It has been a while since I've been here and that is mainly because of the Mission Fair that we just held. Most of my extra time was spent in the kitchen baking and making pasta for my table at the fair. My sale was great as I added about $400 to my mission trip fund. We had a fun time and learned a lot that can help us if we decide to do another fair next year.
We will drop the mission trip into the background during November and December since our church traditionally collects Pennies from Heaven during this time to help out folks both in and outside our congregation during the holidays. We provide help with utility bills as well as Christmas gifts for children.
We will pick back up in January with a strong push from then until the end of May when our shipping date arrives. Next year's trip is 8 months away, and our shipping date is 6 months away. There's lots to be done before then. We still need everything--soap, washcloths, toothbrushes, combs, pens, pencils, ballcaps, disposable razors, cloth diapers, large safety pins, teething toys, small toys, children's summer clothing, flipflops, ziplock bags, and lots of cash for shipping and for beans and rice.
More than anything, we need your prayers. Please pray for the team members, for money to pay our fee, for money for team expenses, for good health, for travel safety, and for the Holy Spirit to work in the lives of the people we will see next summer.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Lucille and the Girls
Lucille White is a beautiful, godly lady who is respected and loved by our congregation at Crossroads Fellowship. Lucille, who almost blind, and her husband Whitey, who is disabled from a stroke, live in a nearby retirement home. Lucille is part of a Bible study group that meets once a month there, and in June she asked me to come talk to them about our mission trip. When the meeting was over, they asked me to come back once the trip was completed and tell them how it went so I was back early this month, and I put them to work. In the past the ladies have put our sewing kits together so I asked them to take that job on again and took supplies for them to use. Within a week they had made as many kits as they could and were asking for more supplies. They love having a way to be a part of our team even though they can't actually make the trip. We need lots of sewing needles and tiny spools of thread so we can put Lucille and the girls back to work.
It takes so many people to make our trip each summer come together. A group of ladies at a church in Tahlequah have made hundreds of tote bags over the last few years. Other churches across the state pack vitamins, ibuprofen, and acetominophen into tiny bags for the pharmacy. And we have some very good shoppers who are constantly watching for bargains on ball caps, flipflops, and all the other supplies that we need.
We are in the planning stage on our fund-raising fair set for Nov. 2. So far we have a dinner planned and booths where you can purchase everything from garden trellises to car detailing to homemade breads.
With a project like our mission team, there is work for everyone who wants to be involved. One of the jobs that we need the most is to have an army of prayer warriors who lift us up all through the year. We need wisdom and discernment as we plan for the next trip, and those come from God through the prayers of our faithful coworkers.
It takes so many people to make our trip each summer come together. A group of ladies at a church in Tahlequah have made hundreds of tote bags over the last few years. Other churches across the state pack vitamins, ibuprofen, and acetominophen into tiny bags for the pharmacy. And we have some very good shoppers who are constantly watching for bargains on ball caps, flipflops, and all the other supplies that we need.
We are in the planning stage on our fund-raising fair set for Nov. 2. So far we have a dinner planned and booths where you can purchase everything from garden trellises to car detailing to homemade breads.
With a project like our mission team, there is work for everyone who wants to be involved. One of the jobs that we need the most is to have an army of prayer warriors who lift us up all through the year. We need wisdom and discernment as we plan for the next trip, and those come from God through the prayers of our faithful coworkers.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Seems a Bit Early
Our next rrip to Nicaragua will be July, 2009, but I'm already packing hygiene supplies. Why so early? Because if I wait until even the beginning of the year, there just won't be time to get everything collected, sorted, packaged, and packed. For example, let's consider the clothing we take for children. Most of that clothing comes to our storeroom in trash bags or big boxes with boys' and girls' clothing all mixed together with several sizes of each thrown in. First, I have to separate the clothing by appropriate sexes and look for damaged pieces in the process. We want to make people feel good with the clothing we give so anything that is torn or stained is removed. I also have to look for winter clothing. Stocking caps and mittens just aren't needed in a tropical country. Then the clothes must be sorted by size, and outfits matched together. We try to give everyone a top and a bottom that go together. Each set goes into a gallon reclosable bag, and on the outside I write the sex and the size. That preparation makes things go much faster once we get to Nicaragua. Our hygiene area is the last stop as people go through the clinics, and by the time they get to us, they've had a long day and are ready to start on their trek back home. Some will have hours to walk once they leave us. Getting the gifts to them quickly is as much a present to them as the actual gifts are.
