Surprise, surprise! We have internet this month after all. It never ceases to amaze me that in the middle of nowhere we can somehow pickup a wireless signal. We may not have hot water, American food, or clean clothes, but we have the internet! Praise Jesus, He always provides for us in the ways we can’t even imagine.
We arrived in Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua late last week. What was supposed to be a 13 hour bus ride turned into a 32 hour adventure; only on the World Race do you get that kind of fun! Safe to say I may never get on a school bus again; we had our fill last week. We are grateful to have arrived safe and sound and are settling into ministry here.
I, personally, have had a hard time transitioning out of the Philippines. It seems that we said goodbye so quickly, experienced so many emotions being in LA, and then were dropped into a completely different culture. 
It has taken me a few days to get my feet back under me. Because of leadership responsibilities I am sometimes lacking time to process all the emotion and transition that comes with our lifestyle. I have deemed today “process day” and writing this blog is my first step of many to be fully present in Nicaragua.
Our time here is shaping up wonderfully and I think we are all finding our place in the myriad of ministry options. I have been teaching Christian values at one of the local schools and visiting the patients in the local hospital. It has been absolutely joyful to sing songs and practice my Spanish with the kids. My time at the hospital is going to really pierce my heart as we interact on a very personal level with so many hurting people, both physically and spiritually.
Last September a Category 5 hurricane devastated Puerto Cabezas and the effects are still widely apparent. So many are without homes, jobs, etc…Imagine a Katrina-level catastrophe but without any infrastructure to handle the disaster. It amazes me all the press that Katrina received, rightly so, and yet the same thing happened here and most of the world had no idea. It is our blessing to be able to come in and listen to the stories and look people in the eye and affirm for them that Jesus cares for them. The rest of the world may have forgotten about little Puerto Cabezas, but Jesus hasn’t and won’t forget. I have loved being able to look directly into their hurting faces and say ‘Jesus sent me here for YOU”.
There is no other way I would want to spend my days. When was the last time you have looked into someone’s pain and said “Jesus sent me here for you”? There are plenty of hurting people where you live, it just takes opening our spiritual eyes to see them and be moved to action. Let the compassion that Jesus displayed move you.
he has compassion on all he has made.
