I have been MIA....

Yes it has been over a year since I have posted anything on our family blog.  My hope is to be able to share more of our daily life here in Nicaragua with you, our family and friends.  Now, I can't promise that it will be daily but at least 1-2 times a week.  I want to be able to share things that you might not read on Facebook or in our newsletters as well as some of the same things that you would read on Facebook and in our newsletters.

So, if you are new to our blog let me introduce our family to you.  My name is Laurie and I wanted to begin their blog in order to share about our life as missionaries in Nicaragua.  I am married to a wonderful man, Josh, and we have twins, Sydney and Noah, who are 9 1/2.  We moved to Managua, Nicaragua on December 31, 2013 in order to begin language school in our country of service.  We were the first missionaries with BMDMI (Baptist Medical Dental Mission International) to attend language school in their country of service.  We felt this was important to be able to learn the dialect of the people we came to serve.  We were in language school for 6 months and let me tell you that it is hard to learn a second language as an adult but we are still a work in progress.  Maybe, I should say that I am still a HUGE work in progress when it come to speaking Spanish.  Our children attended the same language school for 12 weeks and we decided to enroll them in a private, Spanish speaking school.  This helped them tremendously with their Spanish speaking skills.  It is the philosophy of amercing them in the culture and the language. They remained at that school for 1 1/2 years. They made some great friends and were able to learn so much while attending NCA-Nejapa.  One of the pros to being able to attend language school in your country of service is that you get to begin building relationships immediately with other missionaries as well as the people you came to serve and work alongside.  We were able to begin helping with existing BMDMI ministries.  But, this can be a con to coming to your country of service.  You have a desire to begin working with these ministries and you loose your focus....language school.  However, for us this was not a con but a major pro.  Josh was able to work alongside some of the men at The Emmanuel Home of Protection, a home for girls who are minors and have been abused, and build relationships while practicing his Spanish.  I was able to begin leading a bible study with the girls, since our children were enrolled at NCA-Nejapa.  At first this was a terrifying thought, leading a bible study in Spanish, when I have only completed 12 weeks of language school.  But the girls were wonderful and so patient with me.  They were my biggest cheerleaders.  They still are today!

Now, fast forward to 2016.  We are still working at the girl's home and helping with their agriculture program.  Josh has learned so much in the last 2 year about raising pigs, rabbits, chickens, cattle and tilapia. He puts a lot of time into researching different ways to help this program run more efficiently and economically. He amazes me at what he is able to put into practice.  I am now homeschooling our children and growing more and more everyday in my ability and confidence as a homeschool parent.  We tried to homeschool the kids when we first arrived in country but moving to a new country, attending language school, transitioning into a new culture and homeschool did not go together.  We don't have perfect days but God uses those not so great days to mold us into what He wants us to be.

Join us along this journey and who knows you may learn something new about us, about Nicaragua or about raising fish.  Stay Tuned....

Praying for Wisdom and Understanding

     Oh, how I have prayed for this many times since coming on the field of Nicaragua.  I find myself praying it even more now since beginning language school.  As you read in my post several weeks ago, my tear ducts sprung a leak and I have to admit they continued to leak that very next Friday in Spanish class, Saturday morning and that afternoon.  I just didn't feel adequate.  I didn't feel like I could do anything right much less learn to speak another language.

     Well, as I began this post on February 18th I didn't feel as if anything had changed but today, March 21, 2014 and I can not say the same thing, I can now say something has changed...... my perception and my attitude.  I am where I need to be.  I am doing just fine in language school.  I can do many things right.  I must look at each day differently but I need God's help with that every day....more like every minute of every day! There are still days that I struggle with giving everything over to God.  My human, selfish side pokes its ugly head out and that is when I have to retreat back to my room for some down time before I show more of that selfish side than I already have shown (which if you know me, it's not pretty at times).
     I am not perfect and feel as if I am very transparent, probably to a flaw but I  know that God continues to use me in ALL my flaws to do His work.  The past 3 months have been very challenging at times and very rewarding at times.  We have had to truly rely on God with so many things - learning a new language, maneuvering around a large city in a foreign country, speaking enough Spanish to be able to get our point across, homeschooling our children, and the most difficult for me is our finances.  Can I just share my heart?  Well, of course, I can...I am the one writing, haha.  Anyway, it seems like since I was in college I have struggled with money.  Not in the sense of having a love of money or managing my money but being able to give our finances over to the Lord.  This is where trust comes into play.  DO I TRUST GOD?  Yes I trust that He will take care of us and provide for our needs but for some reason it seems more difficult when we are living in another country as missionaries.  It is not like I can go out and get a job to make up for any difference in our support given for the month.  So this is where we have to 1) TRUST the Lord and 2) humble ourselves to make phone calls, send emails or messages via Facebook to supporters who have not given.  The later is harder than the first.  But we know that God has us in Nicaragua for such a time as this so I know that HE will provide in ways that we can never imagine.  So, please continue to pray for us as we continue to follow where God leads!