Nicaragua was absolutely beautiful! We lived on a farm and the environment was so peaceful. I met some amazing people whom I never want to forget. 🙂
Julio!
Julio worked for REAP as driver and worked a lot with Nathan in the farm. His wife was one of the main cooks and the two of them are a mother/father figured to many in the community. He has a crazy testimony that I only heard bits and pieces of but I’ll share what I know. He was born in Nicaragua but grew up in inner city San Francisco. He grow up in a tough environment and quickly became involved in gangs, addictions and drugs. He has been in and out of jail a lot until he was deported back to Nicaragua.
Now at 56 years old he is a kind and loving man who loves the Lord.
Like I said he drives for REAP which mostly means transporting all of us places. One afternoon we were heading to the hospital to pray for people. Because of numbers most of us cram into these pickup trucks and you better hang on because julio drives SO fast! I was wearing a hat that day and we turned a corner making me take my hand off my head and put it on the rail making my hat fly right off my head! I started to internally panic while everyone externally panicked around me. The hat didn’t belong to me and the person it belonged too had said it was a VERY special hat from her grandfather. We ended up getting to the hospital and I turned to Julio and said, “we have to go back and get that hat”. And he pretty much said I was loco but eventually he said, “okay let’s go get this hat!” We started driving and we found it! He opened his car door and without any hesitation and grabbed the hat! All the way back home he went on and on how he’s got my back. How if I need anything anytime to come get him because he’s got me. It meant so much to me that he went and got that hat for me and told me all those things because it was definitely an inconvenience but he put the agenda aside and helped me! I saw Jesus through him in that moment and it made me rejoice and glorify my Father! Gonna miss you Julio.
Pedro!
This guy did grounds keeping for the farm. He always had a smile on his face and we became quick friends. My first morning at Reap I was out in the lime trees when I stumbled across Pedro picking up trash, so I joined him. He spoke no English and I spoke no Spanish. We simply walked around and picked up trash. We both really enjoyed it and made so much fun out of doing something that normally feels like a chore. Every now and then Pedro would find me in the mornings and we would pick up trash together. He was filled with so much joy through everything he did.
Andres!
Andres is a nine year old little boy who came very often to the farm with his mom who worked in the kitchen. He was filled with so much energy and whenever he saw me he would yell my name following which would always follow jumping into my arms! I absolutely love his hugs and the energy he has. We loved to play basketball together and run around.
Nathan!
Nathan is one of the coolest people I’ve ever met. He was one of my ministry hosts in Nicaragua. He is the FIRST long term missionary through AIM and carved the path for a lot of others to do the same. Meaning he went to training camp, he raised support, he does the same weekly questions BUT he isn’t with a team moving from place to place. He’s his own team working alongside mentors from World Race. He does SO much for Reap and he can speak fluent Spanish. He disciples all the men in the area and I love to watch them interact because they are all best friends. He has been living in Nicaragua for the past 5 years and lives on $1 a day. He has this Nathan vibe uniquely to Nathan and he doesn’t have a care in the world to what others think of him. He loves and lives fearlessly for Christ. He challenges us and always pours his wisdom into us, always in a humble manner. He has a WILD testimony and is a perfect example of how good our Father is. I’ve only met few who love Jesus as much as he does. Thank you to Nathan for showing me what a follower of Christ should look like, serve like, and love like.
PLEASE PRAY:
We just got news that he just got into a severe car crash, please, please take a moment right now as you read this blog to pray for my brother. There is lots of brain swelling and he’s in a lot of pain. We rejoice that God didn’t take our dear brother that night and hold onto that Nathan is still here for a purpose, a part of God’s perfect plan.
He is technically like any other racer from World Race, so go check out his journey!!!
NathanJohnston.theworldrace.org or through Facebook where there is updates on how he is doing – Nathan Johnston.
Caitlin!
Caitlin was also one of our ministry hosts and also works as a long term missionary for AIM. She had done the race, CGA (the discipleship program through world race) and now has been serving at Reap for 2 years. She is an incredible woman of God and is a great person to talk too, especially because she knows what it is like to be a racer. She and Nathan run the show at Reap, they are pretty much Scott’s CEOs so he can have time to do other things. She also speaks fluent Spanish and is a great friend to many of the people in the community. It just so happens that she was our translator for most of my teams prayer walking. We got really close and she was such an encouragement especially in the beginning when we didn’t know what we were doing. She has a huge heart for each person in the community and it was so evident as we prayer walked.
