REACHING NICARAGUA FOR CHRIST

Our call to missions began from the early days of our relationship back at Liberty University. We would talk about the future and what our desires where for our lives. Both of us mentioned becoming missionaries at some point down the road, however, we assumed it would be when our children were grown. We also talked about children and the potential on one day adopting, specifically a child with special needs. As we got married and began our family God began showing us even more of his plan for our lives.

We started going on mission trips together during the summers with our church, Southgate Baptist Church. We would go to Kentucky and serve with Big Creek Missions. We did this for a few years before Hannah came along in December 2014. After Hannah was born, we began planning some of the mission trips to Kentucky as I took the position as children and youth coordinator at our church. This helped us to understand some of the things that go into planning trips and our hosts spoke with us about some of their responsibilities as missionaries.

God began impressing Nicaragua onto our hearts when one of our previous pastors, and good friends were planning a trip to Nicaragua for our church. Ryan was all for the mission trip, but I was not as Josiah was soon to be born. We went to Fort Caswell in the summer of 2016 with our youth for Missions Emphasis Week. Well God definitely convicted my heart and 9 months after Josiah was born, we headed to Nicaragua for a week. It was a huge blessing to Ryan and I and we loved every minute of serving God together.

It was there that God placed a burden on our hearts for the people of Nicaragua, and slowly began revealing more to us. As we continued making trips over the years and spending more time there and watching the ministry in Nicaragua grow, we slowly began to see the great things God was doing among his people there. As we get more of an idea of our role in Nicaragua as missionaries, we see it all coming full circle from those early conversations when we were first dating.

Although it is coming much quicker than we first anticipated all those years ago we know God is in control. He is opening the doors for us to help churches in different communities serve the children through food kitchens and sharing the Gospel. We will have the opportunity to work with teams coming in for short term missions, where they can witness in the schools, provide medical clinics, do construction projects, as well as door to door evangelism among other things. Our main responsibilities will center around the Special Needs Ministry in Nicaragua. We have saw first hand the rapid growth of this ministry and will have the chance to work hand in hand with those professionals to serve children with special needs and their families.

All of these areas that we will be involved in will allow us to accomplish our main purpose in this life which is to proclaim the good news of the Gospel. To share with all those children and their families how great God's love is for them. So great that he sent His only Son to die on a cross for our sins, rose on the third day, and all we have to do is repent and place our trust in Him for salvation.