Well, I have officially been in Nicaragua for a week and two days. And let me tell you, those have been some of the most challenging days of this year so far. Everything has been wonderful, don't get me wrong, but there is one concept in particular that I have been getting familiar with that has been provoking some growth that might not have happened if I hadn't come here. And here it is: You bring yourself with you when you go on the mission field. This may sound strange, and even in writing it I feel a little silly. Of course you bring yourself, duh! But really, think about...

Hello again from Nicaragua! It is crazy to think another week has gone by.   This past week in our nightly team meetings we have gone around and expressed a trait or way that we see the Lord working in each others lives. AIM calls it positive feedback. It has been a beautiful time of growth and greater depth. When my turn came I was blessed with wise and kind words; frequentyl revealing traits about myself I never saw own my own. These words I knew were precious and to be treasured but I also sat there praying that they did not fuel any of my own pride. How often do I take a compliment...

This is the end of our first week in Nicaragua. I can't believe it's only been one week. It feels like we have been in this paradise for months. Yesterday was the first day that I really felt comfortable here. I'm getting the hang of things, getting to know the kids pretty well, and settling into the fact that we are going to be here for two months. Here's what our first week looked like at Cicrin: Every day we eat breakfast at 8am, lunch at 12pm, and dinner at 5:30pm. All of our meals have rice and beans in them, but there is some variety. We've...

  Hey everyone I just want to start out by letting you guys know that all 19 of us are still alive. For all my friends and family back home, no I have not seen a volcano erupt yet, and yes I am still waiting for one too!  This past Wednesday was our first full week here in Nicaragua. This was a week of a lot of first for me. Starting with waking up at 6 30ish every morning in June, washing my clothes by hand, planting corn and weeding for hours, and eating rice and beans for every meal. I have been loving every new thing that I got the chance to experience so far.   The short...

Hi everyone! We are getting settled in at Cicrin and have enjoyed our first full week here. I am so excited to see what the Lord does this next week in our ministries and I will be heading to the other side of the island with half of my team to work alongside a church there. The past week and a half, the Lord has done so many things in my heart, and as cheesy as it sounds, I feel so incredibly blessed to see firsthand how much deeper in love with Him I am growing daily, and I am SO EXCITED about it. On the plane ride here, I spent the whole time reveling in the book of Galatians, trying to...

Sometimes in Nicaragua we experience little things we'd never think in a million years we'd have to deal with. Funny story for example, yesterday a small group of us went running, which was a huge stress relief for me. However, we came to a point where a large cow was coming down the road from the opposite direction. I guess it wasn't used to seeing a group of "gringas" running for fun, and it either got startled or offended or something and started charging down the road towards us. Now this was a dirt road that had 10 foot walls of earth on the sides, so nowhere to...