Lucky Charms

God has caused many ministries to prosper this week: With the kids at Corazon Contento, the Vacation Bible School Barrio Ministry and the 5k-race planning that my partner in crime Sarah Morgan and I are organizing.

            Monday afternoon I sewed with my favorite kids in the special needs program that I work at called Corazon Contento (Happy Heart). God has really given me a heart for these wonderful kids (shown on the left).  Actually, before this, at 9:15a.m was the VBS ministry in the Barrio Santa Rosa. God brought us a smaller group this week, but we were able to interact with them on a much more personal level, so it was good. After we sung worship songs and played a name game, we had the kids act out the story of Samson and Delilah from the Bible and it was “truly brilliant” (said with an English accent). In the story of Samson, he is enticed by Delilah into spilling the secret to his strength. However, this only happens after Samson tricks Delilah multiple times. Well, we had our actor of Samson say to Delilah, “If you dance like a chicken I will lose my strength.” Good thing we chose an older, reserved girl for the role. We were able to use the younger group to hold up signs for the audience.  The sign they held up for the chicken dance was “Laughter.” Next, we had Samson say, “If you paint my nails I will lose my strength,” which was equally as embarrassing for our young Samson in front of his friends. Caleb Spitler later spoke that the strength Samson received from Jesus is available today if we pray for it. We then practiced praying silently for strength, the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, and for friends and family in Granada. We ended by singing the Hallelu Hallelu Halleluia song-in honor of you Mrs. Rood. We thanked God for our time together and for desiring to empower us always and sent the kids on their way.

On Tuesday morning, we gathered together and prayed for God to give us direction. Afterwards, Seth Barnes, Natalia, Migelangel (the Pastor of the church we do our VBS at), Laura Overs, and I walked around the neighborhood spreading the good news of Jesus Christ! We prayed for healing, peace, work and we even prayed for this lady who lived a wall away from a family with twelve dogs! I prayed that God would silence these yelping dogs (kill them maybe? Ha). 

The rest of my week was centered on planning for the 5k-race and the official date is now April 25^th at 7:00am. I praise God for growing the vision he put on my heart four months ago. God led me to have a race to benefit a growing youth program in Granada that I work with called Young Life-it is also all over America. Sarah Morgan and Melissa, thanks to God, were inspired to help me write a formal proposal for Opportunity International that will go to the Mayor, Police, Factories, many churches, and the President of Young life. I have learned that giving myself enough time to accomplish tasks is VITAL. It was finished, but it broke my back and caused a few tempers to flare: a story for another day. 

            When praying just now, I asked God to lead my words and speak through me to touch people’s lives. He directed me first to a verse in Mark where Jesus walks on water, but this verse didn’t mention Peter at all so I turned to Mathew 14: 23-31. When reading these verses I thought of how it applies to my life. At the beginning, it says, “After he [Jesus] had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.” Am I following Jesus’ example as a man and working on my relationship with God? This has been a particular focus of mine this week, I even have written on a checklist [ ] Work on relationship with God. Every time I tell him, “I want to strengthen our relationship,” no joke, it feels spiritually invigorating. On this earth, Jesus recognizes the importance of having a relationship with God and what a benefit it is to us when we seek to become better friends with our creator. The chapter goes on,

“When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified.”

            What did Jesus immediately say?

“Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid!” 

            Peter then says,

“Lord, if it’s you…tell me to come to you on the water.”

“Come.” He said

            “Then Peter got out of the boat, walked on water, and came towards Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, he cried out,

“Lord save me!”

            “Immediately Jesus reached his hand out and caught him.”

“You of little faith,” he said, “Why do you doubt?”

            Examining this we can draw a sound conclusion. God is not a God of terror and he calls us into situations where we may begin to “sink,” but he will always be there to save us when we follow him! Amen?! This touches my heart and I hope to trust Jesus even more as we grow in our personal relationship-I hope this encourages you today~.

Thank you everyone for your continued support and funny comments. They uplift me and sometimes make me feel all tingly inside (Mrs. Stapleford when you mentioned me telling you when I was younger that I was a Christian, it brought back some fuzzy memories). Pray for me that I trust God and pray that I follow God with confidence! I will keep the NYC trip in my prayers and I am so thankful to God that he has given me each one of you, my supporters, to make a difference in my life through prayer and financially. Financially, I have about $1300 to go, which is so encouraging. If God has put it on your heart to give more or for the first time, don’t be scared like Peter on the water dive right in, ha. Keep it real and thanks for checking in on my ministries in Nicaragua. I can’t wait for what Jesus Christ has in store for me this week!

~Jose