A NEW YEAR!

Wow, what God has done in my life in the past 2 years! I am speechless! I can think of no better way to bring in the new year than to be out hiking in the mountains sharing the love of Christ to those who have yet to hear. This week was hard and incredible all in the same breath. The mountains were high and the climb was tough but the top was filled with amazing people eager to come and watch the Jesus film or to sit and talk with us...(in my case of no spanish...sit and look at us...ha!). Being in these beatufiul mountains didn't feel like being in a 3rd world country it felt like stepping back in time. No running water, no electricity, no phones, no noise. People share what they have with each other because they have to in order to survive. I washed off in the kitchen of a family of 8, filter water in the hut of a family 0f 6, boiled water on the dirt stove of a grandmother, and made tortillas with a young girl of about 8. Oh how blessed I am to share a moment of life with them.





We had a OPERATION GO group of college students from around Texas in this week. Most of them did not know each other and it was super cool to see how God has molded them together as a team. They are all young and super excited about being here. Last night we shared the ways that we saw God move during the week and it was great to hear how each one of them individually saw God as we were out and how God is working in each of their lives so differently.





My comment in how I saw God move was this: I was never nervous about coming to Nicaragua. It was a long "hurry up and wait" and alot of prayer and anticipation but no anxiety. What is awesome is that as I was hiking with this team up the mountains sharing Jesus I thought...this is it.... I am home. I am right were God wants be to be for this time. The next morning during my quiet time I was praying asking God what he wanted me to do and peace filled my heart that I AM doing it and He will show me what the next step is as it comes.



Of course it came and I had a sweet time of sharing with a young woman on our team last night. So cool how God knits our lives together.





Loren and Karen's anniversary is today. It is also Loren's birthday. Once we got back into Managua last night we had a party. We had a pinata, cake, pizza, etc. It was lots of fun. Karen had planned it all out ahead of time because she didn't go out with this team because it was a tough hike. It is neat to watch Loren transitioning into more of a mentor/outside role and most of the Nica men that were with us on this trip giving the message after the film. I really enjoyed being there with Loren and the team and Carolina, Rami, Pabalo, and Carlos.



Carolina's (a young Nica girl who has some very basic English) feet looked like hamburger meet during the trip because her boots were such por quality....she never once complained. She always had a smile on her face and said "don't worry about me." How humbling. How beautiful the feet of those that carry the gospel out! Teach me Lord!



The Living Hope team comes in this evening around 9:00pm and then we are heading out again in the morning. I am excited to see them! I can't wait to see all that God is going to do this week.



Okay, gotta go to work. I miss you all and love to hear from you.

Thanks for praying. Pray the HS goes ahead of us this week and that the harvest will be ready.

Rachel