In the last week I have spent about 8 hours at the church packing donations of flipflops, stuffed toys, and clothing. The next big job to do is packaging toys. We have 4 or 5 large boxes of small toys of all sorts. Four or five of them will fit it a small recloseable bag. We always try to include a little car since that is the most requested gift. Littls balls, action figures, tiny dolls, and toys from kids' meals at fast food restaurant are perfect for our gift bags. Putting those bags together takes lots of time, but getting to see a child open the bag and show Christmas-like excitement keeps us working.
At Crossroads we are making plans for two team events. Each person will have to raise at least $2,000 this year to make the trip. On November 2 we will have a Mission Team Fair where team members will have tables set up with fundraising projects. One member is planning to serve lunch after church for her project, and others are making all sorts of items that can be used for Christmas gifts. I'm working on baked goods like loaves of bread and cookies as well as homemade pasta. The second project is a team cookbook. We have just started checking in to the details of publishing the book so it will be a while before we have it ready. The book will provide funds for both the team needs and the individual team member who sells the book. I'll let you know when the books are ready and how to get one (or several.)
Several team members have set up boxes at their workplaces to collect items from their colleagues. If you have things to donate, call Crossroads Fellowship at 918-369-9111, and we'll work out a plan to take what you have. See the post titled "What We Need" for a list of what we are collecting. If you would like to help by sending a cash donation, you can make a check to Crossroads Mission Account and send it to Crossroads Fellowship, 100 W. Dawes, Bixby, OK 74008. You can designate the money for hygiene items, medicine, beans and rice, translators, or for a particular team member that you know. More than any gift, we need the gift of your prayers. At this point every year, making the trip successfully seems like an impossibility, and there will be unimagineable roadblocks that we have to work around, but God is faithful to answer prayers so please pray for us. We have a long way to go, and we need your help.
In the last week I have spent about 8 hours at the church packing donations of flipflops, stuffed toys, and clothing. The next big job to do is packaging toys. We have 4 or 5 large boxes of small toys of all sorts. Four or five of them will fit it a small recloseable bag. We always try to include a little car since that is the most requested gift. Littls balls, action figures, tiny dolls, and toys from kids' meals at fast food restaurant are perfect for our gift bags. Putting those bags together takes lots of time, but getting to see a child open the bag and show Christmas-like excitement keeps us working.
At Crossroads we are making plans for two team events. Each person will have to raise at least $2,000 this year to make the trip. On November 2 we will have a Mission Team Fair where team members will have tables set up with fundraising projects. One member is planning to serve lunch after church for her project, and others are making all sorts of items that can be used for Christmas gifts. I'm working on baked goods like loaves of bread and cookies as well as homemade pasta. The second project is a team cookbook. We have just started checking in to the details of publishing the book so it will be a while before we have it ready. The book will provide funds for both the team needs and the individual team member who sells the book. I'll let you know when the books are ready and how to get one (or several.)
Several team members have set up boxes at their workplaces to collect items from their colleagues. If you have things to donate, call Crossroads Fellowship at 918-369-9111, and we'll work out a plan to take what you have. See the post titled "What We Need" for a list of what we are collecting. If you would like to help by sending a cash donation, you can make a check to Crossroads Mission Account and send it to Crossroads Fellowship, 100 W. Dawes, Bixby, OK 74008. You can designate the money for hygiene items, medicine, beans and rice, translators, or for a particular team member that you know. More than any gift, we need the gift of your prayers. At this point every year, making the trip successfully seems like an impossibility, and there will be unimagineable roadblocks that we have to work around, but God is faithful to answer prayers so please pray for us. We have a long way to go, and we need your help.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Listening to the Voice
The title of this blog is "A Voice Behind You", a phrase taken from Isaiah 30:21. My visits to Nicaragua have taught me to listen for this voice, and as I've listened over the years, the voice has become easier to hear and recognize. I want to share something that happened this summer as a result of hearing and obeying that voice, but I want to be sure you understand that the story is not to claim glory for myself. The voice giving the directions is from God, the desire to be obedient is a gift from God, all the people in the story were put in place by God--He orchestrated the whole thing, and He gets the glory. I want to share the story so you can see how the voice works, and the marvelous mercy of God as He supplies just what we need when we need it.
