by jeannie | Jul 14, 2012 | buildingaboat, buildingaboat |
This summer, while in Nicaragua and Costa Rica, we’ve met so many families living poured out lives for the sake of the Gospel. One thing that keeps standing out as we meet each new person is that the one valuable thing they have isn’t within themselves, but rather a complete surrender to Someone they happen to know well. Our Pastor back home wrote yesterday about the great purpose for each ordinary person, and as I read it I remembered how it seems a realization of our own brokenness happens oftentimes just before some of our biggest adventures in faith. He shared how he ran into old friends that are walking away from everything they worked for, everything they thought they ever wanted to make their lives about something more valuable. I feel blessed that God moves in the hearts of all of us. My prayer is that we’ll all learn to listen. Following costs each of us something different b/c our expectations and ideas are different , but we all gain the same thing. Hope in an eternal Truth that brings a freedom you can’t create, buy, or produce on your own. To get it, you search, question, fall, and learn to get back up. Then you learn to trust and to believe. You learn to jump into the unknown, and the adventure builds and builds until you’ve built such a story with the One that guides you that you have to share it. Spending time with the Rodgers family was a high point in our journey while here. Their story was one of longing to go, but...
by Hampton | Jul 5, 2012 | buildingaboat, buildingaboat |
Traveling on the Ticabus from Costa Rica is already slightly daunting, watching closely your bags, your children, your passports, and constantly checking to make sure they are all still with you. As you sit in the buses, you literally put all your bags at your feet, wrapping them around your legs and never in the upper bins at the advice of our Nica friends here. While traveling one day from Costa Rica headed back through a town called, Rivas, we were met by an American that currently lives here in Central America. Initially on the bus he takes the seat across the aisle from our Libby. It didn’t take long before an unsettling feeling was around us. He seemed unsafe although he looked perfectly normal. As we were approaching the border from Costa Rica where we all file out, get our passports stamped, and wait for a long time in the hot sun, I overheard a conversation in Spanish from this man on his phone. I understood enough to know he was speaking of children and money. Children and money. I thought to myself, “Not that, God.” I just kept listening and praying in my seat. I couldn’t be sure, but I felt a sense of danger. I always try to minimize things, and talk myself out of them. This is always my default. Could I have imagined or am I over-reacting? Did I misunderstand what I thought I heard? And all along, my hope is that I am dead wrong about this guy. We cross the border, and as we get back on the bus and...
by jeannie | Jul 5, 2012 | buildingaboat, buildingaboat |
Traveling on the Ticabus from Costa Rica is already slightly daunting, watching closely your bags, your children, your passports, and constantly checking to make sure they are all still with you. As you sit in the buses, you literally put all your bags at your feet, wrapping them around your legs and never in the upper bins at the advice of our Nica friends here. While traveling one day from Costa Rica headed back through a town called, Rivas, we were met by an American that currently lives here in Central America. Initially on the bus he takes the seat across the aisle from our Libby. It didn’t take long before an unsettling feeling was around us. He seemed unsafe although he looked perfectly normal. As we were approaching the border from Costa Rica where we all file out, get our passports stamped, and wait for a long time in the hot sun, I overheard a conversation in Spanish from this man on his phone. I understood enough to know he was speaking of children and money. Children and money. I thought to myself, “Not that, God.” I just kept listening and praying in my seat. I couldn’t be sure, but I felt a sense of danger. I always try to minimize things, and talk myself out of them. This is always my default. Could I have imagined or am I over-reacting? Did I misunderstand what I thought I heard? And all along, my hope is that I am dead wrong about this guy. We cross the border, and as we get back on the bus and...
by jeannie | Jul 5, 2012 | buildingaboat, buildingaboat |
Visiting Matagalpa, Nicaragua was up high on the list of things we’ve experienced that renew our strength, build our faith in how the darkest of circumstances will never eliminate anyone from experiencing renewal if there’s an intersection with Jesus. In fact, story after story of Him meeting them in the brokenness spurs us as North Americans, with all our entitlement and ease of life, to consider joining those who have no such understanding of such carelessness, ease, or even our striving for such things. The stories we heard of gangs, abandonment, and truly a past of hopeless poverty has actually refined so many of these leaders here in Nicaragua to be strong in faith, and desperate to introduce Jesus to others. Here’s a few shots of La Finca Vida Joven Camp in the mountains of Matagalpa, Nicaragua. A place God uses well to bring kids to Himself, in a safe place to make a decision about eternity....
by jeannie | Jun 20, 2012 | buildingaboat, buildingaboat |
“There are still valleys to walk through during our remaining days. The disappointments, the frustrations, the discouragements, the dilemmas, the dark, difficult days , though they be shadowed valleys, need not be disasters. They can be the road to higher ground in our walk with God.” Phillip Keller Here’s a snapshot of the face of Vidas Jovenes in Costa Rica. A beautiful truth is being told to many teen moms while they are being loved well by Michelle Suwyn & her team of mentors, volunteers & committee. We spent the day with these girls, their children, and their mentors, and heard some of their stories. Being around them and watching them interact with each other and with the leaders, you can see that they have a new hope. If they come in weary, they leave renewed. They feel supported and trust in the love that their mentors pour out. Through the time that the leaders lift up and present the Gospel, the girls are drawing closer to their Creator that loves them perfectly. I am reminded to be thankful that even in difficult circumstances, there are new mercies every day. Without that truth, all of our futures would be hopeless regardless of our weaknesses, mistakes or situations. My time in Costa Rica has been rich and beautiful in the way of a growing awareness of being human and needing a savior, and how we’re all the same in any way that matters. ...
by Hampton | Apr 12, 2012 | buildingaboat, buildingaboat, Uncategorized |
I recently wrote Sister Rosemary a letter, sending photos, dreaming about another visit, thanking her for spending time with us, for how she lives her life and looks so much like Jesus. She’s a woman that you can’t help but feel changed by when you meet her. It’s her joy, perseverance, and love of the people she serves that stands out. St. Monica’s was among the places we visited while in Gulu, and we had met her a day before one night on the deck of our hotel eating pizza. She had a great impact on me personally and our group as we listened to her and learned all she’s done for the people of Gulu. This video does a better job telling the story than I will, but this great work still goes on today and expands much wider now. CNN Heroes, Sister Rosemary (click link to watch video) Here’s a beautiful shot of one of the most beautiful women I’ve had the privilege to meet and becomes friends with: Sister Rosemary Gulu is a more peaceful place now. Many of the people there remember when it wasn’t, but will tell you that they feel much safer there now. Thanks to much of the work Sister Rosemary has done there, women and children have a new start and a new hope. There’s a great blog you should check out. Jim Gash and his family are living in Uganda helping reform some of the judicial practices there, and they have a great blog worth following. I enjoyed meeting them, and appreciated them sharing their experiences with us. Jim and...
