Soccer Tournament Day 1

Well the first day of the soccer tournament is in the books. Today was a round robin style of play to get the seedings for the tournament tomorrow. Each of our 16 teams played 3 games today, yes a lot of soccer! We started at about 8:30 and did not finish up until around 3:00. I don't know how those kids keep going in the heat for so long but somehow they do!

The devotions went really well it seemed the kids were very engaged and attentive to us when we were speaking to them. Today we explained how God wants a relationship with us and the problem we all have with sin. Tomorrow morning we will share how Jesus is the solution to that problem and give the players an opportunity to respond following the devotion. Please be in prayer for tomorrow, as it is the reason we are here!

I am feeling much better now. I believe I was just dehydrated from playing too hard with the kids and not taking time to drink water while doing so. I appreciate the prayers and support I got from everyone. Prayer does work! So thank you!

Prayers needed...

Hey guys if you could pray for me please. I have been laying in bed all day due to a stomach flu or dehydration. I am feeling a little bit better now with Gatorades and medicine in me. But I really hate not being on the field working with them teams. Today was the team's R&R day so I was ok missing that but tomorrow is the big soccer tournament in Sandino!

Jaselle Has a Family!!

If some of you remember from my blog posts last year, I had a little buddy at the orphanage name Jaselle. Long story short, I could not go anywhere without him being right beside me holding my hand or me carrying him. One day in a church service here the pastor was talking about how God is our Father and during that Jaselle looked at me and told me "tu es mi padre" which means you are my father. This broke my heart and if I were in any position to adopt him that day I would have started the process. But I found out yesterday that he HAS been adopted by a family! I am so excited for him because he is such a sweet little boy. I have been praying for him, Lord willing for him to be adopted into a loving family. He was the only kid in the orphanage last year that did not have any relatives in his life.

It is so encouraging to hear about how he has been adopted and know that us at the same time are fatherless until we are adopted by the Lord. Adoption is a beautiful thing and I am so blessed that my God loves me enough to adopt me into His family forever! And I praise God for giving Jaselle the opportunity to experience the love and joy of being in a family here on earth!

"It Was a Very Taxing Day..." - Paul Rosas

Well as I had mentioned before Paul and Jay spent the morning attempting to retrieve our soccer balls back from customs. We did get them back from customs all 175 of them BUT they charged us $360 total to bring them into the country. The reason they did this is because they thought we were bringing them into the country to sell and make a profit so they charged us basically a taxation. They valued each soccer ball at $5.88 and taxed each soccer ball 29%. As a ministry here in Nicaragua they shouldn't have done this but we can't control what the government does. But at the same time the team had just enough extra money to cover this cost, down to 13 cordobas (less than $1.00). God did take care of that need and gave us more than enough to cover the cost!

We spent the day in El Canon with Pastor Josue at the orphanage and in the community. We visited people in the community that previously attended church but no longer did and invited them back and caught up with the family. Pastor Josue was very excited to have us there and he took pictures of Mandi, Paul, and I with each family we visited.

We also visited with the children of the orphanage and local school and had a worship service this afternoon. Tonight we got to meet with the boys and girls of the orphanage and discuss what godly relationships look like and how it is important to wait and pursue the correct type of person.

Church Planting...

For a missions major, this is a really cool week for me to be a part of and work with church plants and also the "mother-church" this week.

The first day we visited the church that has planted these other smaller churches. This church by American standards is a "mega-church." It has probably 150-200 members that consistently attend the church and is pastored by the president of the national seminary, Pastor Orlando. He is a very strong and animated pastor and big into missions. In this past Sunday night service, he spoke a very convicting sermon on missions. He is very close to his church members and even "stepped on some toes" by calling them out saying, "You bought this or that, but you can't give $3 a month to missions." $3 a month is what he asks his members to give. He believes Nicaraguans should also be sending missionaries out but instead they have the mentality, at times, to just receive. But I also believe we as Americans have the same mentality. We can buy new clothes or iPhones but still do not give to the church or missions. Take a moment to think about that. I'll get off mine and Pastor Orlando's soap box after this example.

Say, a church with 200 faithfully attending members. If they each gave $3 a month to missions. That would be $600 a month and $7,200 a year! Let's just say on average a trip here to Nicaragua costs $900, that same church could send a team of 8 each year to the mission field with no out of pocket expenses for those wanting to go! And that is only $3 a month... (one meal at McDonald's is double that)

Throughout the rest of this week we will be working with church plants of Bethany Baptist. And we will finish off the week with Bethany and hosting a soccer tournament with 16 teams and at least 175 teenage boys from 15-20 years old. Please be praying for this tournament and our time at the church plants. It is hard to reach this age group here in Nicaragua, but they flock to this soccer tournament. Pray for energy on Friday and Saturday as we have about 6 hours straight of nonstop soccer games! I know God is good and will bless this time. Thank you all for your support. It is encouraging to talk to mom and hear her mention how people have been reading and interested in the things happening here in Nicaragua.

A Look Into Our Community Today...

Today we worked with a church plant about an hour away from the mission house in Jinotepe. This is a very small church with about 14 members but recently seeing growth in visitors. This past Sunday they had 40 adult visitors and 50 children. Praise the Lord! But the community is divided by a river and up in the mountainous area of Nicaragua. I originally wanted to post the video on here but was having technical difficulties, so I had to upload the video to my Facebook account. So feel free to view it on there or add me if we aren't friends on there.

This link also may work: https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10151808327660637&saved

Please be in prayer as people come across this area because I found out while talking to the pastor today that this can be a very dangerous area for the Nicaraguans to cross to attend the church. Also just remember how they are willing to travel to church and sometimes we won't drive our cars down a flat road because "it's raining..." Finally, I want to add that one of the Sunday School teachers walks this trail plus about a half mile carrying a stack of chairs to lead a Sunday School class on the other side, because the church only has the one room for the sanctuary.

"He Just Wants to be With and Around You..."

First off, we welcomed another American to the house today. Jennifer Alford arrived safely and will be with us for the next 11 days or so. She is the wife of Garland, he was one of the men that helped start up Partners in Christ. So Garland she is here and we will take care of her! :) 

After Jennifer came we dropped her off in El Canon so she could visit with Yaritza for the afternoon while Jay, Grayson, Maria and I went to the store to buy the food and supplies for the team coming on Sunday. But as we were driving down the canyon I saw my little buddy Carlos walking down the street and he yelled, "Hola Kegan!" With a huge smile on his face and it put one on mine also.

We continued on to do our shopping and then headed back to pick Mrs. Jennifer up. I saw Carlos again and we did our greetings as we were driving past again and he then jumped in the back of the truck. Jay said, "he just wants to be with and around you." After seeing a few more familiar faces in the area and picking up a few more boys in the back with Carlos. We took them to their house and dropped them off for the night. I told Carlos that I will be back on Tuesday he was very excited!

But this short interaction got me thinking on the ride back to the mission house. "He just wants to be with and around you." If only we had this excitement every day with Christ. Just wanting to be with and around him. It would change our world and every one else's that came into contact with us. I think some times we take it for granted in America how lucky we have it to have the freedom to worship God freely. We only tend to do it when it is convenient. I don't know if Carlos had anything else to go do at that moment when he jumped in the truck. But if he did, he dropped his plans and went with us in the truck. I believe when we become followers of Christ this is what we are to do. Drop our plans and follow Christ in ALL things, not when it is just convenient or "the right thing to do."

Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. Luke 9:23

The road in El Canon where I saw Carlos today.