Thanksgiving -- Accion de Gracias

Treasured moments of the week of Thanksgiving that I would like to share with you:

1. This weekend I participated in my first Nicaraguan birthday party! I walked in to the small yard joining a tiny house surrounded by pieces of tin roofing and discarded boards for fencing carrying a large cake, 22 cupcakes, and a bag of candy to share. To my surprise there were over 70 people there and the hugest piñata I have ever seen dangling from a nearby tree. Everyone was dressed in their best clothes and watching the 3 year old birthday boy scream in fear of the 5 foot piñata and try to run away from his mother who desperately wanted just one picture of him with the piñata. This family has adopted me into theirs and was so sweet to let me share with their family in celebration and acceptance. I felt loved and learned a lot about this culture!
2. After a long and stressfull day the 5th graders were practicing for their Thanksgiving program and I was imitating what not to do when standing on stage, the kids thought my impression of a 1st grader waving at his mother was hysterical and after a few moments we were all laughing so hard we couldn’t stop for a few minutes, many with tears rolling down their faces. One of my favorite moments of teaching so far!
3. One night this week a family from church invited all the teachers over for a thanksgiving meal they had prepared for us. We got to meet some new faces of missionaries that have served here for years and years and hear of their stories of God’s faithfulness accompanied by soft candlelight and the best turkey I have ever had! (Turkey’s here cost around $100, and so is quite a delicacy!)
4. Wednesday morning was the Thanksgiving program and it was so neat to see all my 5th graders yelling at the top of their lungs with beaming faces: “It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to Your name, Oh Most High. To declare your lovingkindness in the morning, and your faithfulness every night!” ~Psalm 92:2~
5. My roommate and I took the leap of faith and decided to meet a friend of a friend at the Managua airport so that he could take us 4 ½ hours up north to an orphanage in the mountainous regions of Nicaragua. It was obvious after about 5 minutes of conversation that he(Alvero is his name!) did not know the Lord, but after 4 ½ + hours in the car we had ample time to plant seeds into very soft and fertile soil! His questions were rich with desire to know and understand the true, living, and active God, Yahweh!
6. Thanksgiving morning we awoke to a temperature of about 55 degrees, it felt so good to be under covers! We knew we were just where we needed to be for this Thanksgiving day, and we had no idea the blessing He had in store! We took picture after picture of the refreshing beauty surrounding us. God used this time to restore my soul in many ways and reveal to me sin that I had slipped into. I was able to confess this before the Lord and pray for these precious children, it was precious time.
7. We got to hike with the kids up a mountain behind the orphanage (about a 45 minute hike) with picnic lunches awaiting at the top! One precious little girl had shoes that were way too small for her feet, so after about 8 minutes of walking she was crying. I carried her much of the way up and back and we got to sing a lot of songs, such as: “Yo tengo….gozo,gozo,gozo, gozo en mi corazon…donde? En mi Corazon! Yo tengo gozo, gozo, gozo, gozo, en mi Corazon…..porque Cristo me salvo!” We truly were filled with joy as we ascended that beautiful mountain and looked over the lakes and scenery while munching on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at the top!
8. The kids had all been especially good all day, knowing that this was one of two days in the whole year in which they could eat as much food as they wanted. We had peeled 30 pounds of potatoes, carried “crunchy cebollos (onions)” all the way from the states for the green bean casserole, and purchased a gigantic turkey, the feast was ready! The kids and adults gathered together and shared one or two things that they wanted to thank the Lord for the in the year, among many praises for “Jesus loving me” and “Jesus providing everything for me” one of the interns, who just happened to be German, piped up and shared that he was thankful he got to have his first ever thanksgiving holiday!(Ironic that he had to come to Nicaragua to experience an American holiday J)
9. Many sweet children touched my heart over the 41 hours I spent in that mountain orphanage, it definitely is a place I could feel comfortable living in for the rest of my life! The kids were incredible. We took a few kids back down to Managua with us, but we had to pack them in the car with us. One little boy, Josecito, sat on my lap for an entire 5 ½ hours in perfect contentment, talking to me in his little sweet voice, playing with my hair, and sleeping in my arms. His favorite song to sing me was in English and went like this: “lullaby and goodnight….I hope all your dreams come true.” What a precious child of God I got to hold in my arms for so many hours and pray blessing over blessing upon.

