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

I'm back!

I have now been in Nicaragua for about a week and a half and it is just as crazy as ever.  When I landed in Managua there were a bunch of loco people waiting for me and waving at me one the other side of the window.  Something that is just heart wrenching when you land is that once you get to baggage there is a wall made on windows...and for me I usually have at least one friend waiting on the other side.  This time I had five.  What a sweet blessing it was to be greeted by friends in the airport.  They then watched as I struggled with my four bags ((mostly not things for me)) to customs.  We ate dinner in the airport and headed to drop the guys off and as we rode in the car I was serenaded with the songs we use to teach the younger grades English.  "Its a rainbow, its a rainbow, a beautiful rainbow in the sky" in a Nicaraguan accent of course!  hahaha!  I so missed my family here.

What have I been doing since I've been here??
If you have been following my journey you might know that while I was here I taught English to preschool through 6th grade.  I am still doing that along with helping Pastor Marcelo start his church in Pochocuape.  I love being part of this brand new ministry.  It comes with its own set of struggles but it has been so awesome to see how God works in so many different ways. Wednesday I got to just sit and talk with a couple of the girls on the soccer team and get to know them a bit.  It was really a cool time because it was just me and them, no translator to rely on so instead I looked to for something better, someone better.  And man did He show up.  I don't know about you...but for me one of the biggest ways I see God in my life is when He makes my ears to hear a language I don't fully understand and makes my mouth to speak words I'm not even sure I know.  THAT is cool.  That is God! 

The second day I was hear I got pretty sick...and midway through the day as I am lying in bed one of the two people who I am living with texted me and let me know that they had both been checked for lice and had it.  So I promptly got up and showered and started washing everything.  I then spent the rest of my day and good portions of the next three to follow picking lice out of their hair.  But you know what?  That is ministry.  It isn't always pretty and it isn't always fun, but when we are called to ministry it means taking the good with the bad.  It means getting lice because the kids you spend almost every day with have it and they need love.. they need to be hugged and picked up and tickled and danced with and to play with your hair.  So you might just end up with lice.  I did not this time ((thank you Lord!)) but I had it just months ago. 

I almost forgot to mention that I have had my first hospital experience here in Nicaragua.  The story goes like this...I was playing soccer because on of the girls we are really pouring into is trying to learn how to play.  So I went to be goalie so that Dawn (who has knowledge about the sport) could watch and coach Sinai.  I was playing for all of about ten minutes when I am going to the ball and all of the sudden my knee is going left and my body is going right and I hear snap crackle pop and I somehow end up sumber salting trying to save myself.  Well I didn't hahaha!  So I started icing it because I was not able to bend it or fully straighten it. We went to the doctor just to make sure I hadn't torn my acl or something but they said all is good and just to rest it. They shot me up with some pain killers and sent me on my way.  My whole visit costing less than $100 with xrays, consult, and drugs.  Only took two hours as well!   :)

I have been able to see a lot of my friends and spend time with a few of them.  I know it might shock you but.....I just love it here.  This place, these people, the creation, the food....oh my goodness the food, life.  I cannot explain it to you in words but there is just a feeling I have when I am here that is so sweet and so distinct and so God.  When I am gone I yearn to be back, when I am here I miss my family and friends but there is no place I would rather be here on earth. 

Will you pray with me?  Pray for the pastors I work with here, that they would be refreshed in new ways and given a new excitement for their church and the ministries within it.  For the upcoming pastors who are getting ready to take their own churches.  For the missionaries I work with that they would receive wisdom and guidance from our heavenly Father that is unmistakably clear.  And for me that I could be and encouragement to those around me and shine the light of Christ in the darkness that looms.  Pray this week for us as we have a medical team in three areas (same team that will be moving around).  That we would all be filled with the Spirit and are ready to pour it out for the sake of God's Kingdom here on earth.  That those who will visit would have hearts softened and ready to receive the good news of Jesus Christ.  And that God would receive all the glory and honor and fame!  Amen!!!    He is a good good good God!  I stand in awe of Who he is and all that He has done.  May we never loose our wonder!  
 

 "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

What am I doing?

Okay, so i realize it has been way too long since my last post.  I am sorry that I have not been better about posting and keeping you all updated on what I am doing.

