OK, so here is a recap of what happened in month 3 in Nicaragua. Second I will tell you that I am currently in the Philippines with all the men on my Squad. Third I need to let everyone know that we have had a route change, we will be going to Thailand next, Cambodia, Vietnam, India, Nepal, Malawi, and finally Zambia.
My team was alone for the month in Nicaragua, finally! here’s the best part about it too, we were up in the mountains about 3.5 hours from the capital city, and a good 3 hours from our closest team. So that meant we had to get to know each other. There was no more hiding behind friendships with other squad members or saying well you just don’t know me that well. We all slept in the main room of a church in the mountains, and I think when people sleep in close proximity life really becomes relational. We had fantastic ministry contacts, so good that I almost feel bad for the other teams lol.
The village that we lived in is all dirt roads and clay or adobe houses. There is a town close by with beautiful stone streets and for being so remote it has an accepting mentality. I give that credit to the work these contacts have done over the years. These contacts are apart of several mountain/village churches and 3 that are in the city. The are all different evangelical church denominations. One is Baptist, and another is Assembly of God, I’m not sure about the other one but it doesn’t matter because they all work together. They will raise funds for each other, they will bring in ministry groups and have them work with each other all for the furthering of the Kingdom of God. How do you show Christ’s love the best to communities that don’t know his love? Working across denominations, the separation of denominations is a big stumbling block for a majority of people and its nice to see in a remote town in Nicaragua they put away their denominational blinders for Christ.
We also put on youth days on Saturdays to go along with the construction work and community work we did during the week. The youth in the area need a strong sense of leadership since Nicaragua has a reputation of young girls getting pregnant and not having the family structure to raise the children. I believe the skits and teachings that we were apart of really set the stage for those youth to have that positive influence!
Let me transition and wrap up by telling some mental struggles that I have been and currently encountering as I go through this trip. I know its coming soon, and I’m already starting to feel bored and complacent. I almost feel as if my relationship with God isn’t going anywhere because I’m not seeing His great power, or I’m just tired of being around the same ministries and the same people. The same people issue is real tough because before I left I had a fun soccer community and I picked up long distance running, which I now enjoy. Yet no one on my team plays soccer or runs, and I’m not allowed to do that stuff on my own, so that puts a damper on my mindset. Hopefully that moving into this month in the Philippines it will be different because of being with all guys is just different.
On a praise note I have picked up a good amount of Spanish, and have found alone time on this trip, which is something that is tough to do. In that alone time I think that God is calming my heart about what I’m going to do after the race, and is teaching me the discipline I need to fully rely on Him. Thank you for all of your support and prayers, I am enjoying this trip and its every bit of the struggle without the American lifestyle.