I guess I will leave you with 9 not-so-short snap shots. God worked out so many details in my roommate and I being able to spend Thanksgiving in a little mountain town called Jinotega. I want to tell you about two of the girls that stole my heart! One is 14, cares for all the children as a mother, and reminded me of my sweet little sister Sarah in a lot of ways. She wrote me a note when I left which said, “Julia, we are friends forever. Remember you are special to God and to me. I miss you already. Don’t forget me. Tu hermanita, Nora” She was a shining star, a bright and beautiful presence in this place. God must have wonderful plans for her, and oh how I pray He continues to grow her up in the ways of the Lord to be obedient and humbly serve Him.
The other girl was a 6 year old that definitely was attached to my hip from the moment we stumbled into each other brushing our teeth at 6:10 in the morning. She was shy, but stunning. She was the one I carried up the mountain. Her name is Luz, and as I was saying goodbye she whispered, “Julia, te quiero muchchuchuchuchisisisisisisimo!” (I love you a lot lot lot lot lot!)
I found out her story on the way home and my heart broke. She came to the orphanage a little less than 2 months ago and they had found her in a cardboard box house where she was living with her father. He had been sexually abusing her since she was 4.
Just one day and my heart is attached, not even intentionally (in fact, I know that I easily give pieces of my heart away to children such as these at orphanages in different places, so I usually am guarded) But, never did I expect the incredibly unconditional love and shining presence of Jesus to grab my heart in such a way in this place, oh how blessed I was to get to spend this Thanksgiving with these beautiful children. I know I was put in their lives to share their stories as many may pray for them for years to come. Many of their stories are just as heartbreaking as Lucita’s.

La Chureca

I've had an incredible week of seeing God answer prayers. I'll take this minute to thank each one of you for your prayers, please do not grow weary of them, they are hugely impactful in my life and in this place. I have been praying for weeks, months actually, since April, to visit the largest trash dump in Central America, named La Chureca. It is about a 15 minute drive from my apartment and God had obviously orchestrated circumstances and opportunities in my life over the summer so as I could not avoid the knowledge of this place in Managua. But months and even years of praying could not have begun to prepare my heart for the site I would behold in the reality of this place. I will start at the beginning.....a very good place to start.

Jesenia, the gal I put on my prayer list last week, the sweet lady who so faithfully and passionately ministered to my heart during this time here in Nicaragua.... she works with a ministry called Love, Light and Melody. They work alongside the leader of a band stationed in Denver called Braddigan (Brad broke away from the band Dispatch). Brad has turned his singing career into a ministry in which he comes down to La Chureca several times a year, works with specific families in the dump, and builds relationships. Then he takes stories, pictures, and film back to the states and uses his concerts as benefits for these families, but also giving people knowledge about this place and about the need here. I had e-mailed Brad after seeing a documentary film he did, back in April and the trash dump had been on my heart and mind ever since. After several more random encounters with people who had ministered at the trash dump I began to wonder what God had in store, I was beginning to see a pattern.

When school was canceled on Friday becuase of the Nicaraguan elections this weekend I began praying for an opportunity to visit la chureca with the extra time I had during the day. I struggle with praying so much and then wondering if I should wait for the Lord to answer my prayers, or for me just to plunge ahead in pursuit of the prayer. At about 10 am I had spent a lot of time with the Lord that morning and continued to pray for God's will for the day, whatever that may be. I felt the need to call Jesenia, though I had only had about a 1/2 hour conversation with her one time I decided to brave the awkwardness and my lack of spanish speaking skills....and I called. She was so excited that I had called and said she could take me to la chureca if I could meet her at 2pm at Siete Sur.....I hung up the phone and began freaking out that I had agreed to random things because I don't speak spanish very well and understanding over the phone is difficult! Did she say 12 0' clock or 2 0' clock? Where is Siete Sur? How am I going to get there? What if she had said tomorrow, not today? I had to pray and tell God that this was in His hands and control, not mine....then I decided to propose an adventure to my roommate....she quickly agreed to embark with me and we set out together, unknowing of what we would do or if we would even find Jesenia. God knew.

