Mission Nicaragua: Day 7

After having a great morning of time alone with God and breakfast we were off and running in the van (which made for a crowded, bumpy ride) to Los Cedros. Today we divided to conquer our two projects. The patient type went over to paint at the school - finishing up the trim and working on a second coat in places on the preschool building. Painting is always more fun with school kids running around you and trying to help you paint! Actually, it was fun to be out and see many familiar faces from working in Los Cedros so many years and taking their kids down to camp.

Our hardcore construction crew really got to go at it today as the interior wall had to be demolished. Nothing like serving Jesus with a sledgehammer! We also got to most of the rear wall up to height and the side wall up to height as well. The final step today was removing some of the existing roof to prepare for the new roof to go up on the addition. It's definitely exciting to see both projects nearing completion.

And again, nothing helps the work go by faster than having some regular breaks to hang with the neighborhood kids. Most days we've had kids stopping by on their way to school and then hanging out with us after school. Some will even jump right in with a shovel and help mix concrete or move blocks. Of course, besides the help, we do love running around or playing some soccer with them as well.

Today we also returned to Rosa's home and then Aurela's home. We met these sweet ladies out prayer walking and had the med team come by and check them out. We also assessed some of their needs and were able to go to the grocery store and stock them up with some food which we delivered today. They were so grateful to receive it and we were honored to have another chance to pray and spend time with them.

Despite the rain, no day is complete without a guys' game of animal ball in the pool. We've introduced our translators to this game and they've paid the price for joining us!

God continues to show up and speak through His word in our team time and small group time each night. Tonight we looked at the reality that we are temples of the Lord and the implications on our lives. Then a few verses later in 1 Corinthians, Paul talks about being found faithful in the end and we made that our prayer not only for this mission, but our lives! We so appreciate your prayer support as we are in the homestretch of our mission here in Nica!

Mission Nicaragua: Day 6

What a blessing to be able to join with the nations in worship of Almighty God today. For whatever reason, being outside the States helps give us a better picture of the reality that the nations are lifting up their voices of praise to God and we got to be a part of that celebration.

We went to Verbo Church in the morning, where the Buzbees attend. This church has a very international feel to it and is very familiar to what we would experience. And it is always cool to think that while we are worshipping in Nicaragua in Spanish, Wildwood is worshipping the same God hundreds of miles away in English. Verbo has a full praise band, screens and an translator for the many teams that join with the Nicas in worship there. We recognized a few of the songs and we able to join in English. The sermon was delivered by a guest speaker and gave the teams alot to talk about based on some of the Scriptures used and theology. But I was encouraged by our students discernment in listening.

After morning worship we just enjoyed our Sabbath by hanging out here at the Buzbee farm. It was a great chance to relax, read some and enjoy fellowship with each other before heading off to Los Cedros for evening worship.

Pastor Manuel's church in Los Cedros is quite a different experience. Thankfully God provided a nice breeze and the ceiling fans helped. This church is quite a bit smaller, but just a passionate in worship from the youngest to the oldest. Everyone in the church puts on their best and walks to church. Rain or shine and no matter how hot it is outside and inside the people gather with joyful spirits and spent a good hour in worship through singing. There are no screens, few instruments and a meager sound system, yet it seems none of that matters.

I had the opportunity to preach and was grateful to have Carlos translating for me. Carlos was a translator for our med team in April and an awesome young man of God. Oftentimes, the worship service in Los Cedros can last for 2-3 hours, so I'm sure it was a relief for our team to see me get called up to preach and then Pastor Manuel not preaching after I had finished! At the end of the service the whole team stood up front in a line and was personally greeted by nearly every member in attendance. They are so warm and welcoming and it is so great to grow the relationships we've built with that community of faith for the last 5 years.

Tomorrow we are back to work as we only have a few more days to finish the addition and the painting project at the school. We're grateful to God for the strength He is giving us and look forward to how He continues to work in us and through us. Keep praying!

