Somos Famosos

Game 4 of the Nicaraguan Championship Baseball game was in Chinandega last week.  We were lucky enough to attend. I posted briefly on Facebook after it happened.  Since the game, nearly everywhere we go in Chinandega we are recognized as the "crazy Gringos" that did the Macarena on national TV. Not only did the whole stadium give a round of applause when we were finished but apparently all of Nicaragua was watching their TVs at that very moment. Our bootleg version of the Macarena was broadcast all over the country and we have not stopped hearing of it since.  We also rushed the field with about 1000 other people and gave high fives to the winning Chinandega Tigres.  I may have ran around the bases and hit a fake home run too.  We will never forget it. 

 On the field after the game with Tigres mascot and a few new friends. 

 Front row! Fellow Missionaries David Paperelli and Caitlin McCormick

Front row tickets!

In other news, we are headed to the mountains of central Nicaragua in a few weeks. Our whole staff (nearly 90 people) will head to a Young Life camp in Matagalpa for our annual spiritual retreat.  This morning, a meeting was held to discuss specifics of what we will be teaching as the theme this year and other logistical stuff. This retreat is an important time of cross-cultural relationship building.  We plan to have small groups throughout the week mixed with Nicaraguans and North Americans. Pray that the Holy Spirit will go before us and be in the very spaces that we will hold our services and small group discussions.  Pray that God would continue to build strong, biblical relationships among the many workers that Amigos employs. 


Until then,
Joey

Crappy Rocking Chairs.

I'm worshiping whatever gets all my good affections and attention.  Mostly, that's me because I'm bent towards selfishness.  But, we all have our great moments.  And in those moments we get a glimpse through our creator's eyes and we are filled with clarity and a joy that seems to overflow from our hearts.  It seems to glow from our eyes and it’s contagious to those who are around us.  It happens when we worship with our lives, through our actions and other small details that would have otherwise just been extra filling between the “big events”.

I felt the weight of this truth several years ago when I was working at a fine dining restaurant, Domino's Pizza.   Romans 12:1 hit my mind and heart with great clarity as I was half-assing a huge pile of dishes.  I was tired and wanted to go home and all that stood in my way was about an hours worth of cleaning dishes. I was determined to do it in 20 minutes.  About 10 minutes in, the still, small, satisfying, loving and patient voice said something like..."Hey buddy,  you're better than this, wash the dishes like they're supposed to be washed." In that moment all I could think about was Romans 12:1  where Paul encourages us to offer our bodies and time and actions as a life of worship.  I was worshiping my selfish ambitions to just sprinkle some soap and water on the greasy pans and get on my way.  We sell ourselves short by doing things with half-hearted effort, no matter how miniscule they may seem.  Obviously this plays out in much more meaningful areas other than washing dishes.  But the question lures around me so often since that night.  If I can't do the dishes with integrity, what CAN I do with integrity?

The Lord gives us freedom when he says "...WHATEVER you do, do it with your whole heart...." (Col 3:23).  We will do many things.  Things like washing dishes and going to work everyday and building relationships and sharing our lives with those around us.  And in all these things, we have an opportunity to do them well. We have a chance to do ALL things with purpose.  All these things are just things without purpose and intentionality behind them. But Paul encourages us to make the most of all our opportunities (Col 4:5).   

God didn't created us to get tasks done.  He hasn't forgotten a single grain of sand on any beach in the world, and he hasn't filled our days with meaningless tasks either.  He knows our steps and our conversations and our environments.  Let this hit home for a second. He created you to be exactly where you are right now. No one else can serve and influence those around you like you can. There are gifts and talents that He gave you that someone you work with needs to see (Rom 12:3-8, Acts 17:26-27).  So....how better can we serve Him than seeking to please him in every situation that he's created us to walk through AND even more.... not just when we’re in front of people.  I bet you Jesus didn't make one crappy table or chair as a carpenter. I bet they were strong and awesome.  For real though, I'd want one of those rocking chairs on my front porch, if I had a front porch.  

Father, make us complete in you.  Continue to raise us up to worship you at Church, and in Spirit and in Truth when you’re the only one watching.  Thanks for the opportunity to wash dishes well. 

