Nicaragua Trip Day 1

Hey everybody! It has been way too long since I last posted something here but now I am ready! Our trip to Jinotega, Nicaragua started on Friday, January 21st. Becky and I spent most of the day packing and getting ready to leave. Jill picked us up at our house around 7:30pm. We drove to Orlando and arrived at 1:30am Saturday morning. I love travelling at night when there aren't as many cars out on the interstate. We had a great time talking, listening to music and stopping for the occasional gas station snack. I'm always up for a road trip; the chance to get away from the routine is irresistable! This road trip was especially exciting since it was the beginning of a trip outside of the United States for both of us. I hadn't been outside the country for over ten years and Becky had never travelled outside the US before. I was very excited for her to have that experience. It was great having 6 hours to talk with Jill. She was very kind to go with us and acted as our guide. Since she had been in Jinotega before she was well prepared to show us the ropes. For those of you who don't know; Jill Counts, her husband Chris and their children Zach and Maggie are one of the two other families that are moving to Jinotega with us this September Lord willing. The other family is David Henniger, his wife Caryn and their two sons, Issac and Levi. Both the Henniger and Counts families had been in Jinotega before but since Becky and I had never been we decided that it was important for the two of us to do a little recon and get a feel for Jinotega and Nicaragua. God blessed us with three cheap round trip airline tickets that came from some friends of ours at church. They had bought them when fares were low hoping to be able to use them in the near future for a Nicaragua trip of their own. When that didn't work out they were contacted about our trip and were excited to be able to help us and recoup their cost at the same time; a blessing for everyone involved. Coincidence? I think not. Below is a short video that I put together using some clips that I shot on Friday the 21st. Enjoy and feel free to comment or ask questions in the comment section; we would love to hear from you! -Tommy and Becky

Update: More Content Coming Soon

Hey everybody! It's been a little while since my last post so I needed to jump on here and let you all know what has been going on. The biggest happenning since last post has been our trip to Nicaragua. We had a totally awesome time! God blessed us in so many ways during the week that we were in Jinotega. Jinotega is the capital city of the Jinotega department (sort of like our counties). The city of Jinotega is located northeast of the Nicaraguan capital of Managua. Right now I am working on editing some of the many pictures and videos that I took while we were there and I will start posting a day by day recap of our trip very soon. Thanks to everyone who has been praying for us! We continue to seek God's will and pray that He will bring us back to Nicaragua in September!

Por La Gloria de Jesus,
-Tommy

God the Provider - Tommy

Hey everybody! I just wanted to throw in my two cents on something really cool that God did for us this week. As most of you maybe know, Becky and I are taking a nine day trip to Nicaragua at the end of this month to take a look around and do some research in preparation for moving down there this September. As we were budgeting for the trip and planning for how many dollars it was going to take we had an unexpected expense related to the excursion throw into the mix. It was a rather significant sum but we had the money and it wasn't a huge deal, but still it didn't exactly make me really happy.

At the end of the day I sucked it up and chose to believe that God would take care of it since He has a pretty good track record for that kind of thing. Well sure enough He did! I got a call from some friends who told me that they wanted to help with our trip and was going to write us a check for guess how much? That's right, the EXACT amount of our unexpected expense! Neither Becky nor I had said anything to anyone about this at all. God strikes again!

Thank you Lord for filling the hearts of your people with so much love and concern and kindness for each other and thanks to our friends who have been there in so many ways big and small for a very long time. God is good and He will provide. We are so out on a limb for Him right now (at least by our standards) but I have never felt as secure in His will and provision as I do right now.

-Tommy

God the Provider - Becky

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

—Philippians 4:6

Today I just want to share with you something that reinforces our faith in God's provision.  In our endeavor to get to Nicaragua, we have obstacles to overcome.  One of the most obvious challenges is for us to get enough money for travel and for our living expenses while in Nicaragua.  A few weeks from now we plan to take a trip down there to check things out, and though we have been blessed to get cheaper airfare (thanks to a friend for jumping on a discount when she saw it), there have been some other expenses involved that we didn't expect.  It was one of those situations where we did have the money, but there were other things we wanted to use it for.  Well, we found out today that someone has offered to donate that exact amount of money to our cause—and they knew nothing about our needing that sum.  I am amazed, once again, at how God provides for us.  We really have no cause to worry about anything.