Four years ago we had one of the most difficult trips we've ever taken. We went to Malacatoya, and I think that city's name means "the home of monster mosquitoes that love to eat North Americans." Malacatoya is surrounded by rice fields which are always flooded providing perfect homes for those ravenous mosquitoes. About sunset they came roaring out of the rice fields, and 100% deet was just an appetizer for them. The problem is that I am very sensitive to mosquito bites. They make huge welts and itch for days so it was a pretty miserable week. But in the middle of that misery, God was at work.
One evening I had gone to the tent for the church service, and as I waited for the music to begin, I heard the voice behind me. He was telling me to give my Bible to the local pastor. My Bible was a Spanish-English version that had been a birthday gift from my family several years earlier. I had used it often following my pastor's text on Sunday on the Spanish side trying to learn a few more words and phrases. However, as time went by, the Bible's print was shrinking, and I was having trouble reading it. It was time for a large print Bible, and the voice was telling me to give the Bible to someone who needed it more than I did.
I looked around and found the pastor, Fernando Rueda. He was standing on the other side of the tent. I made my way to him, explained the best I could with my little bit of Spanish, and with tears in my eyes, I gave him the Bible. The tears weren't from sadness but from the joy that obedience brings.
Last February (2008) my pastor and team captain Larry DeLay made an extra trip to Nicaragua to teach a week of classes at the pastor's school. When he came back, he told me that Pastor Rueda is now at a church in Managua, and he was in Bro. Larry's class. After one of the sessions, Pastor Rueda went to Bro. Larry and reminded him of our trip to Malacatoya. He also asked Bro. Larry if he knew Cathy Burgess and told him that I had given him my Spanish-English Bible. When Bro. Larry told me about it, I was thrilled to hear that the Bible was still being used.
Now we go to this year's trip to La Gateada. One of the down sides to making a long series of mission trips and doing the same job each year is that sometimes the edge gets a bit dull, and you can begin to wonder if you are really accomplishing much--if all your work is making a difference. I try to fight those feelings, but sometimes they do sneak in, and I have to confess them and ask God to forgive me and ask His help to keep my focus on obedience. I was feeling some of that this summer. One afternoon a young man named Jose came into the hygiene area. Jose began as a translator with us several years ago and now is the translator in the tent for the pastors. He asked me if I remembered the trip to Malacatoya. I assured him that I did, and he asked if I remembered the pastor and that I had given him a Bible. Jose is now a member of Pastor Rueda's church in Managua. One Sunday morning during the past spring Pastor Rueda began his sermon by telling his congregation about my gift of my Bible. And then he said, "My sermon today comes from the notes that she wrote in her Bible." He told his congregation to be sure to take notes in their Bibles because they don't know how the Lord will use those notes in the future.
I stood in that hygiene room with chills all over me. I couldn't think of anything to say to Jose--I just wanted to praise and thank God for his loving gift of reassurance and encouragement. When we listen to the voice, we don't know what happens next, but we can be assured that something happens next. He is in control, and He puts all the pieces together. What an honor to get to be one of the pieces!
Four years ago we had one of the most difficult trips we've ever taken. We went to Malacatoya, and I think that city's name means "the home of monster mosquitoes that love to eat North Americans." Malacatoya is surrounded by rice fields which are always flooded providing perfect homes for those ravenous mosquitoes. About sunset they came roaring out of the rice fields, and 100% deet was just an appetizer for them. The problem is that I am very sensitive to mosquito bites. They make huge welts and itch for days so it was a pretty miserable week. But in the middle of that misery, God was at work.
One evening I had gone to the tent for the church service, and as I waited for the music to begin, I heard the voice behind me. He was telling me to give my Bible to the local pastor. My Bible was a Spanish-English version that had been a birthday gift from my family several years earlier. I had used it often following my pastor's text on Sunday on the Spanish side trying to learn a few more words and phrases. However, as time went by, the Bible's print was shrinking, and I was having trouble reading it. It was time for a large print Bible, and the voice was telling me to give the Bible to someone who needed it more than I did.
I looked around and found the pastor, Fernando Rueda. He was standing on the other side of the tent. I made my way to him, explained the best I could with my little bit of Spanish, and with tears in my eyes, I gave him the Bible. The tears weren't from sadness but from the joy that obedience brings.
Last February (2008) my pastor and team captain Larry DeLay made an extra trip to Nicaragua to teach a week of classes at the pastor's school. When he came back, he told me that Pastor Rueda is now at a church in Managua, and he was in Bro. Larry's class. After one of the sessions, Pastor Rueda went to Bro. Larry and reminded him of our trip to Malacatoya. He also asked Bro. Larry if he knew Cathy Burgess and told him that I had given him my Spanish-English Bible. When Bro. Larry told me about it, I was thrilled to hear that the Bible was still being used.
