It brings me joy to share the ministries I am a part of with you supporters, but the Lord is revealing Himself to me by other means as well. Outside of specific ministries, here are other areas that the Lord is working in my heart through and what I am learning in those areas.

In my quiet time- Currently I am going through the book of Matthew with a fresh look. I have heard each story in Matthew more time then I can count, but I am actively seeking a new understanding in each verse. Several stories and verses have touched me in new ways. For how many times I have heard the story of Jesus' birth, it fell on me with a new significance. It struck me that God spoke to Joseph three times through dreams. I love how the Lord choses to speak, and I am amazed by Joseph's obedience. I long and pray to hear the Lord's voice clearly in my life, so by reading of the many times God spoke through a dream, I am extra-attentive to my own dreams now. I regularly counted my dreams as nonsense and spoke of them for amusement, but I believe God still does speak to His people, and that he can do so by whatever means He so desires. With that said, I have started tracking down my dreams, however crazy they seem and I am praying for an interpretation of them. If God is speaking to me, I had better be listening! 

In personal prayer time- I have turned into a frequent visitor in our House of Prayer. I wish everyone could experience the Holy Spirit in those 4 walls (no roof) the way myself and my teammates have. The Lord is alive in that place and I cannot get enough. Though my prayer time, a word that keeps echoing within me is "Abandonment." After prayer for this resounding word, God's message to me is clear: Abandon yourself, surrender to Me. Though I long to glorify God with every fiber of my being, my own self gets in the way often. God pours mercy and patience upon me as I am learning how to truly abandon myself and love Him completely. Prayer time has been huge in my learning to lose my selfish ways and to seek Him alone. The Hillsong lyrics sing within me, "Rid me of myself, I belong to You. O lead me, lead me to the cross."

From my team- What a blessing my team has been, and how I have neglected raving about them. As our time here shortens, I realize how much I will miss every brother and sister from my team that I have grown to love over these past nine months. In a recent team meeting, we heard wise words from our fearless leader, Seth Barnes Jr., encouraging us to not grow tired even though our time here is winding down. Seth said, "Tomorrow is not guaranteed and yesterday is already gone. All you have is right now." How that stuck with me. I remind myself daily that all I have is today to live to the fullest. To pour into each relationship, to love the Lord with my all, to enjoy each breath, today is the day. Many other wise words have come from my teammates, but those words from Seth run through my mind daily.

I pray that the Lord is speaking to you also in the various areas of your life. Let's stay attentive to His voice so to make the most of each blessed moment we have on this earth!

Shortly thereafter I had the opportunity to go to my first VJ sports camp. At the camp they took us to a labyrinth and taught us about listening to God's voice. I tried it out, but it was very difficult for me to hear Him. The camp was good because, while they were somewhat restrictive, but they were not legalistic. VJ made me not want to do the things I had been doing.

Following this I was invited on another VJ camp. When we were there, we had a time of worshiping God. Something moved me to tears during the singing. I was closing my eyes, and when I opened them, I looked down at the floor and I saw the face of Jesus. I sobbed uncontrollably as I felt the Lord calling me. I felt him intimately; I knew then that he cared for me. This motivated me to give my testimony about my life and what I was still doing to the others that were with me. They were people from my city that knew me or knew of me before. Before I started talking, I didn't feel like I'd have the words to speak because I was embarrassed, but my heart compelled me. I wanted to express that yes, I can change and others can too.

My next camp was a follow-up camp. There we went on a walk of faith. They blind-folded us and had us walk around. It reminded me of Catholic tradition we do here in Granada in which they blind-fold a statue of Jesus and parade around the street carrying him on their shoulders. They do this a lot the day before his death. It's called a Procession of Silence. The idea is that Jesus is walking through the crowd - the world, but he's blind to it, he is not of it. During this walk we were put through a barrage of tests.

In one of the tests they had me grab onto a rope and to imagine two worlds - this world and the one Jesus calls us to. The devil started speaking to me then, reminding me things of my past. I remember a moment when my past was all I could focus on. I felt pretty confused and I cried because I did not know what to do. I felt very alone. But I kept walking and tried to focus on God's voice alone. Then he spoke to me. He told me He is the way and the truth and the life. After this, the things that the enemy was saying to me did not matter at all. As I continued walking, I felt closer and closer to God. Later, we were given the opportunity to go to the labyrinth again and invited into intimacy with the Lord. This moved me a lot. I felt great meaning and purpose in this relationship I was introduced to. It was one of the most impacting experiences of my life.

By the fourth camp I was playing soccer and stepping into leadership. I felt incredibly incapable and ill prepared, but every time we had a meeting or I was pushed into something, God gave me the words to say to the youth there. These kids were into drugs and after a number of activities. We encouraged them to cry and let their emotions out. I said then, "Lord, I want you to change these kids' lives. I know that they need you and I know that you're the only one who can touch their hearts. You're the only one who can change them."

