I just flew in from Nicaragua late last night/early this morning and I still can NOT get over how much God rocked my world this past week! It was an incredible, eye opening, much needed trip, to say the least.There are countless examples of how God used our team throughout the week to impact the lives of others and how others impacted our lives, individually, and as a team! I love how the Lord uses any and every situation to work together for his and our good and I love how he brings the body of Christ together to better his kingdom and to build his kingdom! He is good! This was my fourth time traveling to Nicaragua and it was by far the most different. One of the reasons being, that my first trip was over 8 years ago and the Lord has worked in and through my life so much since then. This year, I would often wake up early in the mornings, make a cup of coffee, put my headphones in, and go sit outside on the porch to do my quiet time before our busy day of working and witnessing got started. One morning in particular, I was thinking about how God has completely changed the desires of my heart since that time. I was comparing "to back then Vs. now" from when I first went as a high school student to today. 6,7,8 years ago I was more concerned about my friends, boyfriend, having fun, and myself while I was on the trip instead of focusing on the work God had prepared for me. Although I was selfish, I believe that God still used me during those times (because Nicaragua had a huge impact on my decision to do mission work!) however, Christ was not the center of my life and he was not the main focus in my life like he is today. I was also thinking about how my personal walk with the Lord has changed drastically since then but, thankfully, how he has not. He is the same God that was with me then, is with me now, and is going to be with me in Africa, and wherever else he may take me in my life! Even though I have changed, matured, and become older, he's love is still constant and his faith fullness to love me is still consistent, when other circumstances in my life have not always been. I have learned that relationships change, people come in and out of our lives for whatever reasons, but God does not. In that moment, I felt so much appreciation for God because he did not and does not have to love us as much as he does, but he chooses to do so, despite our sinful and selfish actions. I sometimes can not even comprehend that kind of love! Another reason why this trip was so different in comparison to past trips is because of where we were and where we spent our time. In years past, the teams would spend the majority of there time in one barrios building relationships with the same people and playing with the same kids each and everyday. This year, we made the most of our time by going to different locations and seeking new opportunities to build other relationships and help more people with basic and essential physical needs. I loved this because we went somewhere new and did something different almost everyday. On Sunday, our first full day in Nicaragua, which also just so happened to be Easter, we went to a Hispanic church in Managua. This was one of the highlights of the trip for me, personally. I was so overwhelmed with the number of Christian believers in Nicaragua who actually attended church. It made me realize that, yes, Nicaraguans may pray, sing, speak, and do things differently than we do in America, but we still all serve the same risen savior. It was such a blessing and so encouraging to watch and witness other people from other parts of the world bring honor and glory to the same God. We also were fortunate enough to participate in the Lords supper which was such a treat to be apart of, especially on Easter!
The next day we spent the morning at Chosen Children's orphanage. I could have easily stayed there the rest of the week! We listened to different testimonies from different children about how they each ended up living at the orphanage. My heart broke into a thousand tiny pieces as the translator was telling us what happened to some of the precious kids. One child had been left under a bridge, one girl had been raped by her stepfather at age 12 (and recently had a baby because of it), another child had been abused, and so on. The whole time I was just thinking to myself, that could have so easily been me, but by the grace of God he placed me in a loving home with loving people, so the least I can do in return is serve him with my life. Once again, I felt so much gratitude towards God and what he has done for me. It was a blessing to be able to meet and love on those sweet kids, even if it was for only a short period of time. When we loaded the bus to leave, I knew, without a shadow of doubt that Gods calling on my life to serve others could not have been anymore clear. It was as if, The Holy Spirit was shouting, "Katyn, you were made to do this!" I can not imagine doing anything greater with my life!
Later that day, our team was told that we were going to be spending the afternoon at a nursing home. Initially, I felt nervous to serve in this particular area. I had never worked with older people and I did not know if God would be able to use me or how he was going to use me for that matter. The nursing home ended up being one my favorite parts of the whole trip. It made me realize that God calls us to serve all of his people, no matter what age or race, we are to help and serve the needy. I met one lady who was 103 years old. I asked her nurse if the sweet lady had any family members who lived in the area. She said the women had not had a single visitor within 4 years. I could not believe that! I was so saddened by this news. She said that most teams tend to work with children more and that the older people are so often overlooked and considered outcast. That hit me hard. I thought to myself, I am going to be old one day, and if and when I am put in a nursing home, I would hope and pray that someone would take the time to come visit me. I can not imagine the isolation and the loneliness these sweet people must feel. Going to the nursing home definitely gave me a new perspective and outlook on who to serve and how to serve. I have a new found sense of service for the elderly and widowed because we simply, just went.
Over the course of the week the Lord worked in many ways! I got to see and visit a Nicaraguan school, which was very interesting to me, considering I have recently been working within a school system here in the states. I got to see so many high school students step up, be leaders, and boldly proclaim the gospel, which I was very encouraged by. I got to spend some quality time serving the Lord alongside my family. I had a sweet friend, my age, on the trip that I got to build and better a relationship with. On the last night, my mission team gathered around me to pray for my upcoming trip to Africa. God even used me to help lead some people to him. It was an incredible, encouraging, time, and I am already missing Nicaragua so much! I was and still am so grateful and thankful that I was able to be apart of all that the Lord did through this team, as he's tools, on this trip! I watched and witnessed blessing after blessing and was amazed by the Lords wonderful work, but by the time it was for me to go home, God was still not through working. Yesterday morning I woke up at about 2:30 am to catch an early morning flight to Houston. I came on the trip and purchased my plane ticket last minute so I had to travel separately, which I didn't mind because I have done so many times before. I arrived at the airport, checked my bags in, went through security, and had just enough time to read my bible while waiting to board. I boarded my flight and went to sit in my seat and sitting next to me was a girl who looked to be about my age.We had the usual, Hey! How are you? conversation and that was about it at first. After we got situated in our seats, I started playing 20 questions and asked her where she was from, where she going, etc. because I'm kind of nosy and I hate awkward silence. Come to find out she was a Christian and had been in Nicaragua doing mission work as well. She also had spent a year living and working in Mexico after graduating high school. She was such a sweet girl and had such a sweet spirit. We ended up talking for the majority of the 3 hour flight and got to know each other fairly well. She shared some stories from Mexico, and how the Lord was working in her life now, and we both quickly realized how much we had in common. After a while, I feel a sleep for a couple of minutes. When I woke up, I found a card laying on top of my bible that she had written while I was asleep. I immediately thanked and hugged her because I could not believe that she would think to write a card to someone she just met, practically a stranger. When we landed, we said our goodbyes, parted ways, and I went straight to Starbucks. After ordering my mocha, I sat down, put my headphones in, and got the card out to read it. I was amazed by the words this girl wrote. Tears filled my eyes in the middle of the busiest Starbucks in the Houston airport because I knew God had put Riley on that flight to be an encouragement to me, which is just what I needed. The Lord really does work in mysterious ways because I went to Nicaragua to tell people about Jesus, be a light for Christ, and hopefully be a blessing to someone in someway, but the whole entire trip was God blessing me. I feel blessed to have been given this calling to go to Africa and serve others during
this season of my life because I don't think there is anything better.
