Germany Mission 1

Well I've made it over here to Germany and have finally adjusted after being awake for about 30 hours or so. The time change was pretty killer and the plane ride was not all that relaxing. But God has been so faithful so far in giving us opportunities to praise His name and share the Gospel. The context for being a pastor here seems incredibly difficult. Many small churches and seeing a convert not only takes a huge commitment of time, but from what I hear are few and far between. Tomorrow we sing in the Cologne Dom which is an incredible privilege. Not many groups get the opportunity to sing in such a historic place. I'm praying it will generate some good conversations afterward, but I'm finding my German to be pretty rough since the last time I was here was about 4 years ago.

The weather is freezing and it has been snowing off and on since we have been here. I've taken some great pics, but forgot my USB cable to do some uploading so I could post them. Maybe I can find someone else with one. If you are reading this, say a quick prayer for me and our team that the Gospel would go forth whether in word or song and we would be faithful laborers to sow the seeds of hope! Prais sei zu Gott

The Pursuit

Everyone wants to be a hero... to make their life count... to do something with their life. I'm no different. I tend to dwell on this theme of significance, as does this generation that I'm tasked to minister to. There is something God-given and God-inspired at our very core that desires to matter.

Sadly we search for significance by pursing pleasures in this world, gathering 'toys', seeking prestige, positioning for power and the list goes on and on. We miss that our significance is found in Christ alone - in a person, but I would argue in our pursuit of Him as well.

In 1 Timothy 4:10 Paul writes "For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe."

That verse is incredibly challenging to me in my journey. My pursuit of Christ will not be easy! Living a life that matters will be filled with toil and strive. Why do I do the things that I do? Why do I want my life to matter?

I continue on in the pursuit because in it is this unbearable weight of His presence. This overwhelming thought of being found in Christ and made like Christ makes me want to smile, cry, rejoice, feel crushed, rejoice and mourn all at the same time.

The thing that is disturbing to me about making our goal = significance is that our very attempts to matter and achieve oftentimes fight against the very simple truth that Christ simply wants us to pursue Him. Period. Be found in Him. Period. I'm learning that it isn't that He doesn't care about the results or the goal, but that He is the result and the goal!

A lot of our heroes of the faith that loved our great God and King and were obedient beyond the norm didn't quite get the goal they were probably hoping for:

* Moses spends his whole life with grumbling, whiners and dies without getting to walk into the promise land.
* Samson suicide bombs the Philistines and when the dust settles he is dead and the Philistines still rule over Israel.
* David's son rapes his sister and leads a rebellion against David, dethroning him for a season.
* Jeremiah ends up in exile with the rest of the country after repeatedly getting beaten for preaching what God commanded him to preach.
* John the Baptist is beheaded by a pervert who gives his head to a 15-year-old stripper.
* Peter is killed, reportedly crucified upside down.
* Paul is killed in Rome but only after he spends his life (with thorn intact) being beaten, rejected, lost at sea, and consistently dealing with people coming in behind him and destroying what he built.

I read it this way recently, "If your hope is set on anything other than Him, how do you survive when it goes bad? If He is the goal, the treasure, the pursuit, then those things are fuel that presses you into His goodness and grace all that much more. I am not saying they are pleasant or enjoyable but only that if He is your goal you will find your faith sustained."

My I be found obedient and passionate in the pursuit of a God who is more faithful in pursuing me than I ever could be in pursuing Him! Soli Deo Gloria!

God Change Things? God Change Me!

I had the awesome opportunity to preach at Cru (Campus Crusade @ FSU) tonight. I am always grateful for the chance to preach the Word, but I'm always encouraged speaking to this generation of college students. Most that are following Christ, are doing so with a hunger to be different and make an impact and desire for God's name and renown to go to the ends of the earth.

God has really been challenging me with the notion of desiring God to change things rather than changing me. Too often I'm looking at circumstances, pain, temptation and my surroundings and looking for those to change rather than asking God to change me through them. Too often I think we are always looking to God for answers rather than just knowing and resting in the fact that He is the answer. I've been challenged to start praying God change me instead of God change things.

I have a desire to be consumed and thus satisfied with Christ. He is my sufficiency and portion forever. It must become less about what He offers or even where He is taking me and just more about Him.

A story I read this week really hit home. It is the story of Dr. John Kavanaugh’s visit to Mother Teresa’s “house for the dying” in Calcutta, India. Kavanauh had traveled half way around the world seeking a clear answer on the direction his life should take. He met Mother Teresa, and she asked what she could do for him. He asked her to pray for him that he might have clarity. Mother Teresa responded firmly, “No, I will not do that”. Surprised by her quick denial, he asked her why. “Clarity is the last thing you are clinging to and must let go of,” she said. Kavanaugh looked at her and responded that she always seemed to have clarity about her purpose and mission. Mother Teresa laughed and said, “I never had clarity; what I have always had is trust. So I will pray that you trust God!”

If you choose to walk with God, you may not find the clarity that you seek about your future, your dreams, or even any decisions you need to make... and you don’t get to be in control either! But what He offers is a relationship with His Son and our Savior. A life changing relationship where He is at work molding us and shaping us into His image. I pray my heart would find satisfaction in no other and my life would be consumed in knowing Him, loving Him and making Him known. Soli Deo Gloria!

Happy Bday Jake Taylor!

I guess this post will be one of those self-indulgent, proud daddy-type entries. But I did want to take a moment to celebrate the blessing God gave Brooke and I two years ago when our Jake Taylor entered the world. It has been so amazing to watch him grow and develop. He's quite a character and is all boy for sure.

It's hard to believe that we were celebrating his first birthday a year ago already. Time has sure flown by. Fortunately this birthday was uneventful (in a good way) and we didn't end up in the ER like last year. If you missed that story, click here.

Thanks to all the relatives who made the trek over to Tally to celebrate with us. We had a great time sharing the day with the ones we love. So let me wish a big happy birthday to my little man... Daddy loves you!

Becoming like Christ

What a second day it has been for me during this time of 'Refuge' here in Bham. I had a great start to my morning by getting some free Starbucks (thanks John) and then getting to check out a Bham staple... the Rick and Bubba show. They've got a new studio that was pretty sweet. Refill on the Starbucks, some conversation with God and then I was on my way to Refuge for the morning session.

Kristan Stanfill and band lead in worship this morning. We started off by singing "Oh Happy Day" the way it was meant to be sung. It was great to sing it and mean it! What an awesome morning to come into God's presence. His Spirit was thick in the room and that was refreshing. Randy Hall came up next to speak and challenged us to redifine student ministry as simply "Helping students become like Christ." Then the second part of his definition was "By leaders becoming like Christ." Simply, yet profound. And in reality that's the goal. I've always heard it said and strive to live by, "Follow me as I follow Christ."

No trip to Bham is complete without a visit to Milos. Milos is hard to put into words, other than saying, "Everybody goes to Milos." Everyone reading will know my love for Sonny's sweet tea. In fact I attribute most of what hangs around my waist to Sonny's sweet tea. Don't burn me at the stake for heresy, but Sonny's sweet tea can't even hang with Milos' sweet tea. I think Milos invented sweet tea. Milos sweet tea will be in heaven. Great cheesburger and the famous fries to go with it... what a great lunch.

After lunch I swung by both my alma maters, Samford and Beeson Divinity. Man, I felt old walking around there. I got to catch up with a former student that just graduated and is a freshman and SU and that was fun. Alot has changed on campus. I spent some good quiet time at Beeson... good time in the Word, polished up my sermon for tomorrow night and worked on material for the SLT retreat this weekend. Slow paced for a day - what a relief.

After that I was able to hit the pavement on one of my favorite running greenways. I typically have a pretty rushed 3 mile run each morning, but today I was able to have about an hour for a 6 mile run. Maybe I shouldn't have picked the hottest part of the day, but I didn't have much of a choice. But it was great to get out and enjoy the beauty of God's creation and enjoy a Driscoll sermon on my iPod. The run was great and my legs feel good, but I'm betting the morning will be a different story.

I about to head out a grab some dinner and then back for the last Refuge session. Can't wait to hear Dr. David Platt tonight. The guy knows, loves and brings God's Word. I'm praying God has a word for me tonight.

Unfortunately I've got to make the drive back tonight. That means 5 hours are ahead of me starting about 10 CST/11 EST. Looks like I'll be pulling back into Tally around 4 am. Not so excited about that.

God knew what I needed by providing my this rest, renewal and place of refuge. He is so amazing to call me away and renew my spirit.

A place of Refuge

Tonight was a bit of a homecoming for me. I've traveled 5 hours up to Birmingham, Alabama for Refuge '08... a retreat, rest and renewal for student pastors. I come to Bham pretty often to see Brooke's family, but somehow traveling alone brought back alot of memories and a good feeling as I drove in this afternoon. I guess all in all I spent about 10 years of life, college, seminary and ministry here in Bham.

I knew it was going to be a great evening when Ponzee (one of my former students and interns) wanted to grab some Dreamland for dinner. I opened the door to a smell that was almost heavenly. Full slab of ribs, white bread and sweet tea. Pretty sure all 3 of those will be in heaven. But while here on earth and especially in Bham, Dreamland is a must visit. What a great start to my trip.

Headed over to Brook Hills for Refuge after dinner. And by heading over I mean 280. That won't mean anything to you unless you know Bham. I don't miss 280. Bumper to bumper and they keep building new stores along the way... as if 280 needs more people driving on it.

Awesome to be back a Brook Hills. I spend a good many Saturday nights there for Saturday worship while living in Birmingham. It was always great to go to a church and be able to worship in a place where I wasn't on staff and didn't have responsibilities or keys to the building.

Refuge started out with Chris Tomlin leading in worship. The sound that followed was incredible. Over 1000 student pastors lifting up praise to a holy God. I hadn't become that emotional in worship since being in Nicaragua earlier this summer. It was such a blessing to sing with people of like mind for the Kingdom and a passion for the worship of God Almighty. Tomlin introduced "Jesus Messiah" from his new CD. Powerful song.


Louie Giglio was up next with the Word. He said something that I'm still processing. When talking about our role as pastors in the Kingdom he said, "It's amazing that we aren't necessary but we are invited." The idea was that God in no way needs us but rather chooses to invite us into the work that He is doing... the work of the Kingdom. Giglio went on to share out of Colossians 2 and 2 Corinthians 5 about grace. It was so refreshing to hear the word and feel the grace of God pour over my heart. "I can't". That had to sink in. "I can't, but He can." "Christ IN us - the hope of glory."

I thank God for giving me this opportunity for rest and renewal. I wish it was longer, but I'm waiting in anxious anticipation to hear what He has for me and to spend some time seeking refuge in Him!

Nicaragua:: finally home!

Back on US soil... I'll admit it was refreshing but also a little bit of a weird feeling. Especially for me since I stretched across both teams and was in Nicaragua 18 days I guess. For the first time I won't be eating gallopinto for at least one meal (I had an 18 day streak going). For those of you reading this that were on one of the teams... you'll laugh to know that I had to remember to actually flush the toilet paper when I got home.

We had a pretty easy day for our travel day home... other than waking up at 4 in the morning. That's never fun. But we made it out of the Managua Airport half asleep and without breakfast, then we landed in Miami and it was lunch time. Fortunately this year, we had enough of a layover not to have to run through immigrations and customs trying to catch our next flight. Some took the opportunity to catch up on some sleep and we all had tough decisions to make about what was going to be our first taste of US food... most chose pizza. One other thing we noticed was how cold we all were in the Miami Airport... from this strange phenomenon called air conditioning. A hot shower will also probably be an adjustment.

I know I leave a little piece of my heart in Nicaragua every time I leave (this year was number 5). I suspect after going on enough missions there I won't have any heart left to bring home and I'll just have to stay and minister there! God has and continues to grow inside me a heart for the nations... so that the world can hear, know and experience the good news of the Gospel of grace.

God deserves all the praise and glory for what He did through both of our teams in Nicaragua. We train and prepare as best we can, but ultimately it is God who chooses to work through us. We don't have anything to offer other than our availability. And God likewise deserves all the praise and glory for what He did in our lives. I can honestly say that everyone on both teams was powerfully impacted by our time in Nicaragua - the time we spent with God everyday and also what God showed us and taught us about Himself.

We had an opportunity to live out Jesus' mission. In Luke 4, he reads a prophesy about Himself from Isaiah that says, "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

Our worship of Almighty God must propel us forward with Jesus' mission at heart. I'm so grateful to Wildwood for being a "sending" church and being a church that not only supports, but values student mission trips. And I wait with anxious expectation for the opportunity to return next year!

Nicaragua:: Day 15

It is going to be difficult to summarize all the happenings from today. We started our morning by visiting the city dump - home to about 1200 residents (800 or so being children). The dump is a working dump and the residents that live their make their living sorting through the trash - looking for food, things to reuse or even sell. They make their homes out of whatever they can find to construct with. I am always overwhelmed with emotion just thinking about these peoples lives and God's grace to me in the fact that I wasn't born there. It is difficult to understand and wrap my arms around for sure. I always pray that God would allow me to see the world (and the people there) through His eyes. I was reminded of the verse where Jesus looks out and has compassion on the crowd as they looked like helpless, scattered sheep without a Shepherd.

After the dump we visited Sister Ruby for a time of prayer. Time with Ruby (see previous post from the construction team) is always a powerful time of ministry. It was so refreshing to just spend time in God's presence, hearing from Him and praying for one another.

We returned to the compound for lunch and then had a special time down by the pool. God put in on Ginger's heart to be baptized, so I had the privilege of baptizing her in the Buzbee's pool. It was a joy to celebrate in the sacrament of baptism here in Nicaragua.

We then loaded up the buses and headed out to the market and then out to dinner. This seems to always be a highlight of the trip. It was fun to just end the trip together celebrating what God has done here in Nicaragua.

Unfortunately our time here on this mission is over, but we know God's mission always continues. We do have to be up early - 4:30 am to be exact to head back to Tally. Please pray for our safety as we travel!

Nicaragua:: Day 14

Today the campo team transformed into the construction team. We started early with our breakfast and team devotional time and then headed out to Los Cedros to work on the house that our construction team started. It was awesome to arrive to see everything completed... almost! The house had all the walls up, the roof on and just lacking a door, 3 windows and the concrete floor for the main house and the porch.

We got right to work on making sure the interior was level and ready for the concrete. The main home was pretty ready, but the porch required about 40+ wheelbarrows full of dirt. It was a lot of hard work digging more of the trench (for water runoff) to give us dirt for the porch. After the level was set came the mixing of the concrete. We got a good start on the concrete before heading to Louisa's house for lunch. Going to Louisa's is always a treat - a break from PB&J and having a hot meal for lunch. What a blessing and it was delicious!

God gave us another blessing at lunch when we rounded the corner and saw about 15 kids from camp on the way to school. Their faces lit up when they saw us coming. It was a sweet reunion in the streets of Los Cedros. It was an awesome addition to our day. Many of the kids came to the worksite after school to hang out with us.

After lunch we had loads of concrete to make and bucket lines to form! But everyone worked really hard and by God's grace we were able to complete the flooring in one day! Majoure and one of her sons came to the house to see the completion as well. It was a treat for me to talk with her and even though we had already dedicated the house - to encourage her to use her new home for God's glory.

On the way out we stopped by Collegio Christiano to say goodbye to Pastor Manuel and his wife, Pastora. They presented us with a letter, which they read, thanking us for our investment of time and energy into the camp and the construction of the home. It was a touching time to spend together. I have had the privilege to get to know Pastor Manuel over the past 5 years and it was a God moment for me to realize that I have a brother in Christ and in ministry - though thousands of miles apart - we are connected in friendship and the desire to see people come to know Christ and see His Kingdom come!

Tomorrow is our last full day here in Nicaragua. I know that we are all anxious to be home, but at the same time it is always hard to leave. God is doing a great work in our hearts, but I know He has more in store for us tomorrow!

Nicaragua:: Day 13

This morning we had to load the bus and say goodbye to Campo Allegria. We were all feeling the exhaustion of running a camp and the emotions of having to say goodbye to the kids yesterday. So today became a day of rest for us. It was great to be able to sleep beyond 5 am without a Nicaraguan camper waking us up today!

We loaded up the bus for our journey back. The bus ride back to Managua is a little over 2 hours so we made it back to the compound for lunch.

The afternoon was spent relaxing in the hammocks, swimming in the pool, reading, having some quiet time and even catching a nap if needed. It was good to have the down time after giving so much over the last few days.

We had dinner here and then had to tackle the project of re-sorting and bagging all the clothes that we brought. Thank you Wildwood for the donations of clothing. We brought 17 huge 50-pound duffle bags full of donated clothes. This clothes will be sold by the teachers of Collegio de Esperanza (School of Hope) that is in the dump. So not only will the clothes go to needy children and families, but the school & teachers will make some added income to continue their work in La Trudecca.

The sorting wouldn't have been complete without the annual Mission Nicaragua fashion show. Fortunately, (for those involved) I didn't take any pictures of that!

Tomorrow we start bright and early as this team transforms from the camp team to the construction team for a day. We are going back into Los Cedros to complete the house that was begun last week. The construction team was able to totally build the house from the ground up - but didn't have the time to pour the concrete floor. So tomorrow will be a day of hard work and mixing loads of concrete!

Please continue to lift this team up in your prayers. We do have some team members with a stomach bug that makes for some additional time spent talking to John - if you know what I mean. Please pray that God would heal them quickly and that He would continue to work in and through us!

Nicaragua:: Day 12

Camp is finished. Those are hard words to type. Even though we are all pretty exhausted from days that started way to early, fun in the sun, swimming, serving meals, facilitating stations, carrying kids around, to just trying to love like Christ - it was very difficult to say goodbye to the kids today.

We ran a normal day's schedule except we introduced the "polar bear" swim to those brave enough (only the boys were) to go for a dip around 6:00 am this morning. We do polar bear swims at MS Camp where the spring is cold, but really cold in the morning hours. Here it wasn't the water temp, but the lack of sun and heat! But it was a blast.

We wrapped up our time before lunch with a special movie of all the pictures we had taken of the kids all week. They were so excited to see themselves up on the big screen. Then we gave the kids a chance to speak about anything they had learned. A few got up to thank us and God and even the food - just for a great camp this week. I had the opportunity to thank them for coming and to challenge them to continue to grow in what that had heard and learned this week.

Before they were ready to go to the bus, we pulled out our surprise of the week. Thanks to the Wildwood VBS, we had a brand new backpack full of school supplies and a new pair of flip flops for every child at camp. I can't even describe with words how excited they were... their eyes lit up as they received the backpacks and looked at he contents. It was truly a greater joy to give than receive.

Although we have received. We have been so blessed to have been a part of these kids lives and to spend this time with them. Who would have guessed how attached you can get in just a few days. It was also heartbreaking to think about some of the family situations and living conditions they will face when they depart the bus. We laughed, hugged and cried one last time and then chased the bus down the road in true Nicaragua fashion.

We spent the afternoon relaxing, swimming some and then had a nice team dinner and debriefing time. God has truly been doing a good work in our hearts and we pray He will continue to do so. PS - we also caught a really big tarantula tonight!

Nicaragua:: Day 11

It's hard to believe that camp is almost over for us and the children. God has really blessed our time here - not only in through the activities, lessons and fun, but in the relationships we've been able to build. We ran our last full day of camp today. Tomorrow the children will leave after lunch.

We had a pretty routine morning with the stations, dance time and then swimming time in the lake. However our evening worship time was a little different. In fact, it started with a pretty spectacular showing from Volcan Concepcion. From what we could tell (we're on the other side of the lake) a steam pocket exploded. You'll see in the picture a steam cloud going up into the sky. It seemed pretty ominous and it did send ash sailing our way, but from what we hear, it is a fairly regular occurrence.

Tonight during our worship time, both the ballet girls and hip hop boys got to showcase what they've been learning and rehearsing. It was truly a God moment to see the beauty and joy on the faces of the girls in their outfits performing their dance. Likewise, the boys had a smile ear to ear when they were up front strutting their stuff. Knowing that most have never experienced an opportunity like that before made it even more special.

We capped off our night by throwing a surprise party for Debbie. This is her second year in a row to celebrate her birthday here in Nicaragua. We had a Nicaraguan cake and a time to sing to her and celebrate.

Tomorrow is our last day at camp... please pray that God continue to reveal Himself to these children and that He would use us in a powerful way!

Nicaragua:: Day 10

5:10 AM. Why is that significant? That would happen to be the time that the Nica boys at camp decided to wake up today. Apparently they get up when the sun does. Me, not so much. But anyhow, that is when our day started today... and from the looks of things, when it will start tomorrow.

Today was our first full day at camp and I think it is safe to say that we are all exhausted. Everything went very well - from the team leaders, art, music, dancing, Bible story, sports to our evening time.

God is blessing us with the ability to gain trust and build relationships quickly despite the language barrier (most of our attempts at "Spanglish" isn't all that great). But just loving these kids with the love of Christ is proving to be good communication!

I am pretty familiar with the community they come from and their way of life, but we are starting to learn more of their stories, which can be hard to process. A brother & sister that are here were abandoned by their mom which forced them to live on the streets. Later an aunt took them in, but couldn't handle it and tried to give them to Pastor Manuel and his wife. A few others only have an older sibling to take care of them. It is pretty heartbreaking, but it reminds us that we - in and of ourselves - don't have much to offer them, but the love of Christ and His healing is powerful.

Please join us in praying for the children that don't know Christ - that God would open their eyes to see their sin and need for a Savior. Pray that we would represent Jesus well and see them through His eyes!

