This month, wow.
We are in our sixth place of lodging in Nicaragua. First we went as a squad to Granada for a couple of days of leadership development. Then we dispersed to our ministry sites. My team and three others went north to Palacaguina. The Joy Bombs and Adelphoi (my team) worked and lived together in a church. Being with the Joy Bombs was awesome. We bonded so well that it did not take long to rename ourselves JoyPhoi.
On our seventh day in Palacaguina we were informed that there had been a misunderstanding. One of our four teams was meant to have gone to Leon to work with another pastor. He had been waiting on us for a week. After a lot of prayer and discussion, Adelphoi was chosen to go to Leon. We packed up the next morning and hopped on a bus to Managua, where we would meet our new contact. I’ll be honest and say that we were shocked at first. Uprooting ourselves from Palacaguina was going to be hard. We didn’t understand why we had to leave a place we were settled in. But this is the World Race and there was a good reason for our shift in ministry. We just had to wait for its unveiling.
The unveiling happened very soon after we arrived in Leon. Our first night’s lodging was not ideal. Our second night we stayed with the other team in Leon until we figured out better lodging. Our contact drove us into town, where we asked a taxi to guide us to the other team’s lodging. There was a moment when we were at wifi and the girls in the truck scrambled to get updated on everything. (We get pretty excited about wifi after not being around it for awhile.) I received an email that my grandmother was not doing well and had been admitted to the hospital. I read it and made a note to follow up with it later.
That night we went into the city for dinner. I once again found myself at the same spot with wifi. My mom knows that when she catches me on wifi, she has to tell me everything at once because she may not catch me again for a week. I got some horrible news as I waited for my friends to use the ATM. The doctors had found a brain tumor in my grandmother. That’s a lot to process when you are in another country, away from family.
Luckily the place we were staying at had wifi. The next morning I woke up early to FaceTime with my mom and grandmother. It was one of the sweetest times I’ve had. Grandmother told me she loved me, that she was proud of me, and to ‘Tell them Jesus. Tell them Jesus.’ I had the chance to FaceTime with more of my family later that day and process a little more what was happening. By dinner time we had a new place to stay, a hostel with wifi. I got to FaceTime once more with my beloved grandmother before I got the news of her passing.
If we had stayed in Palacaguina, I would not have heard the news in time to FaceTime with my grandmother. If we had stayed in our original lodging, I also may not have heard the news in time. But my God is a God of good gifts. He provided for me through all of the moving to place me in a city and in a hostel where I would have access to wifi during this precious time. I was able to go back to the States for a week to grieve with my family and attend the memorial service.
One thing I love about my family is our ability to laugh and to rejoice in our God. If you knew my grandmother, then you knew her infectious laugh. How I will miss it. During the memorial service we sang a song that broke me down. The words were perfect. I’ll leave you with it.
Blessed Assurance
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine;
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
Perfect submission, perfect delight,
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
Angels descending, bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
Perfect submission, all is at rest,
I in my Savior am happy and blest;
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