Mission Nicaragua: Day 5

It is pretty hard to believe that we are about halfway through our mission. This team has been hard at work on the church extension (and it has helped that we have some great brick masons helping us) so the back wall is almost complete! But today, we only worked a half day at the church and then went over to Collegio Christiano Havilah to do some painting.

Before we left to go paint, we had the opportunity to go around to some church members in the community to do some visits with Pastor Manuel. We met a sweet lady today who has some sickness and pain that limits her mobility and she, like most in Los Cedros, barely has enough money to feed herself or her children. Elizabeth (RN) came with us to see her and make a diagnosis. We brought her medicine back to her and spent some time praying with her and getting to know her story. We will also make a run to the store to try to stock her up on some food.

Over the past missions we have done multiple projects at the school. One year we laid nearly 450 concrete stones to make sidewalks, we've done the foundation for the preschool building, painted a mural in the preschool building and even taken some children from the school down to camp. The school is run by Pastor Manuel and his wife who love the community and especially the children.

Working at the school is always a blessing - especially engaging with the kids, but they were out of school today... which actually made the painting go by faster. We were able to get the exterior first coat done and will be back on Monday to do a second coat and also the trim.

Tonight during our team time we took a look at our responsibility and privilege to be a laborer for Christ. Matthew 9 tells us that the fields are ready for harvest, but the laborers are few. And I believe that it has always been the case that there are more loiterers than laborers! Our prayer tonight was that God would strip us of our excuses and rid us of our fear and by His grace and the power of His Holy Spirit would allow us to be faithful to tell those who haven't heard. And we realize that this is not just in NIcaragua, but in our families, friendships, places of work and even school campuses.

It can seem overwhelming to think that an estimated 4 billion people in the world do not know Christ and even an estimated 1.5 billion of those have never heard or don't have access to the Gospel. We prayed that we would have the "beautiful feet" that Romans 10 tells us "brings the good news of the Gospel."

God is doing a good work in our hearts individually and corporately. We praise Him for what He is teaching us, showing us and working through us. As always, we covet your prayers.

Mission Nicaragua: Day 4

I wanted to start by simply saying what an amazing privilege it is to take these teams down to Nicaragua each year. This team has hit the ground running in so many different ways and it is such a joy to be able to labor together for the Kingdom. And even more rewarding is seeing God work in and through each and everyone on our team as their God given gifts, abilities and personalities are used for His glory.

We are making good progress on the two exterior walls at the church that we are building from the ground up. Once the process gets going, it seems to move a bit quicker each day. Today, we poured the forms for the columns and center rebar, so we are over halfway there on these two walls.

Today the FSU med team was serving at the same church in Los Cedros. This gave us the opportunity to see them in action, but also brought alot more people to the church that we could interact with and more kids to play with in our down time. We also took some time this afternoon to travel a few streets over to a home we build two years ago in Los Cedros. This was the home of Mauroje, a widow who is a member of the church. She lives at the base of a small mountain that after we spent some time with her and her family and prayed for them, we all decided to climb to get a view of all of Los Cedros. It was an exciting adventure to say the least and we all had a very challenging climb up a rock face to make it to the top.

We came back tonight and in the midst of God's fireworks show (lightning all around) we sang praises and opened up his Word up on the 3rd floor for our team time tonight. We looked at passages in Isaiah that show God's majesty and our necessary response and it seemed very fitting as He displayed His majesty all around us!

God is doing a good work. We appreciate and cover your prayers each day as we hope to see Christ formed in us and work through us. We're off to more brick laying tomorrow at the church and hopefully an afternoon of painting over at the Christian school where we have served before on two other trips.

Mission Nicaragua: Day 3

Another hot but beautiful day working in Los Cedros at the church. We are really making good progress as we get a bit more handy at making the rebar, mixing the concrete, moving the block and making the mortar. God has definitely put together a great team as we all enjoy working together and serving each other. It is so awesome for me as a pastor to see the body of Christ at work and to be a part of it.

