Jan
1st
Last night was spent on our front porch watching fireworks with our roommates. After midnight struck all of the neighbors went around and gave each other hugs and blessings for the year to come. It beautiful and today I am filled with gratitude to have been given the opportunity to experience it.
Dec
29th
El Basurero is the city dump of Granada. Mario (one of our local ministry partners) heads up a group that goes once a week with lunch to talk and pray with the people that work at the dump. Around 30 families come everyday to dig through the city’s discarded trash and salvage what they can to recycle and sell. The average adult worker here makes around $2 a day. That’s $2 a day to feed, clothe and provide shelter for their family.
Through our supporters and some extra donations, we were able to provide over 30 bags of toiletries for the families. We went down the day before Christmas Eve with toys and pinatas for the kiddos and bags of food and toiletries for the adults. It was an amazing day and such a blessing to be able to be there.
Here’s a couple of videos from the day:
You can check out some pictures from El Basurero by clicking here.
Dec
24th
Let me start by saying this is one of the craziest people you will ever meet in your life. I mean crazy. But this guy loves Jesus and the joy that comes from God is very evident in his life.
Meet Abrahan Ezequiel Dias Mora (and yes it is common for people to have four names here) or simply Ezequiel. He lives here in Granada a couple of blocks from the mission base, El Puente. Ezequiel is always around helping, joining in ministries, making people laugh, and is such a joy to be around. His most famous phrase is “JESUS LOVE YOU!” yelled in English as loud as he can.
[Annie, Ezequiel and Jessalyn]
To be honest when I first met Ezequiel I was a bit hesitant about him, thinking “I’m not sure about this one” but he quickly won me over. He is very eager to learn and after the holidays I am going to be tutoring him in basic computer knowledge. He is also in the process of raising support to go on a mission trip for four weeks to a remote area in Northeast Nicaragua. If you feel lead to support Ezequiel, please get in touch with us and we can help you connect with him.
Enjoy these photos of the man himself:
[¡Que suave!]
[I was stabbed by my lucky machete...]
[Ezequiel stabbing Trevor]
[Ezequil's new girlfriend - a piñata at El Basurero]
Dec
11th
My parents and our nephew left this morning after coming to Granada and spending a week with us. It was an incredible time to catch up, laugh and play together.
We took them on a whirlwind tour of Granada and the surrounding areas. From active volcanoes, markets, beautiful lookouts, an island boat tour (with MONKEYS), swimming at the laguna (aka – a giant swimming hole in the top of an old volcano) to watching them become friends with our wonderful roommates, their time (although it seemed too short) with us was very refreshing.
In addition to site seeing, we also introduced them to some of the ministries that we are involved with. We tagged along with our friends as they handed out new work boots to the dozens of people that work in the city dump just outside of Granada.
While here my parents had the amazing opportunity (thanks also to some big hearts back home) to not only bless a family that we work with and also send a guy to rehab with a bag of toiletries – but leave funding for future needs that we come across.
Their visit was full of adventure to say the least. From getting lost in a town with a 12 foot tree in the trunk of a Toyota Yaris to getting pulled over by the cops and getting hustled for $10 (or $5 if Bekah had her way) we had a blast learning the ins and outs of new journeys with our loved ones in the car with us. Now to get some rest…
Nov
24th
Friday we visited La Chureca, (a place infamous enough to coin the name THE Dump) the city dump of Managua. In and around the dump there is a community of about 800 people that live and work in the dump. The workers dig through the trash day in and day out, collecting valuables from what the city discards so that they can feed their families.
The dump is enormous and there is constant smoke from burning trash that fills your lungs as you breath. For many, this is life.
We had the opportunity to meet Daniel from Love, Light and Melody and walk around the community and meet some of the families that they work with.
We are committed to becoming experts on the life and culture inside the city trash dump in Managua, Nicaragua. Our goal is to identify and meet the immediate physical needs, raise awareness about trash dump communities, and fight social injustice. We use music and the arts to rebuild, restore, and bring healing to communities ravaged by extreme poverty. [taken from their website]
Among many other things, Love Light and Melody love the people of the community and this was evident as we walked around and talked with Daniel. One thing that Daniel said that has stuck with me: “The fact that people are digging through trash is a result of the kingdom of this world. We are praying for full restoration in their lives. We are praying for God’s kingdom to come.”
Nov
19th
I started a new small group that met this morning. We are calling it a recovery group because it is geared towards people who are struggling with addictions – specifically drugs and alcohol. It is set up to run sort of like an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. About 15 guys showed up this morning. We started by reading the 12 steps and then I shared the full version of my story. I know it’s hard for people who only know the “clean Frank” to see or know how messed up my life truly was before Christ. I was excited to share this with the guys. When I finished we went around the table and everyone had a chance to introduce themselves and share whatever was on their heart. We ended the meeting by reading Just For Today. It was a great morning to say the least.
Nov
9th
Over the next couple of weeks, we will begin to implement a program that will focus on plugging everyone from the church we are a part of into a small group. We know the effectiveness of this model personally and we can’t wait to get started. Rebekah has a small group that meets weekly here at our house composed of Nicaraguan women and another small group that she is co-leading composed of some team members working here in Granada. I believe God is calling me to starting a small group that meets weekly made up of recovering addicts. The small group will have the feel of an Narcotics Anonymous group with a focus on who we are in Christ, taking life and recovery one day at a time, serving our community, praying for one another, etc. The goal of the group is that we would all go out and teach others what we have learned. I think step #12 of the program says it best:
Step 12: Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to addicts, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Please pray for us over the next couple of weeks as we prepare to begin.
Oct
26th
About a year and a half ago while we still lived in Birmingham, God began to show us what true community looked liked. The friends we made and the things we shared helped us to look beyond ourselves to a deeper understanding of what that looks like day to day. When the time came for us to board a plane and head to Nicaragua, it was tough to leave our community. Just before we left, there was a new baby added to the group – Ethan (mascot #2) and we will miss watching him grow up like we had the opportunity to with Josiah (mascot #1). It was tough to think (and still is) about how much we would miss.
But thanks to God – he has blessed us with an amazing community also here in Granada. The most beautiful part of our community here is the diversity of it. The community is made up not only of Nicaraguans from all walks of life but also Gringos (NOTE: if you have white skin you are a Gringo) from all walks of life. It has been a true glimpse of the body of Christ, serving and loving one another and through that infecting the community around them with the Gospel.
Oct
14th
Vida Joven is the Young Life community located in Central America. I (Frank) had the amazing opportunity to go to the Vida Joven camp in Matagalpa, Nicaragua. The Matagalpa camp is different because they grow coffee in order to help support the ministry. We went to the cold and moist mountains with the objective of learning about the ministry in order to help brand and market the coffee to help further the ministry. It is truly an amazing place.
Oct
6th
Last week I met a guy that we’ll called Adam, this is part of his story.
Adam grew up in a wealthy family by Nicaraguan standards. His father owns two pharmacies here in Granada. Growing up Adam had an older brother that he looked up to and admired. In his late teens his brother began to use drugs and when his father found out he was using, he kicked him out of the house. Adam remembers letting his brother come in at night to borrow clothes and sleep under his bed. Things began to look up for Adam’s brother when he met a girl. He stopped using as much and was beginning to build back the trust and love that his father once had for him.
This all changed when Adam’s brother found out that his girlfriend was cheating on him. He began to use heavier than before and within 20 days he hung himself. After this happened Adam was devastated and a “friend” offered him some drugs with the promise that it would make him “forget what had happened”. Adam’s using became more and more out of control and he begun to steal from the cash register while working at his father’s store. When his father found out he kicked Adam out of the house.