I have been back in the states for a little over a month and a half.  What am I doing now you might ask?  To that I say...great question!  Right now I am trying to figure out what avenue best fits my life and God's plan for me as I follow His call into full time missions.  Obviously I need to continue studying Spanish and that is one thing that I have been able to continue doing since I have been back.  Other than that I am working part time as a nanny for some of my close friends, filling in for some others at the church when they need ((which really has only been two days)), and spending a whole lot of time with my mom and the rest of my family.  God has blessed me with time, time to spend with those I love, time to dig into His word and who He is, time to grow, time to minister, time to pray, time to support, time to learn, time to rest ((this one is hard for me)), time to allow the Spirit to lead me.

As I have been seeking God and His will for my life I discovered that He was allowing me to go back to Nicaragua for a short trip.  I will be leaving Tuesday the 25th to go back for about a month.  I will be doing a lot of the same things I was doing over the summer.  Teaching English, helping with the church in Pochocuape, working with a medical team, and just getting to build relationships with people.  A couple of my friends will be graduation from seminary while I am there so I will get to be there to support them as they do that as well!  I could not be more excited to go back and see some of the growth that has happened since I left.  This trip is a huge HUGE gift that God has given me and I plan to glorify Him in it to the best of my ability.  Will you join me in praising Him for this amazing gift?!

What an awesome God we have that not only does He meet our  needs, but He also fulfills the desires and passions of our hearts!  You see I believe that if He puts something in our hearts to do He will bring it to fruition.  It may not be how we would plan, it may not be how we had hoped, and it may not be in our timing, but someday in the day of His divine choosing God will fulfill the thing that He has given you to hope for.  In the process of waiting be intentional.  Use the time He has given you to grow so that in the time that God has appointed you will be more prepared for the thing He has designed for you.  You see sometimes I think when we don't have the thing we hoped for we say "well it is up to God now and there is nothing I can do" while it may be true that we cannot make something happen, we can be preparing ourselves for when it does.  And I think the most important thing we can do in preparation is drawing close to God.  Because when the time comes it is Him we are going to need and it is Him who we need right now.  Good and bad, happy and sad, we must look to Him!  We must trust in Him.  We must rely on Him!

 "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

Pochocuape Ministry

I want to share with you about some of the ministry I got to be part of while I was in Nicaragua.  There is a neighborhood in Managua called Pochocuape.  My friend, Marcelo, was looking for some land to start a youth camp on and while he was doing so he caught a vision for this community.  God planted a passion in his heart for these people and this place.  Marcelo answered God's call to start a church in this neighborhood and so he started by having Bible study and from that it has grown.  Now we meet three times a week.  We have a Sunday morning service, Bible study on Tuesday, and youth group in Saturday.  There is also a soccer league, school ministry, and discipleship going on in Pochocuape. Almost every week we have teens, kids, and adults find that Christ is what they are missing and accept Him as their Lord and Savior!  Can we just shout out some praise for that?!?!?!?!?! 

I got the privilege of serving along side Marcelo and his team, Geovanny, Chris, and Donna.  They became my family.  On Sundays I was in charge of worship for the kids, which means a whole lot of moving around.  Most of the songs I do resemble zumba. Haha.  I do not usually enjoy working with young kids, you can say what you want but nothing you say makes it less true.  But God gave me a deep love for these kids and even though I couldn't always understanding everything they said He gave me the ability to communicate with them.  God is so so so faithful.  This was something I was so worried about before I went and as I think about it now being with them (the kids in Pochocuape) was not scary at all.

Not only did I work with kids in Sunday school, but I also worked in the school five days a week.  Me and Donna would spend every morning teaching character lessons and English to preschool-6th graders.  Being in the school almost everyday and then at the church on the weekends gave me the opportunity to see some of these kids every day of the week.  God was building relationships and bonds that only He could.  Some days in the school were harder than others but I believe that He used each and every day we were in those rooms to plant some seeds and sow some love into these lives that we got the chance to touch.  Donna is still working in the school and I cannot wait to go back and see what God has done there.  