A wonderful taxi driver stopped, though we couldn't pay him the full amount because we only had american dollars, he still took us directly to Siete Sur, and we walked a couple blocks to the bank....Jesenia showed up 5 minutes early and we then set out for the first time on the bus system....it is NUTS! Crammed, all the guys yelling at you because you are blond, homeless people asking you for money.....quite the experience! Jesenia was a peaceful presence and just calmly showed us how to get about. The bus dropped us off in a random neighborhood and we walked down a street to find ourselves looking out over La Chureca. "Comenza la chureca," Jesenia said as a horrible stench began to descend upon us. Fly's everywhere, burning fires....cows and horses roaming amidst dogs and people in piles upon piles of trash for miles and miles. Men were hacking at the hug rib cages or cows, stripping any left over meat from the bones. Sometimes the smoke was so thick you could barely see in front of you where you were walking. Mud, human waste, and trash sloshed around our feet as we walked into the trash dump. It is a sight that reached past my eyes and struck my heart. It is something I will never forget.

As Jesenia introduced us to two families and many children that came up to jump into her arms I looked into the eyes of these people and loved them. I don't know how people can be so hardened by an environment such as this and still be soft enough for love to shine in their eyes. Living day in and day out amidst trash, searching for their livelyhood amidst the garabage the rest of the world discards....have we discarded these people as well?

The most interesting part of this whole experience I think was not as much the sweet embraces and dirty smiles...not the overwhelming mountains of trash, or the disgust of living, moving and breathing amidst such a place...but it was as we were saying our goodbyes to one of the sweet families, we turned to see a large school/tour bus making it's way down the "road," kicking up mud as the tires tread the trash. A group of American's were inside, white faces, staring out the windows at the people they passed, pressing camara's to the glass and flashing pictures. Their eyes showed terror...not love. Their camara's flashed messages of judgment, not acceptance. I do not know what this group was doing, or why they were driving through the dump. I am sure God had called many of them to serve for a time in the dump and to share hugs and embraces and take home stories and pictures to the states....but for me, standing with the people and watching this occur hurt my heart. It made me look at our American way of life with such disgust. We know nothing of the ways of Jesus and how he served us.....

Philippians 2: 5-11

"5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! 9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

My heart cried out with a longing to serve these people humbly, becoming like them, obedient to death of the old way of life.

I don't know what God started doing in me as I stood in that trash dump....but it is something gripping my soul, squeezing my insides, pleading with my mind, drumming on my heart.

We will see what God has in store. For now brothers and sisters, join me in prayer, join me in humility, join me in obedience to our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus as a response to a glimpse into the lives of these people, God's children, living souls worthy of some uncomfortable feelings and some ponderings of the soul in the way that you live and serve where you are at. May your attitude be the same as that of Christ Jesus.

Here is the Love, Light, and Melody Website if you would like a greater glimpse of this ministry: http://lovelightandmelody.org/home.php

Oh Culture!