Fresh Water well video from El Chonco

This is the video that was made from all of the footage from the day the water was turned on in El Chonco. I wrote a post about what it was like being there that day in my last post. This video says more through pictures and video than I could ever describe in words. 


This is the story of the amazing people of El Chonco. They represent what most rural communities live like in Nicaragua. Pray for God's hand to continue to work and meet the needs of those living in extreme poverty across this country. We have started on 12 more wells in communities just like this one. 

http://youtu.be/WWN_2SfjIEg

El Chonco has water!

This photo was taken in the community of El Chonco the day after Thanksgiving. A community that has never had running water now does. 


We stood at the school in on Friday morning as we waiting to turn on the water fountain as a celebration.  Most of what was running through my mind was being there, 2 months ago, digging the trench for the pipe that went to this very water fountain.  I pictured all of the people that have come to help us with this project over the last 2 years.  Every inch of pipe was necessary to see water come out of that water fountain.  If you were here sweating and laboring with us this summer, take joy in that.  Children all over El Chonco took a bath this morning before school.  Wow.  I wish there was something more profound to say other than "El Chonco has running water".  I'll leave it at that. 

 Luis, our director of projects, turning on the water fountain at the school. 

The Scenic Route

As a kid, I remember hearing about the Israelites long journey through the desert on the way to the promised land.  What was expected to be a direct route, turned into God leading them through the desert for 40 years. 
I'll venture to say that not a single person in the whole crowd anticipated their journey to take as long as it did.  


God promises us things through His word that seem hard to remember in the grind of life.  He will finish the work he started (Phil 1:6).  Through all you see and do, He has your best in mind (Rom 8:28).  That's just hard for me to believe sometimes. I can imagine that the Israelites had trouble believing that they were truly on their way to a wonderful place at about the end of year 1 in the desert.  Little did they know, God would be molding and shaping them for the next 39!


I recently read these verses in Exodus 13


¹⁷ When Pharaoh finally let the people go, God did not lead them along the main road that runs through Philistine territory, even though that was the shortest route to the Promised Land. God said, “If the people are faced with a battle, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” ¹⁸ So God led them in a roundabout way through the wilderness toward the Red Sea. 


...and that about sums it up.  God knows what we need. 


If we skipped right into the future God has for us, we might make some mistakes. Instead, there are things he wants to teach us and ways he wants to build us up in maturity right now so that we can handle future events the way Jesus would. 


If a flower bloomed in the middle of winter, it would shrivel up and die.  It waits for the warm and crisp air of spring to finally take it's shape and flourish. 


Father, You've got our best in mind and You're molding and shaping us right where we're at to prepare us for what's next.  Help us to submit to the road you've got us on. 


Amen.

Thanksgiving Day Celebration.

Water is going to be turned on in El Chonco on Thanksgiving Day!

It has been a long time coming for everyone here, especially for the patient residents of El Chonco. They have worked every week for 2 years prepping and getting this water system fully ready.  

John will be coming down with his whole family to celebrate his 50th birthday that week as well. He doesn't know but all the guys are cutting our beards into goatee's for him (Nicaraguans too). 

Share some encouraging words today. YOU can speak life into someone today. Break through the awkwardness and fight the last second burst of apathy as you approach that person to tell them how wonderful they are.  Seriously, those thoughts you have been thinking in your head about how great a person is or how well they do something might change the course of their day if you just speak it to them. 

Carry hope with you wherever you go. We have a reason to be joyful today. Spread it around. 

Romans 12:10

    Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each     other.

cha cha cha ch changes...

We found out the other day that we will not be able to renew our lease for Casa Rosita at the end of the year. It's going to be sad to leave that place. 


In other house-renting news, we are also leaving the wonderful Casa Blanca behind in December. 
That's right, all our memories will have to carry over to the new property. For those of you who don't know what I'm referring to, it just means you haven't been to Nica yet.  So, come on. 


I am starting a discipleship group with a Nicaraguan friend of mine.  I have been praying for a while now for God to provide someone for me to spend some one on one time with spiritually mentoring just like someone did for me in very pivotal years of my life.  The problem for so long was my lacking materials in Spanish. Now that I have all of this, we are going to start meeting soon. Please pray for God to speak clearly to me and to the person I'll be meeting with.  I honestly have no idea what I'm doing, but I know that I'm supposed to do it.  There are many factors with the culture and language that I will have to address as we go. I have a feeling my Americanized method of mentoring and discipleship might get completely turned on it's head before this whole thing is over. I'm OK with that, but I lack clarity and patience to approach this thing with a gentle hand.  Pray for THAT specifically for me. 


