Greetings from Nicaragua, how is your day so far? Always remember everything that God is doing in your life and don’t forget to recognize Him for it! Is everything chill? Yeah? If not, prayer is the best response-last night, I played goalie for our team and I lost the 
game for us because I couldn’t block the overtime penalty kicks and I was so down. At first, I turned to rap music that talked about money and girls, but that made me feel even worse. It wasn’t until I went to God in my brokenness that I was filled up again with joy (and Annie and Laura made me some Hot chocolate with warm milk so that was a plus). I am going to do a little God recognition myself because I feel that people should know how awesome things have been. First, my Children’s Barrio ministry! I have been excited all week to spread the news and almost put up a Thursday blog, so hurr it iz:
The walk through the Barrio is priceless-we receive many stares as three white kids and three Nicaraguans penetrate a secluded, all-Nicaraguan community. As we approach the church there is a hum of conversation and my first reaction is, “Oh, I guess they are having a service and then we will do our Vacation Bible School thing.” As I walk around the corner and into a Church with “Tin roofing” walls, through an open space where a door should be, my first glimpse reveals a storm of kids, sitting in rows excitedly awaiting the arrival of “the Gringos!” It turns out; all sixty or seventy kids are waiting for us! My heart races as I check in with Jesus, “Jesus, you have to carry me through this, give me the courage, confidence and joy to carry out your will today,” I pray. We start out by introducing ourselves with microphones and then Carlos, a truly gifted Nicaraguan guitar player, plays worships songs for the kids. They love it and join in! Next, we break the mass into two groups and play the name game. With the simple task of stating your name and what you like to do, most of the kids fail. I laugh so hard, watching terrified children say that their name is Jefferson and they like to play. Probably 10 kids say they like to play and the rest forget their names, ha. Afterwards, Laura Overs reads the story of David and Goliath and we have the kids act out the story. God protected the kids as David’s army attacked Saul’s with sticks and slingshots-thankfully no one was hurt. Next, we play Hot Potato, and use kids welling with excitement to beat on pans for our music. We play another water game and then Caleb Spitler gives a talk on prayer. He makes the connection from the story of David; David prayed with faith and God used small David to defeat a giant. We practice praying for six minutes with the kids and end with a worship song in Spanish. I am so excited as to how strong God met us in this ministry! Before we went, Caleb told us of a dream where we ministered to six kids and we were pumped about that-we had no idea the number would be over sixty! I cannot wait for next Monday and please pray for us. We are hungry for direction from God because without God, it will fail.
Also, really quick, if you were at Church when I spoke before my trip began, do you remember when I said something about a 5k race? Well, I forgot until God started prodding my heart. What another powerful thing he is doing in Grenada; Our team will be hosting a 5k race in Grenada on April 25th! The race will be to benefit “Young Life,” which is a growing youth group here. God provided me with the words to speak to the whole committee of Young Life, without a translator, last Wednesday, and they even applauded the idea. Numbers 33 is all about the Israelites wandering around in the desert. It speaks to me because God made a promise to the Israelites, just like God made me a promise when he put the race on my heart 5 months ago, he only asks that we take action and take a step of faith in him. He has yet to let me down. Pray for this ministry as well-there are so many prospects for support raising, I will keep everyone posted.
Well, a few thoughts on a teaching that our leader Seth Barnes jr. gave us on Monday night:
Mathew 1:17
-Jesus will cost you nothing, living like Christ will cost you everything.
-Jesus cares deeply for us.
-Each day we have to “surrender all” to Jesus like the worship song says.
-The Kingdom of Heaven is coming to earth; it needs to be embraced.
-Forceful men and women need to step up.
-How are we going to react to the authority on earth given to us by God?
Mathew 28:18-20 says, “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. THEREFORE, go and makes disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you ALWAYS, to the very end of the age.” How awesome is that? No matter what stage of life we are in, how deep in sin we are or how on fire for Jesus we are, he is right beside us and in us.
So, I miss Vermont just a bit-mostly skiing. Are the slopes good this season? Oh, and the Bronx trip sounds great, watch out for thugs with slugs though. I will keep that ministry in my prayers, when is the “Vermont white boys from Panton clash with the Inner City gangsters of Harlem” showdown going to occur? Are the Bacon Breakfasts still occurring for the men? This is a very important tradition. Someone fill me in on the Celtics vs. Lakers battle and was Ray Allen fouled on the last shot or was he being a pansy? Hey, Much Importante: ANYONE WITH VBS EXPERIENCE, if you have suggestions as to what works and what doesn’t with kids, please tell me. This week I believe we will teach the kids about Noah’s ark and have a water games theme, should be nice and wet. That is it, I hope you are encouraged by my post today and have a stellar week~
~Jose~
