited to come back in January and wasn't completely sure if that was going to be possible but God made a way, a very clear path actually.  I honestly do not know how to explain to you the way God moves when He makes these things happen, it is like I don't even have to speak a word and all of the sudden everything is in place and I am going.  It is such a blessing in my life right now to see how He continues to fit all the pieces right together in front of me.

Pretty much right after New Years I was back on a plane headed for the next chapter in this crazy journey God is taking me on.  When I got here my best friend picked me up from the airport and I got to spend the next day with her before I headed for camp with the teens/young adults.  I actually got to surprise almost all of my people here by coming this time so that was really fun.  Only five people knew I was coming.  Lets just say the blonde haired, blue eyed, white girl on the bus stands out a bit!  Faces were priceless. 

Once I got to camp we hit the ground running.  I was the photographer because...well I am just too clumsy to play the games they play at camp.  These games are the real deal!  It was military themed this year and that stepped it up even more. Just imagine a training camp with some silliness and devotions and you pretty much can get the picture...oh and no bathrooms!  We did have showers though, Praise God!  It was a cool week getting to see camp and some of the leaders speak and some of the campers commit to God in new ways! 

I can tell you that the fun and silliness is not all that comes with ministry.  There are hard hard times and you get bad news when you aren't home and have to deal with your feelings and try to make sense of life again.  Sometimes you get good news and that makes you a little sad too because you want to celebrate with your family.  Sometimes you just want to ask "what am I even doing here anyway?".  Sometimes nothing seems to make sense and you have to trust God when you can't see.  But in all that God is still here, He is still working, and if you choose to allow it He will use you.  And if you don't He will use someone else, you just have to decide if you want to be involved. 

After camp we started getting ready for the team that would arrive in a few days.  Once they got here we worked hard in Pochocuape.  Visiting, playing, building, running VBS, and getting to spend some good time in fellowship.  While they were here we saw nine kids start a personal relationship with Jesus Christ!  We also finished a beautiful chicken coop and the team gave us some chickens to fill it!  What a blessing!  Today at church we were able to eat the eggs from those chickens and praise God for the people who allowed Him to work through their lives last week. 

That brings me to the present.  Wow!  I don't even know how to express my gratitude and love for all those who support me and love me in all of my crazy.  God has blessed me abundantly!  Today I got to work in Pochocuape all day, first during church, and then in the afternoon we worked out in the field trying to get some of the land ready to be able to us for soccer, baseball, and whatever else we might want to do.  I get to see the growth in one of the girls who accepted Christ while I was here in July and see what God has done in her life since.  She is a changed child of God, and I could write a book about all the ways I see it.  Yes, she still struggles and she still fights and still messes up...but God has changed her heart and what it beats for.  That is truly beautiful.  That is why we do missions.  I love this work.  I love these people. 

Pray that God would continue showing me what is next right when I need it.  Pray for a sweet friend of mine who is struggling right now.  Pray for my friends who start seminary classes this week, that God would work in them greatly and raise them up to be leaders in their homes, churches, communities, and relationships.  Pray for the amazing Donna (missionary) as she starts this semester with the students and sets them up for a year of study.  Pray for our church in Pochocuape, that the men God has put in leadership would continue to be sensitive to His leading, for the people who are coming to church that God would work in their lives, for those in the community who are maybe thinking about coming would you ask that someone be able to touch them in a special way this week that would bring them to church?  Would you worship with me for the lives saved and changed in Jesus name?!  We serve an incredible God! 

Forgive me for writing a book this time!  I will try hard to be better!

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing."                                                                                                                                  1 Corinthians 13:1-3