headed to Nicaragua

As I sit here tonight my heart is filled with several different emotions. In less than 6 hours, I will board a plane headed to La Union, Nicaragua, along with my husband, my daughter Melissa and 6 others. This will be my 3rd trip to that remote village and I can't wait to see all their precious faces again. We will land in Managua, Nicaragua around 12:30 tomorrow and drive about  6 hours to a town called Nueva Guinea where we will stay each night. Each day we drive about an hour or so into the very small village of La Union. Our mornings will be dedicated to doing bible school for many children. There are only about 30 children that actually attend the church where we go and minister so last year we had prepared for 50 and were totally blown away when 200 children showed up for bible school. They came down out of all the small mountain villages and it was unbelievable. I am anxious to see just what God has in store for this year. I know it's going to be amazing.

We love the people of La Union. They are such a sweet and giving people. They love it when we come each year and they do everything that they can to make us welcome and comfortable. We have a great time with the children in the village and we enjoy spending time with the people. Each time I leave there, a little piece of my heart stays behind. The children become so special to us and it is very hard to say good-bye. The church is filled with people who love God with all their heart and it is a joy to worship with them each night. God shows up in our midst and the fire falls!

I love being in Nicaragua with the people and having a chance to minister to them, pray with them and enjoy spending our days with them. My Spanish is limited, but thanks to my daughter and a few other interpreters, somehow we manage to communicate. The children don't care if we can't talk with them very well, they just love to hang around us and spend time with us. They are so adorable and so loving and it is such a blessing to be able to teach them about our Lord and to be able minister to them and their families.

(Me, Melissa and Jimbo on last years trip)

I absolutely hate to fly. I am terrified of being in an airplane. I don't even like to think about being in an airplane. Even now I can feel my anxiety level begin to rise and I can't believe that I will be boarding a plane again in a few hours and doing the thing that I am most afraid of.  The only thing that gets me on the plane is the knowledge that God has called me there to minister. From the first time I heard His voice say, 'Go', I have depended upon Him to make it happen. He calms my nerves. He reassures my heart. He enables me and provides me with His strength to do what I can't do on my own. It would be so easy to stay home. But I know that He is bigger than my fears and bigger than my anxiety. He has called me to minister and so I know that He will equip me to be able to do what I can't do of my own volition. Because of Him, I can do all things. It's not about me, it's all about Him.

Please pray that the children that attend bible school will open their hearts to Jesus. Pray that we will be able to teach them and instill a new hunger in their little spirits to know Him more and more. Pray that we will be effective ministers of the gospel while we are there and that we will listen to God's prompting and be obedient in all things. May God be magnified and glorified in everything we do and say.

"Show me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths.

Lead me in thy truth, and teach me; for thou

art the God of my salvation; on thee

do I wait all the day"

(Psalms 25:4,5)