Scenes from Nicaragua

Mission: Nicaragua

Becca and I are going to spend a week in Nicaragua with my dad.  We leave this Friday. This is kind of a big deal, something we have been talking about for awhile.  At first we thought we would be going to India this summer, but when my dad invited us to go with him over Spring Break, and everything just kind of came together fast.

Did you know that next to Haiti, Nicaragua is the poorest country in our hemisphere?  Very few make over $200 a month.  My dad's ministry is actively involved in encouraging and resourcing these church leaders.  His ministry even started a thriving Christian school with 150+ students and Bible Training Center.

The ways that God has provided for this trip, it has pretty much blown me away.

Once again, I am shown what an awesome God we serve.  Just to give you an idea of what we will be doing .. My dad (who has been traveling to and serving the people of  Nicaragua for over 20 years) along with another couple are going to lead a conference for Nicaraguan Pastors and their wives.  Becca and I will be there to assist in any way we can. We will be involved in some of the teaching (thanks to local interpreters), but mostly we will be available for serving the women.  We may be playing with their kids, washing dishes, serving meals, cleaning ... we are pretty much going there to do whatever they need us to.  Our goal is to be available to them, period.

Becca and I have been collecting goodies to put together bags for these thirty five women.  It has been so exciting to see this part of it come together.  Lisa Moose, a friend from church, got an idea to sew drawstring backpacks for us to give each lady attending the conference.  She, along with some other terrific women from our church, got together and sewed the bags ..  this was fun to be a part of and the bags turned out great!  Friends have donated all kinds of stuff-- toothbrushes, floss, toothpaste, hair brushes, pens, mini shampoos, soaps, and more ...over 150 pounds of gifts will be traveling with us there!

If you think of it, will you pray for us this next week?  It really does make a difference. Missions trips are life changing and I am looking forward to this special time with my Dad and my Becca.  Of course, I will try to take a lot of pictures to show you when we return! :)

youth ministry and all that jazz

Let's talk youth group, shall we?  Neil and I are in our thirties-- yes, I can still say that until November this year, then I have to bump up to being officially old  forty.  Forty in youth ministry years is like, ancient.  No one can figure out why you still want to work with youth, surely you stop relating to them at some point (or so I have heard).  I was twenty-one when we started at our first church out of college with Neil as the youth pastor. I think we were pretty cool back then, but I am not for certain. I remember when we would go places and everyone thought we were one of the youth. (Side note:  I got to see first hand how poorly people treat teenagers, just because they can.) As time passed, I went from being highly involved in every aspect of our youth ministry to being a busy mom with one, then two, then three, and finally four kids. I missed being a part of every event.  I hated missing camps, retreats, missions trips. I felt so out of the loop. I am ashamed to say a lot of the time I was just plain jealous.  Jealous of the kids that got to spend time with my husband, having fun and being crazy.  Jealous of cute girls who reminded me of a time before I became a frumpy mom.  I pretty much went through a stage of the big bad attitude.

Gradually being at home with the kids became the new norm. I developed a new appreciation for Neil and what he does.  I saw what an dynamic leader that he is, and how he really does just fine without my "help".  You see, when we were young, I used to think I knew a lot more than I think I know now.  I used to think, wow, Neil sure is lucky to have me by his side. It is funny to look back on, the arrogance that I had. Oh, and it didn't just show itself in ministry.  I totally thought I knew how to parent, too.  God has such a good sense of humor . . . he gave us our children and it opened my eyes to how little I do in fact know.  But anyway, back to youth ministry.  Being able to start getting back into stuff as our kids grew, attending youth group more consistently, bringing the younger kids along, it has been awesome.

I love the place we are at now.  I love that we now have our own kids in youth group, we are able to bring the young ones, too.  I love being older with some history to look back on, and a better perspective overall.  Time has given me a greater understanding of life in ministry.  I now have an understanding that sometime people just don't like you. Sometimes they don't want to be a part of our youth group.  They will not always appreciate our ideas, our events, the way we handle different situations or conflict.  We will never be everything to everyone. There are seasons in life, seasons that you see change over the years when you are married to the guy who does "the youth stuff".   I have no idea why I am writing all this. It is just my life and it is what it is.  I will end with a couple of my favorite quotes, actual quotes of things people have said to us.  More than once.

"So are you going to try and promote to Sr. Pastor someday?"

"I drove past the church on Tuesday and saw Neil's car there.  I don't understand, why would he be there during the week?"