Nicaragua:: Day 9

Today was an early start for me and the construction team. We were up by 4am and I took a moment to pray with them before they headed off to the airport. From what I've heard, they've made it back safely and are probably suffering from a long day in airports and on airplanes.

After seeing the construction team off, I boarded the bus to Los Cedros to pick up the children that were coming to camp. It was a neat God moment to see the joy on their faces as the bus pulled up. It was also somewhat heartbreaking to see many kids just waiting on their own without a parent to say goodbye to. Things aren't much different here in Nicaragua as they asked "How much longer?" and "Are we there yet?" most of the 2 1/2 hour trip!

We arrived to meet the camp team who was already in place here at Campo Allegria. The camp is on Lake Nicaragua which is in the top ten of largest freshwater lakes in the world. Sitting right in the middle of the lake is Volcan Conception - one of a few active volcanoes here in Nicaragua. This camp is a great place to enjoy the beauty of God's creation and for these children is like going to Disneyworld.

After lunch, the team was off and running with swimming time, tie-dying shirts, arts & crafts and more! Then came a great dinner and our evening time of worship. I had the opportunity to preach - which I don't do much to kids younger than middle school, much less those that don't understand English. It was somewhat challenging, but I praise God for the opportunity.

Some of these kids come from Christian homes, but many come from abject poverty, broken relationships with parents or even worse abusive homes. It's such a privilege to simply try to love them with the love of Christ and to be His hands and feet here at camp. We covet your prayers for this team and for the children God has brought here!

Nicaragua:: Day 8

It's hard to believe but the time is nearing an end for the construction team and I think it has finally hit them (I'm staying for another 10 days with the camp team!) I can't tell you how much fun it was to have both teams together last night. We had a great time sharing experiences and praying for each other.

Today the construction team went back to Los Cedros one last time for the dedication of Maujore's home. She was in tears before she even made it up the hill to see her home. I had the privilege to pray with her and her family as we dedicated her house to the Lord. We gathered around and shared many hugs and she also expressed her gratitude. It was definitely hard to say goodbye. Although, the camp team is going to be able to go back after camp and pour the floor so hopefully we will see her again!

After leaving, we headed over to Collegio Christiano to say goodbye to the preschool students and to see the final masterpiece on the walls. The whole school (students and teachers) gathered to thank our team for the painting and begged us to return to paint all the other rooms! It was hard to say goodbye to the Los Cedros community today, but we are prayerful that we will return next year!

After Los Cedros we headed down the road to the beach! It was a much-deserved break for the construction team who has put in some long days, hard work and lots of love into our projects. It was a first for some in the Pacific and we all had fun in the sun!

We capped off our day with a special team dinner. It was a night on the town for us and despite being raining, we had a great time. We ate at Dona Haydee Restaurant and had some great Nicaraguan food!

The camp team got organized at the compound this morning and loaded up the bus to head down to Campo Allegria after lunch. This will give them some time to get prepared for the campers arrival tomorrow. I'll be saying goodbye to the construction team tonight and joining the bus of campers to meet up with the camp team for the remainder of the mission.

Please pray for safe travels for our construction team (they have to be up at 4am and fly out at 7am) and pray for the upcoming mission of the camp team!

Nicaragua:: Day 7

I will just say from the outset that this is going to be a hard day to put into words. Our construction team started our morning off with a visit to La Trudecca (the city dump) which houses an estimated 1200 people with the majority being children. The Buzbees run Collegio de Esperanza (the school of hope) in the dump.

The dump is an emotionally overwhelming experience. It is hard to drive through the sights, smells and see the conditions without being affected. I am always overwhelmed with the thought of, but for the grace of God, I could have been born there. There is also some amazing spiritual symbolism of a country of such beauty and a place of such trash, brokenness, sin and depravity. I often imagine that our sin must look much like the dump to our Heavenly Father. He created such beauty and yet we trade beauty time and time again for the trash piles of sin.

After the dump we visited Sister Ruby. Ruby is a prophetess who has given her life to have a ministry in La Trudecca. She is a prayer warrior and we always have a powerful time of ministry with her. Today was no exception. God met us in that room as she prayed for us. God convicted, challenged, called and worked mightily in all of our lives. Most of us are still processing what happened even after our team time tonight.

I had to breakaway from our construction team this afternoon to pick up our camp team from the airport. Praise God they made it safely and on time! It was great to see them and after dropping off their luggage we made the journey out to Los Cedros so they could see the construction team and the work on the house and school.