My hope is that from one small group, he will catch a vision to turn around and start mentoring and starting discipleship groups with his peers. He can reach his and countrymen better than I can. That is the big dream.  Pray for God to continue to unravel this dream he has put in my heart. This discipleship group is the first step. 


Joey

Live Your Life.

Happiness and joy isn't waiting for you in the next phase or step of your life. It's right where you stand.

We're on a journey that will continue to change from season to season where winter is no more enjoyable than fall and spring is no better than summer.  The weather changes, the characters move on and new ones are introduced.  Our circumstances will always change but there are things about who we are and why we are here that are more solid than anything we can see. We can stand on the truths that God created us to enjoy Him (Isaiah 43:1-7) and is walking with us on a journey that is meant for our good (Romans 8:28) and it will all end well (Philippians 1:6).  Our circumstances will always have us looking for the next thing to make us happy but our God calls us to look into his eyes for what is already here. 

This can all be summed up in Ecclesiastes 5:18

The Bible describes the writer of this book, Solomon, to be the wisest man that ever lived. At the end of his life he wrote Ecclesiastes as a reflection and memoir. This is what he said...

Ecclesiastes 5:18

The Message (MSG)

Make the Most of What God Gives

 ^18-20 After looking at the way things are on this earth, here's what I've decided is the best way to live: Take care of yourself, have a good time, and make the most of whatever job you have for as long as God gives you life. And that's about it. That's the human lot. Yes, we should make the most of what God gives, both the bounty and the capacity to enjoy it, accepting what's given and delighting in the work. It's God's gift! God deals out joy in the present, the now. It's useless to brood over how long we might live.

Don't let the wonderful things that today has to offer pass you by because you're too interested in what's going to happen 3 months from now.  He's got you breathing today for a reason. Embrace it. Enjoy it.

Just Live your life. Haay haay haaaaay...

Joey

Also, click here to read  Isaiah 43:1-7. It's very encouraging. 

Pictures

 Ascending Serro Negro

Some people board down this thing, we run.

 Serro Negro's largest crater

Descending Serro Negro

          Digging the water line for water fountains at the                  school in El Chonco

 Salsa Lessons at San Jose girls orphanage

Proud recipients of our Pay it Forward animal program
They receive a pregnant pig and they give us back the 
same thing 1 year later and that animal is given to 
another family in need. 

Move on and on Video

I'll be playing at the Amigos music festival on Oct 1st in Suwannee, Ga. This is one of the videos that I'll be showing to tell the story of the song "Move on and on"

Pray

The Lord is answering specific prayer for me in bringing up men who are eager to learn spiritual disciplines.
Please pray that God would allow these relationships to develop and solidify in the coming weeks. Pray that God would continue to lay the ground work for developing discipleship groups to start with Nicaraguans that I have been coming to know over the past year.

His plan is perfect, His plan is good. Pray for these things.

Thank you guys.

Joey

Don't Just Pretend.

The Lord has been faithful in continuing to conform me to the image of Christ (Rom 8:29) by addressing issues of my heart that are not of Him. The part that sucks is this is not fun. You see, I really really like the encouraging, walk beside me, father-like love that I naturally lend to be sum of who God is and what he does for me. He does encourage so well. Romans 8:31 undoubtedly says that He is FOR us. But His love comes in so many other ways.


He will not watch his children walk down a path He knows they shouldn't be on and look the other way. And so Romans 12 has recently been brought to my attention. I read it this weekend for the first time in a while and I haven't been able to get away from it. Literally the Lord has been faithful to put it in my mind Romans 12:9, "Don't to pretend to love others, really love them". I mean, am I really listening or just looking for the next opportunity to talk? I want to walk with the fervency and compassion of Christ. I'll try to explain.

