A little bit of everything. . .

It’s been almost two months since I’ve posted so I thought it was a good time to hop on here and write a little something to keep you up to date on how we’ve been doing and what we’ve been up to. At the end of July we celebrated my mother in law’s birthday. We have seen Arlete change so much over the years as the Lord has been working in her life; it’s been a blessing to be able to bear witness to what He can do in a life that suffered so much early on. Arlete was raised by her grandmother who didn’t know the Lord and put her to work at a really young age, like pre-teen age, making tortillas and selling things in the streets. She basically had no father in her life and at 16 made a bad decision and ended up pregnant with Jessica. Obviously the Lord redeemed that bad decision and gave me an amazing wife through it all, but she repeated that mistake a few more times and had two more children who as well were raised without a father figure in their lives. Arlete was born again about 9 years ago or so and from that point on it’s been a process of transformation that really accelerated in the last few years. It has been a joy for me and Jessica to see her mature in the Lord and she has been such a help to us in watching our kids so that Jessica and I can go have a dinner together or just have a break for a few hours. We continue to walk with Arlete as family in Christ, not just blood related, and rejoice at all He’s done!

At the beginning of August I took 3 days, well . . . I should say that my lovely and patient wife allowed and even encouraged me to take 3 days to go fast and pray. I found a cheap and rustic cabin not far from our home and that is where I posted up for 3 days to seek the Lord and kind of refocus myself as I felt I needed clarity on some things that were occupying space in my mind. When I spend time intentionally seeking the Lord in this way I find that normally I don’t receive a great and life-changing revelation necessarily, rather I find myself humbled once again by how frail and weak I am in my own strength and how much I need the Lord in every way. I also have found that I remain pretty quiet during these solitary fasts; like my Spirit is reminding me that I need to be still and know that He is God and I am not. I spend a lot of time listening and reading the scriptures and this time I brought a few biographies with me of a few men who lived their lives bravely and whole-heartedly for the Lord that challenged and encouraged me as well. I think it’s a good idea for those that can do so to retreat away for at least a whole day and night, and if possible 2 to 3 days, to seek the Lord and be reminded of His greatness and sovereignty in our lives. I have done so now a few times this year and I hope to be able to do so perhaps one more time before 2022 is finished; Lord willing and if my wonderful wife allows me to once again!

Last month Jessica and I also celebrated our birthdays! I turned 42 and Jessica turned 30. Jessica and I both really enjoy hiking so our desire was to take the day and go hike a volcano near by; a certain trail on that volcano that we hadn’t hiked before. We were blessed by our brothers and sisters in Christ watching our kids for us that day and then planning a little get-together to celebrate our birthdays once we got back that night. Every year someone new is surprised that Jessica and I share the same day as our birthday and every year I feel a bit bad that on that day we share birthday honors because I want to celebrate my wife, but in the end she ends up having to share the honors with me, which she always does so graciously and selflessly. We are both thankful that the Lord has given us strong bodies that can do things like hiking where we can enjoy His creation and get outside of the city of Managua for a few hours.

And our Isabella turned 1 year old just a few days ago! Wow how time has flown by! She is so close to walking now and let me tell you, she is a vocal one! Isabella is very active and keeps mommy and daddy busy. She is a great eater and sleeper (most of the time) and we were so happy and thankful that Omi and Papa (my parents) were able to be here to help us celebrate her birthday. Our family most definitely feels complete with Isabella joining us a year ago and we are made more sure as each day goes by that 3 kiddos was and is enough for us, haha!

In our fellowship here in Nicaragua we have two couples that are about to welcome into the world their first child; one couple is awaiting their little girl and the other their little boy. The father’s are actually brothers so that kind of makes it a bit more special as they are both about to be father’s for the 1st time! Over the past month or so we planned a few gatherings to celebrate the soon-arrivals of their babies and are excited to walk with them as new parents who love the Lord and long to raise their children His way. Jessica and I have certainly not done everything perfectly over the last almost 7 years that we have been parents, but the little knowledge that we have we have shared with them and will continue to do so as they begin encountering all the lovely and challenging facets of parenthood! I’ve always said that when I became a husband I was shown how much I needed to humble myself and how little I knew about how to love unconditionally my wife; and when I became a father for the 1st time it was once again revealed to me how little I understood about denying myself. Being a husband and a father are such blessings in my life that have been so crucial in forming me into the man of God that I am today; even though I know there is still much work to be done in me.

Over the last few months our son Sebastian learned to ride a bike! Our little guy is so fearless and became the youngest one amongst all his cousins to learn to ride a bike without training wheels! We are so proud of our little guy and now we just hope to get him into swimming classes soon so that he can enjoy pool/beach time with his brother a bit more and Jessica and I can feel less nervous about him being near open water! I also have gotten into biking a bit since my last blog. I had actually not owned a bike since high school so this was a long time in coming! One of my brothers in the faith here in Managua is the director of a bike shop that receives old busted bikes from the U.S. and they fix them up here and resell them. So . . . he hooked me up with a bike and I began getting used to riding a bike around the neighborhood first and then that turned into me going on a few bike rides that were easily the longest I’ve been on in my whole life, between 30-40 kms. I’ve enjoyed it and look at it as another easy way to get exercise that’s not hard on the joints and also I get to enjoy it alongside other brothers and sisters in the faith, which honestly for me if it wasn’t for that I don’t think I would have been so inclined to try it out.

