Into Marvelous Light we're running, out of darkness, out of shame :)

I wrote this blog a few weeks ago, but never posted it, sorry. I’ll try to post another blog within a few days of everything that has been going on lately, in addition to this.

Sorry it has been so long since I’ve written. Things have been pretty busy! My Dad came to visit for a week, and that was so great!! It was amazing to have him here and to let him see of things I’m involved with here. The day before he left, a group of high school girls came to stay for two weeks, and that has been really awesome too. They leave tomorrow and I can’t believe their time is already up. To think about that the fact that I’ve been here almost two months is crazy to me, because I feel like I just got here. And knowing that I have to leave in less than a month is incredibly sad, but I know that I will be back again soon J.

When my Dad was here, I got to take him to the dump, Corazon Contento, the Bible Studies and Church at El Puente, Home of the Ancients, and the train station. It was so fun to combine some of both of my two worlds together. We also had the opportunity to go to Masaya and Catarina, two beautiful cities! Catarina was overlooking the laguna, so it was neat to see the laguna from a different perspective.

A medical team comes in tomorrow, so we’ve been preparing for that. I sorted through about a thousand eyeglasses yesterday for a lot of clinics we’re holding next week, so that was awesome to know we’ll have so much to give.

Another thing that I’ve really been learning lately is that guilt is NOT of God. If you have done something in your past and have confessed it, God has forgiven you. If you still feel guilty about it, then this a trick that Satan uses to make us think that we are not capable of receiving God’s love. And it’s true that we are not worthy of God’s love, but the beautiful thing is that He loves anyway. He loves us no matter what we’ve done! There is absolutely nothing that can separate you can from the love of God through Christ Jesus. Our sins are as far as the east is from the west. Does this mean to keep on sinning? Of course not, but if you have something in your past that you can’t let go, pleaseee learn to let it go. It is such a freeing feeling! And then you’ll understand the true beauty of Grace, and how incredible God’s love is for us, no matter what. There is no circumstance that could make God love you any less. I lately feel like I’ve been falling more and more in love with Jesus every day and that is the coolest feeling! His love is amazing and I can’t get over how incredibly much He loves us so!! In Psalm 18 when David is writing, this is after his sin with Bathsheba, and he is still blameless, because when God sees us, He does not see us and our sins, He sees Jesus!

Sorry if some of that was random, but I am praying for you all and hope you are having incredible summers! I will try to blog again in a few days about the last few weeks, because it’s been a great time full of growth and good teams!

Over the mountains and the seas, Your river runs with love for me. I could sing of Your Love FOREVER :)

Oh, how He loves us so!

So, this past week was a ton of fun! The team from Covenant school in Virginia left today and it was so great to get to know them and experience different ministries with them. For me, it was so neat to see how God can use everyone to do His work and how He brings certain people together for certain reasons. That was the third team I’ve done ministry with at El Puente, and it’s so cool to see how even though all of the teams are so different, it always works out so well!

They did lots of different ministries, including Corazon Contento, the dump, El Fortine (a church plant), the orphanage, and VBS at Luz Del Mundo and the train station. It was a blessing to see how willing they all were to serve and how much they blessed all those they came into contact with and how they were also blessed.

Today I went to church with my friend Francisco and that was a blast! It was “kids day”, so there was the regular church service, then a special message for the kids, and then a piñata! It was amazing and I got to meet more of Francisco’s family, so that was really cool. The pastor’s wife wants me to come back again next week, so I can help with the kid’s program and maybe do puppets, which I’m excited about!

I just really can’t say it enough how much of a wonderful place Nicaragua is to be and how God is so at work here. It’s been great going to the orphanage on a consistent basis and getting to help out, tutor, and play with the girls there. It's really neat to see how I'm getting to know them more and more each time I go, and how much fun we have.

Home of the Ancients is also such a great place! If you don’t already know, it’s a nursing home for older people, who have been abandoned by their family. It’s run by Catholic nuns, and we go and help them clean, do laundry, and the like, and then just get to talk and visit with some of the people there. I've gotten especially close to Needia, Miguel, and Louis, and they love to see and spend time with those who come.

The train station is still one of my favorite places, because so many of the kids there just need to know that someone loves them and cares for them, because it is a high risk place for abuse and the like. We did a VBS for the kids there twice this past week. One of the lessons was on loving your enemies and the other was on treating others how you want to be treated. Afterwards we did crafts and got to play with the kids, so that was awesome as always!

Random sidenote, but I highly recommend everyone read the book “The Irresistible Revolution”. I just got done with it and it is an amazing book!

Anyway, it’s so incredible and amazing to see how God is at work in so many areas. Please keep everyone here in your prayers, because prayer is the most powerful tool. If you have any questions about certain things I’m doing, feel free to ask :). Please let me know how everything is going for you!

"Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony." -Colossians 3:12-14

Heavenly Father, You always amaze me

Hey guys!