There is no doubt that Christ had purpose in everything that He did. One example is Mark 5:21-34 when Jesus was on His way to heal a man's son who was quickly dying. With large crowds following and surrounding Him, one woman who had been sick for a long time made her way through the crowds to touch His clothes knowing she would be healed. He was in a hurry to get to this boy and to move through the crowds but He stops as she touches his clothes and He addresses her faith and heals her.
That's the fervency and compassion that I want. Father, conform me to that.

Another thing I have continued to pray is to see everything with eternal perspective. God is always at work and His purposes are different than our own and often beyond our understanding. How encouraging are these words that we know...

Isaiah 55:8-9

8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the LORD.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Cross reference that with Romans 8:28, that He is working all things for our Good and there's fuel for eternal perspective. When all I see is today, it's hard to trust his ways beyond what I see. He's also promised us light for the next step (Psalm 119:105). Just trust me for the step you can see and know that I'm doing the rest. Be faithful with what you know and you can be trusted with more (Luke 16:10).

I guess my aim was to encourage myself and us to have compassion and eternal perspective to love others based on these verses.

Father, make it so.

Renewing My Visa

Looking back on the summer it seems to have slowly flown by. Some memories and accomplishments seem like they were yesterday and in the same thought they seemed to have happened years ago. Our 15 interns are heading home one by one week after week. Soon, the full time staff will be back to running this place without all of the much needed help we've had this summer.
God has been good and his grace has been sufficient every day. It also blows my mind how much I continue to grow up and learn more about myself as God reveals more of himself to me. It happens here every day. Some days I almost want to escape it because as God cuts off parts of me that aren't holy and reflective of Him and the healing hurts. We crave and were born to be loved by God, but part of his love is his discipline to make us more like Christ. Romans 8:29 and sanctification have taken a new meaning for me in the past few months.

My Spanish has improved and more conversations with my Nicaraguan co-workers and those living in the communities we work in have gone from horizontal to vertical. This is very rewarding. Since day one down here, I've longed to share my heart with all the people I've built lasting relationships with and God is allowing it to happen as I learn new phrases and words every day. I'm moving more from practical to conversational...thank you Father.

Please pray for our staff to continue to be unified and grown. We have been very intentional by meeting together and keeping each other accountable. Again, addressing our faults and seeking redemption as a group can be hard. Pray that we continue to see it as necessary and rewarding; that His grace would be sufficient for us through all that we do here.

Tonight is opening night of Peter Pan in Villa Catalina. Many of the kids in the play were a part of our project to move families out of the city dump and into healthy, thriving communities. They are now exploring arts and taking part in theater productions. The whole community comes out and watches. I'm fortunate enough to be in this one. I'm Smee. Just wait for the pictures...

I hope to see you all sooner than later. I'll be around Georgia and Alabama in late September.
Until Then,

Joey

Amigos New Property

Construction on our new property is bumpin'. Our latest addition is our new Rancho. All our Devo's and meetings will be held here starting next year. Our community development team has got it together. We are all still standing in awe of this new structure.







Meanwhile, Julio has been working hard making new beds. We have several weeks this summer with over 60 short term missionaries coming down. That puts us about 30 beds short. So, Julio gets out his tools and welds together 20 new bunk beds...no big deal.








More to come...
Joey

what we need is You

We have been praying to see through "an eternal lens" lately.
The world through my eyes is a scary place. My selfish motives, pride, and negativity can blur God's amazing creation and story into a dark and dreadful place. We are asking God to grant us more of Him, nothing more. What we need to set us free and live this story right is to be satisfied and see Christ's love as sufficient, nothing else. When this happens, the world begins to look like a much more pleasant place, and we start doing wonderfully crazy things. Jesus and Paul's backwards, selfless teachings make more sense. The needs of those around us take precedence over our own. We give sacrificially to those in need and we do it with a cheerful heart! Apart from Christ, these ideas just don't make sense to me. I'm too committed to me. But with the clear focused lens of Jesus' unwaivering, sacrificial and abundant love in our lives we begin to live like Jesus and become more like him. Romans 8:29 says we are being "sanctified" which simply means we are becoming more like Him.

Father, grant us this. We want to see things the way you do. We want your backwards teachings that shook the world and made pharasees stand still in awe to grasp our hearts in a way that we can't describe.
More of you Jesus.

...2 months of photos

The Amigos Worship CD is finished and in Nicaragua! I have been working with the the staff on this project for the last 3 months and it's finally ready.




