They Told Me to Go to Rehab and I said... Yes!

Today has been a blessed day! I rested a little bit this morning, but then Tamara and I left to get groceries at the grocery store. It's really interesting to see all the different foods and things they have in the grocery stores here but then you see items we have in the US. It's also interesting to see how cheap you can buy some things and yet other things like Pringles for $2.00 are a little more expensive. Anyways, after we returned, we hung out at the house a little bit and prepared to go to the drug and alcohol rehab center.

A little after 2, we left to go to the drug/alcohol rehab center. Long story short, the man that built and owns Tamara's house has a big piece of land that was originally donated to JCM to build the hospital. However, the land was not suitable to build, so JCM had to reject the offer.. which was a pity cause the land is so beautiful! However, God had a plan for this land. It already had a house and the owner had added onto it to prepare to house JCM missionaries. But when the plans fell through, this house was donated to be used by the rehab center. It is headed up by a pastor, Pastor Denis, who is such a humble, godly man. Right now, there are about 16 men in the house; there would be more but there wasn't enough room. The men go through a program and have Bible studies and worship services. The land is so perfect for this kind of ministry because there is nothing out there to distract them... just God's country. Tamara has gone to the place before to cut the men's hair, and she had told me how the place was so peaceful and the men were so grateful for her coming out there. We had planned to out and take some bags of toiletres and towels and lead a devotional. Tamara planned the message and I translated it.

When we arrived at the land, it was so green, beautiful and tranquil. It was raining a little bit and storm appeared to be rolling in. The men basically live in this house but stay in an open area with just a roof and a floor with some plastic as a back wall. There were hammocks rolled up on the posts that they unroll to sleep in.

All the men, some were actually boys, were seated in a semi-circle, waiting for us to arrive. We were warmly greeted and welcomed. We immediately gave out the bags of toiletres, although we only had 10 prepared and were unaware that there were actually 16. However, the pastor explained that they would all share what was given, and they were so happy to have what they had.


After that, Tamara shared her message, and I translated it. I was a little nervous, but thankfully God opened my mouth and gave me the confidence to speak the words Tamara prepared. She talked about how there is a constant battle between the natural carnal flesh and the spirit. We can only do right by living by the spirit and having the sinful desires within us crucified with Christ. She encouraged them that God sees them as precious in his sight and that nothing can separate them from his love (Romans 8:37-39). She explained how Christ already took on our sin, but through him we can live. She reminded them that we were bought with a price, and therefore we should live for God because we are not our own. Because we are not our own and because the Spirit of God lives in us, our bodies are temples and we have to treat the body like a temple. So that means to keep the alcohol and the drugs out of the body. Anyways, it was a big message, but everything came together so beautifully... and I don't really know how the words left my mouth even though I know it wasn't always perfect. However, God's word doesn't return void, and at the end of the message when we asked if anyone wanted to receive Christ, 3 young men came forward. It was so cool to experience, and after we prayed over them, I saw that one of them was teary eyed. Praise God that He is giving new life to these men!


There is no heart like a repentant heart, and it is amazing to see and hear the testimonies of those who do repent. I talked to one of the men afterwards who had just been in the house for 8 days. He told me that he wanted to change because his alcoholism caused so much problems with his life and affected his family's life. He finally decided to ask for help. He didn't plan to stay long at the house, but now he doesn't want to leave. He decided to give his life over to Christ, and he wants to help with the ministry and preach to others about the love of Christ. I think that's something that sometimes "good Christians" miss. Don't get me wrong, it is wonderful for someone to grow up in the church and keep themselves from "the things of the world" and truthfully we all sin, although some habits create more sinful lifestyles. However, when someone appears to have done everything right and have lived the right way, it seems harder to really understand grace. I can't find the passage right now cause it's late and dark, but Jesus tells a parable about how two people owe a man money, one more than the other, but the man cancels each of their debts. He asks, "Which debtor will love the man more?" The one who owed more. So for these men, who felt like they couldn't do much, who were looked down on so much, who some people may think are so far from grace, the grace given to them means so much and they receive it with so much gratitude. It's this kind of gratitude that drives a life of repentance because they realize how great God's love is for them, and they strive to love God by obeying his commandments. And loving God is obeying his commands (1 John 5:3, John 14:15, John 14:21). And we realize too that the life of obedience reaps so much more because we can receive what God has planned for us.

