On December 2nd, God answered a two year long prayer of mine! In September of 2007, I began sponsoring a boy through Compassion International:
Jose Enrique from Nicaragua!
I’ve had so much fun over the past few years writing back and foreth with him, encouraging him and learning about his family and interests, praying over him, and all kinds of other fun things. That was before I even thought about doing the World Race, and way before I knew where I was going! So, once I found out Nicargua was on our race route, I began praying about possibly getting to meet him. I knew I had laid down my expectations at training camp, and I didn’t tell Jose that I was coming to Nicaragua in case it didn’t happen. But I prayed a whole lot about it, talked with Compassion about the missions trip I was doing, talked with my team about it, and GOD MADE IT HAPPEN!
On our travel day from our ministry site to debrief, my team came with me to Managua to meet Jose!!
For the sake of time, I’ve copied my journal entry for the blog, and added pics. God is so good, guys! I Love you!
Oh my goodness, Lord. I am so blessed to get to meet him after two years and two months of sponsoring him through Compassion. That was a once in a lifetime experience! When we first got there, I almost didn’t know it was him for sure, since he was so much taller than I expected! He was really shy at first… it was kind of awkward! He stuck his hand out to shake mine… and I’m like, “whatever- give me a hug, bud!” I got a small tour of the compassion project from Scarlett, the Compassion Representative and translator. The project is where he goes for Bible school, tutoring, and trade classes. He hardly said anything as she showed me around, showed me his file and the process of how he writes the letters to me. J He gets the letters, then he rewrites them in a journal, replies to them in the journal, then rewrites them out in a new letter, that way he always has the journal to refer to previous letters!
We walked to his home just a few blocks away, and met most all of his family! They are SO sweet! His mom, grandma, great-grandma, two sisters and two brothers, plus several nieces! They were so full of love, and were so grateful for me being such a young person, willing to sponsor and love Jose. It was very emotional for me to be poured into like that. I found out that Jose was just diagnosed with diabetes, and that totally broke my heart. His great grandma has eye problems and grandma has pain in her arm.
Holy Father, these people have such a genuine heart for you. I’m so blessed to have seen it first hand, and to get to pray over them today. It meant so much to just be there. He brought out some family pictures that he had, so I could see his dad, who was working. He works outside of the city all week, and is only home on the weekends. He’s definitely a gringo! His picture made him look like a white trucker! haha. Then, he brought out this little flip album, like what you would get from wal-mart after developing a roll of pictures… and he had several pictures of his family, and then all the pictures I had sent him! I’m just blown away by his sincere love of me being able to financially support him, and it just made it ten times more meaningful by getting to meet him.
So, then on our walk back to the project, I found out that this was a complete surprise to him! He had no idea I was coming until today! Scarlett told me that since they have so many fall outs, they don’t tell them until the day, usually! So, she asked him, “Jose Enrique, would you be able to recognize your sponsor if you saw her?”
He said, “Ya, I think I could.” And she said, “okay, well which one is she?” as she pointed to our van as we hopped out of it! I can only imagine his precious face! And he knew!! “the one in the blue shirt!”
We talked about how his favorite Squiz drink was the Orange… but mine was the Pina Coco one. I tried the orange, just to let him know in my next letter to him… but I’m still a fan of the Pina. J He told me he plays baseball on Sundays, and likes to watch futbol, but not play it, really. He wants to be an Architect when he gets older, and that he would love to go to the United States to do it! There is so much hope for him, too. He just signed up to take Carpentry classes through Compassions’ trade programs, which is so amazing. He said that he enjoys studying, which is so cute. From his pictures Compassion sent me, he always looked like a little thug, but he’s a total tenderhearted softy. I’m absolutely in love with Him, and beyond grateful to see him first hand just truly mean every word that he’s every written to me.
I sang “open the eyes of my heart” for him and his family…. Only because Brad told them all I was going to sing before I had a chance to throw anything at him! Haha, it was cool though. Then, his oldest sister sang a song for me, as well, and his whole family joined in with a song about thankfulness to God. They are all in love with you, Lord. That’s the best part; knowing He is in the physical hands of a family that loves and adores you. I couldn’t ask for more for him! I gave him my A’s hat… which was really Derek’s hat (sorry bro)… and he loved it. It was a perfect fit, too- and I’m so glad you gave me that idea to give to him. Nothing else would have been more perfect!
He was really excited to hear about the rest of my travels, so I’m looking forward to emailing him about each country! I’m just so grateful for the opportunity to love on him today, Lord. Like, really overwhelmed with your goodness to give me this. You didn’t have to, but you delighted to. It meant so much that my team was so supportive and wanted to be apart of the whole thing, too! We really are walking this out like a family. 
I can’t thank you enough, Lord. God, please be with his family. Protect them and bring healing to them. I pray over his body, and the diabetes that he is now diagnosed with. I pray that you would heal him, Lord. I believe in your power to do so, and my heart is broken for him. I love him so much. Please Lord, Heal Him. If I’ve ever had love for a boy that needed it, it’s Jose, God. Please touch his life in a way that can only be for your glory. I believe you have great and marvelous things in store for His life. Please help me stay in contact and pray for Him ever y day. I love him. Oh, how I love him.
I love you, Jesus. Thank you.
We’re back at Casa Mateo now, and catching up with all the other racers and Mike and Patti. It’s a joyous time to get to reunite and share what you’ve been doing with all of us. Please be with us as we come together in worship and learning, and protect this time, Lord. It’s yours, all yours.
Love Nicole