Here are some of the cultural differences I am beginning to embrace here in Nicaragua:

1. Lizards run all over the house, they are harmless, but they "bark" or "squeak" loudly when talking to one another.
2. There is no hot water anywhere, only one nob on all faucets, including showers......cold!
3. When walking down the street for about a 10 minute period it is likely that a blond american girl will get whistled at, cat calls, and other forms of yelling out the window of cars about....18 times. (I counted)
4. There are no street signs and directions are given by land marks and rotundas.
5. Most Nicaraguans cannot pronounce the name Nyhoff, so they just call me "Miss! Miss!" and the closest spelling one of the students has attempted looks like this: Ninehawlf
6. Fruit baskets are the highest honor of gifts to give and recieve in social situations
7. Trash is burned anywhere and everywhere you go....there is always the smell of burning trash in the air (It makes me laugh at the people who are afraid about the American atmosphere, you should try coming to third world countries)
8. School can be canceled by the government, then switched back, then declared a national holiday the day before....this makes for difficult planning, but nice days off!
9. I have so many mosquito bites I look like I have chicken pox everyday...and feel like it too!
10. Nica time is SLOW, everything runs at least 30-70 minutes behind schedule all the time!
11. A swarm of ants will attack a piece of food dropped on the counter or floor in approximately 38 seconds
12. I have never sweat so much in my life and have yet to wear a long sleeve shirt or any kind of jacket! I knew I would love this country! :)

13. Rice and Beans(name: gallopinto) is eaten for every meal: lunch, dinner, and especially breakfast!

Be joyful always.....

Here is a quote from Amy Charmichael that I want to share with you, so inspiring!

"Too few Christians live radiantly, beautifully, abundantly. We do not rise to the level of the joys that are ftting of God's heirs. There are far deeper joys within our reach than we have experienced. The beauty of the Lord does not shine always in our faces and glow in our characters and apear in our dispositions and tempers. The trouble with us is that we've been trying only the shallows of God's love. We must cut the last chain that binds us back to the shoare of this world, and like Columbus, put out to sea to discover new worlds of blessing."

One month mark...assailed by hardships, but not overcome

It seems like it has been forever since my last update two weeks ago. Teaching has picked up at a rapid pace and suddenly I find my free time diminishing as lesson plans consume much of my mind and time. This past week was very difficult for me, yet filled with huge blessings at the same time. I am learning many things and count it a privilege to be able to share some of the things God puts on my heart with you so candidly. Hang with me, this could get long. J
Here is a journal entry that will help get me started,
Gracias a Dios,
Oh that every breath would be an exhale of thanksgiving, that every inhale be prefaced with praise – “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.” The Psalms leave us with this grand command and how many breaths do I waste in praise to myself, or mutterings of discontentment, or sighs of complaint. Lord, “Let every breath, all that I am, never cease to worship you!” “Tune my heart to sing your praise.” “May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing to you O God, my Rock and my Redeemer.”

Honestly, I have been broken this week. The message God seems to be continually speaking over me is humility and meekness. How I fail at these two things. When God brings about things to put me in a place of humiliation I revert to complaining and discontentment. I see through myself so clearly here. There is nothing to hide behind here, no retreat. I continually am reminded that I am nothing, that I am sinful, prideful, selfish, and the only good thing in me is Christ. But when I see my faults and shortcomings so much I fall back on the magnified name of my Lord. Oh how strong He is in my weakness! Though it is painful, I would desire no other thing than for me to be a broken pot. Jeremiah 18: 1-6 says,
This is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah, “Go down to the potter’s house and there I will give you my message.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping was mared in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. Then the word of the Lord came to me, “O House of Israel, can I not do with you what this potter does?” Declares the Lord, “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in My hands.”
God is making something new out of me, the mared and broken pot.
This week I struggled continually with teaching. Again, my pride brought me low to humiliation. I think that I know how to do many of these things and have the natural ability and talent to teach, but this week of teaching definitely stretched me more than ever before. Ultimately, I failed at teaching my students anything this week. I got a lot of feedback from the principal and my partner teacher. Hours of conversation on how I could do better, what I need to change…..it was exhausting….questions whirring in my mind…. “am I doing anything right?” My immediate unspoken response, “I hate this, I can’t do anything right, I want to give up. Why do I hate this so much?” I came home Friday afternoon with piles of planning to have done by Monday, almost in tears at the aweful week I had just had and the weekend of work ahead after just another lecture on what I needed to do to be a better teacher.
Oh Beloved, when you are weak, then I am strong. Boast all the more in your weakness so that I may be evident in MY strength over your weakness. God’s voice sang over me as I slept Friday night and I awoke Saturday morning with new motivation, ideas and passion to do the best I could in this situation. Oh how God is close to the humble in heart.

