A Day in El Paraiso (Paradise)

So we are here safe and sound in Nicaragua!!! We arrived late Monday night. The girls are staying in Tamara's brand new house and the men are staying at Cheryl's new home. Yesterday, we spent the day getting the clinic and Bible school stuff ready for today: counting out vitamins, organizing the supplies, planning the Bible school material, etc. A few of us went to the big Cathedral in Leon to take a tour of the roof. I have been to the Cathedral, but never to the roof. This cathedral is probably the biggest Cathedral in Nicaragua. We were able to see the whole city from up there. However, it was a short lived site because it started raining on us, haha.

Last night, my friends Raquel and Christian surprised me and showed up at Tamara's house. It was so good to see them!! I didn't get a chance to really catch up with them, but they walked down with us to get ice cream and visited for a little while. They stayed during our share time, which went really well. Most of us shared our testimonies, and I feel like this group is really close kind of like a family.

Today, we went to El Paraiso, which is Spanish for Paradise. However, it is far from Paradise. It's a small village about an hour from here. We went to this same village for a clinic last year, and that was the first time JCM had been out there. A man had told us last year that about 90% of the people in the village were unemployed. They live so far from the city that there's not really any jobs for them. The village doesn't have church, but Cheryl and Pastor Carlos started a Bible study out there that they attend every week. Anyways, we had a clinic today and served over 150 people. Everything went really well. The school had taken the day off so we could use its facilities and the director was very accomodating and had a lot of things organized for us. We even had our own "guards" or people helping out at each room. I was able to have Bible school in a classroom, which was such a blessing because I could keep the stuff more organized and didn't have to have the children sit in the dirt. While the patients were waiting for consultation, the children came to the Bible school and Pastor Carlos and Mark talked to the adults. In Bible school, we talked about Jesus's birth and how he is the biggest gift. Yea, I know it's not Christmas, but it was surprising to find out that the kids didn't even know the Christmas story! Most of them stuck around for the activities for the majority of the day. I tried to share with them the plan of salvation using the salvation bracelets with the different colored beads, but it was a little hard to keep their attention that long and I think it was a little much for them to understand all at once. But who knows? Maybe a seed was planted! Pastor Carlos and Mark had the opportunity to share the gospel with several of the adults, and 18 of them came to know the Lord! Praise God!

We just return to the house about an hour and a half ago. We had to wait outside for Tamara's house helper, Patsy, to return from walking her son, Kisler,home from school. She had the only key. While we were waiting, Melvin our translator spotted a girl that I had met on the last trip in March. It was funny cause when I met her, we were going around house to house inviting people to church, and Pastor Carlos and I spent some time in her house talking and sharing the gospel. When we were at her house, she had some oatmeal and honey stuff on her face to help cure some acne. I told her that I had some ProActiv stuff that might help her and promised to give it to her before I left. She ended up coming the the church service we had at the house, and we became a little more acquainted with each other. I gave her my face stuff at the end of the trip and sent her some more with my friend later on. Well, evidently the ProActiv really worked for her cause her skin looks so clear now, and she had been searching for me on Facebook but could never find me cause she didn't know my last name. I had planned on contacting her when the group left and had her number, but didn't know where she lived. So when I saw her today, I found out that she lives right down the street from Tamara! We were so excited to see each other! She didn't know if she would ever see me again and wanted to thank me for her gift. A little later, she returned back to the house and gave me these beautiful clips that she had bought me and saved for me in case she did see me again. I hope to hang out with her and minister to her while I am here in Nicaragua. Please pray for this opportunity!

The Lord has been so good to us, and I can feel your prayers. Thank you so much for praying, and please continue to pray. I have been a little tired from the heat already, but I am drinking a lot of water and getting to bed at a decent time. It has rained a lot too, so that cools it down sometimes. Tomorrow, we will be going to the hospital in Leon to pray with some people. Raquel's uncle is in the hospital and she has had to stay with him because he is pretty bad off. Hopefully we will get to pray with him, and we will be praying and witnessing to several others there. I hope to give you an update tomorrow night about how everything goes.

I love you all so much! Thanks for reading and praying! Dios le bendiga! God bless you!