Please pray for these men and the ministry. The man I talked to told me that they hope to one day build a rehab for men and children. Yes, I mean that they need a rehab center for children. I found out that there are children in Nicaragua who are addicted to drugs because their parents or someone else gave them drugs or they live on the streets and have been sniffing glue. I didn't know this till today, but Tamara told me that a lot of kids sniff glue because it makes them feel less hungry. That just breaks my heart. Every day, I discover more and more about the needs of this country. It is overwhelming, but nothing that God can't fix. And I truly believe that He is restoring Nicaragua... maybe never completely physically but He is spiritually and making the physical better in the process.

I hope this all makes sense... it's getting late and I'm pretty tired. Thanks for reading. God bless. I love you all.

Wrapping Up the First Week in Nicaragua

Hola!!! So it's been a few days since my last blog and a lot has happened since then. The group left on the plane to go back home this morning and should be arriving there this afternoon. Right now, I'm staying at Tamara's house and helping her get things reorganized and going with her to restock the groceries and things like that.

So picking up from Thursday... we went to the hospital in Leon in the morning. We brought a 12 year old girl, Maria Jose, from El Paraiso with us to see a doctor because some of the doctors in the clinic found she had a heart murmur. Over the past year, Maria Jose has become more tired and isn't able to do as much. Her sister has taken her to Central Salud, the free medical clinic, to find out what was wrong, but they didn't tell her anything. So at the hospital, I went with Cheryl to get her blood work and x-rays done. I don't know too much about it, but one of the doctors said that her condition may be too late to do anything. Cheryl picks up her bloodwork today, and that will tell us more about what she has or can do. Please pray for her and that we can find answers for her.

While Cheryl and I were with Maria Jose, the rest of the group went around the hospital, particularly the children's ward, to pray over the patients. They handed out some visors, coloring sheets, and crayons for the children. They also handed out some John and Romans booklets to the patients and family. Later, after the group left, I stayed with my friend Raquel to visit her great-uncle who is in the hospital. A lot of the patients stay in one room, kind of like a dorm, and usually there are at least 2 or 3 family members with them. When I was visiting Raquel's uncle, I noticed that a lot of people were reading John and Romans! That was really cool to see.

Raquel's uncle isn't doing so well right now. He's 72 years old and had been in good health until recently, and he has had trouble breathing. The prognosis for him is not very good. Raquel told me that her grandmother died of the same thing he has right now. His daughter has been taking care of him, and she is worn out emotionally and physically. She started crying while we were there because she feels like her dad doesn't have much time left and he doesn't seem to want to fight either. Please keep him and her in your prayers as well.

Friday, we went to a new community, El Apante. When we arrived, the church there was filled with children. So I did several Bible school activities outside while my fellow team member and friend, Dave, played kickball with them. The kids were a lot more well behaved than most of the kids we worked with. Most of them seem to go to that church. It seems like God is really blessing that area. While the doctors saw the patients and ministered to their needs, Mark and Pastor Carlos spoke with several of the adults and 12 more came to the Lord!

Saturday, we had a ceremony and ground breaking for the hospital that JCM is going to build in a community called Bella Vista, which means "Beautiful View." We invited a lot of the commmunity to participate, but there weren't many people in the houses. It seems like most of the adults have to commute into town to work and stay there most of the day. The hospital will bring a lot of good jobs for the people while it is being constructed and later maintained. The ministry also has plans to build a church, a community center, a new soccer field, and new houses. Below is the plan for the area.

The community seemed really excited to hear what all was going to be built and the opportunities that were available for them.

Yesterday, we went with the group to look at some shops in Catarina, which has a beautiful view of a crater lake. After that, we went to Granada to take a boat tour of these little islands in Lake Nicaragua and to see Monkey Island. Monkey Island is this little island in the midst of these islands with 4 monkeys. One of the monkeys, Lucy, got on the boat and we fed her some peanuts. It was so cool! I got to hold her hand and her tail and pet her lol. I hope to show you some pics soon.

