Where do I even begin in recounting these past few weeks? How do I put into words the ache my heart felt when leaving Honduras? How do I paint the picture of our first days in Nicaragua? To quote my teammate Ashley, “I wish my brain had insta-blog�.
Since I last blogged, I’ve said goodbye to a culture that stole my heart, a ministry that opened my eyes to new facets of God’s love, and traveled to three cities in the span of four days.
Currently we are in Ometepe, Nicaragua and will stay here for the remainder of the week. Our ministry contact this month does a great deal of traveling, so we are following his lead and have visited churches in Diriamba, Rivas, and now Ometepe preaching and doing door-to-door evangelism. This month is drastically different from ministry in Honduras. There, we were settled and spent our month cultivating deep relationships with people in Los Pinos and El Horno. This month we are changing locations every week, sometimes daily, and are solely preaching and doing prayer ministry. Honestly, it’s been a stretching transition. I’m praying through where God wants me in the spectrum of these two ministries. Obviously, God has called both men we’ve worked with to spread His Word even though the execution looks completely different. I will say though, last month God really showed me the power of relationships. I believe God has put a passion in my heart for developing people & encouraging them in their growth of who God has called them to be. Seeing the impact Tony has in the lives of Lillian and her boys affirmed that I long to be in that type of ministry. One in which I can live life with people, being there in the hard times and moments of celebration. I’m so thankful though that we are experiencing such dramatically different ministries because God is revealing himself in both.
I’ll do a snapshot of life in Ometepe & what it was like getting here:
– Having to tear myself away from Carmen’s family and the community of El Horno. Wishing hugs could go on forever.
– Leaving the boys: Jose, Christo, Carlos, Louis, and crazy Fernando. Praying over Lillian and crying because of the beautiful transformation God is doing in her life and family. A room full of World Racers & adolescent boys balling their eyeballs out over leaving one another.
– Stuffing our junk into our packs (and swearing to abandon half my stuff because 50 pounds gets heavy, fast) and riding the TICA shuttle bus to Nicaragua.
– Meeting our precious contact, Alberto, and traveling with him cities all over Nicaragua preaching the gospel.
– Being informed hours before arriving at our first church that I am the lucky one who will be giving the message that night. Wohoo for winging it & “being led by the Spirit!â€�
– Throwing our stuff in the back of a truck to travel to our next city….and it starting to rain.
– Learning to love outhouses and the importance of not looking into the hole with a headlamp at night.
– Eating rice and plantains for every, single, meal.
– Outdoor showers, no electricity in the afternoons, and living with a precious Nicaraguan family.
That’s been life in a nut-shell. This is turning into the most incredible experience I’ve ever had, and we are only at month two! Love y’all and I’ll try to not go so long without posting again (if I can help it!)
Mary