The money thing was a pretty "big" thing that happened, but there have been "smaller" things too.  (But, who are we to judge what is big or small in God's eyes?)  I realized today that I was missing an essential component for a creative project I am working on, and as soon as I thought through the specifics of what I needed, I found that I did, in fact, have exactly what I needed.  At camp a few years ago, Tommy and I were working on a play about Samson that involved two different actors playing a young and an older version of him.  I vaguely thought that we should make sure to get two wigs for our actors, but then I sort of forgot about it and didn't say anything to anyone.  When we showed up at the camp, one of our friends told me that she had something left over from Halloween that she thought we might be able to use.  It was a wig, and we already had another one in our storage closet.  I hadn't worried about the situation at all, and God totally provided without even being asked.  We have even more reason to trust in Him when we do ask.

Things like these keep happening to us, and I pray that they continue to happen and in greater measure.  I am so excited to think what the possibilities of that could be.

-Becky

The Journey Begins - Tommy

Hey everybody; Happy New Year!  This is Tommy and I just wanted to jot down a few things to go along with Becky's post.  We hope to use this blog as a way for you to join with us as we travel down this new road that we believe God has put in front of us.  I know that sounds rather clichéd and I really don't like canned Christian speak but I honestly can't think of another way to say that right now. 

Our lives have taken a drastic turn in the last 4-6 months and we are fully convinced that this is from God and that it will be for the better.  More than anything else I want you all to understand that we are not specifically pursuing goat breeding, sustainable agriculture or foreign missions; we are pursuing God.  Teaching goat breeding and sustainable agriculture techniques in Nicaragua is the opportunity that we believe God has placed in front of us right now and we are dedicated to pursue that goal until we either land in Nicaragua to live or God shows us something else that He wants us to do. 

Stay tuned to this blog to be caught up on the whole story and to follow along with us as we try to follow God in a deeper way than we ever have before. 

I want to leave you for now with this thought...

In this new year I don't want or need any more house, cars, money, clothing, TV, movies, video games, guitars, amplifiers, (you know, all the vain things that charm me most )*

I just want and need more Jesus!

-Tommy


* When I Survey the Wondrous Cross - a post for later...

The Journey Begins

Happy New Year, everyone! Since I last wrote, Tommy and I have solidified some of our plans, so now I am more at liberty to speak of them in detail. Our main decision was made months ago, but it has taken us quite a while to tell all of our family members and other people who needed to be told personally. It is only now that our "secret" is officially "out."

So... I guess I'll just jump in and tell you (if you don't already know). Tommy and I have decided to move to Nicaragua to teach the people there about goat farming (and about Jesus, of course). The main goal is to glorify God by loving other people. Obviously, there are countless ways of fulfilling this goal, but we really feel that God is calling us to take the opportunity that is in front of us right now. Our hope is that actually leaving the country and putting our focus on the lives of other people will put us in a better position to do God's will. (Important Note: This is not to say that one has to go into foreign missions to do God's will. I don't believe that at all. This is something that God has put on our hearts specifically, so please don't mistake our enthusiasm for this calling for any judgement against anyone else.)  Our lifestyle will change drastically, but we are excited to have the chance to minister to this group of people.

Most Nicaraguans live on less than $2/day.  We hope to use sustainable living techniques like goat farming (like I said) and gardening to provide the people of the Jinotega region with a way to sustain their own livelihoods instead of leaving them to rely indefinitely on the charity of others.  (This is already being done with great success in the Philippines. In fact, that is where we got the idea.) While we work with the people, our hope is that we will develop real relationships with them—showing them genuine, Christ-like love—that will allow us the opportunity to share our faith with them.  However, many of the people we will be working with are already Christians, church leaders who are struggling with whether to move into the city where there are jobs—or to stay at the rural church and starve.  Our work with these people will be done through the local mission that is already established in Jinotega (Misión para Cristo).  (Our group (Hope for Life) will be another branch of what they already have going on down there.)

Each of the families involved has different talents and abilities to bring to the table.  Between the two of us, Tommy and I hope to add the skills of photography, videography, grapic design, and creation/maintenance of multi-media that we can use to garner support for our project and to keep our friends, family, and supporters in the loop about our progress.  (We will, of course, spend much of our time in Nicaragua working with goats, plants, and people, but we may spend as much time, if not more, on the computer.)  We are excited to see what God does with our particular mix of individuals.

There is so much more I could say about our current goals (and I intend to), but I have already written too much for an introductory post.  If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask and we will try to answer them.  Meanwhile, we appreciate your prayers.

