THiS iS THE DAY THE LORD HAS MADE...i WiLL REJOiCE! :)

Today has been a good day in the Lord! We went to Managua today, making a trip to immigration and a trip to the burn center at a hospital. The rest of us were sitting in the bus while Giselle and her mom were in to see the doctor at the burn center. Well, I decided I needed to go to the bathroom, so Eugenio walked with me to the building. After I come out, he starts talking to me a little, in his broken English. And across the room, a guy that had just walked in starts snickering a little bit at our inability to communicate. So Eugenio asks him if he knows English. He did. He was actually from somewhere in the Carribean (pretty hard for me to understand through his accent). Eugenio asks him a few questions. Then he came over to sit with us and he began to tell me about his little girl that has burns (she's only 6 months old). I had a very hard time understanding him, but he started talking about God and how he prayed for help with his daughter. And he had all the answers, that God is the only way, He's the one that knows the number of our days, etc. He talked about getting baptized soon, but he was waiting til he knew exactly what it was, I guess making sure his life sizes up to the commitment that comes with baptism!? So, that was my entry way. I just started sharing that baptism doesn't equal salvation. gave him Romans 10:9-10. That if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart, you will be saved. I asked him if he wanted to do that today and he said yes. I asked him if he wanted me to lead him through a prayer or if he wanted to pray. And this is where his accent was a problem, I'm not sure if he prayed or if he was telling me what he does pray on a regular basis, but what he prayed was in line with the scripture. So, did he pray to receive Christ today or had he already?! I'm not sure. But I know that he received truth today. And after a few more minutes of talking, he told me that he was not married but would hopefully be in the future, but he and his girlfriend are living together. So, then I couldn't just let that stand, so I had to confront him on the sin he was living in. Pretty hard, for someone (me) who has the hardest time with confrontation!!! (has seemed to be a trend for the week...is God stretching me like I asked!?!? ut-oh!) :) ...He seemed to take it pretty well and I asked if Eugenio and I could pray for him. So we did and that was that. I pray that God sprinkles the words in a way that help this man find the Lord and/or help in his walk with the Lord and convict him of what he's doing wrong in his life. But praise God, that even through the pounding heart, I was able to allow God the opportunity to work in this man's life!!! ...God is SO cool...using a bathroom break for an opportunity to share about Him!!!!!! :)
Let's see what else I've conquered today (haha)...when we visited Eugenio's uncle for the legal papers to be a legal ministry in Nicaragua today, I drank part of a glass of tea (GAG) because I didn't want to offend the lady who offered it. I tried so hard to like it, pretend it was anything but tea. I choked down about 3 big gulps before I had to surrender the glass to the table!!! But hey, I consider it a victory, that I drank it at all!!!!
what else...tonight, I became Chele's teacher! We waited and waited for Chico to come back to the house, but he didn't come back tonight. And Chele has school in the morning but hadn't finished his homework. I was going to just fill in the answers for him and let Chico help him after his class tomorrow, but I knew that was not the answer...So instead, me in my broken Spanish, gave a lesson in Addition. We used 2 sets of hands and conquered about 15 problems in about 30-45 mins. He is definitely just beginning to learn, but the fact that he is trying makes me so proud! And that I got to be a part of that tonight, I was honored. God has done a transformation in his life, I know it. Maybe he doesn't even know it, but God is there and even though it's going to be a LONG ROAD, I can't wait to see the growth throughout the process of him learning (and one day learning to read the word of God for himself!!). Please continue to pray for him. for the desire to learn and that God would ease the pain (& difficulty) of learning!

"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever." - Psalm 118:1

MUCH LOVE!

AMERiCA...THE REAL WORLD...OR FANTASY LAND?

