We've arrived to our 6th country...staying for a few days in Managua, Nicaragua

back to Our Walk of Faith

Friday, September 7th
Okay…long bus ride…just to get back where we started from was 7 hours! We had a small problem when we got to the border. We learned at the border that it was impossible to extend our visa for the CA-4 region. We could get permission to be in Nicaragua, but not to be in Central America! We had to go to Managua (the capital). We had less than a week to get it taken care of and it's not humanly possible to walk from Estelí, the city that we where were supposed to get off, to Managua in time to fix our visa. We prayed and checked our tickets again...they said MGA...I quickly asked the bus driver's assistant what MGA meant...sure enough it was Managua!! So we knew that we were to go all the way there. Immigration was closed by the time we arrived...we had to stay until Monday.

Now it was a matter of finding a place to stay…it was close to dark in a sketchy neighborhood and we were carrying around these huge packs. We just prayed because we had that overwhelmed feeling like we had at the border between Guatemala and Mexico. People were coming at us from every side. We just walked and prayed…we must have checked 5 places to stay, but we either didn’t have peace when we walked in, it was nasty, or it was super expensive. We really didn’t know what to do…then we saw this guy from NY and he tried to scare us even more about the neighborhood. We just prayed…finally we came to Hotel y Apartments Cisneros. It looked nice on the outside, so we went in…we explained that we were missionaries looking for a clean, safe room at a reasonable price. Carolina showed us a room and told us a price…Chris said, “If she’ll give it to us for this price, we’ll stay.” I asked her, and she said, “What church do you work with because we are Christians here?” I told her what we were doing and Who we were with, and she gave us the room for the price we asked for!! Praise God!!

We were pretty exhausted, so we just ate supper and went back to our room…well, Guatemala was tiring the first day too…maybe Nicaragua is going to be like Guatemala…and the God’s presence will be strong here!

Saturday, September 8th
We woke up the next morning and decided to eat breakfast at the hotel. We were chatting back and forth with Priscilla and Raquel when we learned that they were the owners’ daughters. I quickly told her that Carolina told us to ask them about going to church with them on Sunday. Raquel asked, “Are y’all Christians?” We told them yes and then explained what we were doing and why we were in Managua. Priscilla invited us to accompany her today to share our story with some people…Much to our surprise, Priscilla volunteers at the local TV station and her church’s radio station…not to mention numerous other ways she’s serving the Lord!

We started the day by going to the TV station Canal 21 Enlace…they are doing a telethon to raise money and supplies for the victims of Hurricane Felix. While we were there, people brought in rice, water, bicycles, mattresses, etc. We couldn’t believe it…we had been praying and we asked others to pray that we would be able to help with the hurricane relief and God dropped us off at a telethon to raise money for the victims! We shared testimony and encouraged the body of Christ to work together to meet the needs of those in need on the Atlantic Coast. While we were there, we met Eynar, Guicella, and Ondina who work on the same program with Priscilla. We shared testimony with them for an hour or more. They are on fire for the Lord! Then we met José, Johanna, Ada, and Yuri…they were at the station to help haul the donations to the appropriate place for storage until Tuesday. They too are hungry to serve the Lord! We answered their questions and encouraged them on their walk. What a blessing to see young people on fire for the Lord!!! On our way out, Priscilla took us by to meet Rebecca. Her parents own the station, and she works there directing and over seeing some of the programs.










From there, we went with Priscilla, Guicella, and Ondina to an orphanage. The kids were sooo sweet. Priscilla tries to visit at least once each week…it’s obvious that she does too because the kids know her by name, and they were quick to run to her for a hug! We played with the kids and then talked with Maria José who directs the orphanage. She shared with us that her desire is that each child who lives there will find a family of their own. It was so touching to hear stories of some of the kids who’ve been adopted.

We left the orphanage and headed to the radio station Radio Mil. Priscilla and Eynar have a program on it every Saturday for an hour. They were interviewing us as well as a reggaeton singer called Hebreos 10:39. So we shared testimony there.



Then she took us to meet her youth pastor. He invited us to bring greetings to the youth. The song service was powerful!! We just encouraged them to be involved with the “new things” that God is doing and to wait on Him instead of running after some guy or girl. Then the pastor spoke on humility and taking up our cross and following Jesus! Pretty awesome message!!

Sunday, September 9th
We woke up early to go to church…we went with Priscilla’s mom. It was a special service to present the children’s and youth’s discipleship programs that are going on at the church. So the children and the youth presented…wow! Let me tell you about how it touched my heart. The pastor gave the command “To your fighting positions” and the kids hit their knees. Then he said “To battle” and they put their faces to the ground and one of them began to pray in a manner that I heard very few adults pray! It brought tears to my eyes. Then a mom shared about the difficulty that she had giving birth to her son. When he started reciting scripture, we realized why…the Lord has got His hand on his life and the devil didn’t even want him in this world. The kid was 7…I asked myself how this could be…well they are innocent…and Jesus made it clear that we are to come into the kingdom of God as a child. Wow do I have something to learn?!

