Thinking Back…

Well it’s Thursday, I am sitting on the pool deck and thinking back on last week as I have done everyday this week. I don’t want to be in my office, I want to be outside in the heat and for me to want to be in the heat is strange. I am sitting here itching due to the heat, but I refuse to go inside (I know sounds strange) I can’t explain how I feel this time, it’s different. I miss the team and most of all I miss the people of Nicaragua more than I ever have. I want to be back in a village talking to the kids and people about Jesus. I have this desire to go back and seek out the teens and the pastors and start a ministry working with them to reach out to their peers. The vision is to go back down there and start a movement for Christ among the teens. I ask that everyone pray for this because I know that is what God wants me to do.
I recall a picture of Pastor Perez praying with some teen girls as they were getting ready to sing and it was like God saying, “Are you willing?” That’s all I heard. I have been in student ministry for 20 years and have always been ready to go anywhere God calls, so I just said, “yes I am willing, You make a way and I will go.” I’ll be honest, I am praying for discernment, because I don’t want this to be something that I want to do, but that God is calling me to this. I don’t want this to be an emotion driven decision, but a God driven one. After all, my goal is for this to be, “ALL ABOUT HIM, not me.”
I am gonna leave you with the picture of Pastor Perez and the girls praying to remind you to pray for them and for this ministry.
God Bless.

Reflection in Pictures…

Saturday At The Dump…

Today we went to the village next to the dump in Chinandega where the team distributed rice and beans to a hundred families. As we drove into the village children were climbing onto the van trying to get to the rice and beans on the top. Sometimes in this area parents sell their daughters to the truck drivers so they can have first pick of the truck and the contents of it. I was explaining to the group that this is life to these people and when we think about tomorrow they only think about the next minute or hour. I watched as some of the team broke down and cried because of our selfishness and how we take for granted what we have been blessed with. I want to share a few pictures of the team as we were there. I’m going to say this, words can’t express the scene at the village outside the dump. Please pray for these people that we will not just feed them, but that we can developed the heart to teach them. I am not sure of the number that prayed to receive Christ, but there was a lot of them praying with team members for salvation.

This little guy is Julio that lives with Cheryl.

July 22

I want to say we are sorry for not blogging yesterday, we were extremely busy and we ran out of time. To date there have been 282 new professions of faith. I am so proud of this group that their are no words for them, they have done awesome.
I am going to share a little about the picture of the day, this is a photo of Mercedes. I met her 5 years ago in a village called Zapote. Her mother came to me and asked me to take her to America where she could get an education and have a good life (which broke my heart). Cheryl took us to her school where we spoke about premarital sex and how it went against God’s Word. We spent the week in her village and her family and I became close, so every time I come down here I go and spend time with them. The last time I came down was in 2008 when she told me that she was married and her husband met the qualifications that I gave her dad. Then she floored me with two words, “I waited!” and to me that was the greatest two words ever! The reason is that in Nicaragua most girls lose their virginity by the age of 12.
So as usual when I got here and found out we were scheduled to visit Zapote again I was happy. To make a long story short, she doesn’t lilve in Zapote anymore, but from the relationships that I have made in the village, when they saw me the Nicaraguan Internet started working and her sister-in-law came to me and asked if I wanted to call her, and the rest is history. We were able to meet today and spend time together. So the girl that I call my daughter in Nicaragua now has a son named Alejandro.

This is Mercedes and Alejandro

Guest Post from Madison and Jessica…

Hola amigos! First we would like to thank everyone for your prayers and we ask that you continue to pray for us. Yesterday we went to the nursing home here in Leon and Jess and I (madison) got to pray with a lady that accepted Christ. Praise Jesus for that sweet opportunity! Then we went to the hospital and got to visit with several mothers and their newborn babies. We all felt very overwhelmed with the conditions that they have their babies in. It is so humbling to see the appreciation they have for so little. There were four women and their babies per room with the hospital rooms being smaller than ours at home. Since there is no air conditioner, the windows are open and birds can fly in. It is crazy! We feel so blessed for what God has given us in the US. Last night we had a great church service that ended with prayer and worship. It was evident that the Lord’s presence was there. Today we went to a little village and did door to door (really hut to hut) evangelism. We had been to four houses and were getting discouraged because everyone we spoke with said that maybe they would accept the Lord at a later time. And we would like to add that to get to three of those houses we had to cross what they would like to call bridges that looked as if they would crash into the water below at any second. Thank ya, Jesus for keeping us safe because we were scared for our lives! As we said, Satan was really trying to destroy our spirits when we came to the fifth house. A we crossed the little bridge, children came to greet us and the mother was shouting for us to come in and that she was glad we were there to speak with them. She hugged us all and welcomed us with a loving heart. We could feel the Holy Spirit and when we asked if they were Christians the mother said yes! The Lord knew that we needed a little pick me up and of course He came through! After lunch, we went back and had VBS with the children of the village. It was so much fun and we think the kids really liked it! As for me (Madison), I’m loving every second of being back in this beautiful country with the people I love and Jess is learning so much about herself and is loving every moment too! Thank you all for reading and we’ll post later in the week!

This is the sweet Christian family we met! Aren’t they just so stinking cute?!

God is Awesome!

The team just got back to Cheryl’s house for a quick lunch and then heading back out to the village where we went door to door and shared the Gospel. To date there has been around 50 professions of faith and we are praying for more from this village.
I ask that you begin praying for the people of the village to come this afternoon and being their children to VBS. I am leaving you with some more sights from today. Today was eye opening for the team I think, I hope that your heart is stirred also as you see what the team has seen today.
Gloria Dios!!

Day Three

I want to start by apologizing about the last post and just being pictures. The Internet down here is a challenge to say the least. I would write a post and the minute that I started to publish it I would get kicked off and it would delete everything but the pictures. Anyway, today is day three not two and the team is heading to a village to go door to door and share the gospel with the people. We are also going to do VBS this afternoon. I am so blessed to be leading a team that really has a heart for these people and that truly comes from the heart of God. I have seen God work thru them already. Some of the group is nervous and that is normal, so today I want you to pray for the group especially those that seem to be nervous.
For all the parents that have kids with me I am so proud of them, they are doing awesome, I want to personally thank you for allowing me this opportunity. I am in awe at how God is working in there lives and my prayer is that when they return home that they will not forget what God done with them here. for now adios.