I could spend tons of time ranting and raving about all the things that have went wrong this week...the diarrhea and nauseousness (and apparent parasites living in me), the sore throat & runny nose & constant cough, and today the aching legs from dehydration.....But, why in the world would I spend time on those things to get sympathy for anyone would might be reading this.....when this time could be better spent on the intricate work of the Lord in the lives of those who love him!? It's so cool how God works and networks. Right now, we have 3 Americans staying in the house from a organization called AIM (Adventures in Missions). They are on a World Race (theworldrace.org) and travel the world, a country at a time, a month at a time. How did they get to our house, you ask?? Simply because they walked past our door a few days ago. The 3 of them (Esther, Tamara, and Mark) are in a period of ATL (Ask The Lord) ...in which they go by faith where they feel God leading and depend on him for all the resources and the work when they get there. It is so amazing to sit down and talk with them, and the experiences they have had in so many countries (Africa, South Africa, China, etc). Cheryl and I were talking with Mark tonight and it's amazing how much Americans are ignorant of life outside the U.S. I'm not sure if it's true ignorance, or if it's a choice of ignorance b/c it scares us to open our eyes. Mark was saying the missionaries in AIM talk about getting back to "the real world" (U.S.) after their year is up. But then it dawned on them, that America is not the real world. America is this fantasy land, and then there is the rest of the world. Outside America is the true, REAL world. I don't want to be Debbie Downer on Americans, but it just seems we have no sense of what the real world is, because we don't get out of fantasy land. If we did, I don't know how we could ever go back & truly live our lives the way we do...with the next biggest toy, the complete debt to "provide" for our families with $300,000 houses and $30,000 cars that are our "needs" (when some of my friends here live in cardboard and tin piece houses)... I knew something had happened when I went back to TN in January. At this point, I just don't see myself being able to truly live in America again. I cannot live in a fantasy, with now having at least some knowledge of the real world. When I'm here, my heart is in America with my family and friends. But when I'm in America, my heart is here...I feel as if I'm a girl without a home...at least an earthly home. a somewhat hard place to be in, but truly it makes my heart yearn for Heaven in a much more passionate way. Knowing it's my only true home!
I'll end with a song from MercyMe. I know it's not a perfect fit to what I was saying, but just a way to prove, this world is not our home...in Nicaragua or America!
MUCH LOVE!


"Homesick" by MercyMe

You're in a better place, I've heard a thousand times
And at least a thousand times I've rejoiced for you
But the reason why I'm broken, the reason why I cry
Is how long must I wait to be with you
I close my eyes and I see your face
If home's where my heart is then I'm out of place
Lord, won't you give me strength to make it through somehow
I've never been more homesick than now

Help me Lord cause I don't understand your ways
The reason why I wonder if I'll ever know
But, even if you showed me, the hurt would be the same
Cause I'm still here so far away from home
I close my eyes and I see your face
If home's where my heart is then I'm out of place
Lord, won't you give me strength to make it through somehow
I've never been more homesick than now

In Christ, there are no goodbye
And in Christ, there is no end
So I'll hold onto Jesus with all that I have
To see you again
To see you again
And I close my eyes and I see your face
If home's where my heart is then I'm out of place
Lord, won't you give me strength to make it through somehow
Won't you give me strength to make it through somehow
Won't you give me strength to make it through somehow

I've never been more homesick than now

MY 25TH BiRTHDAY CELEBRATiON...AND LiTTLE KEViN

We celebrated my big 2-5 birthday this past Friday (Feb. 29) It was a good birthday celebration. Tamara treated me to a pedicure which cost around $2.50-2.75!! Then she took me, Chele, Luis, and Dennis to El Sesteo, a restaurant in central park. After that, we rode the Bus Palon (sp?) around town. It's the bus without a top so you can enjoy the air and it goes all around Leon.

It was a good thing we celebrated on Friday b/c I spent my actual birthday in bed (& in the bathroom with vomiting and diarrhea). I might not eat beans and rice for a while now!! yikes!! :) ....also, at the end of the day we found out that little Kevin had passed away. He wasn't doing good Saturday morning and so Cheryl was going to take him to the hospital. But his mom came and refused to take him to the hospital, b/c when he was little she took him to the hospital for dehydration or something relatively small and they ended up cutting him open to do a surgery that wasn't for him. So the mom took him home and he lived about 5 more hours before his little body gave out. The mom had called Cheryl and asked her to come to the house b/c Kevin wasn't doing good. So I stayed with the kids...Then, Luis and Eugenio come to the house and tell me that Kevin had passed away. And Magaly heard him. So I got to play mama. I had to console her, who was attached to Kevin from the second he got to the house (they both had cerebral palsy). Then the other kids want to know what is wrong with Magaly, so I have to tell them about Kevin!! Talk about a real mom moment!! That was hard. And then that night I rocked Gabby to sleep in the hammock, and then Magaly (they are the ones that had the hardest time coping with it)....then yesterday (Sunday) we had the funeral, which lasted pretty much all day long. They are much different here than in the U.S.....we left the house yesterday morning at 9:30 and went to Kevin's house, where we sat around until 2:30ish. That was part of the wake and family members were coming to visit. At 2:30, they loaded the casket into the back of a pickup truck and we took the family in the bus to the cemetary. At the cemetary, they had dug the hole for the casket (where anyone could walk by and fall in) and the guys that dug it were sitting to the side with their shovels, waiting for the service to be finished. Eugenio spoke a few words and Carlos sang. Then, while we were still there, the guys put the casket in the ground and started throwing the dirt on top. Talk about a hard sight to see!! BUT, Kevin is now a perfect little boy in Heaven, Praise God!!!

Here's a couple of pictures: