hhbcmissions

I honestly don´t know how to begin talking about this mission trip. God has shown me and all of the rest of the people on this trip some amazing truths and I don´t want to miss any of them! First of all, I have come to realize just in the past couple of days just how infinite our God is. I cannot even begin to count the divine appointments that have been set up by God. It really blows my mind how God can orchestrate every single person and time for his glory. Tonight we were in the ice cream shop after dinner and a man rides up on his bicycle and leans over to Caleb and asks him in perfect english who we were and what we were doing here. And when we told him, he told us that he had never been to this part of Nicaragua before, but he quoted scripture to us and told us just how encouraged HE was by us being there. But what was even more mind blowing was the fact that he was encouraging US ten fold. Now think about it……think about all of the circumstances that God put together. The fact that he decided to come at 7 o´clock to that particular ice cream store in a town that he had never been to and spoke english fluently, while we were there at that same ice cream store because we were hot and weary and truly starting to run thin by the end of the day. Both sides needed some spiritual encouragement and just the presence of the other really made everyone´s day. Today was really incredible. We went to the village of Cinco Piños where there was no church and no one from our church had ever really done any ministry there. The spiritual warfare that was there today was almost tangable. But at the same time, there was this overwhelming feeling that our prayers that we had prayed months in advance had prepared the hearts of the people there. This afternoon, Katie and I played duck duck goose with the little kids and then Courtney came over and we acted out bible stories like Jonah and the Whale and David and Goliath. And it really began to hit me just how doing something like that when these kids were maybe six or seven can really show them God´s love and that they will probably remember that for a long long time. So many people came to Christ today. And every single person on this trip played a part in it. We came in so focused today and so in tune with the presence of the Holy Spirit that, as Mike put it tonight, there was just no room for Satan.  We knew that Satan must have just been really ticked at the fact that he lost today. SATAN LOST. And we only saw the physical repercussions of the spiritual warfare that God came in and dominated today. It makes me speechless. We are all journaling like mad because there is so much mentally to take in and process here. But as a group we have grown together so much and it is just relaly amazing at how well we can discern things together from the Holy Spirit. We got the chance a couple of nights ago to go up what we call Prayer Mountain and sit under the stars and sing songs with the youth group from the church down here. It was really incredible. There was no moon, and we turned off all of the lights and the stars made me speechless. It truly humbled me. And something that I have learned on this trip is that when you are humble, when God is truly in control of everything that you do, then there is this boldness that comes from God himself and we get to catch a mere glimpse of the perfectly orchestrated plan that God has in store for every single person´s life. Each person here, and everywhere else in the world, has a wonder and unique story, and getting to hear some of the stories from down here are just really beginning to chance my life. In case my parents are reading this, yes. I have been using my spanish. A lot. It got a little discouraging the first day that we were in the schools because I did my part of what we were going to say to the kids in spanish and they all started to chuckle and then outright laugh at me. But Pastor Diomadez (Caleb and I just spent like five minutes trying to figure out how to spell his name, so if I just butchered it……..well, it´s Caleb´s fault….) came up and told me that my spanish was actually good, and that they were only laughing at my American accent. And he has told me that every day. And I think that was the encouragement I needed. But it really is amazing at how well I can understand people and try to talk back to them and how God is using that for his glory which has been my prayer. Another thing has my mind realing. I have wanted to be a doctor for as long as I can remember. And part of the reason I learned Spanish was so that I could come to places like Nicaragua and share the love of Christ. But every testimony. EVERY testimony, has been how a medical need has led someone to a point in their life that they realized that they needed to be dependent upon something. And the calling to come back here someday and do medical missions is really overwhelming. I can´t begin to explain the heart that I have for these people and how I could never have expected to grow this much from them. And we aren´t even done yet. I´m still trying to process everything, and my brain is just to slow to process everything that it is taking in. I still think it´s on like day one. But I will never forget this trip. It has truly humbled me to a point that could have never imagined. As I give more and more of myself to God and pour his love to the people here, it is really impossible to describe the peace and joy and faith that I have found.

A completely awed Lucy Bates