I share all this with you as I lead into this next part, so hang with me.
Throughout this process of molding there has been an even clearer theme I see in scripture I read, conversations I have, or prayers I pray…..Thanksgiving.
As you can see from my journal entry, thanksgiving has become an ever present process and I have been overwhelmed with the results of the breathing in and out of thanksgiving. I had the privilege of joining in a Thanksgiving celebration with the ministry I will be involved with in January. Yes, the date was set 3 weeks early so that everyone could be a part of the gathering as many travel to different places in Nicaragua over this holiday. They so kindly invited me, and I couldn’t wait to meet everyone. Let me tell you, it is truly a family and I am so excited to be a part of this group of believers. We spent most of the evening (about 3 hours) talking and sharing God’s faithfulness and blessing over the past year. Every eye had tears at different points. The director of this ministry shared about thank offerings in the bible and celebrations God’s people had regularly to remember what He had so graciously done for them. Celebrations of God’s faithfulness are so important, and we need to be more serious about our thank offerings not only once a year, but celebrating all the time! A heart of thankfulness is often transformed into praise and praise into transformation of attitude and heart towards things eternal.
The next night I met a wonderful lady at a gathering I was at. She spoke only Spanish….perfect opportunity for me to practice! J We had a little bit of a hard time communicating at first, but you could tell our hearts were connected in the Lord. After some introduction conversation she asked me right off, “What is God teaching you?” I shared everything I could put into words in spanish and she understood. She then went on a 15 minute Spirit led speech about how I need to be using this time in adoration. I understood every word that she said because God knew I needed to hear those words, whether in Spanish or English. Tears came, oh how sinful I have been in not continually turning to Christ in adoration, praise and thanksgiving for not only the blessings and good things, but the hardships, trials, and pain. “Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thes. 5:16-18)
I am not doing these lessons justice in simple words, but I pray that you can hear my heart speak to yours. Oh that we filled our speech, worship, prayer, and every movement with more thanksgiving…how our light would shine in the darkness. Prepare your hearts for the Thanksgiving holiday with a daily, heartfelt, attitude of thanksgiving in the next few weeks. Not only turning to him in thanks for the blessings, but for everything.

“We always carry around in our bodies the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that His life may be revealed in our mortal bodies.” ~ 2 Cor. 4:10-11

It's Raining, it's pouring....

It has been quite a day! For the past 52 hours it has been raining, pretty much non-stop. When it rains here, I must clarify, it is not simply a light drizzle, or a soft afternoon rain shower...it POURS! Sheets of rain thumping the ground with a deafening thunder. One of the 5th grade boys had a prayer request on Monday for a hurricane moving toward Honduras. As I was praying it came to mind that I now live in a country not half way around the world from Honduras, but next door. Thus, we are feeling the waves of the hurricane here. One of the fifth grade parents came in to the classroom after school today and helped us move bookshelves and supplies out of the way of numerous leaks in the classroom. The space around my desk is not a puddle. She said, "I am 43 years old and I have never seen rain like this before in my country!"

Apparently, it only rains this much for this long about once every 4-5 years.

Welcome to Nicaragua Julie. :)

I woke up this morning and caught a glimpse of a piece of sky. Immediately I went outside to walk around while there was a break in the storm. It was a gorgeous morning and I prayed that God would hold off the rains for today as many homes have been ruined, streets flooded, and crops destroyed. God had no such plans. I taught the kids about El Roi, the God who sees in devotions this week, so we prayed that God would see each person effected by the rain and protect them.