A special part of our time here in Nica each year is going back and seeing our previous team projects and families. Today we want back to a home that we built 5 years ago. No one other than myself was on that team, but we have seen this family each year. It was such a blessing to reconnect and hear how they are doing and their 5 children and to pray for them.

Today we hit a few slow spots which gave us some awesome opportunities to play with the local kids after they get out of school. I always come down loaded with trinkets, stickers, candy and more. We simply were sharing the love of Christ through the universal language of "playing" today and giving of gifts. Many of the kids just love hanging out at the worksite and even pitched in to help us move block today.

During another slower portion of our day, a segment of our team broke away to go on a prayer walk through Los Cedros. Many had never prayer walked before and came back very excited with stories of neighbors they met and prayed with. They were also able to give out a good many of the Spanish Bibles we brought with some of our team's testimonies that had been translated to Spanish inside. God's Spirit was moving ahead of this team and gave them many ministry opportunities as they walked the streets. Everyone is very community oriented and open to having someone approach their home and even pray with them. It is definitely a change from the way things are in the States.

Tonight after dinner we had our annual 'unpack all the donated clothes fashion show and dance party' in the Rancho. Many thanks to those of you who gave clothes to the ministry down here and also for our temporary enjoyment tonight. It's always a huge undertaking, but somehow the fashion show and dance party makes the tedious work go by a bit faster. The clothes are such a blessing to those down here who will receive them and have so little.

Our day tomorrow will bring us a bit closer to the completion of the back room at the church and we'll also get to see the FSU med team in action as they will be doing a clinic inside the church in Los Cedros while we are working outside. We might also be able to start our painting project at the Christian school in Los Cedros tomorrow as well. Thanks for your continued prayer support!

Mission Nicaragua: Day 2

We have our first official day here in Nica under our belt. It was a hot, sunny day but I guess God showed us his favor with some rain that cooled us off... other than the rain later turned into a torrential downpour! But in true Nica fashion - the work continued! Today we worked at Pastor Manuel's church in Los Cedros. Pastor has become a dear friend to our teams as we have spend much time in Los Cedros. We've hosted med clinics, built homes, worked at the church, worshipped at the church, taken kids to camp and built and worked at the Christian school there. So being in Los Cedros definitely feels like home for us. We even got to see some familiar faces already.

We spent today building rebar, mixing concrete and painting some support beams for the roof. Our primary project at the church is adding a children's "wing" to the back of the church. There is already an existing small room that we are going to expand to the wall height and then build out new walls, while taking down the dividing wall. This will be a huge blessing for the church to give their children and young people a place to gather and be taught the Word.

The bus ride back from Los Cedros is always exciting, but more after we made our pit stop at the grocery store and some of our guys decided to have a hot sauce chugging challenge. Just thinking the the bus with limited water wasn't the best choice, but who actually thinks those things through ahead of time right?!

Our team time is always a highlight of our time together at night where we open the Word and open our hearts before the Lord and each other. We covet your prayer support!

Mission Nicaragua: Day 1

Well it seems of late that my posting is only happening while on the mission field. I sincerely wish that weren't the case, but setting aside the time to blog has been on the back burner, but it a shame - not so much for my readers - but for me personally. It is always a great practice for me and an encouragement in my walk with Christ to be able to online journal what He is up to in my life and ministry.


I find myself here again in Nicaragua, this time down with two great teams of high school, college students and adults. The first team and I arrived safely tonight and are excited about what God has in store for us this week. It would appear that we have a few construction projects already lined up working in the community of Los Cedros where we have served for many years now.

Please be praying for us - that God's Spirit would move in a powerful way in and through our teams. Our desire is to be faithful to minister the Gospel in word and deed as we make new relationships and build on existing relationships here in Nicaragua. Don't forget you can follow us on twitter.com/wwoutreach as well.