JOY!

My love for the country and people of Nicaragua just keeps growing! I know it is only week 2, but I feel so connected here and like I have an already established family here! And through that, I’m so excited to see how much deeper I can grow with the workers here. This week has been a whirlwind of activity, prayer walks and so much fun! 

On Sunday, we had the opportunity to go to the beach for our adventure day. And if you know me, you know that a beach day is not for laying out in the sun and reading a book. I am in the waves, getting covered in sand and salt water. It was such a fun and exhilarating day. I love feeling the power of the waves and challenging myself. The waves were HUGE and honestly a little scary. We stood on a cliff and watched the waves come right up to us, overflowing onto the rocks and rushing water everywhere. There was no way in that moment to deny that God is powerful. It there is so much power in one single wave, how powerful is our Lord who protects us and is with us? At the beach we also got to go to a chapel that our host, Scott preaches at! The chapel was beautiful with walls lined with stained glass and a dome at the center that made our voices resound as we sang praises to God. There is just something about being in a  beautiful building dedicated to the Lord that makes it extra-special. I also think of the church service I went to on Saturday. A simple set up of plastic chairs in a pavilion with a speaker and keyboard. But even there, joy was overflowing and the Lord’s presence was also so evident! How incredible that our God can dwell anywhere!

This week I have gone on a prayer walk every day and each day brings so many different stories! On one of our prayer walks we went to three houses and it was crazy how there was such a different spirit in each house. In the first one, as soon as we mentioned God, almost everyone stopped listening. They shut down and didn’t care to listen any more. The tension was tangible and we could feel a demonic stronghold covering the house. And the sad part was that there were newborn twins in that house who will probably grow up not knowing the Lord. And there is nothing I can do about it. Yes, we could keep going back to that house, but as 1 Corinthians 1:18 says, “the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it it the power of God.” We can’t control how they receive it and only the Lord can soften their hearts. All we can do is continue to pray that the Lord would encounter them. In the third house we went to, the atmosphere was completely opposite! They welcomed us in so warmly, even gave us Coke and immediately started sharing how the Lord had shown up over and over again in their lives! In Nicaragua, a big issue is broken families, but this one was whole and it was so beautiful to see how the Lord’s hand of protection was over them. There had been healing upon healing, freedom from addiction, and an incredible gratitude in the whole family. The grandma shared how the Lord had healed her and given her the strength to be able to walk and then continued to share how all her hope was in Him. She said that she didn’t ask the Lord for anything else because she was so thankful she could walk and be with her family. Something she said that impacted me beyond words was that she said she was so in love with the Lord that she didn’t have time to be comparing her situation with someone else’s! I mean, that’s crazy! How many times have I desired something more and I have it 1000x better than her! That is the kind of faith that I want to have! To look at any situation and simply be thankful, rejoicing in what the Lord has done in the past and will do again. One of the things I love most about prayer was is that not only do we get to encourage others, but we also are encouraged by their testimonies. And I would definitely say that during this visit, both parties were uplifted. Not only did we get to come share, but we also built a connection! They invited us over for lunch, and want us to continue coming over, and I want to keep going back to them as well because of how encouraging they were to me!

Prayer Requests

1. That the devil’s schemes would not succeed and protection over our squad. We have been experiencing a lot of spiritual warfare whether it be nightmares, sickness, anxiety, or doubt. The devil knows that we are advancing God’s kingdom and is very evidently trying to stop up.
2. Restoration in families. Like I said, there is a lot of brokenness and addiction that tears families apart and creates strongholds 
3. Confidence in the Lord that I have the ability to translate and mental strength to not grow weary of translating