Category Archives: Uncategorized

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Day 1

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I’m still not feeling great, so here is a quick version of our day. The team attended a church in our neighborhood. We were able to provide snacks for the kids there. I wasn’t able to attend, but everyone seemed to love it. After lunch we took the El Ayudante kids swimming and to play soccer. We had a blast loving on all of them. Can’t wait to see what tomorrow holds. Keep praying for a healing!

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Sometimes it takes a rash…

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Most often parents start out telling their children to do something in a nice, friendly voice. “Clean your room, please.” If the child doesn’t listen, the parent will get progressively louder until it’s, “Clean your room, NOW!” That’s where I’m at with God right now.

Lately, God has gently been pushing me to spend more time with Him, to invest in our relationship. But I haven’t been listening. He kept reminding me to set aside time for Him. I haven’t listened.
So here I am in Nicaragua, confined to a tiny room with the AC on, taking benadryl, using calamine lotion because I have hives all over my back. I kept pushing God behind other “more important things.” Now it’s not that I think God is punishing me for not spending more time with Him. I think God is saying, “Here. You have been ‘too busy’ to set aside time for me. Let me help you with that. There. Now you have plenty of quiet time with me.”
God uses all sorts of things to get our attention. Sadly, sometimes it takes a rash to get us to stop and listen. But that’s where I am: with itchy hives all over me, rejoicing in my gracious Father.
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Here we go!

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The before…supplies, crafts, toys, candy, clothes, shoes, toothbrushes, toothpaste!

The after…8 ministry suitcases packed and ready to go!
It is so unreal that we are leaving tomorrow. I feel as if at any moment I will pinch myself and wake up from this wonderful dream. The team will be meeting at 1 pm tomorrow to head for the airport. Our flight leaves at 5:45 pm.
It would be very easy for me to feel completely overwhelmed tomorrow. However, I hope to remember something a very dear person in my life asked me. 1) Who’s mission trip is this? 2) Who do I think I am, that I could ruin God’s plan?

Our only responsibility while in Nicaragua, is to love. To share Christ’s love.

1 John 3:16-18, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. “

See you in Nicaragua!!

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My impossible task

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Things to do before June 19th…

  1. Jewelery party fundraiser May 1st
  2. Car wash fundraiser May 8th
  3. Send in team roster
  4. Send in team information forms
  5. Mail check to El Ayudante for team fees –> mailing it tomorrow
  6. Raise money to pay team fees
  7. Book hotel rooms for the final night –> booking rooms tomorrow
  8. Plan 3 days of Bible school for 20-150 kids
  9. Buy supplies for Bible school for 20-150 kids –> collecting donations and buying things this week
  10. Raise money to buy supplies for Bible school
  11. Get team in one piece to Leon, Nicaragua –> unable to complete until June 19th
  12. Complete items 1-11 while taking finals and studying abroad in London for 3 weeks
  13. Preferably stay sane while completely items 1-12 without driving friends and loved ones crazy –> questionable
Wow. That is all I know how to say right now. Wow. In my last post I was freaking out. Trying my best to keep my faith in God, but freaking out none the less. Suddenly, magically, miraculously, supernaturally, we have more than enough money for our ministry. We leave for Nicaragua in 10 days!

We always claim the truth in Philippians 4:13, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength” and Luke 1:37, “For nothing is impossible with God.” But we all, or at least I, have moments of doubt. We think things like, “I know you can do anything God, but are you really sure this is going to happen?” Isn’t it amazing when God gives us the impossible to do. That’s what this mission trip has been for me. The impossible task.

I was a twenty year old junior in college with a million things on my plate when God plopped this project in my lap. How could I ever lead a team of people older and wiser than I? How could I ever do everything that needed to be done to make this trip happen? How could I possibly raise SO much money? I couldn’t. I can’t. I never will. This has been something in my life that I know, beyond any doubt, would have been impossible if it had not been for my Holy Father.

Now here we are, 10 days away from our trip. And while I’m pretty sure I am in fact driving friends and loved ones crazy, I am so thankful to have them as my unfailing support. God is truly amazing. There are no words to describe His wonder.

