Hey y’all!
Hope you had a very merry Christmas! My Christmas was spent in Bangkok, Thailand with the entire squad. We had dinner at a mall that is bigger than my hometown. It took my team about an hour to finally find the restaraunt!
The second half of our month in Thailand we are spending once again with all the guys for our “manistry”. We are in northern Thailand doing sports ministry and visiting schools. Its interesting that in a country thats about 1% Christian, we are free to speak and worship and do dramas in schools, yet in the United States, which is supposedly Christian in majority, its very rare to have any or that stuff allowed. We even got to pray for the kids. It was a great experience. We played games with the kids, all 150 of them! We did a drama, sang worship songs, and one of the guys spoke a little. Our contact, Vi, is amazing. He has an amazing heart and has a great vision from God. He has a very pure heart, and does everything he can to see his vision develop. He is currently renting a house near one of the schools he does ministry at, and also has brought in three kids to live with him so that they can go to school. He also wants to use the land he has to provide kids with a Christian hang out, and also wants to create a music room, where kids can learn to play music and worship. Its exciting to get to come alongside him and help out in any way. He can really use your prayers. Pray that God provides the support he needs to see his vision become reality. He has been networking for three years, and has also been making connections with government officials and teachers in order to hold Christian sports camps. Pray that God not only provides financially, but also that God would send someone to work with his ministry full-time. He really needs someone to partner with him, as his vision grows and grows. Thanks for your prayers!
I haven’t blogged in awhile and apologize for that. It was a crazy month last month. I really fell in love with the ministry in Nicaragua. We were working at “The Quinta”, which is a home for teens/young adults who come from abandonment or abuse, or families that are not able to support them. All the teens/young adults at The Quinta receive food and a home and also discipleship. They also run the childrens ministry, and do an amazing job! They all know a ton of dramas and dances, and are all ready to preach and tell testimonies. It was awesome to come along side them in the childrens ministry, and also minister to them. God gave me a vision while I was there, of how God is working there, and how I was a perfect fit for the ministry. Then God gave me some pretty awesome dreams for Jinotepe, Nicaragua, and how He could use me in the ministry. I was very excited, and felt led that God was calling me to leave the race, and partner with the ministry. I prayed about it a couple weeks, and continued to feel led. I talked with my team leader about it, and then my squad leader. My squad leader thought it was awesome that I heard from God, and that He gave me such great dreams for The Quinta. He said though, that “timing” was really important, and he also talked about ‘the covenant’ that I had made with my team.
Even after talking with my Squad leader, I still felt like I was supposed to stay. I made the decision to stay in Nicaragua, and while I had some support from my team up to that point, once it was final they were against it. I think they wanted to support me either way, but once I decided, they felt I was making a mistake. I had a lot of opposition, but thought that God was challenging me to rely on Him alone. What I was missing was “timing”. So I actually went through the process of leaving the team, squad and world race. That nite while the squad was saying goodbyes to me, one girl on our squad came to me with a word she had gotten from God earlier, that was for me. She asked me to forgive her, because she didn’t bring it sooner. She had heard it a couple days before it was announced that I was leaving. The word from God was this, “I really want to wreck (as in, break me down, so God can build me up into something greater) Michael Sanders in Thailand.” This meant that God wanted me in Thailand, which meant He wanted me to continue the race and not stay in Nicaragua. It was really hard to hear. It was clearer than anything I had heard from God. I had heard from God about dreams and visions for The Quinta, but there wasn’t anything that clear. It was the “timing” that I was wrong about, just as my squad leader warned. That nite I also talked with my parents, and they were upset and thought I was making a mistake.
The next morning I was so overwhelmed. It was clear that I had mistaken what God wanted for me, but after leaving everything and preparing for ministry in Nicaragua, I thought it was too late to turn back. I talked with my squad leader and told him about the word from God that was given to me, and how it was clear I was mistaken about the timing, of when God wanted me to minister at The Quinta. He told me that it was always his desire for me to finish the race, and that I was welcome back. So just as I fought my way out, I had to fight my way back with my team, and the squad.
Most of these events took place the day before leaving, and so it was very crazy. The day I was welcomed back to the squad was the day after I left, and the next morning at 3am we left for Thailand. It was last minute that God changed my direction.
I got to go to the Quinta before leaving and say goodbye to everyone, which was very difficult. It was reallly really hard to leave Nicaragua, and I was really broken hearted. I knew that God wanted me to finish the race, but it was still really hard to leave The Quinta. It took a few days, really, to recover from the whole ordeal. God has blessed me here in Thailand though. I know that I am in the right place, and in God’s perfect will.
I continue to pray about the dreams God gave me for the Quinta, and God continues to develop them. I am not sure what He has in store exactly, but I know that God has a good and perfect and pleasing will for my life.
(I didn’t have much time to write this, so I hope you were able to follow. There was a lot that went in to the whole process, and I am not sure I captured it all.)
So please be praying for me, that God continues to bless me and teach me throughout this mission, and that He continues to develop the dreams He gave me for Nicaragua, and prepare the way for any ministry He has for me. Thanks for your prayers, and thanks SO much for your support!
I am blessed by you, and hope you have a wonderful New Year!
love
Mike