I have gotten to spend a lot of time with Raquel, and it's been really good. She told me last night that she wants to get closer to God and live like her mom did, always having faith in God and putting him first. She's had a hard time though and has felt so discouraged. We talked about doing a Bible study together and hope to start today. I want to invite my friend Jessica to join us too. Please pray that this happens and that God will guide us in our study.

Today, I plan to just rest and help around Tamara's. Tomorrow, Tamara and I are taking Milagros, the baby, to therapy. We are praying for a miracle for Milagros. She's about a year old but she has seizires often that have delayed her development. She has shown some autistic characteristics as well. In therapy, they are trying to work with her to get her to hold her head up on her on, roll over, crawl, and do things that a baby should be able to do. After therapy, Tamara and I are going to a drug-rehab center in the afternoon. The drug rehab center is on the land that was originally going to be used for the hospital, but then turned out not to be suitable for building. Tamara has been to the center before and said she could feel the prescence of God there and they had so much peace there. We hope to bring them a word of encouragment tomorrow.

The rest of the week, I plan on staying with Cheryl and helping out with the kids in the house. The kids are dying for me to come over there! I haven't hardly gotten to spend time with them since being here. I look forward to being there and loving on them.

Thank you so much for your prayers! There is so much going on and so much need but so many prayers are already being answered. God is so good and has been so good to me. He continues to speak to me in subtle ways and he is recultivating my love and my faith and my relationship with him. One of the biggest things he has been reminding me is that there is nothing more or less I can do to earn his love. His grace and love is enough. Although I know that, it is easy to forget, especially when striving so hard to live for him. But thank God that He lives in me and in my life and even when I get distracted or busy, He's still there and still speaking. There is nothing too big or too small for Him, and nothing can separate us from His love.

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!

Going back to my heart's land..

It's been two years since I first fell in love with this picture. Since March 2008, I have felt the continuous calling to return five times to Nicaragua- the land of lakes and volcanoes, the 2nd poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, and the home of the people who have captured my heart.

After taking this picture in March of this year (2010), I wasn't expecting to see this view for a while. I am currently trying to finish my Masters in Teaching English as Second Language at Carson-Newman College. I have been trying to finish up my coursework all summer. I thought I would be too busy to go back to Nicaragua. But then I heard about a trip that starts right after I finish classes. After praying about it, I decided I need to go back, not because of the joy of being there (I really could use a vacation instead), but because I feel like it's what God wants me to do.

Therefore, on July 26, a group of 7 others with Jesus Centered Ministries and I will be leaving on mission to Leon, Nicaragua. We will be working with a few doctors to medically serve a couple of communities. While the clinics are being held, a few others and I will be holding Bible school and recreational activities in hopes of sharing the Goods News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. During that week, we also will be visiting some churches and the local hospital. After the group leaves on August 2, I will stay in Leon and help take care of the children living the JCM house. I also hope to visit with some friends and encourage them in their relational walk with Christ.

Please join me in my journey by praying for my team and me. We are only tools used by God; He does all the work. So please pray that we will be obedient to His guidance. Please pray for our safety, health, and strength because it can be very physically exhausting traveling, working, and living in the Nicaraguan heat. Please pray that hearts will be prepared for our message and that the Spirit will speak through our words. Pray that God will be glorified in all that we do, for everything is for Him and His glory.

If you would like to help in any way, we are still needing vitamins to pass out in the clinic. We also would like to take small toys to pass out to the kids at the clinics and the hospital. If you would like to donate any of these items, please contact me.

Additionally, I still do not have all my money paid for the trip. The biggest factor that was keeping me from originally going on this trip was the fear of not being able to afford it or having to ask for money. However, I know that God is the ultimate provider, and if it truly is His will for me to go, He will provide the funds. So if you feel like God could me using you to help me go, please let me know as well. I take each gift with such humility, graciousness, and thankfulness; I do not take it for granted.


I am so excited and expectant to see what God will do on this trip. Each trip He works in a wonderfully unique way that is so wonderful to tell to others but so hard to fully explain. I hope this blog will serve well in helping me tell of the wonders of God.

Thank you so much for reading! I will continue to keep you posted on the trip progress. Dios te bendiga! God bless you!