Now we go to this year's trip to La Gateada. One of the down sides to making a long series of mission trips and doing the same job each year is that sometimes the edge gets a bit dull, and you can begin to wonder if you are really accomplishing much--if all your work is making a difference. I try to fight those feelings, but sometimes they do sneak in, and I have to confess them and ask God to forgive me and ask His help to keep my focus on obedience. I was feeling some of that this summer. One afternoon a young man named Jose came into the hygiene area. Jose began as a translator with us several years ago and now is the translator in the tent for the pastors. He asked me if I remembered the trip to Malacatoya. I assured him that I did, and he asked if I remembered the pastor and that I had given him a Bible. Jose is now a member of Pastor Rueda's church in Managua. One Sunday morning during the past spring Pastor Rueda began his sermon by telling his congregation about my gift of my Bible. And then he said, "My sermon today comes from the notes that she wrote in her Bible." He told his congregation to be sure to take notes in their Bibles because they don't know how the Lord will use those notes in the future.
I stood in that hygiene room with chills all over me. I couldn't think of anything to say to Jose--I just wanted to praise and thank God for his loving gift of reassurance and encouragement. When we listen to the voice, we don't know what happens next, but we can be assured that something happens next. He is in control, and He puts all the pieces together. What an honor to get to be one of the pieces!
What We Need
Here's a list of the things that we need for our next trip. Right now it looks like we'll have a large medical team again so we'll start out planning for 5,000. That means about 250 babies, 2,250 children, 1,500 women, and 1,000 men.
bars of soap, washcloths, toothbrushes
combs, disposable razors , needles
motel soaps, shampoos, etc., straight pins, safety pins
small buttons, small spools of thread, tote bags (not purses)
quart and gallon ziplock bags, backpacks, pencils
pens, crayons, rulers, scissors, paper clips, glue
chalk, notebooks, small stickers, suckers, individually wrapped hard candy
cloth diapers (not disposable), large safety pins, lightweight baby blankets
teething toys, powdered infant formula, rice cereal for babies, baby bottles
small toys of all kinds, toy cars , small stuffed toys, small balls small dolls
children's summer clothing sizes newborn through 14, adult tee shirts
ball caps, shoes for all ages, flipflops of all sizes
flashlights, pocket knives, hand tools of all kinds, work gloves
cups or mugs with lids, umbrellas, rain ponchos
over the counted meds: ibuprofen, acetaminophen, aspirin
diaper rash ointment, eye drops, anti-itch ointment
twin-size flat sheets, twin-size flannel sheets, bath towels, mosquito netting
duct tape, nylon rope, insect spray and repellent
hand sanitizer, toilet paper, WalMart bags
used eye glasses and sun glasses
We also need cash donations for the following things:
beans and rice--$1,250 per medical station ($5 buys beans and rice for a family of 5 for 3 weeks. It would cost a Nicaraguan worker 3 days pay.)
Bibles $3 each to buy and ship
Translators $100 or more each
Nicaraguan doctor and dentist $300 each (We are required to hire one of each.)
Shipping costs 25 cents per pound
Food for the team--actual cost depends on the size of the team
Medicines and medical supplies--$5,000 or more
Individual member cost--$2,000
bars of soap, washcloths, toothbrushes
combs, disposable razors , needles
motel soaps, shampoos, etc., straight pins, safety pins
small buttons, small spools of thread, tote bags (not purses)
quart and gallon ziplock bags, backpacks, pencils
pens, crayons, rulers, scissors, paper clips, glue
chalk, notebooks, small stickers, suckers, individually wrapped hard candy
cloth diapers (not disposable), large safety pins, lightweight baby blankets
teething toys, powdered infant formula, rice cereal for babies, baby bottles
small toys of all kinds, toy cars , small stuffed toys, small balls small dolls
children's summer clothing sizes newborn through 14, adult tee shirts
ball caps, shoes for all ages, flipflops of all sizes
flashlights, pocket knives, hand tools of all kinds, work gloves
cups or mugs with lids, umbrellas, rain ponchos
over the counted meds: ibuprofen, acetaminophen, aspirin
diaper rash ointment, eye drops, anti-itch ointment
twin-size flat sheets, twin-size flannel sheets, bath towels, mosquito netting
duct tape, nylon rope, insect spray and repellent
hand sanitizer, toilet paper, WalMart bags
used eye glasses and sun glasses
We also need cash donations for the following things:
beans and rice--$1,250 per medical station ($5 buys beans and rice for a family of 5 for 3 weeks. It would cost a Nicaraguan worker 3 days pay.)
