Do a mental task with me. If you’re not at home right now, think about being there. You likely have your own room or certainly your own space with your items. Possibly your car, your chair, your yard, your room, your bed, etc. Get my drift? Now think about that area of yours, how clean is it? I'm not talking a few dirty clothes spread about the room… I'm questioning about garbage.   On July 13th, we had the opportunity to go to Managua’s city “Dump." The Dump is exactly what it sounds like… all of the trash from the city is placed in this...

The kids here are incredible. So full of life; they’re as happy as can be despite their circumstances. They have all impacted me more than I thought possible. I’ve wanted to work with children who desperately need to be loved for a while now, but being here has just enforced this even more on my heart. It kills me that I have to say goodbye to them in about a week.  I’ve contemplated sneaking them on the plane with me (just kidding…). Being here at the orphanage for five weeks may seem like a long time, but it has flown by. I often have a hard time seeing the...

I washed dishes last week for the 1st time at the orphanage with my teammate Heidi.  She’s a champ.  While she slaughtered legions of ants on the counter with a rock, I scrubbed countless plastic spoons and oily cooking dishes.  As the teetering tower of platos sucios (dirty dishes) slowly diminished, our eyes widened at the sight of an enormous cucaracha (cockroach) scurrying across the kitchen floor.  All this didn’t really phase me until I found the little maggot in the wooding chopping/slicing block as I was picking out pieces of soggy cucumber. ...

Hi all! Ok so the first month was insane, fun, hard, awesome, exciting and pretty much everything else. The first 12 days we worked with a church doing door to door, VBS with the kids, soccer with the kids, talking at the church and also sharing testimonies or stories at the church. At first door to door was the hardest for me in opening up but once I got over that fear, it really became exciting for me. I also shared my testimony at the church and felt God really leading me in that. All in all the first week was a huge step for me, it really helped get me to get out of my shell. I was able...

One item to note: It’s hot in Nicaragua. Regardless of what you do, you will be sticky, sweaty, and stinky.   On that thought, after any day on the field, you will be what? Sticky, Sweaty, and Stinky.   Think about getting home around 10:30 after a long day of:   jumping around with kids walking around on a sandy beach worshiping in an uncirculated church dancing during outreach, and sitting on a bus (or in my case, lying on the floor in the aisle) built for 40 with about 60 people.   You get home, and you’re likely what? You got it –...

Being in Nicaragua has been incredible. The beautiful scenery, the welcoming people, traveling the country; all in all it has been an amazing experience. One of the main things God is showing me is how desperately this world needs the hope that Christ brings. Don’t get me wrong, I knew we were going to see some hard things. The extreme poverty, the living conditions, children without parents, parents who lost their children; I thought I was prepared for it. But it is one thing to know the statistics and see the pictures from afar, and a completely different thing to see it face to...