Our days of living in the jungle are over…we’re back at the San Jose base and packing up our bug nets and sleeping bags for good. It’s been an eventful outreach and the last two weeks continued in the same pattern. (No more injuries though, don’t worry.)
We had planned to go to Nicaragua, but things changed at the last minute and we ended up going to Talamanca-the same location of our NIKO camp. Our first week was spent in Margarita at a small church.
The pastor let us take over for four different church services while we were there, had some physical work for us, and in addition, we did a couple different programs at a school nearby. The services went well and we had a variety of messages, dramas, and activities for them- in fact, I even preached one night!
Some of the students
One of our programs
A tarantula we found while cleaning around the school
Another special find while cleaning
One of the nights was really memorable for me…we were praying for individuals during worship and I saw a woman by herself that I wanted to pray for. So I stood by her side with my hand on her shoulder and began to pray for her family, her relationship with God, and other general yet important prayers that I would pray for anyone who I don’t know. But as I was praying, I began to feel something different in my heart for this woman. It felt like God was showing me how incredible she was, how precious and unique she was, how deeply God loved her. And how she doubted all of this and felt alone often. I actually got goosebumps while praying for her, because of how strongly God was putting these things in my heart. At this point, I turned around to find a translator, and one was right behind me. With his help, I told the woman all these things that I had just been praying for her, and she began to cry. She listened as I told her how valuable she is to God, and that He’s always with her, and she just continued to weep and nod her head. After I was finished telling her, she didn’t say a word but just embraced me tightly and began to cry even harder. We stood there for a few minutes, just hugging and crying and praying together. God was doing something in her heart at that moment, I have no doubt…and I felt so blessed to be able to share that with her. It’s incredible what God can do, even between two people who have never met, and who don’t even speak each others’ languages. I’m tucking that special memory away in my heart forever.
After our week in Margarita, we went to the NIKO base for one night. The next morning we led the church service there and then packed up for our next destination: Sibodi. From Bambu we took a 30 minute bus trip, a 30 minute canoe ride, and then another 30 minute us trip to a school where we stayed for three nights. This village had no electricity, showers, and very inconsistent running water…a common theme in our outreach :) Oh- and an abundance of scorpions, 3 inch crickets lined up in front of the toilets, spiders, and bats.
The gigantic crickets
Our main job here was to mix and pour concrete for a foundation of a house, cook lunch for about 50 students each day and work on some other miscellaneous projects around the school.
Working on the cement
We returned back to the NIKO base for two nights and some more physical work/projects. I think Talamanca was the most beautiful place we went during the five months.
The YWAM base
So now we’re helping out at a big YWAM conference until Friday and our graduation ceremony is on Saturday. It’s coming to an end very quickly…
One more photo....
My first attempt at putting my hair up with the cast...it's especially stylish, yeah?
Lucy and me
enjoying our cake
I got the award for "Most likely to have a hospital ministry"...haha....
Some of the girls
The students and staff
