This coming weekend I will
travel with a team of 12 people from our church to serve in Nicaragua. I am excited.
It has been over 13 years since I have been in Central America. Will you pray for our team?
We will be working with Donald and Pamela Gillette who
lead Because We Care Ministries from their
ministry site in Somotillo, Nicaragua.
They serve villages all around them meeting needs and sharing
Jesus. Donald has been a pastor for many
years, and he continues to inspire pastors across Central America.
Will you please pray for our
team? The team is made up of Kim Key,
Tina Stone, Steve Stone, George Hopkins, Jeannie Hopkins, Moriah Hodges, Betsy
Hodges, Tracy Mosley, Megan Hines, China Biggs, Carolyn Holland and
myself. Pray for our safety, for God to
use us and that He would work in our lives.
Acts 1:8 NLT
But you will receive power when the
Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will
be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem,
throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
As I pray for our team there
are several things to come to my mind.
Some come from personal experience.
Some are out of need. No matter what
our journey might be or the mission we expect.
Mission trips call for us to
be flexible. Flexible has nothing to do
with how limber we are, but it tells us we need to be ready for things that
change as well as be ready to be used by God.
When working in places we are not familiar with, often things change
especially in a culture that is far different from our own.
Being on mission any day
means that we need to be spiritually ready.
That means pray. Pray for
yourself and those you serve with. Pray
for the people you seek to serve. Pray
for wisdom and insight from God. Pray
that He will give you the words to say when you need to speak or to know when
to be quiet. Pray for protection. Oh, I’ve got some stories, but they will wait
till later.
Mission trips come with lots
of hard work outside your comfort zone.
Americans are used to things happening on schedule. We like our air conditioning and smooth
roads. Things like those are not always commonplace
on the mission trips. I have found that
when we are flexible and spiritually ready we can deal with lots of different things. For me that has been no electricity, no water
and more. It has come in the form of
washed out roads and sickness. These
things are comfortable, yet these are things and places where God can work big
time in the lives of people around us.
As I pray for our mission
team I am expecting some of the unexpected things. I am also expecting God to do awesome things
through our team. I expect to be
changed, and this is an exciting time.
Pray for our team. Get ready for more updates!
1 Corinthians
9:22 NASB
To the weak I became weak, that I might
win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all
means save some.
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