The Joy Bombs start everyday off with devotions,and we all take turns leading them. It is quite convenient that there is 7 days in a week, and 7 of us wonderful women on our team. For "Taylor Tuesday" we went around and shared our goals for our last 10 days here Palacaguina. Taylor stated she wanted a "blog worthy moment" and momentarily I agreed. Then I heard the Lord quietly whisper my daughter, "Everyday is a blog worthy moment."
The past three months I have struggled with ways to share this journey with you. I have been waiting for that life altering moment when I witness a healing, or a crippled man run free for the first time in his life.. I wanted to give the people that have been supporting me and fighting for me something worth reading. As if life on the Race is ordinary, mundane or normal in anyway. As if the Lord is not teaching me new things everyday? As if I am not challenged in endless ways everyday? As if I do not celebrate in the intricate ways He is working in my life on a daily basis? Sorry for thinking too much. Sorry for robbing you of random stories, beautiful relationships, hilarious encounters that come along with being a missionary traveling the world, and mostly for not sharing the huge ways the Lord is working in my heart and the beautiful things I am learning in walking in an intimate relationship with the lover of my soul.
So here it is, a small glimpse into my world: I wake up everyday in my tent to the sun rising outside the window in the church I am living in. I take my headphones out, it is the only way to sleep.. the animals of Palacaguina throw a constant rager throughout the night into the morning. So, the only way to tune it out is to blast some Ben Howard in my ear holes all night long. I slowly roll over and sit up, and get my stiff body moving from another lovely night on my sleeping pad on a tile floor. I hear the wrestling of a few of my teammates and hear all the tents start to un zip as we all slowly exit them to come together and get ready for our morning work out.
We run down a long dirt road, to the next town over, with the sun still rising in front us. We run into at least a herd or two of cattle, men commuting to work on their horses, people filling up their water jugs at the well for their water supply for the day, wild dogs barking, people walking to their outhouse in towels to bucket shower in their backyard, and of course a friendly "Buenas!" when we pass people in the community. My mind is flooded every morning with thoughts of how creative and intentional our God is while running down that simple dirt road.
We get back to our church/home circle up our lawn chairs and start everyday coming together and sharing in devotions. In that time our little buddy, Jan Carlo, who is about 12 years old, brings us our meals via his bicycle everyday. He shows up with our 7 boxes of tupperware filled with rice, beans, cheese and an old bleach bucket filled with our juice. We eat every meal together, and I love it.
We leave the church and walk 2 or so miles across town, to get to our ministry hosts house to start doing construction in the hot Nicaraguan sun for the day. We spend the day doing whatever it is we can to help build the foundation of this future house to host missionaries. We dig holes,(by holes, I mean break through rock 4 meters deep, send buckets down to pull the rock back up and carry the buckets across wooden planks to dump it in the rock pile) move dirt, cast lots, carry bricks, laugh, shovel rocks, build rebar posts, laugh some more, paint, dance a bit, and try our best to bring JOY into whatever we may be doing. When the afternoon comes to greet us and our day is done we pack up and encourage each others feet to keep moving for the walk home.
Our evenings are usually filled with church, planning for youth events, walking to town to use the internet to keep in touch with you beautiful people, and sometimes piling up our lawn chairs at church to create some stadium seating to enjoy a movie together on a laptop. Life here is simple, slow moving, and really beautiful. 
As i sit in the simplicity of our church, I am thankful as I realize that I do not need much to live a life for the King of Kings. That My heart can be, happy, safe, comfortable and free in my tent because, like they always say" home is where the heart is" and my heart rests with a God who can create home anywhere in His love. I am thankful as I sit in a circle with 6 other women and realize the life long lessons I am learning in what it truly means to live a life in community. To be constantly learning what it looks like to truly love people, fight for each other, and see the potential of greatness in one another and push one another to get there. I am thankful that it's not just a hot, sweaty walk through town. It is space the Lord creates for our team everyday to pour into each other, to hear each others hearts, to fight for each other in the hard times, in the joyful times, and in the times when we just need to process what the heck is going on in our hearts as we walk this journey out together. I am thankful for the times in the hot sun when my arms want to stop working, and i realize I am capable of so much more because, I know I can ask the Lord for strength and he gives it freely. I am thankful that we as a team have learned new depths of what it means to persevere and do it joyfully this month. I am thankful for the really hard, long, hot days this month. I am thankful that I have God to rely on, that I can turn to Him to give me strength, wisdom, rest, joy and peace when I need it. I am thankful that God can change an atmosphere to Joy when we need it most. Above all else, at the end of everyday, I am thankful that God has called me to this beautiful, hard, stretching, fun journey with Him. I am thankful that even in the day to day life I am living He is moving in huge ways. I am thankful for the ways He is allowing me to see life in new light, that every single day is a "blog worthy moment" and worth sharing, because It is another day walking hand in hand with the lover of our souls and that alone is something worth sharing.
Awakened,
& free,
Erica