In the afternoon we just rested and journaled.

Priscilla invited us to the discipleship meeting at her house that evening. We arrived as they were watching a video of an event from earlier this year…25,000+ teens from all different denominations gathered in the National Stadium to worship the Lord. It was awesome! They are hoping to get something else going in 2008! Wow! To be a part of watching teens get involved and do things for the Lord! It’s awesome! Chris and I shared testimony and prayed over them and then they prayed over us! Glory to God!

Monday, September 10th
Time to work on the visa…we walked the couple of miles to Immigration only to find that we had to pay more than we had already paid at the border. We didn’t have that many Cordoba, so we went to the bank to change some dollars. While we were there, I was looking through the documents that they had given us at the border, and I saw a 30 day tourist card. It said that we were entitled to 30 days from the day we entered Nicaragua. So I thought that was all we needed. I told Chris there was really no need to go back. When we saw Priscilla, I was going to verify that with her, but I thought we were okay.

We worked a bit in the afternoon. Then we went to the store to buy rice, beans, and milk to carry to the TV station. We weren’t sure how we were going to get 200+ pounds from the store to the station, but we trusted the Lord on that. We bought the stuff and the Lord sent a Christian taxi driver…he took us for less than 1/3 of the cost that Carolina (from the hotel) told us they would charge us! Praise God!

Then we hurried back to the hotel to get ready to go to the small group meeting at Ondina’s house. We shared a few words of testimony and “Apostol” Roberto taught for about an hour. He also gave us 2 books that he wrote. After the service, Cristina (Ondina’s mom) fixed supper for us…our first authentic meal in Nicaragua and it was tasty!! Then Napoleon and Teresa gave us a ride home. When they were dropping us off, Teresa asked if we would like to go to her church on Tuesday night. We told her that we were planning on walking in the morning if our visa was okay, but that she could call. If we were still in town, we’d love to go.

When we walked in, Priscilla told us that she had received word from a university in Spain…she might be able to study to get her masters there. She’s applied to several other programs. She has all the qualifications, but God shut the door. So she’s going to try this one that appears to be an open door. Please pray for God’s will to be done. After she shared with us, I asked about our visa and told her about the tourist card. She told us that we were going to have to get the other paper that they told us about. She explained the situation a little better…it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense in my mind, but I know that this is not my country…I’m a guest here, so I want to follow their rules as best as I can. So we won’t be walking with the packs tomorrow either…

Tuesday, September 11th
Back to work on the visas…we finally got them straightened out. We journaled some more in the afternoon, and then we got ready for church.

Teresa came to get us with her son, Cesar. When we got there, we met the rest of Cesar’s brothers, Enjel, Jordan, and Norlan. It was a Church of God church that we went to…oh, wow…the music was powerful…we were authentically sending up praises to our God!! Several ladies gave testimony of God’s healing and salvation! Then Luis Esquivel brought the message…wow! He was sharing from the scripture from Matthew 11:28-30 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." He had several of the guys helping him demonstrate with a yoke and carrying burdens…we must take up the yoke (carry the cross) that Jesus has put before us…that means surrender our own will. He talked about Jesus taking our burdens, but how we try to take them back and then they are too much for us to handle so we fall and walk away from Him. Or give our yoke to someone else…to have them do the work that God has called us to! He reminded us that Jesus wants to carry the majority of the weight of the yoke…it’s easy and light…we just have to surrender to Him and leave it with Him! I had been worrying about a lot of things in the last couple of days…God’s Word was right on time for me!

After the service, we met Brother Luis Esquivel and Rodrigo who along with Cesar and a few other guys have begun a mission in Puerto Sandino…Please pray that the Lord will lead and guide them in this process. We also met two of the girls from the praise team! What voices?! Then Cesar and Teresa took us to dinner…Pupusas!! Yea, we thought we had seen the last of them, but thankfully NO! One of Cesar’s friends and his wife came along for dinner too! We had a great time sharing together and Cesar and Teresa even gave us contacts on down the road in Nicaragua and Costa Rica! Praise God! What a great night!



Wednesday, September 12th: HAPPY 18TH BIRTHDAY, BRETT!!
Well, today we’ve been waiting to hear if we are going to be able to go with a group tomorrow to carry aid up to the Atlantic Coast. At first we thought that might be impossible, but it seems that there may be a way…so we are waiting. I’ve been working on the journal and Chris has been working on odds and ends and praying about what to do…If we can go with the group tomorrow, we are planning to go to the Atlantic Coast. If we can’t, we think that we are going to walk tomorrow. We’ll have to see what God has in store!! Well, we love y’all! God bless you and keep you! We’ll be in touch again soon! Keep walking for Jesus!!


a) Chris with the famous Nicaraguan soft drink "Shaler Kola"...pretty tasty b) The most interesting flower...it's called "Reina de la Noche"...Queen of the Night because it looks like and dress. I've never seen anything like it. It's one of my favorites. (Click on the 2nd flower picture and see if you can find the lizard that wandered his way into a photo op!)