These kids that I worked with, they are desperate for love, they are desperate for someone to hug them, for someone to tell them they are beautiful, for someone to dance with them.  They want someone to notice them and love them, this is what I did.  I got to love to these kids, I got to share God's love with them.  I know I am repeating myself a lot here, but do you understand what kind of a blessing it is to love those who feel unlovable? Do you know what kind of impact that has? You know that even though I got on to these kids over and over and over again, at the end of the day they had to hug me and kiss me goodbye. There is no thing in this earth that is greater than love.  Love that sits with kids in the dirt, love that lets them braid your hair (even though you hate it what people touch your hair), love that shows up, love that makes sounds and motions to try and communicate, love that holds on tight and never lets go, love that gave it all.  This love is what they need.  They need the love of Jesus.  I am so blessed to have been able to be part of giving that love to them.

Will you pray with me that they would receive this love?  The kind of love that reaches down into our brokenness and starts to heal us.  The love that we are all missing until we find it and accept it.  Will you pray for my friends as they lead, teach, disciple, and love the people of Pochocuape?  That their lives would reflect Christs light and love so clearly that those who see wonder what they have that is different!  Praise God with me for the work that He has begun and promises to fulfill in this neighborhood with such great need for it!  God you are so amazing and I am humbled each day that you have chosen me to be a light unto this dark world!  Would you show me how I can be light and love to others around me today and every day?  I pray for my friends in Nicaragua as they minister to these people who are searching for something, God that you would show them that it is found in you and you alone?  Thank you for the way you have worked and thank you for how you continue to work!  You are so so good!

"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

A day in the life

Oh hey!  It has been a while...and I am sorry about that.  I didn't realize how hard it would be to keep up with sharing what all I am doing here.  We are always on the move and when we are not..well I honestly just like to sleep haha!  One of my friends here will always without fail text me the moment I lay down and then get on to me for always being in my bed or in the hammock.  And I always like to remind him that although I am laying in my bed at the moment I was EXTREMELY busy today!  haha! 

Let me give you a look into a day in my life.  No two days are the same, I do not have a weekly schedule that is always the same.  Literally every single day is different.  So I will tell you about yesterday.  First thing on the list was school, we teach preschool on Wednesdays.  They are a tough class to teach, I am not really great with little kids so that makes it just a little bit harder for me.  The longer we are in the school the better idea we have of how to teach the kids in each of the different grades.  We discovered that singing songs helps the preschoolers so we have tweaked a few songs to make them what we need for the class.  After class we were going to meet with a girl from church to start discipleship, but the train got derailed at 8:30 when Donna got a phone call saying something needed her attention immediately.  Okay.  We are on the way.  Got to the church and Donna went to deal with the problem and I..well I sat and read a book and chatted with a few friends who happened to walk past.  ((Sometimes I get to read or talk with people when Donna is dealing with things I cannot help with))  Then we went to grab some coffee and something to eat quick.  Once we finished there it was back to talk with a couple more people to figure out some solutions.  Then time for some discipleship with two of the girls from Pochocuape.  After that we had one more stop to make so Donna could work this all out and hopefully be done with it.  While she did that I talked with Jose Rene (he is in his last semester of seminary) and we got to know each other a little better. I have been so blessed to have time to just sit and talk with some of the Nicas who work in this organization.  They have become some of my best friends and I am so very thankful for that.  Then we finally got to head towards home, we stopped to grab some food on the way and got home around 9pm.  Oh and I think we made it home at some point in the day to switch out of our nice clothes from school..

Something I have learned is that ministry doesn't always look like what we think it will.  It isn't always this beautifully put together group of people who always get along and never choose to sin.  Sometimes ministry is coming alongside those who make some bad decisions and working through it with them.  Sometimes ministry means dropping all the plans you made for the day, good plans, plans that edify God, so that you could go help someone else with their mess.  And maybe then end up with one of your own because you now have to figure out how the things you needed to do will get done.  Sometimes ministry means you get to sit with some girls and talk about the wonderful gift of salvation and what that means for our lives now that we have received it.  Sometimes ministry means staring in the face of someone who has so much need and is following God's calling on their life and telling them that they have to trust God to provide.  Sometimes ministry means you are who God is providing through...but sometimes it doesn't... because we are not meant to try and fill every need we see, we cant, and we are not asked to.  Sometimes ministry means you get to have fellowship with friends and just talk and laugh and enjoy life together.  And sometimes it means showing up to be with them after their dad passes away.. There will always be good and exciting parts of ministry, but along with the good comes the hard and broken and just down right ugly.  And usually they walk hand in hand...because as soon as God is getting hold of hearts and moving in lives the devil gets pretty upset and takes every inch he can find and does his best to make them miles. 