I was amazed when we arrived to see the painting completed and the house almost finished! I can't believe what God was able to accomplish with some willing hands this mission. All that remains on the house is the installation of the roof, windows, door and to pour the floor.

We are going to return tomorrow to dedicate the house. The camp team will spend the morning preparing to depart for Campo Allegria. The camp team arrived excited and ready to go, but I know the construction team is feeling the sadness of an impending departure. Please pray for their last day and the work ahead for the camp team!

Nicaragua:: Day 6

We are starting to see a house! The completion is almost in sight. We were able to completely finish one side wall and the rear wall. We also got the dirt level to pour the foundation and the posts set for the porch and roof. It was a 'regular' work day for us, but we were all somewhat dragging after our long day yesterday.

I was able to work in a special treat for the team. Instead of the regular PB&J's for lunch, we went over to Louisa's house. She lives in Los Cedros (right next to the church) and as a ministry and to earn some income will cook a meal for the work teams. Let me just say that the lunch was amazing! It was an awesome experience to eat a Nicaraguan meal and also to sit down in a chair and have a warm lunch. Praise God!

Our girls are continuing the painting of the preschool building and it is really coming along. They completed the alphabet and the colors and got alot of the mural done. It is neat to see them serving and using their gifts in a way that we didn't even plan for on this mission. The children have been amazed and excited watching them.

Tomorrow we have a little different schedule. We are starting our day by going to see Sister Ruby. Sister Ruby is basically a missionary that resides right outside of La Trudecca (the city dump). God has given her a powerful ministry of prayer for the residents and teams that come in. God always does a good work in our hearts when we go to see Ruby... and seeing the dump is likewise a very powerful and emotional time.

I appreciate all of you that are praying for us... please continue to pray for this team, but also our camp team that arrives tomorrow!

Nicaragua:: Day 5

Wow... we had our longest day of work today so far. God granted us with another beautiful day - He provided the cloud cover when we needed it and even a breeze at other times. Building a home in just over a week is a huge undertaking and we have all been nervous as to whether we will finish or not. But today we were able to make really good progress - the walls are up to the mid-level to where we lay another trough of concrete. I would guess a few more rows of block until we reach roof level!

The girls helped in a major way with some painting of the steel beams for the porch and roof joists before heading over to the school to work on their "specialty" painting in the preschool building. They worked a long day as well and are making great progress there.

It has also been a real treat for us to interact with the residents (especially the kids) of Los Cedros. We bring treats & trinkets for them everyday and it is a blessing to just be able to give and bring a smile to such a place of poverty. But God is showing me how blessed they really are in their "lacking." I'm finding that having less distractions, responsibilities and the trappings of the way of life I'm accustomed to may actually make life more difficult in ways that it seems would be easier. Just like with God's kingdom - it tends to work in reverse of how we think.

At our team time tonight we all were able to reflect on what God is teaching us and how the mission is going so far. God is uniting our hearts and we are really working together as a team. It is hard to believe we are in the home stretch of the mission already.

We are looking forward to another big day of work tomorrow before our next team (camp team) arrives on Wednesday. Praise God for what He is doing in and through us so far this mission!

Nicaragua:: Day 4

What a great Lord's day we all shared together today. We started our morning with some time alone with God before heading to worship at Verbo Church in Managua. Verbo is very much like Wildwood, with contemporary worship (we even knew some of the songs in English), air conditioning, powerpoint, lighting and a celebratory feel to the service. We were fortunate to have Elizabeth Buzbee translating the sermon for us so we could understand what was being preached!

God really moved in my life in a powerful way by revealing the awesome truth that at the moment we were worshipping in another country, in another language, we were joining with millions of believers around the world - every tribe, tongue and nation - in worship of the King! It was an awesome image God brought to my mind and experience for me to worship Him in another language. My Spanish is pretty poor, but on a slow song, I can actually read and sing along. We sang a song that was a beautiful song of adoration to the glory of God that said:

Solo a ti sea la gloria Senor
la alabanza y adoracion
toda ordilla se doble ante el
unico rey y Dios

Solo a ti sea la gloria Senior
la alabanza y adoracion
que toda lengua confiese que
tu eres el Senor

It translates something like this:
Alone to you be the glory God
the praise and adoration
itself double before the King and God

Alone to you it be the glory God
the praise and adoration that
tongue be trusted that you are God

After Verbo all the teams had lunch together and just enjoyed a day of Sabbath rest. At night we went to Pastor Manuel's church in Los Cedros. But before church, I took the team around the corner to see a home we built for Maurisio's family 3 years ago. It was neat to see the family and see the home that God allowed us to build.