Bibles $3 each to buy and ship
Translators $100 or more each
Nicaraguan doctor and dentist $300 each (We are required to hire one of each.)
Shipping costs 25 cents per pound
Food for the team--actual cost depends on the size of the team
Medicines and medical supplies--$5,000 or more
Individual member cost--$2,000
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
A Typical Trip
Our trips to Nicaragua usually follow a similar schedule so generally we know what to expect to happen on each day. We begin the trip either on a Saturday or a Sunday with some of us leaving from the airport in Tulsa and some from Oklahoma City and meeting in Houston. In the past we've taken a flight just after lunch, but this year we got the early flight at 6:30 a.m., and we hope that will be our plan from now on. By leaving that early, we got to Managua before noon and had all afternoon to rest and get organized and get to bed early. When we leave after noon, we get to Managua around 9 p.m. and that makes a very short night.
Once we get through customs, we get on the BMDMI buses and travel about half an hour to the mission house which overlooks Lake Managua in a beautiful setting. That house is especially nice to come back to after the week in the field. We are up early the second morning, and if it is a Sunday, we have our own worship service before getting on the buses again to travel to our assigned village. So far our team has never gone to the same place twice. Usually we have the use of the local school for the week so once we arrive the captain and the department heads scout out the layout of the school classrooms and determine the best setup for the clinics to make a good traffic flow. Then the hard work starts. All of our supplies have already been delivered and are waiting in one area. Now they have to be sorted out to the individual clinic areas. This past year that meant that over 700 boxes had to be moved. We were lucky in that our huge mountain of beans and rice was already in the right place.
As we are spending a couple of hours setting up, the local committee gets to work registering the first 200 people, and one of our preachers gets the first of many church services underway. Then we make a test run of the clinics as those first 200 or so make their way through personal evangelism, triage, medical clinic, dental clinic, pharmacy, vision clinic, and finally to the hygiene gifts area. If everything flows smoothly, we are set for the next few days. If there was a problem along the line, we get it corrected before the next morning.
The next three days become a blur. Breakfast is at 7 followed by a team devotional time with clinics opening at 8 a.m. A group is registered and taken at 7 a.m. to a huge tent set up for church services. A brief gospel presentation is given and then each person's blue registration card is validated after the church service . Then the group moves on to the clinic area. They are met by our personal evangelism teams who use the Evangicube for another gospel presentation. They watch for people carrying new Bibles which indicates that person made a decision in the service so that we don't duplicate the responses.
The people move from there to the triage area where some of our team members check and record weights and blood pressure on the blue card. Medical clinic is next. We have had doctors, physician's assistants, registered nurses, and licensed practical nurses on our medical team, and each of them is assigned a station with an interpreter. Families are sent in together to a station where each individual is examined, diagnosed, and necessary prescriptions are marked on the back of the registration card.
The group then moves on to the pharmacy where the prescriptions are filled, and an interpreter goes over the instructions on each prescription with the adults in the group. Individuals needing dental care or vision care go to those clinics, and then the group moves on to the hygiene area where all the gifts are given. In the hygiene are, we get the joy of watching little children get the first sight of new toys, new clothes, new shoes--it's like Christmas over and over and over. All of the services offered in our clinics including all the medicines are free to the Nicaraguan people.
How many people we see in a day is determined by the size of our medical team. This year we had 10 stations, and we saw 1,300 to 1,400 people a day on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. By the end of Wednesday, we were running out of medicines and didn't have what we needed to see more people. We had served over 4,100 people.
Thursday morning is usually packing up morning, and then it's time to say goodbye which is always a difficult time. We travel back to the mission house in Managua, and that evening our interpreters come to have dinner with us and say goodbye--another difficult time.
Friday is our tourist day with the morning given to shopping and the afternoon to sight seeing and more shopping if we can work it in. That night at the mission house we each have a chance to share what God has taught us through the week.
Saturday morning starts very early--3:30 a.m. since we have to be at the airport by 4:30 or 5 for the flight back to Houston.
It's a week full of very hard work, sleeping on cots or on foam pads on the floor, makeshift outdoor showers, stinky outhouses, lots of sweat, and usually lots of mud since July is the rainy season, but the peace of being obedient to God's call outweighs all of the difficulties.
