There are times when the Lord really tests you. When he says “give me this, so I can grow you better. So that our relationship will strengthen.   And this week was one of those times. God told me that to deepen our relationship, I was going to have to lay some people at his feet. To give them less of a priority. To give him the first place of my heart.   And I was really scared to do it. The ones he asked me to lay down were those closest to my heart; ones I went to in times of trouble. He kept telling me that He needed to be my all; that He alone could get me through any...

In the future I will show hospitality to others. I can’t do it now. I still live with my parents. The house I live in isn’t super nice. My couch isn’t even that comfortable. Being hospitable is for people with extra money and lots of extra space in their houses. People with “guest rooms.” Before this past weekend I believed this to be true, but my view of hospitality has been changed. And it wasn’t changed by a little old lady. It wasn’t changed by an adult at all. The person who showed me true hospitality was a 14 year old girl. This story begins...

Let’s talk about spiders and mosquito nets.  (Caution: cheesy analogy/rambling starts.. now!)  Okay. So obviously Nicaragua has spiders. Rather big spiders in my opinion. Ask any one of my teammates how I feel about spiders, and I’m sure you will get the same reaction and a few laughs each time.  On our packing list, we were told to bring a mosquito net. You know for Mosquitos (of course) and other little pests like that, but in my case… I keep my bug net up JUST to make sure spiders don’t make their way into my bed.  So I put this thing above my...

Today is day 17 of being in Nicaragua! It has gone by a lot faster than I expected. The days tend to go by kind of slow but looking back, the trip as a whole has been going by super fast! I have been challenged in ways that I never thought I’d be challenged before and I’ve had to step out of my comfort zone more than I though I would have.  Every week we go to a town called Bethel to teach them some bible stories and just hang out with the kids. Normally I am drawn to little babies, but this trip I have been drawn to the boys. Every time we go, I normally end up playing...

We’ve been to church here in Nicaragua about three times, so I wouldn’t say that we’re experts yet, but there have been some slight differences between church here and church at home that I’ve observed. This is how church at home usually goes: Sing three or four songs, the pastor gives a message, sing another song, eat donuts, go home. Prayers are sprinkled throughout. Now, there’s nothing wrong with this way of doing church. Before getting here it was the only thing I knew.  But, this is how church in Nicaragua goes: Sing 5 songs (some with motions, some...

The Nothing Givers: those who give everything when they have nothing. These are the people who live in single room “homes” with an outdoor “kitchen”, an outhouse, and a wheel they turn to get drinking water (which is rarely clean).  My team and I have been immensely blessed by these people. Specifically, we have attended several of their church services, few of which have actually been inside a building.  At these services, several things occur:  Everyone with a chair will offer you theirs until you sit in it – they’d rather stand knowing...