These months have been extremely stretching for me in so many ways and I am thankful for every one of them.  I am so incredibly blessed that God chose me and gave me this life and this love for this country.  I would not trade one day of it...well maybe the few I was sick..  God has blessed me by showing me so many different sides of the ministry and what the true cost of living a life fully surrendered to Him looks like.  These are the people I have worked with, people who have left their homes and their families because they knew God had to be greater in their lives, people who have handed God their children, people who have moved to some place without anyone so that they could share the good news of Jesus Christ with a community that so needs Him.  This is ministry.  This is radical faith. 

Will you pray for me?  This is my last week here for now and it is incredibly hard for me to think about leaving.  I know that God has a plan and he is in control, but this place and these people hold my heart like never before.  Pray that I would be able to take each day as the gift that it is and use it to glorify God in whatever way He has asked of me.  Pray for my friends who are struggling with many different things.  Praise God for being sovereign over every situation!  Thank you so much for your prayers and your love and support! 

"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

Pueblo Nuevo

Pueblo Nuevo is different, just like any of the communities I have been in.  The people there are not like most people.  They all care for one another.  They work hard and love hard.  Pueblo Nuevo literally means New Town...which is exactly what it was to me.  But they all opened their arms to me and made me feel like family.  Like I had simply just been gone for a while.  Some of them welcomed me into their home and took care of me while I was there.  As we came into town we went to the home we would be staying in.  Irma welcomed us in and we got to sit and talk with her for a while that afternoon.  After that we went to youth group where I got to meet the youth pastor (who is in his last semester of seminary) and some of the other leaders of the church.  Then we had practice for Sunday.. :)

My friend Enmanuel had invited us for the anniversary celebration.  He had asked me if I would like to be part of the children's music portion of the night.  I innocently believed that meant we would just be in the kids class....weeeeeell I was wrong.  I found out just two weeks before the celebration that this would be happening in front of the whole church.  We did two of the songs I have brought with me in the past few years and we did two songs from their music.  It was really fun getting to be part of the anniversary!  Getting to serve alongside some of the people of the church was a huge blessing and I am so thankful for all of the opportunities I get to do that while I am here. 
 

This church is full of passion.  One of the biggest areas I saw this was in the worship they had.  Just watching some of them worship was one of the most beautiful things I've seen.  It is so passionate and so genuine.  Not only those leading from the stage, but also those who dance and sing the kids songs, and those who are worshiping in the congregation.  If you know me at all you would know that worship is what my soul longs for.  Worship in music but also in life.  Being able to see others do that as well is so encouraging and so sweet to me!  I just love worshiping with someone who is abandoned for God.  Someone who is ready to give of themselves and to pour it out so that God may be blessed.   So many times in life I think we get caught up in the technical portion of it that the reason we do it and beauty behind it gets lost.  It gets overwhelmed by flashing lights and fancy guitars.  The best, most humbling moments of worship are the ones you forget about all that stuff.  Whether the piano is tuned correctly and if I am singing the right harmony.  These are some of the times I feel closest to God.  They are the times I truly love music and where it leads me. 

I am so thankful for the time I got to spend in Pueblo Nuevo and the people I met while I was there.  I pray it won't be too long until I get to go back and see what God has done since.  They truly touched my heart and blessed my life.  Praise God for people who surrender to Him with their whole lives.  Thank Him for the working He has done in Pueblo Nuevo and for what He is continuing to do.  Pray for the church family that they would continue to do what the church is called to do, love one another.  Thank you so much for your prayer and support!  I would really appreciate some extra prayers as my time here is coming to an end waaayyyy too fast.  Pray that God would give me at least one step to take next.  That is all I ask for, one step. 

My good friends Luz...

and Enmanuel

"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