I will miss… My dear teammates- my family for the past few months My many, many, awesome, funny, sweet, crazy, brown eyed, brown skinned, Nicaraguan friends All the local Vision Nicaragua staff- Mario, Juan Carlos, Antonia, Estella, Thelma, Juan Carlos, Louis, Oswaldo, and Pancho All the cute babies I want to bring home with me, especially Blanca’s sons Javison and Gerson The view of multiple volcanoes in any direction I look My morning runs (although they haven’t been too regular lately) Coffee ready for me as soon as I walk into the kitchen every morning Pancakes...

Lately, the Lord’s been teaching me a lot about His promises and about initiative. Today, I’ve been writing some of it out as a Bible study I’m leading for a youth group tomorrow night, and while working on it and listening to Spanish worship music with our cooks as they prepare dinner, I figured I’d turn it into a blog too. So here’s a bit of that.     Initiative– what’s yours and where does it come from?   “For Jesus Christ, the Son of God, does not waver between “Yes” and “No.”… as God’s ultimate...

What is faith? "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Hebrews 11:1 "My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power."2 Corinthians 2:4-5 "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us–whatever we ask–we know that we have what we asked of...

"Now, if we can only keep a firm grip on this bold confidence, we're the HOUSE! That's why the Holy Spirit says,  Today, please LISTEN;  don't turn a deaf ear  as in 'the bitter uprising,' that time of wilderness testing!  Even though they watched me at work for forty years, your ancestors REFUSED to let me do it my way; over and over they tried my patience. And I was provoked, oh, so provoked!  I said, 'They'll never keep their minds on God;  they refuse to walk down my road.'  Exasperated, I vowed,  'They'll...

One of the biggest things God has taught me on this trip is that everything He’s called me to do here He’s called me to do at home too. Although I’ll leave here in May, I’m not leaving the mission field, I’m going back to the mission field at home. Although the environment will change, my goal is not. I have been COmissioned and He calls my whole life to be a mission field… and yours too!     Here are a few (paraphrased) thoughts from Thomas Hale’s “On Being a Missionary”: The word “missionary” means “one sent...

As I sit here early in the morning reflecting on the many attributes of Nicaragua that I love I am reminded that there are so many things that the United States just can’t offer me. Although I will always refer to Indianapolis as my “hometown”, Nicaragua has most definitely stolen my heart. As I think about returning “home” in just a little over a month I am saddened to think about how different my life will be. Here are a few things that the United States probably won’t be able to offer me…   After a long run past mountains, volcanoes, cows, horses,...