In Anticipation of What 2011 Holds,
-Becky

Fitting in the Pieces

Image courtesy Become.com

Last week I flew to Kansas to visit my grandmother and my aunt & uncle with whom she lives. One of the things we did to pass the time was to work on a jigsaw puzzle. Now, when it comes to video/computer games, spoken riddles, murder mysteries, etc. my brain enjoys a good puzzle. However, this particular puzzle was hard. In fact, I'd say this was the hardest jigsaw puzzle I have ever tried to complete. It was a 750 piece Thomas Kinkade picture, so each piece was particularly small, and most of the colors were soft and difficult to distinguish from each other. Working on this puzzle was the kind of thing that makes you understand how there can be violence in the world. I just wanted the misery to end... but at the same time I felt strangely compelled to keep working.

Fortunately, there was some benefit to this experience. Other than the time I got to spend with my aunt and grandmother, a few thoughts came to my mind that I found interesting:

2 Peter 1:3 (NIV) says, "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness." On the table, we had everything we needed to complete the puzzle. We were even able to put together the edge pieces to form the frame. However, we still had a hard time fitting in the middle pieces. Sometimes our lives seem like that. We can trust that we have everything we need to live a godly life, but most of the time living a godly life is still very hard. God is absolutely perfect, and His will is absolutely perfect... and he actually bothers to offer us love (John 16:27; Revelation 1:5), total forgiveness (1 John 1:7,9), full lives (John 10:10), and the same power that raised Jesus from the grave (Romans 8:11) But, we can't even stick to our diets/exercise plans, finish our chores, and keep ourselves from wasting time on the Internet. (Hmm, maybe that's just me...) The pieces are all there. We just grow weary of trying to fit them in, and so they lie there in a mess on the table.

When we take this perspective, it is easy to start feeling stupid. The fact that we each lack nothing but are still a mess can make us feel infinitely incompetent. However, that's like saying, "I know all the letters of the alphabet. Why can't I write a novel?" Obviously, writing a novel is more complicated than that. For one thing, it has to be inspired. Also, there is a lot of research and study involved. To write a book, not only do you need to know a great deal about your subject matter, but you also need to know about grammar, punctuation, and writing techniques. In the case of the puzzle, our "research and study" consisted mostly of looking at the complete picture on the box. I don't even want to think about trying to put the pieces together without some kind of a standard. In the case of our lives, we have (of course) the Bible, the Holy Spirit, and the example of other people who have the same goal. Ultimately, though, I think the best way to get a complete "puzzle" is to let God be the one to fill in the pieces. The truth is that we are infinitely incompetent, but everything is possible with God (Mark 10:27).

Sometimes we think we know which piece goes where. In doing my puzzle, there were many instances of me picking up a piece, looking at it, and assuming, based on the shape, colors, and patterns in it, that it fit in a certain spot, only to discover that I was wrong. In those cases I just wanted to mash the piece in anyway and make it fit. I'm sure I have done the equivalent even more times in my real life. However, that doesn't work. If I put a piece in where it doesn't fit, 1) I won't have that piece to put where it is supposed to go, 2) when the real piece comes up, it won't have a place to go, and 3) the other pieces around that piece will likely be wrong too. Proverbs 16:25 (NIV) says, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death." ;Also, Jeremiah 10:23 (NIV) says, "I know, O LORD, that a man's life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps." Finally, Proverbs 20:24 (NIV) says, "A man's steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand his own way?"

In practice, it is hard even to know how to give God that kind of control over our lives. Like Isaiah, we can say, "Here am I. Send me!" (Isaiah 6:8), but because we still have to make little decisions every day—which driving route to take, how much time to spend watching TV, which stocks to buy, etc.—it still feels like we have to put the pieces in ourselves. Just like doing my puzzle, life is not easy. But, the more we really internalize the fact that God is in control and that He has given us everything we need, the more we can come to trust and rely on Him. When we find ourselves saying, "But... that piece goes there!" we should try to remember to let go of our control and rejoice in the fact that God knows what He's doing.

As further proof that we can trust God, I want to tie in a small thing that happened to me today. When I first opened my eyes this morning, I looked at the clock and saw that it was 8:28. That number is permanently stamped in my brain because of a cross-stitch that was on the wall in my dining room growing up (incidentally, given to my parents by my same aunt in Kansas). On it were the words of Romans 8:28 (which was also, interestingly, part of my daily reading yesterday), which says, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." With God working for my good, I don't have to worry that I don't have all my pieces put together. I can just focus on loving Him.

What about you? Do you have any "puzzle pieces" you have tried to mash into your life that don't fit? Do you feel overwhelmed by having a mess of pieces on your table that you can't fit together? Have you experienced God putting in the pieces for you?

-Becky