The last few months I have been able to share the Gospel more than in previous months which has been refreshing for me. (Picture on the left is Gabriel sharing his testimony with our workers from the corn farm and the picture on the right is of a brother in the faith Darwin sharing the gospel with someone on one of our outings in the street with the gospel cards) I understand that sometimes our walk with the Lord brings us into and through various phases/seasons with what we are involved in principally. I believe I have mentioned in previous blogs and emails that Jessica and I have been much more involved in discipleship this year than in evangelism; not necessarily because we decided it to be that way, it’s more just what we found ourselves spending most of our time doing. And we love it! We love walking with our brothers and sisters in Christ; encouraging and challenging to go deeper with the Lord in obedience to Him and love for one another, just as we choose to go deeper ourselves. However, lately I have felt the leading of the Lord to begin stepping back out again more intentionally in sharing the Gospel in the streets and in visiting those in their homes who are searching for truth. In our fellowship here in Managua we have seen a few more young men born again who are hungry and wanting to grow in their new found relationships with the Lord! Praise God! It is always such a blessing to my soul to meet new young men who are on fire for the Lord and are willing and desiring to do something with their new life in Christ. It really is encouraging to see someone cross over from death to life through being born again, because we also share the Gospel with many who decide to remain in spiritual death and not grab the outstretched hand of Christ that would pull the out of sin and darkness. However, there is satisfaction in being obedient to sew seed, even when the seed does not produce fruit at that moment. If I have learned one thing over the last few years, and I have learned most certainly more than one, it is that we can not judge if our seed sewing will bear fruit in that moment. Numerous times we have seen no apparent reaction in the person (soil) who is hearing the Gospel for the 1st time (even if they have been to church many times in their lives) but later after thinking it over for a while they decide to say yes to Jesus and give their lives to Him.

We are hoping this will be the case with a couple with whom we shared the Gospel about 3 weeks ago. They are married with kids and have been going to church off and on for years but had never heard the Gospel and were in a place of frustration with the church they had been going to but had stopped going for about a month as they were searching for something more. Neither one of them had heard or understood the Gospel before and upon sharing it with them the wife was in tears the whole time as she understood that she was not right with the Lord and was living in sin; the husband also understood that he too needed to be born again. After sharing the Gospel with them the wife didn’t look well and appeared to be in pain; she told us that ever since they got in the car to come meet with us she started feeling ill and it had only worsened. We knew this was a spiritual attack and laid hands on her and rebuked the unclean spirit and she immediately felt better and was surprised at how quickly the pain and feverish feeling left. So, even though all that happened we still have yet to hear from them about what they have decided to do with the Gospel they heard. We pray they will no take much longer to decide to give all to Jesus!

I also finally was able to share the Gospel with our sweet neighbor Mrs. Mery yesterday. She is a widow now in her 80’s and comes from quite a mixed-up background of religion and confusion. She was born into a catholic family, but married a baptist man and now lives with kind of a mixed bag of beliefs from both. We love Mrs. Mery and do our best to care (such as buying food provisions for her or taking her energetic dog out for a walk) for her as she lives alone since her daughter moved out last year. The other day she called me over because her refrigerator stopped working and I was able to help her get it working again. She also asked me to pray over her home because several home items had stopped working correctly lately and she was concerned. I took that as a great opportunity to share the Gospel with Mrs. Mery, which I was able to do later that afternoon. Mrs. Mery listened intently as she had never heard the Gospel shared so clearly and simply before. I would love to say that upon hearing the Gospel she decided right then and there to give all to Jesus, but rather she commented to me about how much she enjoys listening to Christian radio and hearing the Bible read, but made no comment about her need to be born again, even though she understood that her infant baptism was not done in her own faith and therefore had never been made “right” with God. We love Mrs. Mery and know that time is getting short for her as she is already up in years and pray that the Lord will reveal to her her need to be born again as only He can do! Until then, we will continue to serve her and love on her as best we can!

As I share the Gospel over and over again I am confronted with people who in themselves have a desire for God in some way, even a sincerity to seek Him out on their own; but, when they hear the Good News and understand that to enter into a relationship with God they must give EVERYTHING to Him, they begin backtracking and start mentioning all the spiritual things they do which make them “ok” with God although they have never been born again. It’s so sad to see lies so clearly, but realize that the one in front of you doesn’t want to see it or simply can’t see it in that moment. Let us continue to pray as we work the harvest with the Lord, that blind eyes would be opened and hearts be softened to the Good News of Jesus Christ!

Bless you for taking the time to read this and thank you for your prayers and support for our family and Fervent Fire Ministries!

Michael