This month we were asked to go into the country of Nicaragua and find new ministries for The World Race to partner with in the future. We are looking for ministries that in the future can partner with teams like mine to help the ministry grow their vision for God’s Kingdom!
This month, our mission was NOT a pre-planned/set-up ministry. And there was NOT a clear plan of when or where. Instead, it was,”Ok, here is the country of Nicaragua, now go see where the Lord is calling you and your team to go.” ……Wait…What???? It was uncertainty, unknown, living hour-by-hour, keeping our eyes and ears peeled for the Lord.
I love Christmas. Loving Christmas means you love the movie “Elf.” The past month for me has been a constant reaction like this one……
Replace “Santa” with “GOD” and my reaction is pretty close to Buddy the Elf’s.
“GOD!!! I KNOW HIM!!!!”
There have be a number of situations where my team has been in the MOST RANDOM PLACES and the Lord has created conversations with people that we couldn’t have seen coming from a mile away! We have been able to get down to the niddy-griddy with these people. To vulnerable places within the first hours of meeting them! Getting to know their passions and their hearts!! We have begun to see a very obvious pattern of God being the “door-opener” and “passion-driver” of each and every person we’ve met! It’s like, “Hey! I know that God, too! I love that guy! Here is how He is working in my life too!” and then they are like, “WHOA! No Way! I know Him too! He changed my life!! Lets talk more!”
So God decided to make His own divine appointments for us this month: Here is the first thing He had penciled in
October 3rd – 3:30pm – Garden Cafe
Jaime and Monica Arista
Men’s Discipleship Program
We were in a coffee shop and a lady looks at me and asks, “Are you a world racer?”
1. My heart stopped because someone was speaking English to me
2. I was so caught off guard I almost tripped over myself. She said knew I was a world racer due to the fact I was white, wearing Chacos, and a she had heard a group of missionaries were in town.
Me and this lady (Monica) ended up talking for an hour and a half and I learned about her and her husband’s story.
She told me how God had taken them out of a place of darkness, hopelessness, and abuse, and brought them to a place of joy, love, and grace in Him. After giving their lives to the Lord in 1997, they were asked by their church to start a battered women’s shelter down in Mexico that same year!!! When they were in Mexico, they felt like they were being called to start a men’s discipleship program. They were there for 10 years and transformed hundreds of men’s lives–and the lives of their families.
When we came into Monica and Jaime’s life, they were just getting settled into Nicaragua after moving there in July, and are beginning to build on land for their new ministry: Campo Gonia (Cornerstone Camp)! This is going to be a men’s discipleship program outside of the city of Granada, built to take men who are ready to leave their dark pasts and presents and move into a future of serving and learning about The Lord. Monica ended up offering me and my team a place to stay, a bed, and meals…..unbelievable!! We ended up spending a week with them and their ministry. Experiencing the same love and community atmosphere that they will give to hundreds of men in the near future!
HOW TO PRAY FOR JAIME AND MONICA!
– Pray that God would provide the funds and support needed to create this camp
– That God would prepare the hearts and minds of the men that will step into this discipleship program
– To bring community into Jaime and Monica’s life to encourage and support them
– That the Lord would cover them is safety and protection. That their home would be a safe place for others to come to and find community centered in God’s Word.
