Nicaragua

      This summer I had the opportunity to go to Nicaragua on a missions trip with some people from my youth group, my pastor, youth pastor, and a couple of other people. Of course when I heard about this I immediately wanted to be a part of it! However, I thought there was no way I would be able to go because the trip was announced in January and we had to have over one thousand dollars raised by August! I pretty much was not even going to try to raise it because I didn't want to get my hopes up only to fail and be upset. So I told my mom and dad that I would love to go but there is no way I could raise that. They encouraged me to try anyways. Then, a few days later while I was helping someone with yard work (to raise money) I got a phone call saying somebody needed me to babysit their kids every day during the summer and they were going to pay me $125 per week! I was so excited!! It was a huge answer to prayer! A couple weeks after that another couple came to me with the same offer! So I now had two babysitting jobs! I'm not gonna lie, giving up my whole summer was not easy but it was worth it. Anyway, the reason for this blog is to share what the trip did for me. So I'm gonna attempt to put into words what this trip did as best as I can. The first day we were in Nicaragua we went to see a man named Marcielle. This man lives in the middle of a sugar cane field with no AC, no running water, and none of the other conveniences we take for granted. What amazed me about him was that though he had next to nothing, he was so happy and you could not wipe the smile off of his face. Our translator told us that he was saying we were such a blessing to him and that we made his day. We couldn't even speak his language! It brought tears to my eyes and broke my heart when I realized how happy he was with so little. It opened my eyes to how ungrateful I am. Marcielle walks miles and miles every week to visit his church people and I sometimes don't feel like getting out of bed to go ride in an air conditioned car and go lead people to the lord. Whenever I feel down or when I start throwing a pity party, I just think about Marcielle. All of the people there were so happy with what they had that it changed my heart and the way I think about alot of things. The second thing it did for me was something I will never forget. One day we went to a part of town where there were a large number of kids running through the street playing like you would see in America. We were told that 90 percent of those kids had been abandoned and had nobody to care for them. They were left to find their own way to get through life. That night, we were all gathered in the living room of the house and we just started singing. One song that we were singing caused everyone to break into tears. This song was "I have been blessed" by the rochesters. The lyrics are below.
1st Verse
When He walks among us, all that He does, All of His mercy and all of His love.  If the pen of a writer could write every day even this world could never contain just how I've been blessed / The warmth in the winter, the flowers in spring, the laughter of summer, and the changing of leaves.  Food on my table, a good place to sleep, clothes on my back and shoes on my feet.  Oh, I have been blessed.

Chorus
I have been blessed, God's so good to me, precious are His thoughts of you and me.  No way I could count them there's not enough time, so I'll just thank Him for being so kind.  God has been good, so good.  I have been blessed.

2nd Verse
Arms that will raise, a voice that can talk, hands that can touch and legs that can walk.  Ears that can listen and eyes that can see, oh, I've got to praise Him as long as I breathe.  Cause I have been blessed / Father and mother, nurtured and raised, my sisters and brothers, memories made.  Our pastor to lead us, this altar to pray, Stripes that can heal and a Blood that can save.  Oh, I have been blessed.

3rd Verse
We live in a country, the greatest on earth, our flag stands for freedom and what it is worth.  She stands in the harbor, Ms. Liberty calls, all have gave some, but some gave it all for me to be blessed / A shoulde to lean on when I am down, a rock where He leads me when I'm overwhelmed.  The place where He hides me under His wings.  He's not just a song, He's the reason I sing, Oh, and I have been blessed.

Singing this after that day just really made everyone realize how good we have it and how good God has been to us. So many times we overlook what we have and take it for granted. If you ever have the opportunity to go on a missions trip do everything you can to make it happen! I can assure you it will change your life! I miss Nicaragua sooo much and I cannot wait to go back!

First Blog!

    Well, I'm not really sure what to write about because I have never done this before. But, I just decided I wanted to start my own blog so here we go! I am still trying to figure out how this whole thing works so bare with me if my profile is pretty boring right now! I hope to be blogging very frequently once I get everything figured out. :)