Well, first things first… I have to apologize. I haven’t been very good about filling y’all in on what’s been going on this last month. It’s been eventful and to be honest, I haven’t had as much time as I thought I would to write down my thoughts on the last month. So please bear with me as I give y’all a brief re-cap!
Month 1 is over. Dang. It’s amazing how quickly the time flew by! Me and my team mates all agreed we could’ve stayed in Costa Rica for at least 2 more months. The ministry opportunities we had there we so amazing and the amounts of times we got to pray over people and encourage those who knew Jesus in their faith was incredible.
So our next stop is Nicaragua! We spent a very full day in a bus with the rest of our squad driving to Grenada, Nicaragua. Not much else to say other than: Our squad + Bus = Party Bus!!
We arrived very late and very tired in Grenada for a few days to spend some time debriefing our last month and resting up for month 2. In spite of our time of rest, this squad still has eyes for opportunities to reach out to those around us. Our squad welcomed in and evangelized to children, helped feed the hungry, and encourage other saints that we all found within the city of Grenada.
During our downtime we got to go island hopping and see the sights of Grenada. We also went swimming in a giant volcano crater called, Laguna De Apoyo. Absolutely gorgeous!
We then loaded up in a very hot and sweaty bus for another ride to our new ministry site in Chinadega. Once again, Our squad + Bus = Party Bus!!
We lived in a beautiful, guarded, compound that is surrounded by enormous volcanoes! Our ministry there consisted of door to door evangelism and children’s ministry. We’ve had an incredible time doing the very things we imagined we’d get to do when we were still at home preparing for the World Race. I, along with others on our squad, had the opportunity to share our testimonies with men who are going through rehab for addictions of many kinds. I’ve been able to lead worship for those men, neighborhood children, and a small local church we were invited to speak and teach in.
I was blessed to help a woman ask the Lord into her heart to forgive her of her sins and humbled to show young boys and girls the love of God almost every single day!! There was no shortage of opportunities to share our testimonies and the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the people of Nicaragua and this squad that I am privileged to be a part of has no problem pursuing the many people we come in contact with every day.
I’ll post again soon with more specific stories of what the Lord has been doing, but for right now I want to ask for a few prayer requests:
1. Continued prayers for safety. Safety as we travel, safety as we go to and from ministry, safety all across the board!
2. Prayers for good health would be appreciated. A handful of people on our squad, myself included, had been hit with sickness which had kept us from being able to do ministry every day. It’s nothing too serious that couldn’t be taken care of and we had a doctor’s clinic at our disposal within the compound in Nicaragua. He is a good doctor who has taken very good care of us and even checked in on me as I was writing this very prayer request. Prayers for healing are great, but prayers for patience, humility, and learning to let other’s serve others would be better. It can be easy to let pride get in the way of letting other’s simply serve you. Some of our squad is still learning that.
3. Pray for the hearts of all of the Nica people (Nicaraguans) who we came in contact with. Pray that the Holy Spirit, even now, will be working on their hearts and softening their hearts towards the truth of the Gospel.
4. Pray that the Lord will speak through our team and squad. That we won’t try to find the right words within ourselves but find the right things to say from God’s Word and from the Holy Spirit.
5. Finally, prayers for Chinendaga in general! This place needs the life that only Jesus Christ can give. This place needs the redemption and healing that God alone provides. Pray for the Christians who are already here, trying to plant churches and evangelizing here. This place is ripe for ministry!
And now, the moment everyone waits for. To be honest, the main reason any of y’all probably read through these posts. Haha PICTURES!!!!! Enjoy, mi amigos!
Team mates: Christen and Nayelly, sharing the Gospel with the kids in one of the many villages we did outreach and evangelism in Nicaragua!!
Me preparing for leading worship in another village we shared the gospel with as well as leading songs of praise with my fellow worshipers: Keaton, Caitlyn, and Kelsey!!
After leading songs I shared my testimony/the Gospel with the children and families of the village with the help of one of our many amazing translators, Carlos. I can’t say enough good things about our translators during this month who were the most patient and loving people we got to serve along side!!
Jonathan, Keaton, myself, Caitlyn, and Sarah leading worship again for a small local church in a separate village we visited.
This is Andrew bringing a sermon at the church we had the opportunity to pour into and encourage!!
Katie did a wonderful job of leading another opportunity we had to reach out to all the children of a village we did door to door evangelism in!
Afterwards Caitlyn, myself, and Kelsey had a blast singing worship to God as kids listened and played with all of our teams!!
At another village we did outreach in, Andrew and I (I took the photo) ended up hanging out with this little “biker gang”. We couldn’t really hold a real conversation with them, but we did not fail to make them laugh!!
Within the compound we stayed in during our time in Nicaragua we found an old projector! So for Thanksgiving we figured out how to hook up one of our laptops and stream the Macy’s Day Parade! Thanksgiving was unique this year but was one of the best thanksgivings I’ve ever had!
This little man is very near and dear to me. We invited him and his family to one of our outreach programs in his village. Only he ended up coming and he quickly gravitated towards me and a couple of the other men on the squad. The first thing he did was walk right up and grab my arm and put it around his shoulders. He didn’t want to talk or do anything. He simply craved physical affirmation from another male figure. I don’t know his full story, but I don’t believe he get’s any kind of physical affection from his dad, if he has one at all. It’s common to find young boys like him who crave a positive and safe male figure in their life. I love them all to death!
This is him again with two other crazy boys on my back…
… it’s never a dull moment!!
This is a church service happening in a village we found ourselves in. And yes… that’s the entire church. The pastor with this man and woman; all three singing (a capella) worship to the Lord. I don’t ever… EVER want to hear an excuse for why Christians can’t or won’t (or whatever) meet together as we’re supposed to.
Was it a Sunday?? No. Did it matter?? Nope.
This pastor comes to a village from time to time to bring church to whoever will come. THIS man is a real missionary to his community. It doesn’t look fancy. It’s not in a building. It’s literally on the dirt road on whatever plastic porch chairs or hammocks they can find. If you’ve got an excuse or reason not to make where you are living right now your missions field, I’d love to hear it. This is what the church of the bible started out as and we could learn a lot from these people.
So naturally, we decided to join them and my amazing teammate, Jillian, helped translate during the service!!
We got from village to village in these incredibly unreliable trucks, but honestly, we’ll never forget going to ministry every day excited for whatever the Lord had in store for us that day.
I can’t thank you all enough for making this ministry possible by supporting me!! I want you all to know that lives are being changed and the gospel is being spread as a result of your support! It has nothing to do with me, but EVERYTHING to do with how God has used me and my team mates during the month of November.
Praise the Lord because His kingdom is growing daily!!!!