When we got back, I followed up with these kids. I saw that they truly desired God and this brought me great joy. True joy. It brought meaning into my life.

I pray you all had a blessed Easter, and rejoice! He is risen!

The Lord poured joy into the Children's barrio ministry Monday. I believe it was the best week we have had yet. Here is a rundown of what happened, I pray to have the words to express the delight it brought to my heart and God's as well.

We had about 25 kids come this week and a few parents came with their infants to watch the program. We started out as always with a Nica friend, Carlos, leading children's songs on the guitar. The songs had the kids dancing around, jumping up and down, clapping and singing at the top of their lungs. All this excitement was at 9:15 in the morning. The first game we played was a water balloon toss. Water balloons are always a blast, and it seemed to me that the kids do not see water balloons often. 

Our story for the day was the parable of the lost sheep found in Luke. We told the story then had the kids act it out, costumes and all. The Pharisees wore oversized dress shirts and the sheep wore white t-shirts on with socks on their hands. The shepherd used a broom as his staff. The kids get wound up and really excited when we bring out whatever costumes we can scrape up to work with for the story. The kids then acted out the story as we read it. It was goofy, but still got the story across.

After the play we played telephone with bible verses; Deuteronomy 6:5, "Love the LORD your God with all you heart and with all your soul and with all your strength," and John 15:12 "My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you." Again, telephone is such a common game in the states but the children played enthusiastically, that I do not think they had played before. It was comical to watch yet beneficial for the kids to hear the first two commandments.

For the first time during this ministry, I gave the message this week. Maybe not word for word, but here is the message:

            Then as usual we separated into two groups to pray. My friend Caleb leads the older kids in prayer and I lead the younger group. On Monday we prayed in the two groups, then had the younger kids circled around the older kids and repeated a prayer over the older kids.  Then in return our younger group sat in a circle and the older group, ages 8-10 laid hands on each person and prayed aloud for them. The faith of innocent children astounds me, I long for childlike faith. They prayed briefly, yet sincerely and it amazed me to see the boldness in each child to pray aloud. I feel so blessed to have been a part of that prayer time.

"May mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance." ~Jude 2

As I have mentioned before, two teammates and I started a children's program and community prayer meetings in the barrio. Though we invite the youth ages 15 and up to Vida Joven, it came to our attention that we have not effectively addressed the 10-15 year old age group. In an effort to share the gospel to this crucial group of kids, a vision came to our ministry group. We envisioned sharing a powerful dryme with the community, giving a testimony, then sharing the gospel and closing in worship. So that is what we did last Thursday.

We had talked about this event for the youth at our prayer meeting, and we prayed over it. So last Thursday night we went to the barrio, unsure if 5 kids would come to the event or 50. To our surprise, the house were this took place was filled with as many people as could fit. People were outside the house in the street and through the doorway to be part of the event! Wow! I was overjoyed because several of the kids from our soccer team came to the event too. We started our doing the dryme, where I play one of two demons. Great. It is a powerful story of a girl being attacked by two demons. The innocent girl becomes unable to escape. Then Jesus comes to her rescue, and just as he is taking her hand, the demons come and crucify Jesus. After an emotional scene, Jesus defeats death and saves the girl. It is a beautiful story, and one we can all relate to. We shared the dryme with the group of kids, and then my friend Caleb gave an awesome message to further clarify the dryme and to share the gospel message. My friend Joe gave his powerful testimony to the group next. We closed in worship and invited anyone to come up for prayer.

 I am struggling now writing out what happened that night because it does no justice to how powerful of an evening it truly was. The Lord had brought His children from the poorest areas and let his love be known to each of them. The faces of the youth there were coming alive, as if they were soaking in every word spoken. There is a hunger for light within the community, especially that age group, and I feel like the light was just shining from the inside of the house to the street were people were crowded to hear the Word. Let all the glory be to God for the opportunity to share of His love that beautiful evening.

Last Saturday through yesterday, our team had the week off for spring break! I traveled to Tamarindo, Costa Rica for the week with 4 friends from the team. The week consisted of relaxing on the beach, watching the sunset over the pacific, going on an ATV tour through Costa Rica, lots of laughing, eating, reading and swimming. All the sudden in turned into a book worm as I read Captivating by Staci and John Eldridge. I strongly recommend for every woman to read Captivating. The week in Tamarindo was a well needed break for sure. With a refreshed spirit, I am eager for ministries this week. It came to my attention that I only have two months left here. Please keep this time in your prayers that we may have a dynamic final two months.