We ARE GOING to Nicaragua!!!!
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Don’t freak-out

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Things to do before June 19th…

  1. Jewelry party fundraiser May 1st
  2. Car wash fundraiser May 8th
  3. Send in team roster
  4. Send in team information forms
  5. Mail check to El Ayudante for team fees
  6. Raise money to pay team fees
  7. Book hotel rooms for the final night
  8. Plan 3 days of Bible school for 20-150 kids
  9. Buy supplies for Bible school for 20-150 kids
  10. Raise money to buy supplies for Bible school
  11. Get team in one piece to Leon, Nicaragua
  12. Complete items 1-11 while taking finals and studying abroad in London for 3 weeks
  13. Preferably stay sane while completely items 1-12 without driving friends and loved ones crazy
I list such as this tends to cause freak-out moments. Freak-out moments are when I have tons of things to get done and suddenly remember all of the things at once. I then become extremely stressed and “freak-out” over all I have to do. This is usually the conversation I have with myself, “Oh my gosh I have so much to do! How will I ever get it done? It’s too much. This is too much pressure for one person. I’m not ready to handle all of this. This seems impossible. I’m going to have a heart attack before it’s all done. There’s just no way I can do this.” I was having one of these moments last week, having that exact conversation in my head. And when I thought, there’s just no way I can do this, I heard God say to me, “No you can’t, but I can.” I love when God does that. When I’m crying out to Him, saying I can’t do it, wanting Him to tell me that I can do it, and instead He says, “No you can’t, but I can.” It’s something that should be so obvious to a Christian, but yet I need to be reminded of it all the time. I am so thankful that my Father doesn’t expect me to do it. I’m so glad that “with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
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I want to be a tree…

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I was watching the show “Cold Case” the other day. I had never seen it before, but the one episode has really stuck with me. The episode was about a guy who would kidnap women and eventually kill them. (I am sure you are wondering what this has to do with anything, but bear with me.) All of the women he kidnapped, had something to live for. One woman had a newborn baby, one a fiancé, and one faith in God. He would keep these women locked in a basement. He would then wait for them to give up hope. He would even still feed them. He would wait until the women gave up hope of escaping, until they gave up hope in the thing they lived for. He would then lock them in the basements to die. He was describing this process to the detectives, satisfied with himself that they all gave up. Something he said struck me though. He told the detectives, after they asked about the woman who had her faith, that she was the one who gave up the fastest.

Now I know this is a scripted T.V. show, but does it hold some truth? I know we would all like to think that no matter what we may face, we will trust God. But is that true? If you were like these women, kidnapped, locked in a basement alone for weeks or months, would you still have faith that it was part of God’s plan? Or perhaps if you or a loved one are facing a disease like cancer. If no amount of treatment is working, and the illness drags on for years, would you still trust God was listening to your prayers?
A few days after watching “Cold Case” I read in Daniel about Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego. King Nebuchadnezzar had made a golden idol for all the people to worship. Whoever did not fall down in praise to the idol would be thrown into the furnace. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to worship the golden image. Upon questioning them, King Nebuchadnezzar threatened to throw them into the furnace if they did not worship his god. The three men replied in verse 17, “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king.” It is what they spoke in verse 18 that amazes me, “But EVEN IF HE DOES NOT, we want you to know O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were not only willing to die for God, but they were willing to die for Him even if He did not save them! Am I that devoted to my Lord? I would like to think I am, but am I? Are any of us? I am not saying you do or do not have such faith in God. What I am saying, is that it is not enough to simply hope for that kind of faith.
Jeremiah 17:7-8 says, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”
We have to stay rooted in God, rooted in His word. I don’t want to just hope my faith would hold up in the fire. I want to dig my roots deep in the Lord so that no matter what fiery trial I face, my leaves are always green and I never fail to bear fruit. I want to be a tree.
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More than conquerers

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“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

-Ephesians 6:12

We are in a war. Daily. If you are a child of the King, a disciple of Christ, a soldier in God’s army, satan wants to kill your spirit. You are a threat to him. He wants to destroy you and your quest to lead others to Christ. He is attacking you, trying his best to eliminate you as a threat. But take heart! “For the battle is not yours, but God’s” (2 Chronicles 20:15).
All you have to do is be like Moses in Exodus 17. Stand and lift your hands to God. As Moses stood on the hill he watched the Amalekites attack the Israelites. Yet, as long as Moses kept his hands to God, the Israelites were winning. God fought the battle for him. And God fights your battles for you. You already have victory through him (1 Corinthians 15:57). You are more than conquerers in Him (Romans 8:37). Just lift your hands to the Mighty King.
Yet, God does not stop there! All you have to do is lift your hands. Such a simple command. But when you grow weak and can no longer stand, God will send help. When Moses grew tired and could not hold up his hands anymore, God gave him Aaron and Hur to hold his hands for him. God will send you help. When you are devoid of strength, he will place a stone beneath you and send someone to hold your hands up.
So you see, you are “thoroughly equipped” for find your victory (2 Timothy 3:17). It is there waiting for you. How wonderful it is that the creator of the universe does everything for you. He simply asks that you let Him.
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Workin’ at the car wash!