The power went off at three different times today....our "hallways" were rivers, of which we had to set boards to divert the streams of water so we could walk to the cafetin and chapel and other classes.....at some points in the day the rain was so loud that I had to yell for the kids to be able to hear me....by noon, everyone was SOAKED to the bone.... no one wanted to focus on school and learning....it was one of my most favorite days in Nicaragua so far!

It is such a neat experience being here. No amount of rain could make me dislike even one day. This is the day that the LORD has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!

On the other hand, please join me in praying for all the people who are NOT as blessed with houses to shelter them from the rain, or may have lost everything to the flooding of their homes, or their crops. Also pray for Honduras, as I hear it got hit pretty hard by this storm.

Renewed

It has been a hard week. Originally, when I sat down to try to summarize this week I wanted to share about culture shock and loneliness. But as I asked the Lord what He wanted me to share, these things came to mind in which I found myself on my knees in repentance, crying out to the Lord, “Yes Lord, I believe, help me in my unbelief!” The biggest culture shock for me has been going from a life that runs 150 miles per hour a day with not even a moment of time to spare, or a chance to think and reflect, a life of constant busyness and nonstop activity…. to a place where I am completely set apart with a new beginning, no friends, hardly any communication, no worldly distractions, and hours of which I can fill doing anything! My mind is having a hard time even processing the reality of this because it is so far from what I have known for many many years.
For the past couple of days I have struggled with the daily living out of this situation God has placed me in. I have even gone as far as to feel sorry for myself as I sit in a tiny room, all by myself without a way to communicate with the ones I love and void of human embrace for over a week now, which could seem like a lifetime. Yes, I admit that these are the thoughts that have mostly occupied my mind for the past days.
Tonight, however, God has revealed to me the truth. I cried out to Him in repentance saying, “Lord, I believe you have called me to this place, for such a time as this….yet help me in my unbelief!”
Then belief came swooping in to cover me with its wings of hope. ”Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Cor. 4:16-18)
Who am I to complain? Who am I to mope about the extra and much needed time I get to spend with my Savior and Best Friend? Who am I to allow myself to pity myself for such set apartness? I am nothing, I am a dumb sheep in desperate need of a Shepherd. (Jehovah Raah is the Lord our Shepherd who I taught the kids about in bible this week.) The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters, He restores my soul. (Psalm 23)
Thus I have come to an acceptance and a place of praise as I realize my Shepherd is leading me through a process of restoring my soul to a place where I have no want for anything else but His presence alone to satisfy the desires of my heart. What a beautiful place for my soul to rest in. What a gracious gift of forgiveness and faith. Thank you oh Lord my Rock and my Refuge, I hide myself in Thee.

Great first fin de Semana

Today was my first Sunday in Nicaragua and it was beautiful. I was blessed to be able to attend the American church that is right here at the school. The whole service is in English and over 100 Americans and Nicaraguans meet to praise the Lord together! The fellowship was amazing. Thankfully I had met 4-5 of the women at the church at a women’s tea the day before and they greeted me with hugs and smiles. At the “welcome time” I had to stand up and introduce myself, and afterwards two couples came up to introduce themselves to me because I will be working with their ministry in January. One of the couples has a daughter in my 5th grade class! Isn’t God amazing? :) It was incredible to see the community between dozens of missionary families from many different ministries praying for one another and encouraging one another. I’m coming to find that this community is pretty much a norm in this city between Christians because many prayers have been prayed for many years for unity and blessing upon this city. God is doing incredible things and I am just glimpsing parts and pieces in these first couple of days. I am so excited to share with you as I uncover more and more of what God is doing here and how He is going to work through me. I am so blessed to be joining Him at the work He is already doing here! It is huge!
Next week I pray to have the opportunity to go to what I hear is a wonderful Spanish speaking church that many of the missionaries work with.
I am actually not getting much Spanish practice as most of the teachers only speak English fluently and my roommates only speak English, so now my prayer is to get more challenging Spanish practice…haha, never thought I would be asking that! God is providing in every way!
*Random note: my roommate found us a new house pet….His name is Ralph and he is an elephant beetle I almost stepped on. He is about 5 inches long and has VERY pokey legs. He escaped in our apartment one night and after searching for him we gave up, thinking he had cleared the premise, but then we found him the next night, stuck on his back in the middle of our kitchen, legs flailing. We were happy to have our pet back. He is now alive and well. :) oh the adventures!

