Have a wonderful Independence Day weekend!

Amber and I are going to enjoy our Saturday chillaxing at Laguna de Apoyo, a beautiful crater lake in Nicaragua. (We’ll snap some pictures for you.) We hope your 4th of July weekend is just as fun and relaxing. Shoot some fireworks for us!

Thank you for reading –- and thank you for supporting the ministry! Que Dios le bendiga.

[Note: If you would like to receive our monthly newsletter via email, please email me to let me know.]

• Day 1 - Sunday, June 7 - The team arrives from Charleston. Carey and I pick them up at the airport in our big, white school bus. They’re impressed. Domino’s pizza.
• Day 2 - Monday, June 8 - We discuss Nica culture, tour Managua, go to Villa El Carmen to meet our Nica fams. @chrisrus is bitten by his family’s dog w/in minutes!
• Day 3 -Tuesday, June 9 - We’re relieved to see that @chrisrus hasn’t transformed into a werewolf. Soccer & games w/ local teenagers & kids. A rockin’ church service.
• Day 4 - Wednesday, June 10 - Door-to-door evangelism & prayer in the community. VBS for 100 Nica kids. Spontaneous water balloon fight & piñata riot. Everyone survives.
• Day 5 - Thursday, June 11 - Swimming at the local watering hole w/ our Nica families. A second rockin’ church service. Sadness about leaving our families the next day.
• Day 6 - Friday, June 12 - “Hasta luego, Villa El Carmen!” HUGE soccer outreach at a Managua university in 100-degree heat. A cold shower has never felt so good.
• Day 7 - Saturday, June 13 - Another soccer outreach: juice, Gatorade, smiles, stories, testimonies for everyone! Great conclusion. Dessert w/ the @CFCI_Nicaragua staff.
• Day 8 - Sunday, June 14 - Debrief Day. Chillaxing on Laguna de Apoyo. Shopping and quesillo-tasting in Catarina. Trying to process a wonderful week in Nicaragua.
• Day 9 - Monday, June 15 - We load up our big, white school bus & head to the airport. It’s early. Very early. We all say goodbye & express our wishes to do it all again!

This doesn’t cover everything (actually, it’s only a snippet!), but I’m learning to practice what I preach to mission teams and others. That is, use the the Five B’s of Public Speaking…and Blogging: Be Brief, Baby, Be Brief! So to make a short story a little bit longer, I’ll just say that it was an amazing week. I’m grateful to the Seacoast team and all of the Nicaraguan families and volunteers who touched our hearts this week. Most of all, I’m thankful to God for all He’s doing in Nicaragua!

(To the eleven awesome team members from Seacoast, if you have any reflections from the week to share — in 140 characters or less! — please share!)

I recently had the privilege of facilitating leadership training to the leadership team of one of the Christ for the City’s ministry partners, Nueva Imagen, or New Image. The ministry is in a time of transition and there is no better time than now for the leaders of the ministry to be completely empowered to make their vision for the ministry come into action. The training must still be running in my head because I am still using a lot of the key language from it! The four components of leadership we discussed were Vision, Communication, Empowerment, and ACTION! I am anticipating what it is God will do through this ministry and these women as they are preparing themselves to act.

The day was wonderful, and although I was facilitating the training, I learned quite a bit myself during it. We traveled out to a pineapple farm in Ticauntepe for the day. Although traffic slowed us down and messed with our logistical plans for our arrival and muddy roads combined with water puddles that could be mistaken for small ponds all provided obstacles, we all arrived in one piece with smiles. It was hard to step out of the car and not feel surrounded by God’s presence and peace as I observed the beauty of mountains covered in pineapple plants. I felt God warm my heart and reassure me that the day was in God’s hands.

We began the day with a brief meditative worship session in a small ranchero overlooking the farm. We all shared the things we were thankful for, took quiet time to ask God to remove any obstacles keeping us from God, and prayed that God would prepare each of our hearts completely for ministry. We then moved into learning about the four key components of leadership and how they directly applied to moving forward with Nueva Imagen. As the women were sharing their vision for the ministry I was blown away by their hearts for serving women who are currently working in the sex industry. It is clear that their hearts have each been broken by something that has broken God’s heart and they have been filled with God’s restorative love to bring each of God’s sheep into the fold. When the day was over and we were heading home I knew the women realized they now had a lot on their to-do lists to accomplish, but that with God’s direction and love, mountains can move. I have been honored and humbled to see a pocket of God’s work in motion through the restoring work Nueva Imagen is actively doing in the world. As Matthew 6:10 reads: “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.” God’s Kingdom is visible on earth and can be seen in glimpses through the loving hearts of the women of Nueva Imagen.

It was a day I won’t forget as I reflect on my time with Christ for the City: a day mixed with laughter, learning, games, challenges, relationship building, flat tires, muddy roads, and ultimately a day that God worked within each of our hearts to build the capacity of Nueva Imagen.

Thank you for reading –- and thank you for supporting the ministry! Que Dios le bendiga.

[Note: If you would like to receive our monthly newsletter via email, please email me to let me know.]

As you probably know by now, I serve with a Christ for the City partner ministry called Nueva Imagen. Nueva Imagen reaches out to women working in the commercial sex industry in Managua.  The ministry is going through a major transition period.  Helen Goatley, the ministry’s founder, returned to her native New Zealand earlier this month.  Nueva Imagen is also going through a physical transition period: we moved out of our former building to a new one that we can use rent-free. The idea is to have as little overhead as possible, focusing on building structure into the ministry, forming the leadership team and a work plan for the women. God has graciously and miraculously provided us with a location to meet for as long as we need it — until Nueva Imagen has its own ministry center.

