Nueva
Vida means New Life.
The
ministry is in Jinotepe, Nicaragua just an hour outside of the capital city,
Managua.
It
is the ministry my team and I will be working with this month.
We
are blessed, yet again to be with another all girls team: Sanctified:31.
14
girls all living in one room in some legit bunk beds.
It’s
kind of like a sorority house at times, if you could only imagine. Haha
We
live on the property of Nueva Vida, my third month living on a ministry site;
which can be very exhausting at times.
Here
we have a soccer field, church, tons of assorted fruit trees, and a house.
Also,
there are three boys that live on the property, Elvis (28 years old), Carlos
(19 years old), and Jonhy (19 years old). Each of these boys bring so much life
and love to the property.
The
house is in the shape of a square with a courtyard in the middle.
We also have an adorable dog named Notes.
Our
ministry contact for Nueva Vida is Bonnie and she is from America, Pennsylvania
to be exact.
She
is amazing, an amazing prayer warrior, an amazing woman of God, and an amazing
chef.
We
won’t be eating a lot of rice and beans this month, like we did last month.
PRAISE THE LORD.
Nueva
Vida is a part of a ministry called Mateo 5:16. ministeriomateo516.org/
The organization was started 9 years ago by Glynn and Lynne Schweitzer.
Ministry
this month varies from day to day.
A
lot of our ministry is to reach out to those living in the barrios (neighborhoods) and inviting them into church, as well as
connecting with those that at one time went to church.
Church happening at Casa Mateo on a Sunday evening.
We
have the opportunity to work in the market
helping one of the ladies from church sell clothes. I did that once this
week and it was a riot, let me just tell you, haha. I stood there with my
teammate as we shouted “Ropa, diez
Cordobas!!!!!” (“Clothes, ten cordobas,” which is about $0.50) to everyone
that walked by. Let’s just say we fit in as those crazy people at the market.
Another
ministry is to go to a nursing home
and love on the elderly. First off, we were told it was a 30 minute walk to get
to the location, after a 45 minute walk there we made it. My team and I went
into the nursing home without really a plan, but God showed up in big ways. We
were able to get to know several of the people there in our few short hours of
being there. I walked up to one of the
ladies, Gladys, and she looked into my eyes and told me that I am really
beautiful. How’s that for being encouraged when I was seeking to encourage
others! Elvis and I were sitting at one point next to a guy named Pedro. Pedro would ask me what my name is about
every two minutes. Pedro also told me that he was going to be my husband and
that he would come to live with me. Yeah,
crazy talk I tell ya. It was really good to be able to reach out to the
elderly and to show them Jesus’ love.
Lo siento (I’m sorry) because my teammate has pictures of me at the nursing home, but I have not had the chance to get them from her.
One
ministry is to The Mustard Seed, an
orphanage for special needs children. They house around 25 children ranging
from 11 years and up. The children have a set schedule that they follow every
day from the time they wake up in the morning, until they go to bed. We were
able to have a tour of their facilities when we visited and spend time with the
children. On site, they have dorms, a
school, a dining hall, a chapel that is currently being constructed, pigs and
chickens, and a guest house for visitors. The property is about 5 times as
large as the special needs orphanage that I stayed at last month in Guatemala.
The organization is blessed with so much being given to them.One of the girls I
really connected with at the orphanages name was Sarah, here is a picture of me
and her with Liz, a girl from Sactified:31.
One
key aspect of living on the property is
prayer. Praying before each ministry
every day. Praying for our teammates. Praying for protection over the property.
Praying for people in the barrios. Praying during prayer walks. Praying while
we are sleeping, haha but seriously we pray all the time. It has been so
good for me. Back at school I had a huge passion for praying for others and
interceding on their behalf. During my teams last day in Honduras I saw that
passion come alive again, read more about that day here: We Yell Prayed. God
has ordained me to be here this month to rekindle my passion for prayer.
Lots
of children from the barrios come to the property, practically daily, to play futbol or ya know, soccer. I
have yet to go out and experience this physical activity, maybe someday. Haha
The
big key to our ministry is to reach out to those in the neighborhoods. To love
on them and to show them a glimpse of Jesus’ love.
Prayers are currently
moving mountains here.
Pray for the people of
Jinotepe, Nicaragua.
Pray for them to know
the love of our Savior more intimately.
Sorry
for the long exhausting paragraphs to explain the ministry.
If you made it to this point,
congratulations.
I
don’t even like to read long paragraphs in blog posts. Haha
Comment and let me know
that you are praying.
Comment and let me know
if there are any ways that I can be praying for you.
Just post a comment and
say hi.
I love hearing from
those of you at home, and those of you that I don’t even know! haha
Soon, I should have a
blog about praying, it will be a good one, I just need God to speak to me more
on what He wants me to say. So, stay tuned. J
