To all you awesome folks back home lifting us up in fervent prayer and petition; thank you so very much and keep them coming! Please accept my apologies as it has been far too long since I have last sat down to update my blog. The month of October has found my team in many different places and in many different circumstances, some favorable, some much less. We came to Nicaragua via a bus similar to a greyhound, carrying the whole squad. It was a pleasant ride mostly, and time went by quickly as we progressed through Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, being interrupted only from time to time to be inspected by customs at the borders. I felt a certain sadness as we dropped the first team off at their ministry site in Northwestern Nicaragua – we had all become quite good friends during our time together last month.
The next day my team was off on our own in Nicaragua; our mission being of the reconnaissance type. Our goal was to travel to various cities throughout Nicaragua and discover new ministries for the World Race to partner with in the future. We started off well, gathering information and contacts and meeting up with some missionaries in Granada.
Leon brought us to an abrupt halt as about half the team began feeling sick. I was the first one in the hospital. I and three others tested positive for Dengue fever and thereafter spent several days recuperating in the sterile, white ward of unfamiliar sounds, smells, and faces. I have hardly felt so sick in all my life. During the first night, through fitful bouts of sleep I remember reciting the twenty-third Psalm to myself. It was a long and lonely night, and I daresay I have ever been as low as I was that night – I felt myself to be truly in the “valley of the shadow of death”. The Lord is good and after a couple days I was on the mend; yesterday morning I was released from the hospital and am thankful to say I am recovering quite well. Two of my teammates are yet in the hospital, so please remember them in your prayers as they recover there.
Thank you all so much for your fervent prayers as many of you heard about our misfortune. I thank God for you always and remember you also in my prayers. I hope to keep up this ol’ blog a good deal more frequently. God bless you and make His face shine upon you each new morning.
Yours,
James
