Mission Nicaragua: Day 17

It is always a difficult day realizing that it is your final day on the field. Of course, at 4:30 in the morning - you aren't doing much processing. We had a long day of travel to return to the States and praise God a pretty uneventful one. We had two good flights and a really long layover in between to do some individual reflecting and to start decompressing a bit from the mission.

There is so much about these missions that breathe life into our soul and give us a glimpse of Heaven that makes it difficult to leave. They are mountaintop moments that create a greater longing for the things of God as we've labored for the Kingdom. I'm always amazed, year after year, how God shows up in power and meets our teams and works in and through our teams as we make our lives available to do His will.

This year was no exception. God has done a good work in our teams and in our hearts individually. He spoke and we listened, He loved and we loved in return, He gave and we received, He called and we answered. He allowed us to deepen our relationships with Him and each other, but also to form new relationships with brothers and sisters in Christ hundreds of miles away. God graced us to see the work of our hands - in the construction at the church, painting at the school and running the camp.

We're all a team together and we all work side by side, but there are some amazing leaders who labored for the mission and poured into our team that need my thanks... Debbie, Joel, Rhonda & Clay - you guys were awesome and I can't thank you enough for how you loved our students and stepped in to serve behind the scenes and without prompting.

To all of you that supported us - whether financially, through prayer or simply by reading and following our mission teams - we are very grateful for you. It takes more than our team on the ground to complete the mission and we realize that. So it is from the bottom of our heart that we first and foremost thank God for giving us the opportunity to go and the abilities needed to serve. We also thank our church family for the support and and all of you who stood in the gap for us. Finally, I can't thank my family enough for making the sacrifice to allow me to fulfill my God-given calling and to be away for extended periods of time. I know the sacrifice isn't always easy, but the rewards will be eternal.

At some point, we will all have to accept that Mission Nicaragua 2010 is over - our work is done - but we also know full well that THE mission is never over and we have MUCH work to be done! So let's not waste our lives!