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The Count It All Joy Mission Team had our first car wash on March 27th. God was so good to us! We washed cars nonstop that day, sometimes having up to five cars waiting in line. We were able to raise about $400. God’s provisions are amazing. Thank you to everyone who came out to support us!

This past weekend was Easter. There is no greater love than the love God demonstrated when He sent Christ to die for us. Isaiah 53:5 says, “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” It is unfathomable that the king of the universe would make himself a servant and die a criminals death for us. God is Yahweh Rophe, the Lord who heals. His death healed, cured, and restored us. His death made us whole. And He is still Yahweh Rophe today. He still longs to heal our bodies, minds, and hearts. He still wants to heal us of our sin sickness. And we so desperately need that healing everyday.
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A sacred ambition. A holy obsession.

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I suppose I should share with you how this mission trip came about. Let me begin by telling you an experience I had years ago. I am not sure how old I was, maybe close to 13. I was at church when a woman came to my mom and I. She told us that she had seen great plans that God had for my life. At the very moment she told me, I very clearly felt God speak to my heart that I would one day be working in missions. At the time I had never been on a mission trip and thought nothing of it.

Fast forward to freshmen year of college. Early in the first semester, I felt like God was calling me to go on a mission trip. I spent hours searching the internet trying to find a way to go. I never found anything that I felt was God’s trip for me. I had no idea where God was sending me, but I knew He was calling me to go. That burden stayed on my heart for a year.
In my second year at college, I began attending something called Campus Church. Campus Church would gather on Tuesday nights and would offer college students an opportunity to join together and pour their hearts out in worship to God. Towards the end of the semester, an announcement was made that a group would be traveling to Nicaragua on a mission trip.
From the very first informational meeting, I knew that was where God wanted me. We spent the next six months or so planning. We faced a lot of challenges in those months, but God had begun a good work in us and would see it to completion.
The first week of May 2009 we traveled to Nicaragua. I had no idea that one week there would forever change my life. Even now as I remember our arrival and the rest of our time there, my heart swells with love. We spent our week working in various schools conducting Bible school. I am sure the word “school” brings a certain image to mind (concrete walls, classrooms, colorful creations lining the walls, playgrounds). School in Nicaragua is very different. Instead children have class underneath a big tree in their teacher’s yard, in a house smaller than my room, or in what used to be a chicken coop. We were also taken to the local landfill one day to distribute food. The people who lived in that area dig for food in the landfill. Tears streamed down my face as I saw families living in homes of cardboard and newspaper. The poverty broke my heart.
But what broke my heart even more were the people. Despite the horrible conditions in which they live, they were so full of joy. They were so welcoming of us, so thankful just for our prayers. My heart was broken for people living in the U.S. We are so ignorant. We are all so rich. Despite your salary, the car you drive, the size of your home, you are rich enough to have a computer to read this. Yet despite our abundant blessings, so many are lacking in joy. We constantly are striving for more. More money. More stuff. We need nothing more. We only need more God.
I was heart broken to leave Nicaragua. I found myself constantly longing to return when I came home. My heart had been split. Like the lyrics of the song “Albertine”, I knew, “now that I have seen, I am responsible. Faith without deeds is dead. I will not let go until you are…” I had seen, and I knew I held the responsibility to act. I could not let go of those precious people.
I began to pray for God to open a door. I prayed Isaiah 6:8 over my life. “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!'” I wanted to go, but more than that I needed to go. God had given me a sacred ambition, a holy obsession.
In July, God allowed me to begin forming a team to return. Over time that team has developed into nine members. Leading this team has been the most challenging thing God has ever called me to do, and the most rewarding. I suppose some would call me stubborn. So the fact that I know satan HATES what this team is doing, just makes me want to fight him all the more.
Since July, I have become more aware of the responsibility we have as His disciples.
  • Psalm 96:3 “Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.”
  • Deuteronomy 15:7 “If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs.”
  • Deuteronomy 27:19 “Cursed is the man who withholds justice from the alien, the fatherless, or the widow.”
  • James 1:27 “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
  • Proverbs 28:27 “He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses.”
  • 1 Corinthians 13:3 “If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.”
We are not going to Nicaragua to convert the people to Christianity. We are going simply to love. We want to show Christ’s love through our actions. Time and time again throughout God’s word, He tells us to love. That we will be known by our love for one another. That we are to love our neighbor as ourself. It is not our job to save the world. Christ did that when He died on the cross for us. We are called simply to love. God will do the rest.