From excitement and business of having my cousins Jodi and Dario visiting Granada last Saturday, I was unable to post this blog. Sorry for my dereliction, but with joy and praise to our Father, I share this message with you today: JESUS HEALS.

As I have shared before, since the start of the second semester, I have had a hunger for knowledge and application of the spiritual gifts. Desiring to understand healing specifically, I read parts of the Jack Deer book, Surprised by the Holy Spirit. (You should read it if you have not, it is powerful) The book describes why God heals, and why at times He chooses not to.  Now this is all assuming that we agree God can and does still work miracles today. After you finish reading the blog, I pray you will see that indeed He does. The more I read God's word and study His ways, I realize that God does not run by formulas. We can study, read and compile the 'best' or 'right' way to heal, but God simply asks for our faith and confidence in His power. (Eph. 3:12) With this said, let me share with you the miracles God has shown me first hand over these past few weeks.

Three weeks ago I went door to door in the Barrio with a local pastor and my leader Seth Bowen Barnes Jr. We introduced ourselves to the families and told them about the several programs that started in the community. We shared the gospel and asked if the family desired prayer. There were a few ladies I prayed healing over, but today as I was in the Barrio for a children's program I stopped by one particular woman's house to see how she was. This lady had an issue with her stomach. She experienced constant pain and thought it may be a tumor. A few weeks ago I laid my hands on her stomach. By the power of the Holy Spirit, I saw her today with a smile she said "I have no more pain! Gloria a Dios!"

In the same barrio, last week at our prayer meeting, a sister, Sonya shared that she does not have the money for a necessary heart surgery. As she explained it, she used to be a gordita (heavy set lady) but she is unable to eat and now is a flakita. (Skinny lady) To say the least, she looked unhealthy. Sonya said she had not eaten in the past week. After our prayer meeting I approached her with my brothers Mario and Caleb, and asked if we could pray for healing. She said that she had been prayed over before and has faith that God will heal her. Never the less, we laid hands on this little lady and confidently asked for Holy Spirit power to heal her. After the prayer tears were streaming from her eyes and she said she had felt a tingling feeling up and down her body as we prayed. Then when we were saying good-bye, she turned to us and smiled, saying, "I feel like a new woman!" Praise the Lord. Yesterday at our prayer meeting she was gleaming as she said, "I have been eating all week, I am better!" Let the truth be told-God heals.

Ok sorry if this is getting redundant, God is healing! I can not stay quiet! This story might be my favorite. On our ATL three weeks ago, through a series of events, we met a man at a fruit stand whose pregnant wife was ill. The 5 of us on my ATL team went to the man's house to pray for his wife, Elsa. When we saw Elsa, she had bumps that looked like the worst acne imaginable all over her face, arms and legs. Just looking at her made my skin feel irritated. She tried to treat it but had no success and was concerned for her baby. We shared the story in Matthew of the sick woman to whom Jesus says, "Take heart daughter, your faith has healed you." Knowing the only one who could heal this lady was Christ himself, we talked with her and her husband about healing and assured them that it was only through faith. With that knowledge, we prayed over the lady. My impatient self wanted to command healing and open my eyes to see her skin flawless. However, she just had tears streaming down her face, still covered in sores. Without losing faith, we promised to return the following Friday, expecting a miracle. Do you want to guess how this story ends? The next Friday my friends visited her to find her skin clear. Wow! No more sores and a family with a renewed faith in Jesus. How incredible is the God we serve. Wow.

God's ways are so funny sometimes. Just read how this story goes. I was with my friend and we were searching for Choco-bananas. We went to the best choco-banana stand in town: they did not have any bananas. Then we went to the cheapest choco-banana stand: they were closed. So we went to the "all else fails" choco-banana stand, and they were not making choco bananas anymore. I asked into this and it turns out the lady who makes the bananas is getting old and therefore her body is continuously soar and ill. It turns out she had shooting pain in her arms and issues with her stomach too. Out of compassion we told the lady that we are Christians and we believe God has the power to heal. We asked if we could pray healing over woman. So with open arms they invited my friend and me into their house. So with laying hands, we asked for healing over the choco-banana lady. (I wish I could remember her name) Sure enough, I passed her on the street today and she is back to making choco bananas because her arm no longer hurts. She was full of joy and excitement to tell me of the miracle. How beautiful.

I hope that you choose not to treat these stories with contempt, but see that God desires to reveal His power to his dearly loved children. I am convinced that Jesus is alive and moving in this world today. Jesus said "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things that these." (John 14:12) I encourage you reading this to HAVE FAITH! and prepare to be amazed.

"In Him and through faith in Him we may approach God with freedom and confidence" Eph. 3:12

Every Wednesday and Thursday I work at the nursing home here in Granada. This particular home is for seniors who were abandoned by their families or fro those in a tough financial situation. Before I go into some fun stories of the nursing home, let me paint a picture of this particular home.

