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!