the start of many challenges.

wow. what a wonderful week i was able to be apart of! the nicaragua trip was one i'll never ever forget. the moments and experiences i was able to witness and be apart of are ones i doubt i will ever forget. a few of them i know are going to be landmark experiences in the journey of my faith. i'm hoping to share some of these experiences on here over the next few weeks. i could probably write a book on my trip!

well we arrived at the atlanta airport on saturday and arrived in Managua, Nicaragua around 9 at night. we got to this mission house and unpacked all of our packed backpacks to be sorted. we eliminated extra weight and repacked our packs. we set out early the next morning after some wonderful breakfast and some time in the word. we studied james chapter 1 and discussed the importance of being do-ers of the word. also, we set out with the mindset that we truly wanted to remember the people we meet and remember their faces and stories.

it was a six hour car ride. three hours on paved road and three off roading. the ride was quite bumpy and the drive was exhausting on the entire team. we arrived in Nawawas and stayed in a church for the night. the majority of the group stayed in the church and then a few of us stayed in a house next door. we hung hammocks from the ceiling and slept in them, however, some slept on a few cots we had with us. i was in the house next door...olivia's house. olivia is a fraile older woman who was so kind and hospitable. olivia had two grown sons living with her, ishmael and edwin. both of her sons are now separated from their wives-their wives are now with other men. ishmael is the pastor of one of the churches we worked with and he was beyond kind to all of us. edwin was so funny! edwin kept saying to us 'no comprendo espanol, only english' hah. he was great--he sang praise songs all the time. i don't think he'll ever know the impact he had on our team and how much we were encouraged by his smile and songs.
--still on this day, i met someone who i will never forget. her name is flora (flower in english). she is in her twenties and i met her in the church. she is beautiful and very kind-hearted. she spoke no english, but we were still able to communicate by the little spanish i knew. she grabbed my arm and drug me to the missionary and requested that she take me to her house. Loren (missionary) said that was fine and so we set off. it was a short walk and Flora introduced me to her family and gave me a tour of her home....
yeah-a tour of her home. it was fairly clean and not too big...this woman who has very little and a dirt floor gladly welcomed me into her home. she gave me some food to eat and showed me all she had. i don't know what other way to say this, but why aren't we like this? we have plenty--more than most and yet we cannot do such a simple thing as this. the point is not that we need to have the whole world over into our dirty houses. the point is far deeper than that. it is a matter of the heart. flora wasn't worried about the simple, pointless, and worldy things. she saw much deeper than that. it mattered to her to make sure i knew that she cared for me. she reached out to show me love and kindness and offer a friendship, a special bond. in moments where we feel led to do something, do we let things of the world (like a dirty house or no groceries or even a messy car) keep us from pursuing things of eternity? do we let those things take precedence over God-given moments of being blessed and showing His love? we can also justify NOT doing something because it may not be 'safe'. honestly, i could have easily been like yeah right, flora. i am not going off with you down the road into this village i know nothing of all by myself. and certainly not because i don't know spanish like at all. yeah-something like that could have easily kept me from going. i realized the moment that little thought crossed my mind how silly it was. i serve the God of the universe. when our hearts feel tugged and led, we have to trust. we make excuses, and most of the time our excuse is fear based. do we not stop and talk to a homeless man on the street because he might steal our stuff? pretty sure Jesus lived a life opposite of fear, He is a model for obediance to the father. next time you see a need or feel a call, don't think (def. don't plan out every little detail and formulate a well-organized plan either :) ) just do it. trust in the Lord that He will guide you, He doesn't need a schedule or plan to operate. trust me :). just a thought. still thinking over it myself. more to come.