Nicaragua is going wonderful! Two new interns have come in this last week and they are both great! Laura is from Virginia, and Mara is from Georgia. I can't wait to get to know them better! The weather has been very hot lately, but not too bad. It rained for a few days straight, but now it's back to some warm sunshine.

A new team comes in this Saturday from Covenant School in Virginia, so we're all preparing for that. I'm really excited to meet them and to see what God has in store for their trip! I went with Mario (one of the translators) around town yesterday to set up some ministry stuff at the orphanage, the hospital, Corizone Contento, and Home of the Ancients. While at Home of the Ancients, I saw Louis, and he's one of my favorites there. He greeted me with his normal, "Leighhh!" and his great big smile, which always makes me so happy.

I've also been getting to go down to the train station a lot, and as most of you know, I love it down there so much! Please be praying for the kids down there. I've been getting to know one of the families that I got close to last year even more, and they are always so kind to me, it's truly amazing. They have so little, and yet they are always willing to share anything they have. Joseline, Niancy, Manuel, and Maria are the kids in the family and are all awesome. I'm also trying to start some sort of weekly ministry down there, once a week for the older kids, and then once for the younger, and I am in need of some interesting ideas and the opportunity to do this, so prayers would be greatly appreciated!

Another ministry that I've been involved with is the baseball ministry. Ben and Kyle (who actually just left yesterday) have been running a baseball clinic twice a week, and I've been able to help them with that, and that's been fantastic. I've met some really great kids, gotten the chance to play baseball with them, and share the love of God!

I got to go to the dump again this morning and what a blessing that was! I love it there and the people's happiness there is incredible. Carlos had his guitar and he got me singing some great praise and worship songs! I don't think I have a good voice at all, but it was fun to be able to sing and just have a good time praising Jesus. Then Mario spoke for a little, and then we passed out some gallo pinto (rice and beans), cheese, and bread, and got to talk to some of the people. It was an awesome time!

God's love is truly amazing, and His grace is sufficient for us. It's so inspiring and amazing at how God's power can truly be seen when you do something for God that you know that you're not good at and that you really would rather not do, and then something good comes out of it and you know it has to be God, that is sweet!! Also, I'm really learning how God is the only one you can rely on and how His power and wisdom is sooo much greater than ours could ever be!

I always feel like these posts are so jumbled, but I hope you enjoy reading them, and I hope to hear about your lives soon as well. I pray for you all constantly, and hope to talk to you soon!

Peace,
Berk-Leigh

His love is STRONG.

Helloooo to everyone!

To those of you who don't know...I'm in Nicaragua for the summer!! I was here with my cross country team for 8 days, but now I'm interning here for the rest of the summer. It is such a blessing to be back here in the beautiful city of Granada.

I miss you guys so much! But I am having a blast here. I feel like I’m home again and my heart is happy. Being with the kids here makes me feel like I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be and that’s such a cool feeling. God is so good and His providence is so amazing. Did you know that God can do anything? I mean I know we say that all the time, but really, we serve a God of MIRACLES…He is SO big. Sometimes I feel like when we pray we pray to pray but we don’t pray with POWER…God can do anything! Pretty sweet, huh? Anyways, I hope everything at home is going amazing for everyone...please let me know anything I can be praying for!

Here’s a little of what I’ve been doing…

Home of the ancients- (I did this last year as well)- Going to help out the nursing home and clean and then hang out with some of the folks there. They are so sweet and such an encouragement to me.

Train station- This is a place in the barrios where a lot of people live in conditions that are anything but optimum…and you know what? The kids there are happier than most of the kids I know at home. I love being there. We did a VBS program there for some of the kids last week and it was AWESOME. God is definitely at work down there.

El Fortine- This is a new church plant out in some barrios outside of Granada. We do a feeding program there, and then do VBS with the kids and such. It’s awesome to see the happiness that God gives them.

And there’s more, but I’ll write about that later...

But you know what I’m learning? Our technology has destroyed us. LITERALLY. These things that were created to make life “easier” or “less complicated” have completely CONSUMED our lives. We watch television with people instead of just sitting and talking to them. I come here for a mission trip, but the states are just as much of a mission field as this country is. True, there are lot of drugs, alcohol, and other problems here with a lot of the population, but at least those who are Christians seem to truly understand what it means to be a Christian. We get caught up in the lights and the air conditioning and all these things that DON’T MATTER at our church services. Here people clap and sing and dance and they don’t care if it’s off beat or if it’s hot or if there’s no electricity…because they have the JOY that only God can bring. In Psalm 16:11 it talks about how God will FILL us with JOY in His presence…WOW. We look to all these other things for joy, but the only true bringer of joy is God himself. He is all that matters and the only thing that can truly make us happy.

Please come visit soon! If you need some encouragement in your faith come here and you will see the joy that only God can bring…Oh HE IS SO GOOD!

Sorry this was all so jumbled…it’s just really been on my heart lately…God is revealing Himself more and more to me...His love is incredible…I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! And then imagine that God loves you so much more than I could ever love…cause His love IS PERFECTTT!

BerkkkalerkJ