For every medical person on our team, we need 3 or 4 support people to make the trip work. We need average folks--we have both active and retired teachers, trades workers, business owners, stay-at-home moms, students--anyone who hears a call from God to be part of the team. There is a job you can do because God doesn't call the able. He enables the called, and if He puts you on the team, He will have a job for you to do.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
A Voice Behind You
In 1992 God gave me a passion, but I didn't realize that's what it was until about 13 years later when my husband and I began leading a cell group. We were studying The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren and were almost finished with the book when we got to the chapter on sharing your life's message. Warren introduced the idea of a godly passion and said that whatever your passion is, you will "feel compelled to speak up about it and do what you can to make a difference." He added that you won't be able to keep yourself from talking about it. And there it was! I realized that I had a passion, and it was Nicaragua!
In 1992 I made my first mission trip to that Central American country, and thanks to God's gift of time, finances, and good health, I've gone back every summer since then, and when I'm home, I can't stop talking about it. The team I travel with has undergone a series of gradual changes until this year when my home church became the base of the team and my pastor the captain. We are a medical-dental team with Baptist Medical Dental Mission International (http://www.bmdmi.org/), and my job on the team is to head the hygiene department. I am responsible for obtaining hygiene items and gifts for everyone who comes to our clinic. This summer in La Gateada, Nicaragua, we saw over 4,000 people so I had to collect bars of soap, washcloths, toothbrushes, combs, ball caps, flipflops, tote bags, toys, children's clothing and on and on for over 4,000 people. We shipped 472 boxes of hygiene supplies plus another 300 boxes of medical, dental, and kitchen supplies. Between collecting all the hygiene supplies and raising my own money, I spend at least part of every day doing something for the trip.
The purpose of this blog is to share what I'm doing and what our team needs, but most of all it is to share the glory of an awe-inspiring holy God who provides more than we can ask or imagine and who teaches us things that are almost incomprehensible. God has no need of our help in saving the people of Nicaragua. He can save them, heal them, and provide for them absolutely and completely on His own, but He gives us the privilege and honor of serving Him through loving them. Please pray for our team. We plan to go back to Nicaragua again next July, and we are already collecting and packing our supplies. My church is Crossroads Fellowship in Bixby, Oklahoma, and our pastor/team captain is Larry DeLay.
One other thing--the title of this blog is A Voice Behind You. It comes from Isaiah 30:21: "...your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying 'This is the way; walk in it.'" I've come to rely on that voice both in preparing for the trip and while I'm in Nicaragua, and I'll share some experiences when that voice led us directly into the glory of God.
In 1992 I made my first mission trip to that Central American country, and thanks to God's gift of time, finances, and good health, I've gone back every summer since then, and when I'm home, I can't stop talking about it. The team I travel with has undergone a series of gradual changes until this year when my home church became the base of the team and my pastor the captain. We are a medical-dental team with Baptist Medical Dental Mission International (http://www.bmdmi.org/), and my job on the team is to head the hygiene department. I am responsible for obtaining hygiene items and gifts for everyone who comes to our clinic. This summer in La Gateada, Nicaragua, we saw over 4,000 people so I had to collect bars of soap, washcloths, toothbrushes, combs, ball caps, flipflops, tote bags, toys, children's clothing and on and on for over 4,000 people. We shipped 472 boxes of hygiene supplies plus another 300 boxes of medical, dental, and kitchen supplies. Between collecting all the hygiene supplies and raising my own money, I spend at least part of every day doing something for the trip.
The purpose of this blog is to share what I'm doing and what our team needs, but most of all it is to share the glory of an awe-inspiring holy God who provides more than we can ask or imagine and who teaches us things that are almost incomprehensible. God has no need of our help in saving the people of Nicaragua. He can save them, heal them, and provide for them absolutely and completely on His own, but He gives us the privilege and honor of serving Him through loving them. Please pray for our team. We plan to go back to Nicaragua again next July, and we are already collecting and packing our supplies. My church is Crossroads Fellowship in Bixby, Oklahoma, and our pastor/team captain is Larry DeLay.
One other thing--the title of this blog is A Voice Behind You. It comes from Isaiah 30:21: "...your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying 'This is the way; walk in it.'" I've come to rely on that voice both in preparing for the trip and while I'm in Nicaragua, and I'll share some experiences when that voice led us directly into the glory of God.
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