This month is always one of my favorites as we send all of our kids back to school. School in Nicaragua starts in February and ends in November. I love handing out backpacks and uniforms to all of our sponsored kids and to see how excited they are to start the new school year. It makes for one of my busiest months of work, but it's beautiful and so full. It was a crazy week of uniform buying, filling backpacks with school supplies, and visiting our sponsored loves in each village. I'm so proud of my kiddos!
We were so excited to celebrate alongside our church at Nuevo Amanecer as we dedicated their new church building and new land. Praise the Lord for His faithfulness! The church has been meeting in the backyard of one of their members, but the Lord has finally opened the door for them to receive their own property and building in the community. It was beautiful to see all four of our churches and so many people from their community come together to celebrate what the Lord has done. I believe He has big things in store for this congregation as they bring restoration and redemption to their community.
This month I got to meet my newest little namesake, Lisa Guadelupe, who was just born in Santa Matilde to the Bustillo family. I adore this family! They are precious. I have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of this sweet little lady! I have been praying a lot for her. I knew that her family really wanted a boy and I was praying that she would be well-loved. The family seems to be doing really well with her. Her big sisters adore her! And Derma and Erwin, the other baby Lisa's parents, donated some milk and clothes to the new mom to help take care of the newest baby Lisa.
I have loved all of our community at the Palmeras house the last few months- our family dinners, community adventures, Valentine's day girls' night (pictured above), etc. I just love sharing my life with such incredible people! We've been so excited to add Emily Robie as our newest intern this month. She is here for the next 6 months to help Cadence and I with our sponsorship program. We love her already! Also, this month Haille Krieg was back visiting with us for a couple weeks before she heads off to the next adventure with the Lord in Honduras. I just love these ladies!
This gorgeous view of the sun setting behind the volcano was a moment of pure majesty. I love to see when the glory of the Lord breaks through the ordinary in such a tangible way. Beautiful! This moment kicked off a much-needed work of the Lord in my life. (Read: Relentless Joy)
I haven't gotten to see as much of my sweet little namesake, Lisa Margarita, since her family moved to Santa Matilde. I am still in that village once a week so I get to see her, but not nearly as much as our previous daily visits. This month I got to spend a few afternoon just loving on this sweet chunky little bundle of joy. I love her with all my heart!
Gabriel, Cadence, and I had an all-day adventure day in our outreach village, La Isla. This day was supposed to be an extremely productive. Instead it turned out to be extremely hilarious and only slightly productive. Such is life sometimes, I guess. We biked over the the village to spend the entire morning doing new student home visits for our sponsorship program and then head to the church in the afternoon for our English class. We had quite a few mishaps on our trip… biked 1/3 of the way there and had to turn back because I forgot the list of kids we needed to visit. Cadence's borrowed bike broke on the way up to the church. And, best of all, I ripped my shorts on the screw sticking out from under my broken bike seat. Fortunately we had just arrived at Rosa's house so she fixed my shorts, but I had to hang out in her yard in a towel while we sewed my shorts (pictured above). Hilarious! We got a few home visits finished, taught English, and laughed a lot. *And I already bought myself a new bike seat so I won't have the same embarrassing moment this week!
My beautiful friend Ixil (pictured above) invited me to spend a weekend with her in Matagalpa. It was such a wonderful and refreshing time for my heart! I spent the "weekend" praying, talking, and laughing with this incredible Kingdom-minded woman. I also spent a lot of time with Jesus sitting on her balcony overlooking the gorgeous mountain views. Ixil I'm so thankful for YOU, your hospitality, and our friendship!
While I was in Matagalpa, Melissa (Tommy and Linda's daughter) invited me to go to a coffee cupping with her. It was such an incredible experience for a coffee lover like me! We went to one of the beneficios where the coffee is dried and prepared. We toured the place and learned about all the different drying and sorting processes. Then we were able to help roast our own coffee. We tasted and compared about 20 different types and roasts of coffee. My favorite was the natural process French roast- delicious! It was a day of great coffee and great company.
At the very end of this month I had the privilege to start a reading group in Santa Matilde working with first graders and struggling 2nd graders. I am SO excited to be teaching again! It's been fun to think of creative literacy teaching ideas. My first week I had three first graders and three 2nd graders. We were practicing letter recognition and writing. You have to get creative when you have little or no resources. Our first class we practiced letter formation by writing with sticks in the dirt (pictured above). I'm excited to see these kids grow in their literacy skills and come to love reading.
Praise Jesus that things are moving forward again with the Abide Home! Our 501c3 paperwork is now with the IRS. We should have an answer about our tax-exempt status in 30-60 days. Please pray for favor with the government for a positive answer in 30 days. I am believing that we will be able to start fundraising for the house soon.
At the beginning of this month (February 2nd), I celebrated my 4-year anniversary here at New Song. All the girls surprised me in the morning with an incredible breakfast complete with nutella crepes and blueberry bagels (pictured above). It was a sweet time of speaking life over my ministry and praying over my heart. I felt so loved! Then they put together a slideshow of photos from my past four years of ministry to show during the Sunday night church service. Diego cooked a delicious dinner for me to finish off the night. I'm so thankful to be a part of this ministry and community!
