week one in nicaragua

hey!

we arrived at the farm in nicaragua on Sunday afternoon! we were greeted with the warmest welcomes, I almost instantly felt at home. that evening I was finally reunited with my team, it felt so good to see them again after being apart for two weeks. our mornings here begin early, wake-up is at 5am which consists of having prayer while watching the sunrise over the mountains! the next hour we spend worshiping our powerful father together! we have our breakfast at 8am and head out at 9!

Monday: our team piled into the truck bed and drove to the village where we would visit houses and pray for people and just spread the good news! I definitely had a cultural shock to see people living in such property! the rest of the day was spent getting to know better the people who lived here! it is so easy to build friendships since everyone is so hospitable! the kids here are so patient with teaching us spanish phrases! tuesday: we grabbed machetes and hoes, and we all headed out to the field, to prepare it to be planted. it was so hot and humid that morning, it was grueling work with the sun beating down on us! but it was also very rewarding work watching it slowly come together! we were all dripping sweat by the time we stopped. That evening we celebrated Mariana’s birthday with a piñata and cake! Their tradition is to smash raw eggs on the birthday person! everyone was laughing and dancing! It was so great to see how we can all work hard together and at the end of the day we can celebrate together! Wednesday: is dump and hospital day! as we drove closer to the dump, the trash rose higher and the smell grow as well. the family that hosted the mini church service there greeted us warmly and wanted to show us their pigs! If you know me, you would know that was hard for me lol! as I walked through the trash and mud to the pig pen, I seen the family with smiles so big, so excited that we wanted to see them. Instantly it didn’t bother me anymore, because of how happy it made them! that afternoon we drove to the hospital, as we stepped inside, the smell hit. Sweaty, sick people. they had to have mosquito nets over their beds because the rooms are all connected to a open courtyard! we started going room to room praying over people! one of the last rooms we went into, kallie and I prayed over a man, we started talking with him and he told us he was a prisoner and showed us that he was handcuffed to the bed and he had 3 guards outside the door. he told us that he had become a Christian, and it was so sweet that we were able to encourage him in his faith and speak life into him! Thursday: we went prayer walking again, the first house we went to was so small that most of us had to stand outside! as I was standing out in the sun, I glanced behind me and saw two little boys watching us behind a tree! I took that opportunity to go and meet them! I spent the next 15 minutes playing with them! They went from being shy to laughing and smiling! It was hard for me to leave them! That evening we had church service at one of the locals house, the lord blessed me with the opportunity to help with the children! Ohh how precious that time was..those children all ran up and gave me hugs and wanted to sit on my lap and asking me so many questions! I loved every second of it, those kids filled my heart up with so much joy! Friday: vbs day! The man who teaches the children is only 24 years old! We were able to hear his testimony of how god radically changed his life and gave him a desire to help children who grow up like he did! It was so inspiring to hear! 

Joy, Joy, Joy!! 

everyone here has so much joy and happiness, I have absolute no desire to complain about anything, how could I complain when my circumstances are so different! Jesus has been filling me so full of his joy and love that I don’t have room for anything else! He has blessed me so greatly! I’m so ever grateful that he has given me this opportunity! He has been so good and faithful to me!  

love Marilyn