Sometimes God puts people in your life, and your reaction is: "And what am I supposed to do with THIS?"   That happened to me this week, and I had to laugh at what God did.   We were given the incredible opportunity to go on a field trip with a local youth group to the city of Granada, several hours away.  The night before, we talked about the amazing opportunities to form relationships and build trust among the community.  We encouraged the team to split up on the bus, sit with people they didn't know and make new friends.  I even jokingly...

To be honest, some days aren't all that I imagine them to be.  To be honest, I don't feel like doing much. To be honest, I'm often homesick. To be honest, I'm frustrated about not always being able to communicate. To be honest, I'm not sure I'm making a difference and some days feel like a waste. To be honest, God is much bigger than those five things (lies, doubts,worries). To be honest, God is teaching me a whole heck of a lot personally. To be honest, We just finished building a house for one of our cooks. To be honest, I receive many of the sweetest and...

I was blown away this Valentine's day by the men on our team.  Ryan, my co-leader, and our guys Marcus and Josh absolutely blessed our socks off when it came to loving us women.  Honey, you got a lot to live up to. 🙂   Josh, Marcus and Ryan   I woke up early to have my time with the Lord, walking out to my normal spot that looks out over the palm trees and the green fields.  After a few minutes, I notice our guys sneakily setting up something on the other side of the building…. Out of respect for their surprise, of course I didn't...

What are 2 green mangos? They are tart fruits that have been plucked from the tree before they had time to ripen. They are food of survival until the harvest is ready. They are thin strips of sour fruit dipped in salt to make them taste better. They are fruit, food, survival. By themselves, 2 green mangos are nothing special. They can be found on a tree at every house in the village. But combine 2 green mangos with friends, gringos (white people), Jesus, laughter, love, and a language barrier, and they take on a whole new meaning. Holding hands with my young Nicaraguan friends, I'm...

3 years ago my family fell apart, and with it, my whole world.  2 years ago, the date was a painful reminder of hurt in my life and a time I didn't want to think about.  But last year, all of that changed.   I decided to take a day that the enemy and stolen and turned to his purpose and TAKE IT BACK.  I took it back and made it a day of celebrating God's promises, of standing in the gap believing that my God is a God of restoration.  I declared this day Restoration Day, and this is what I wrote on that day:   God is a God of restoration....

As I am washing my clothes the other day, by hand, I stopped to look at the clothes line and noticed everyone's bloomers (underwear, for the uninformed). Now we are like 3 weeks in so I couldnt help but think how awesome it was that we are already so close as a team and as brothers and sisters in Christ. Its evident in so many ways, from washing our underwear side by side and then letting them fly in the wind in our their brilliance, to sharing testimonies and prayer requests, to sharing clothes (at least on the girls side) and sharing late night laughs and snacks to conquer our...