A surgical brigade just left us. They performed over 40 surgeries. This is the Post-op room full of grateful patients.




Praying for the patients right before surgery.









The staff went to the beach for a night.




We had our very own Nicaraguan Crawfish Boil. The shrimp were BIG.



One of our high school groups from the spring having a bible study out in the street.



We moved into our new office. Katie Fitzgerald, one of our long-term missionaries is on the front porch area of the new office.

New Wells

We are starting 16 new water projects over the next couple of years. Amigos for Christ received a grant from Cross International to build 15 new wells in rural communities without running water. One of the questions we were asked by Cross International was why do we seek out such rural communities to build wells and build water systems. The answer was simple. If we don't, who will? We have drilled over 100 wells in and around Chinandega and recently God has been clear to us in our mission. We need to take care of all in need within our reach, not just the high impact communities. If we only look for large numbers of people for impact and immediately look over smaller communities who's needs are just as drastic, we miss the point. We are not drilling wells just to provide clean water.

In this part of the process, our Directer of projects, Luis and our well team travel to these prospective rural communities to interview the people and get to know them. Rancho Pando is one of these communities. While we were there we learned the closest water supply is 3 miles away and many people walk this rocky path several times a day with 5 gallon jugs. The water supply is a river. These people bathe, wash their clothes, and drink from it. After hearing these stories, Rancho Pando is one of the first on our list of new projects. Imagine being born into a family that lives 2 hours away from any sort of civilization. The whole concept of poverty takes on a new level. The problem isn't that these people don't have an income, they have no means to get one either. From day one, their concept of life is to survive. These people need water and love just like everyone else. Please start to pray for these communities. Pray that God would lead us exactly where we are supposed to be and that bonding and trusting relationships would start to form between us and these people.

Thank you for your prayerful support. Please pass this along to others who will spread the word and pray as well.

Joey

Summer is upon us

We have returned from Cincinnati from our visit With Crossroads Community Church.
Our time was very encouraging there. There is a sense of authenticity with everyone we met. This alone opened the doors so much for us to be vulnerable and really learn from each other. We are currently working on implementing some of the ideas that we picked up from them. One of which is a prayer area. Starting this summer, there will be an area in Casa Blanca that will be dedicated just for prayer. Mission trip participants will be able to post prayer requests and leave them for future participants to pray over them. This will be an ongoing process and we're excited for it.

Over 15 "longtermers" (college/high school kids that stay and help with mission trip operations for more than a week) and summer interns will be joining us in May. Starting May 7th we have constant trips coming down until the end of August.
Please pray for the cross cultural interactions with week long mission trip participants and the Nicaraguans they'll be working alongside. Our time digging pipeline in Chonco is nearly finished and the relationships between us and the Nicaraguans living there grows every time we go dig with them. Pray for this to continue.

More to come
Joey

I am wearing jeans and a sweatshirt. The current temperature in Cincinnati is 55 and windy. It is good to be home. It is especially good to be in Cincinnati for a week.

Kristin, Jeremy and myself are visiting Crossroads Community Church in Cincinnati this week. We will be meeting with staff members all week long to hopefully learn and pick up much of the useful strategies of this Christ-centered, authentic church.

Please pray that God would use this week to build us up as well as teach and train us for the coming months in Nicaragua.

Everyone up here keeps apologizing for the cold, dreadful weather. My response has been the same to everyone. It's a nice change. I'm grateful to be home for a couple weeks.

More to come,
Joey

30 Day Water Challenge

We have a new campaign to raise money for new wells being drilled. Watch this powerful 2 minute video and see what life is like in Nicaragua without running water.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsjyJd1sEtM


The 30 Day Water Challenge
30 DAYS of your life can change EVERY DAY of someone else's life.



COMMIT. to drinking only water for 30 days.

PREPARE. Find an empty gallon jug.

COLLECT. For the next 30 days, when you would buy soda, juice, or bottled water, just drink tap water. Put the money you would have spent in the jug.

INSPIRE others to join you.

CHANGE THE WORLD. Give the money to provide clean water to rural families in Nicaragua.


If you'd like to do our 30 day water challenge and want to raise money for these water systems, you can make your donations here.



Joey