Mike & Diane!
Wow, I love these people. Mike and Diane are world race parents and got involved with AIM after their daughter went on her race. I believe they were World Race coaches for squads and then went into Parent Vision Trips. I know my squadmates LOVED having them with our squad for PVT week. They have a plethora of experience and they put so much thought into how the whole week was going to be planned. They are actually in the process of moving to Nicaragua long term and they have this adorable house that Caitlin and the interns live in which was so generous for them to offer.
Mike is this great man of God and is such a dad. The fact that he has my dads name and does some of the same “Dad things” made me have a appreciation for him and the effort he makes to get to know us and spread God’s love! Unfortunately he left REAP pretty early into our trip to go home to work.
Diane was around for most of our trip and is an incredible woman!! I absolutely love Diane and she reminded me a lot of my mom. So joyful and empathetic. She was so encouraging on those days doing manual labor when the sun felt a little extra hot. She was a mom to a lot of us and I know we all miss her love and hugs. She was also hilarious and always had my teammates laughing! At Amber’s birthday party I had so much fun with her dancing and laughing! Love love love Diane!
Amber!
I met Amber the first day I arrived and immediately clicked! She is an intern at REAP and had only been there for about a month and half when we arrived but it looked like she had been there since day one. She has such a strong hospitality spiritual gift that she made anyone feel at home in .2 seconds of talking to her. She always had a smile on her face and often joined into our team breakfasts and was so raw with us. It was so refreshing to hear that she was struggling with the same everyday struggles as we do. She has such a heart for that country and anyone can see it!
Madi!
The other intern at Reap! She arrived three days prior to us and still it felt like she had been there for years, she just fit in. Madi has such a gift for others. Without fail, Madi asked me and LOTS of my squadmates how we were. She was a safe space and really cared with all her heart how others were doing. So genuine and so kind. She had a passion for anything with a camera. Constantly capturing moments of the locals playing soccer, basketball, laughing, whatever it was. Madi is filled with Christ’s love and it overflows to anyone who was around.
Madi and Amber actually came with us to our mini debrief and both of them taught a session. We absolutely loved the addition and the extra time before parting ways! :/
Rudy!
While we were in Masatepe one of the men who lived and worked on the farm was Rudy! He is a very quiet, kind and humble man. He has three little daughters that he took care of as a single parent and I think that is where most of his kindness comes from, having three littles. In the mornings during our ministry, harvesting turmeric Rudy was behind the scenes doing all the really hard work. Our group just picked apart the roots but he actually harvested them. My job was to go get the roots from Rudy and bring them to the circle of girls pulling apart the roots. I will never forget his kindness because he never let me bend down and pick up the roots. Each time I walked over he stopped whatever he was doing to be a gentleman, to pick up each root and put them into my arms. It was so hot. He was sweating and doing majority of the work but he still took the time to go out of his way to make my job easier. Christ spoke so much into his kindness because that man truly showed Christ like characteristics and I fell so much more in love with Christ that day. My father who takes the time to take care of me. It also gave me perspective of how Christ treats us and how one day spouses should respond like that, like how Jesus treats the church. 🙂
Something I realized by writing this blog was, I spent a lot of time with my ministry hosts and not as much with the locals. That is probably the thing I love most about traveling the world with my squad. Going to a new country and watching a couple of us pairing with a couple people in that country. Seeing Gods hand so evident in the way he uses our numbers to spread his love to everyone. A couple of my squadmates absolutely loved the kitchen ladies, more loved the locals who came to Reap everyday, some played with the children, some we’re really intentional with the mission teams and some with the ministry hosts. Together being the body of Christ, all of us going out and doing different things for different people with Jesus at the center. Ahhh I love it so much!
This month also opened my eyes to how little time a month is. It was definitely hard to leave, mostly because there was so much more I wanted to do but God has a perfect plan and this short time in Nicaragua is apart of it!
I will miss you Nica!
