Ok so the way it works for picking the next ministry
location….
We were given three options for the next country, which is
Nicaragua.
We AR NOT GIVEN:
Where they are located as far as what town- city or rural,
What the living conditions will be- as in living in tents,
hostels, etc
They do not want outstide things influencing our decision.
All they give us is the type of ministry that will be taking
place or that we will be participating in. We then have a few days as a team to pray about which one we
feel like God is leading us to.
So, the three locations were:
#1: By
developing relationship with local youth through sports, English teaching,
tutoring, and youth ministries the hope to create a positive and safe
environment for them to grow The mission funnels spiritual, educational,
vocational and material assistance to the people of rural Nicaragua as God
provides it. The purpose of all assistance given is to empower the believers to
not only become self-sustaining but generous and to see hope and faith overflow
from them to transform their community. The most important purpose is to share the Christian Gospel
through evangelism and discipleship and to express the Gospel in action.
#2 This
ministry is to the people living in the slums primarily. There is a pastor and youth leader that
we would work with. It leads a
growing preschool program, feeding program, and continuous outreach efforts. The community in the dumps is a primary
focus. Past WR teams actually
helped start their feeding program. They have a tent making business. They have created a whole ministry
compound in the neighboring slum community that focuses on the families who
call the local dump home.
#3 Typical
ministry here will consist of the following: Orphanage care, Construction
projects, Garden project, help in the kitchen, small infant care. The local church will also be a venue
by which teams will be able to serve in a variety of evangelical ministry/preaching
opportunities.
So, my first
reaction is #3 – The Orphanage sounds amazing. I would love to just love on kids for an entire month. Our whole team kind of had mixed
reactions but we committed to pray about it for two days before we
decided. So, I begin praying…and
God continues to press on my heart #2. Now, I am going to be honest…Going to live and work in the slums..which
basically means the poorest of the poor, literally living in trash, and working
at a tent making business didn’t exactly sound that appealing. My heart kept
longing for the little children. But everytime I prayed about it all I keep seeing was our team walking
through the Slums and ministering. So, the night finally came for us to cast our votes and the majority #
of votes would be our decision. Everyone started going around and stating their choice and why. When it came down to me…it was a
split decision. Three people had
said #3 – the orphanage and three people had said #2 – the slums. I had to cast the deciding vote. The kids still sounded amazing but I
knew in my heart and soul that God wanted us in the Slums…so I chose #2. So, the decision was made. We all had about a day to process our
decision. By this point God had really given me a peace about going to the
slums. I just know that for
whatever reason that is where God wants us. So, the next day Jory comes in all excited. He sits us all down to tell us where we
have officially been assigned to go. And the decision from leadership was…
WE ARE GOING
TO SLUMS BUT IN COSTA RICA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! EVERYONE FLIPPED OUT WITH EXCITEMENT.
God is so good
and faithful in leading our team right where we need to be. He has once again shown so much favor
on our team. Everyone did not
specifically have this huge exciting desire to go to the slums but we were all
obedient in where we felt God leading us and then out of nowhere we get shocked
and blessed by God by getting to go to a whole other country that we weren’t
even expecting. Needless to say
our team is ecstatic about the next months’ ministry. We will be working alone with just our team, which we are
also super excited about. All the
other teams will be alongside another team in Nicaragua at the different
ministry sites. I know that God
has some amazing things in store for us over the next month.
SO THE SLUMS
OF COSTA RICA…HERE WE COME!