Church in Los Cedros is very different. It is a very small, but community oriented congregation that worships in a tiny block building with no air conditioning, powerpoint or all the "frills" we are used to. We worshipping in song for nearly an hour before we sat down for the message. The people in Los Cedros worship God with passion and it was exciting for us to be a part of it. We had to do without translation, but the Spirit of God was in that place! We coined the phrase that, "If you're not sweating, your not worshipping" not only because of the warmth of the church but the people as well!

We will be back on our regular work schedule tomorrow with the construction of the house and also the painting in the school. Please continue to lift our team up in your prayers!

Nicaragua:: Day 3

Today was an exciting day for us in many ways as we journeyed back to work, instead of taking our Saturday off. We divided our team by gender (or maybe by creativity) and our girls went with Karen over to Collegio Cristiano de Los Cedros (the Christian school of Los Cedros) to paint murals in the preschool building. This wasn't at all planned, but the opportunity, skill set, supplies and timing all fell into place. So our girls had a very productive day painting while the guys remained at the work site to continue building.

The guys surprise of the day was not having to move nearly as much dirt out for the foundation as we had thought! In fact, we actually got to move some dirt back in to bring the level up - that is much easier! We mixed a huge load of concrete today as well as a good few batches of mortar as our walls are going up.

One of the many things we take for granted besides electricity and plumbing is running water. It takes a lot of water to do what we are doing and today we learned where it was coming from. Maujore (not sure of the spelling) and her friend walked across to the neighbor's house and started carry 5 gallon buckets full of water back and forth. We mobilized a team into action to take this responsibility for ourselves. The well was easily 50+ feet deep and it took many buckets to fill our barrels with the water for today.

It has truly been eye opening to see, that through all the poverty and lack of "comforts of home" how truly happy these people of Los Cedros are. Sure problems exist, but I honestly believe their 'lacking' is desirable to our constant 'wanting'.
We are praying as a team that God would continue to reveal Himself to us and that we would find Him in the experiences, relationships, work and beauty of our days here.

Tonight was a very special night for our team. We were invited earlier to a baptism celebration at the Buzbees' pool and in talking about it with our team - we had 2 team members express a desire to be baptized. Neither Jon nor Taylor had been baptized, so tonight, upon their profession of faith, I had the opportunity and privilege to baptize my brothers in Christ! It was a very special time of celebration.

Tomorrow we are looking forward to a day worship of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We know it will be different and even probably somewhat difficult with the language barrier, but the truth is - God is worthy to be praised all over the world!

Nicaragua:: Day 2

Well we have made it through our second full day of work and again we praise God for a beautiful (although sometimes hot and very sunny) day today. It was amazing to see God present in our lives and in our midst throughout the day today. I challenge our students to be aware of God and where He is showing up and it keeps us more focused on His presence throughout the day... even in simple, but much appreciated ways like a cool breeze when we are hard at work.

We also saw God on the smiles of the children's faces today when we had some down time and we were playing duck duck goose, futbol (soccer) or even jumping rope. The children were out of school today so we had a good crowd around the work site. We see God in the enjoyment they get in just playing - even though we know they have so little and could be playing with so much "more."

God encouraged our hearts by allowing us to see some "progress" on the house. Extreme Home Makeover: Nicaragua Edition doesn't quite work like the show! We spent all day yesterday digging and then filling the holes we dug with concrete. Today we actually dug more, poured more concrete, but actually got to see some of the walls going up. We are going to continue work tomorrow before we break on Sunday.

So far everyone is doing well, although you can pray for Austin W. who fell a little nauseous under all the heat. Luckily we have a med team down here serving and they think it was a little heat stress. But our team is adjusting to the food, sleep and hard work!

Tonight after dinner we celebrated the 17th birthday of Taylor G. We had the cooks bake a cake and he got a birthday celebration Nicaragua style.

Our team time at night has been really encouraging to me. Tonight we looked at Jesus' attitude and mission (Philippians 2 and Luke 4). We were all challenged to think about our lives and the mission Jesus is calling us to - not only while we are here 'on mission' in Nicaragua, but when we return to our own mission field in Tallahassee.

We appreciate and covet your prayer support that God's name and glory would go forth to the nations!