Unlike nursing homes in the states, no one has individual rooms. There are two huge rooms, one for men and one for women, lined with beds. There are about 30 beds in each room. The bathrooms are not handicap accessible. There are little stalls that the seniors use with out any complaints. To be quite honest, the people at this nursing home are in pretty good shape compared to the people I worked with at Homewood. People here do not have the money for medication to stay alive when their bodies are shutting down. For that reason, they die sooner, and are healthier while alive. All of that to say, most of the people are fairly independent.

In the middle of the facility there is a courtyard, it is very open. Birds are flying around, cats eat spilled food and flies are everywhere. At times I just cringe because of the safely violations all over the place. To name a few:

-A frail man was walking barefoot on a just mopped floor.

-No one is around when the residents eat meals. They could easily choke!

-Pretty much everyone has a wheel chair that is too big or too small for them. They are either squeezed in or sliding out of the chairs.

-When someone is sliding out of their chair, the nursing assistants tie a piece of fabric in a knot around them!

- No beds have side rails

No one sees an issue with these. Oh my, I just cringe and do what I can to watch out for the old folks.

            My role at the nursing home is solely a volunteer. I was given free range by the Nuns who work there to take on whatever I feel necessary. So I usually spend an hour serving the workers by cleaning, then I visit with the residents until lunch time. I help serve lunch and feed a lady. Then until two, usually get involved in more discussions, card games, chess, nail painting or make-up applying.

            On Wednesday a youth group from a local church came in with guitars, a key board and an array of percussion instruments. The group played for about 45 minutes, which turned into an all out dance party with the seniors. It was a blast. We were clapping and singing along with the songs and everyone had a smile on. The group finished by playing the Nica version of the chicken dance, which is called El Pollo. My friend Annie and I danced El Pollo with the men in wheel chairs and with the hopping ladies.We are bringing a guitar this week to keep sharing in the happiness of music.

            Yesterday I talked with two men who are devout Catholics. We had an interesting hour and a half discussion about the contrast between Catholicism and Evangelism. I believe by the end of the conversation we both understood each other better and came to the glorious conclusion that we both serve a powerful and all-loving God.

            Overall the Nursing home has been a joy to me. I am meeting sweet and unique people every day and I love the relationships being built.

            I would like to ask you to please pray for protection, physically and spiritually for my group. God's name is being exalted in Granada and the devil is just seething. We have encountered some strong attacks from the enemy this past week. So please pray for Satan to have no hold of us and for God to continue revealing His power in this place.

 Side note- as I am writing this the boys in my group are slaughtering then butchering a goat for our Valentines Day present.  With that lovely picture in your head, Feliz Dia del Amor y la Amistad!

A running theme of this week has been Hope. Here are a couple stories of the true hope God has revealed to His dearly loved children this week. I apologize ahead of time for the scattered nature of this blog. Have grace with me and my random thoughts.

Last week I blogged about a man I was privileged to share the gospel with, Patrick. Patrick came to our worship service Sunday morning. The message Sunday was from Luke 15 where Jesus tells the parable of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son. Patrick said for the first time after hearing that message, he could understand the bible and identify with it. After the service Patrick talked with Charles Kaye, a full time missionary here in Granada. On Wednesday Patrick enrolled in a Christian rehab center called Pinniel. He is living there now and for the foreseeable future. When I first met with Patrick, he cried of desperation and at one point in our conversation he got on his knees and begged for help of any kind. What a cry we all experience! The complete brokenness of this world comes to all of us, and our only hope is in our Savior Jesus Christ. In your prayer time please give Jesus an extra shout of praise for revealing His hope to Patrick.

On Tuesday we had meeting after meeting about the ministries we are going to be involved in this semester. There is too much to say about the plans God is putting together for our team, but let me just say that God is going to do big things this semester. Our hopes and visions are becoming a reality and that is only through the power of Christ. I will blog more about these ministries as they get in action. It's going to be good.

           As we drove into the dump we were overwhelmed by the foul aroma of burning rubber. The air in the dump was thick and dirty. When a breeze came in ash and smoke rose and got in our eyes. By the end of the few hours in the dump my clothes had a tint of black and I had a headache from all the smoke. The average life expectancy of people who live there is 40-50 years old due to the damage done to lungs breathing in polluted air for a lifetime. Everywhere throughout the community fires were smoldering. The streets we walked and drove on were just paths cleared of trash. Families live in shelters composed of garbage they found. Families earn their living by sifting through mounds of trash to find anything of value. We walked up one of the several mountains of trash where fires were going on, and fathers were diligently searching for trash that would be useful for to their families. There is a school and clinic in the community built and run by mission organizations such as Love, Light and Melody and others.

"Hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts." Romans 5:5