***I can only get on my blog on the weekends at this point, so I wrote this last week and was not able to get on till today, so don’t mind the date, the information is in consecutive order.

I've arrived!

As my mom often does at the beginning of a letter, I will describe to you the scene from which I write.
I sit typing as I listen to the soft whisper of constant rain falling outside the open doorway. My tiny 8ft x 9 ft room is cut off from the rest of the house by an outdoor laundry room that opens to the rise of the apartment building we are in. Everything is painted lime green on the outside. One of my room mates spent over an hour tonight, describing hundreds of pictures and stories of family and friends. It is fun to get to know her. Another roommate sits across the open laundry room in our kitchen, writing letters to parents and planning for the next day. It is still unreal to be here and it has officially been 24 hours. The roar of the rain grows louder as it rains harder. Somehow I feel like this is what life will be like for the next few months….lots of rain! But it is beautiful and oh so green!
I spent 10 hours at my school today and I am already loving it. My partner teacher is just wonderful and spent a long time showing me around and introducing me to all the other teachers, staff, and administration. Everyone has been friendly and helpful. My 21 kids are great too. They introduced themselves to me, telling me their names and something “different” about them. After a pattern of, “I’m so and so and I’m from________.” One of the obviously Nicaraguan boys stood up and declared to be from Russia. All of them have quite the sense of humor and we are going to get along great. I have a quiz tomorrow on all of their names….the pressure is on! J
My flight seemed short and blessed. After balancing out the luggage to 49.5lbs. each suitcase I hauled another heavy carry on suitcase and backpack to Houston and on to Managua. On the 3 ½ hour flight to Managua I sat next to a very talkative friend named Oscar who warned me about everything not to eat, and not to do, as well as some good advice on exciting aspects of Nicaragua. I was thankful for the conversation which kept me from getting nervous as we landed….I was FINALLY here.
My roommates met me after going through customs, motioning through glass partitions as to where to get my luggage and how to carry it. We then went to get ice cream, the perfect welcome!
Things start early around here, the teacher van leaves at 6:30 sharp, and if you’re not there, you get left behind. Thus, I think I will call it a great first day and head to bed.
Missing you all already and continually praying for you as the Lord brings you to mind throughout the day and night. I feel your prayers for every moment. The Lord is carrying me for sure!

Feelings of leaving

I've been asked by numerous people in the past couple weeks how I feel about leaving...the answer I have found as I've stumbled over words to describe deep feelings is: excited!
As I have struggled with the reality of leaving behind my wonderful college friends and the lives of so many I have poured into here, I have come to entrust these blessed relationships to the Lord as He is calling me to another stage in life. College went by TOO fast, but just as the Lord had planned. I can look back at these three years and five weeks with no regrets. I trust that I used every moment in dedication to serving my Lord. He has blessed the fruits of my labors more than I could ever ask or imagine!
Another part of me is terrified for starting a-new in another country, with no one to stand by my side, and a whole new language to learn.
Yet, as reality sets in and time ticks past in these last couple weeks I spend in Greeley, God has rained down peace that transcends ALL understanding to guard my heart and mind. Whatever He calls me to, He will provide the strength. Whatever He leads me through, He will be by my side. Whatever challenges I face, I know my Savior will sustain me.
I am nothing, yet I have the opportunity to be used for His glory....and this has never been made so clear to me as it is now.
Thus, many tears will fall in the next week as I say goodbyes....but in Christ there are no goodbyes. This world is not my home...I am a stranger passing through. Thus I hold loosly to the things of this world and press on to take hold of that for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus, to the praise and glory of the name above all names, unashamedly.