As all of you
very well know, a very exciting and interesting 7 months abroad is about to
commence! And as awesome and incredible as this upcoming experience is, equally
as incredible is the story of what got me here, and how all of this came to be.
Hence, my so-far devoted blog followers, this post, is the back story (forgive
me if you’ve heard it many times before)…
This August, I started the school year devoted completely to prayer and discernment, coming from a summer full of the Lord and His unexpected plan for me. In July I went on a mission trip to where I am heading off to now: Nicaragua. It was completely the Lord and His perfect timing that everything worked out the way it did. It was a taxing process- a gradual compilation of one thing after another not working out at all the way I had planned. And as I’m sure the Lord orchestrated, I was forced into looking at a completely free summer when I heard about the upcoming trip to Central America. As I prayed about it and found no reason not to go, I signed up and found not only that I had filled the last remaining spot for the trip, but also that I had just enough money in my savings account that day to make the payment by the assigned deadline (remembering an unexpected and unexplainable refund check I had received just weeks before from Clemson that was just enough to cover my trip expenses). Nicaragua changed my life. I had an incredible experience, and have so many stories of restoration, healing, and answered prayers that I would love to tell you all about in extensive detail- but I’ll spare you for now and simply tell you that the moment I left I felt called to go back.
While we were in Nicaragua we did feeding programs, repairs and manual labor in and around the barrios (the Nicaraguan slums), prayed for the people, played with children, provided a medical team, and organized revivals and worship gatherings every evening. We worked mostly through a Christian organization based in Chinandega called El Shaddai. It is an incredible ministry and the more I worked with them and got to know the pastors and the people, the more I fell in love with what the Lord was doing in and through that team… I started to pray. The more I prayed, the more the Lord revealed to me that the calling I felt to Nicaragua was not just a personal desire. He continued to confirm my thoughts and answer my prayers as I asked Him to, and even as I went back to school the passion I had to continue doing ministry in Nicaragua wasn’t lessened in the slightest. After much persistence and patience, things slowly fell into place, and the Lord began to show up in incredible ways: through His overwhelming provision of support, class credit, and living situations. Family, friends, even strangers were offering their support both through prayer and financially, even more readily than I could ask for it. My teachers were more than willing to work with me to create Independent Study courses I could do from 3,000 miles away; this giving me full-time student status, allowing me keep my scholarship and not fall behind, for my remaining time at Clemson. Every last doubt, every last kink in the preparation process, the Lord ironed out and brought a peace that passes understanding.
I bought my plane ticket.
I am so excited
to devote the next 7 months of my life to demonstrating the person of Jesus and
His love as well as I can to the less fortunate and needy I have met and loved
in Nicaragua. I truly can’t wait to see how the Lord works in and through me as
I continue on this journey and in turn, tell you all about it!
T-minus 6 days...
The countdown continues…
