WEEK FIVE

Man, God worked in amazing ways this week.

I’m still processing it all, so I can’t promise how much sense any of this is going to make, but God is really working down here.  So here’s what went down.

Tuesday, I went to the village and spent the afternoon with some little girls running around and completely ignoring the baseball game the older kids were playing with other team members.  Friday, we traveled to Matagalpa, about two and a half hours away, with the girls from the abstinence program for a fun day of chocolate, Mexican food, ice cream, and snuggles.

Earlier this week, Denise mentioned that, being here for a longer period of time, we had more opportunities to build real relationships and share the gospel with the Nicas and the people we meet.  That hit me hard.  From that point on, God started laying specific names on my heart to pray for and, hopefully, share the gospel and Jesus’s love with.  For some reason, that laid really heavily on my heart.  I’ve never really had God lay specific names on my heart before, so this was something totally new.

One of them is a little girl from the village.  I met her a couple weeks ago and got to see her again when I went back on Tuesday.  She’s a sweetheart.  She’s full of energy and life, her favorite subject in school is math (a couple weeks ago it was language), and she loves jumping around on the tires by the baseball field.  Her caring heart and carefree joy is seriously one of the sweetest things I have ever experienced.  I’m praying God works a miracle in her life and shows her His joy, what true joy looks like.

The other is a girl from the abstinence program.  Friday, when we traveled with them, we were all assigned a girl from the program to be our little sister for the day.  This little girl was a snuggler, and I cannot tell you how happy that made my heart.  But here’s what got me.  This girl finally felt safe.  For that one day, she didn’t have to worry about anything – not responsibilities, not safety, nothing.  She could just be a normal kid for a day; she could just be.  God laid this sweet girl on my heart.  He has the ultimate safety, love, and care that she needs, and I’m praying she sees that.  I’m praying that she would know just how valued and loved she is by Jesus and that she is a true princess in His eyes.  I’m praying she would turn to Him for all she needs, not to the things of the world that can’t fill her.

Like I said, this week was full of God working.  But, honestly, it was kind of overwhelming.  This morning, I broke.  This week, I’ve started to see just how much darkness really is here, just how hurt and broken so much of this world is.  It’s heavy stuff, and this morning, I just kind of hit a wall.  But God has peace that surpasses any understanding of peace I could ever have.

Today was just one example of all the times down here I’ve witnessed firsthand God’s peace and joy.  The day went on, and God did amazing things.  Not just in me, but in the people around me and the people we were serving.  Today was one of the greatest days I’ve had since I’ve been here, and it’s all because God brought immense amounts of peace and joy.

He’s teaching me that I need to trust Him with those things.  They aren’t just going to magically happen.  I have to look to Him and search for Him, draw near to Him, and His peace and comfort are so evident.  His peace, comfort, and joy are actually more overwhelming in a good way than the weight of all I experienced this week.  God is so cool.

Today was a blessing.  This week was a blessing.  It was hard, but it was amazing.  It’s been so cool to see God work and see all that He does in the people around me and in my own life.

Please be praying with me for the two girls God has specifically laid on my heart, as well as for the other kids from the village, feeding center, and Tae’s House that I’ve gotten to know.  Pray for God to use me.

Masaya Volcano spitting out smoke on the way home from Laguna de Apoyo Saturday afternoon

Some of the sweet, sweet kiddos from the village

Fernanda, Valeria, Genesis, and Elena, four little girls from the village who are full of energy

I LOVED spending Tuesday afternoon completely ignoring the baseball game (behind them) with them and running around on the tires instead.

A crater in Masaya Volcano.  We had the amazing opportunity to go see the volcano up close, with the smoke coming out and everything.  We even got to see lava!