Ellen Ranson is a short-term missionary in Nicaragua. She has been here since January, helping with Nueva Imagen. She has been an amazing asset to the team and has a passion for working with the women. Earlier this week, Ellen facilitated a leadership training workshop for the Nueva Imagen leadership team. All of us — myself included! — came away with new tools and insights for the ministry. Specifically, we learned the four components of leadership:

1. Vision
2. Communication
3. Empowerment
4. Action

Ellen led us in an activity called “the vision tree” where we expressed our ideas about what Nueva Imagen’s vision is and should be. Then we thought about the resources we have — and the ones we will need — to achieve that vision. We realized that we need to start communicating the vision and offering sensitivity training to local churches. We are going to start the action portion of Ellen’s leadership workshop next week.

[Ellen and the Nueva Imagen leaders: Reina, her baby Tania, Xiomara, Hellen, and Amber.]

Nueva Imagen’s vision is to provide holistic attention to women transitioning from one lifestyle to a new life in Christ. But we need partners to make that vision reachable.

Please pray about giving to the Nueva Imagen ministry.

Your gifts will help sponsor women while they are in the rehabilitation process. Your support will cover food and basic needs for the ladies and their children, discipleship, job training, seminars on how to manage their finances, medical attention, spiritual attention and inner healing. Also, the gifts will pay for supplies for the weekly Bible study, support for Xiomara (who left prostitution 8 years ago, has been transformed, and now has a calling to reach out to women on the street!), legal fees (as we try to have the ministry recognized as a nonprofit by the Nicaraguan government), gas (so that we can make home visits), special events (such as birthdays and Mother’s Day), and all other operating expenses.

If you feel led to partner with Nueva Imagen, please visit CFCI’s online giving page or mail your donations to the address below, specifying “Nicaragua Nueva Imagen Project”:

Christ For the City International (CFCI)
PO Box 390395
Omaha, NE 68139-0395

Thank you for your prayers and support for the women of Nueva Imagen!!!

• Sunday, May 10 - We leave Managua at midnight, arrive in Atlanta mid-morning; eat at Outback (Mmm, steak!) with Nathan’s parents (Don and Debbie), Aunt Sandy, Uncle Allen, and Cousin Josh; we visit Cousin Katie at the pizza place where she works; we drive 4 hours to Don and Debbie’s house in Charlotte
• Monday, May 11 - Day trip to Greensboro with Nathan’s parents; visit with Grandma Dorothy at her nursing home; lunch with Nathan’s brother, Andy (who’s the soon-to-be co-chief resident at UNC Hospitals…also a certifiable genius); coffee with a friend (Jeff) Nathan met on Twitter (yes, seriously!); back to Charlotte
• Tuesday, May 12 - We renew our finger prints at the immigration office in Charlotte (still not sure why your fingerprints change every 12 months); board games, cards, and silliness with Don and Debbie
• Wednesday, May 13 - Nathan plays golf with Dad, Dad wins by 2 strokes, Nathan puts on a brave face and congratulates Dad while cursing the missed putts that cost him so dearly; Amber shops till she drops for clothes, cereal, and other miscellaneous items we can’t get in Nicaragua; dinner with friends Bradd, Corinne, and their 1-year old Dylann
• Thursday, May 14 - Debbie drives us to Knoxville; Chili’s for lunch with Debbie, Pam (Amber’s mom), and Ronny (Amber’s step-dad); high school awards ceremony for Amber’s brother, Bronson (another certifiable genius)
• Friday, May 15 - Amber shops until she drops again (this time with her Mom); Nathan reads till he drops at a Barnes & Noble; party time with the family at Brooke (Amber’s cousin) and Logan’s wedding (pictures below) where Amber’s “Papaw” shows everyone how to cut a rug
• Saturday, May 16 - visit with Amber’s Dad (Darren), sister (Brianna), other sister (Veronica), and her family; we eat out at O’Charley’s and Nathan vows to stop overeating (his vow would be broken the next day)
• Sunday, May 17 - Pam, Ronny, and Bronson drive us to Atlanta; the Braves game is rained out so we (over)eat at Cracker Barrel and check out Atlanta Underground (which isn’t great, by the way); we search Metro Atlanta for a movie theater, can’t find one, give up and go to the hotel; we watch the Survivor finale (which is awesome) and crash
• Monday, May 18 - early flight out of Atlanta, all-day layover in Ft. Lauderdale, arrive in Managua on Sunday morning; Zzzzzzzzzzz…

1. We’ll spend a couple days in Charlotte taking care of adoption related business: renewing documents, shuffling papers, and getting things in order for our next trip to Mi Familia later this month. We’ll also visit with my parents, Don and Debbie, and friends in town (like Bradd, Corinne, and Dylan!).
2. We have a day trip to Greensboro planned for Monday — visiting my grandmother, Andy (Nathan’s brother), Laurel (Andy’s wife), and hopefully a few friends.
3. Mid-week we’re off to Knoxville for the wedding of Brooke (Amber’s cousin) and Logan! We’re very excited about visiting family there.
4. Before you know it will be hopping another red eye back to Managua.

We’ll only be gone a week, so we’re going to pack in as much fun as we can! Adios! Hasta luego…

Tomorrow morning we are meeting with our attorney in Nicaragua and the Nicaraguan government agency in charge of adoptions (Mi Familia).

The purpose of this meeting is simply to explain our situation to Mi Familia, confirm that our dossier is in order, and to ask (or plead!) for the process to speed up. We may even bring pictures of Joseph and Josecito to really pull on their heartstrings!

To all of our faithful friends and prayer warriors, we’re asking you to please pray tomorrow around 8:00-9:00 a.m. Mountain Time. We’re asking God for favor with Mi Familia and for His guidance and wisdom — for us and the Mi Familia workers as they match us with Baby Babcock.

As always, thank you so much for your prayers, support, and encouragement. God bless.