It was a wonderful feeling waking up again in Candelaria for the first time. I wondered how it would feel to transition into life here long-term after pray for this day for a year and a half. So far the transition has been so smooth. Being here feels like home. It's sweltering hot. Right now we have no electricity and no running water. However, I have never felt more content than I do living my life here in this village.

 

    I have been settling back into my relationship with my Nicaraguan friends and getting to know the 7 other people with whom I will be living and working. I am discovering everyday new things that I long to do within this community. I am still trying to figure out exactly what life will look like here, but I know above all else I want to exude grace within this community.

 

    I have been reading What's So Amazing About Grace? by Philip Yancey and there is a quote that really stuck out to me:  "Now I am trying in my own small way to pipe the tune of grace. I do so because I know, more surely than I know anything, that any pang of healing or forgiveness or goodness I have ever felt comes solely from the grace of God. I yearn for the church to become a nourishing culture of that grace."

 

    That is what I am doing here. In my own small way each day I am trying to pipe the tune of grace. The song of grace looks different every day. Some days it looks like listening as a girl shares about her recent struggles and then praying with her and offering words of new life. Other days it looks like huge hugs and kissing dirt-covered cheeks of the children that crowd the church property each day longing to know that they are delighted in. Some days it is speaking words of truth to my little brothers here or just walking home laughing and joking with them. Some days it means really diving into to the hurting hearts of the women here through prayer and Bible study and watching in awe as the Lord's healing brings life to places long devastated in their hearts (and ours). The song of grace may look different everyday, but it sounds the same. It is the sound of God's love for His children.

 

*The village has been out of power for 3 weeks. We now have a generator that is giving us partial power in the house, but it can't be run all the time because of the high cost of gas and oil. I will be posting more specific stories from the village as soon as I can.