“Trust.  Faith. And trust overcome fear when we discover the depth of God’s heart of love- and believe that He is not only capable, but more than willing, to help us in our times of need. As the apostle Paul wrote, “ I know whom I believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.”(2 Timothy 1:12)

This week has been breaking me of expectations, building me in trusting, and letting go of what is comfortable. If I always stayed where I was in life, and hung on to what is comfortable, how could I ever grow?

 Usually, I like to wake up and know exactly what I’ll be doing. However, here in Nicaragua I’ve been learning to be flexible with EVERYTHING.  I really mean everyyyything.   A lot of the times things won’t go as planned. I’m realizing that it is such a good thing for me though, because I always get caught up in planning what I will do, when that could conflict with what God has planned for me that day. And at times when things don’t go my way, I tend to get upset and don’t understand why. It’s because I made and “expectation” for something, and it falls through. I am learning to be flexible, and to just let things be!

In reality I could be missing a bigger picture, if I have a bad attitude about a day that I was not expecting. I could be missing other beautiful opportunities God has planned for me that day. That is something I am learning, working on, and hoping to carry on throughout my life. Letting things be, making the best of every opportunity I get, and always, always, always being thankful.

Here, things are unexpected from - Who I’ll be meeting, what I’ll be doing, where I’ll be going or what I will be eating. I wasn’t  expecting one morning to be eating breakfast, and then being asked to teach a Spanish lesson 20 minutes later  to our whole squad. I wasn’t expecting my first Sunday night church service in Nicaragua to be much different than back home. I didn’t expect to have blasting loud music and be dripping sweat for 3 hours at the service. Or  without notice  getting  asked  to go up and sing in front of everybody. Or having the pastor die right in front of my own eyes the very same night.  I wasn’t expecting one morning waking up early and driving to the village we visit often(Bethel) And spend hours in the hot sun, gathering rocks, filling in potholes to help repair their roads.  I was not  expecting this past Sunday (The Nicaraguan Independence Day) to be asked  if I could speak in front of a large group of Nicaraguans later in the day- -I end up sharing with them my testimony and preaching to them all… in Spanish.  (And so did another one of my amazing team mates, Kory)

However, I never expected to live in such a beautiful place, a volcano in our backyard and coconut palm trees surrounding our new home. I never expected   to love a little 6 year old girl that I’ve only known for 2 weeks as much as I do now. I never expected to feel like such a child again, as I am  running around playing tag while she’s riding on my back, and we’re sharing a chocolate covered banana.  I never expected to be drawing so much closer to the 17 other girls I live with( Because usually it is difficult to be around and living with that many girls) But seriously, I love them! Oh and on a daily occasion being kind of like their own personal makeup artist:D  (btw, our  guys are awesome too!)

I never expected hand washing could be so much fun, and kind of like a workout for my arms! & I never expected that singing can cure any bad mood that starts creeping in. Seriously. When it’s blazing hot, and we’re doing manual labor- singing is the cure! I never expected to have to throw away my toilet paper, or that hugely big black beetles would run across my hand. I never expected to have such a precious small group of 5 other girls who are beyond amazing. Really amazing. I mean- they constantly will sing Disney songs with me anytime of day=) Or even though, church here was not what I thought it would be, I never expected to see people so on fire for the Lord, and singing their hearts out, and be so welcoming to us all.  

  Everyday I am constantly sweating. And one morning I wake up, and can not even wrap my mind around living like this for 9 months. I am learning so much, but daily life here definitely has its difficulties to go along with it. It’s been crazy, but I know it is SO worth it. I can’t believe how much I am already changing, growing, and expanding.

However- the one thing I do know to expect is that God is always with me. With my squad. With you. He will never fail me, and I will always put my trust in him. GOD IS SOO GOOD!

 Ohhhhh and one other expectation…..that when I sit down at lunch and dinner, there will sure enough be rice and beans. Always;)

The pastor & I. After sharing my testimony & my mini sermon:)