"And we know in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose"

–        Romans 8:28

The words of the Lord are so powerful! When my open my bible I feel as if God sent down a letter with me in mind. Scripture is a weapon that I often forget to wield in the face of Satan. Reading through James has shown me the filth of my mouth. 

 "With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings who have been made in his likeness."

–        James 3:9

I feel so blessed that God would even allow me to speak to him and that he would send such encouragement from his lips such as the verse in Romans. I pray that the Lord would anoint my lips and that only pure words would flow from my mouth. Lately I have been feeling discouraged about my ministries but I realized that God IS working for my good, I was called for his purpose and his plans will be done through me. But I must listen to him and the truth that he has for me.  I have been feeling discouraged in my ministries.  The weeks have been going so quickly but I don't feel successful in my ministry.  Although it was brought to my attention that God has already done so many great things in my life and maybe I am not giving Him or myself enough credit!  He provided me with supporters and support, an amazing family of believers in Nicaragua, opportunities to serve him and so much more.  The jewelry ministry has been my main area of weakness and Satan has really been pressing into that and trying to get me down. After realizing that I may never see fruit from this ministry I think that mentally I deemed it to have failed already!  JD and I were talking in the kitchen the other day and he told me that I couldn't say that I didn't do anything because I am a link in the chain and when the ministry does become fruitful someday I will receive my same reward in heaven and will have played a role of equal importance.  That was really encouraging!  My service to Young Life (Vida Joven) is to start up a program that could potentially turn into a source of income for them.  I am at peace with that realization and I think that God is telling me that it isn't about bringing glory and success to Melissa but to him.  We are almost to the halfway point in this semester of the trip and I have learned so much about who God wants me to be and I am excited to keep growing into that person :).  Praise God for so many people in my life and spiritual role models that will continue to guide me in my walk with Christ.  Ah life is good isn't it. I cannot even begin to imagine how perfect heaven will be and absolute pleasure of being in Gods presence for ETERNITY. If that isn't the ultimate reward then I can't imagine what is!

Corazon Contento was a lot of fun his week on Monday we did math worksheets for 3 hours and then we glued Popsicle sticks together for awhile.  It can be tedious to sit in one place for too long, especially with kids who have attention spans of 10 minutes and less (most likely less!)  I was really praying for patience because I was working with a student named Douglas who I am guessing is in his mid thirties and a girl named Anita.  Douglas wouldn't focus and he got upset and stared into space and wasn't responsive for 3 hours and Anita started crying because someone stole her snot rag (ew!!) which I had to save from the clutches of a little girl named Melisa who shoved it down her pants.  GERM FEST.  I have to just pray for love and grace because I tend to get grossed out and lose motivation to help them.  On Friday we cut out shapes like triangles, circles, squares, stars, octagons, and others and then painted them.  When we were painting we had a few primary colors and green, white, and black.  I was surprised to find out that no one at the school including the teachers knew how to make colors like pink, green, purple, etc.  They had never been taught about primary and secondary colors, so Jessica made them a color wheel and explained it.  I was caught of guard because that concept seems so elementary but guess I forget sometimes that I was given a more privileged education than most kids can get here.  On Wednesday I had the feeding program in the morning which was slower than usual.  When we got to Santa Rosa (the location of the house) the ladies had already peeled the plantains that take the longest to peel so all we had left was oranges, peppers, onions and then they did the tomatoes.  After that we had a few hours of sitting and talking to the women and they are such a hoot they just love to tease Caleb Austin and they are so sweet.  We ran out of liver near the end of serving the kids and the whole time we were serving I was praying that God would just make it stretch and that the kids who needed it the most would get some.  It reminded me of the story of the woman with the oil and flour and how because of her faith she always had enough and a little left over.  In the afternoon I had the children's program in the soccer field by our house.  This week we decided that we would change our program and half of us would stay at the campo (field) and the other half would go into the barrios and collect more kids, play soccer, and read some bible stories.  I stayed behind and played with Orlando, Luis, and Celeste.  I love the group of little kids that we have gotten to know.  The other half of the group ended up rounding up quite a few kids and brought them back to the campo because there wasn't enough room on the street in the barrio.  It was encouraging to see everyone having such a great time.  This week if you could spend some time praying into my ministries I would really appreciate it.  There is so much potential in all of them and I just need encouragement and strength.  There are so many amazing people whose lives are just waiting to be touched and I am so glad that I have gotten the chance to get to know some of them!  Well thank you for all of you who pray for me and write encouraging notes and emails. 

Oh also I found a picture of our home at El Puente from last semester when our home was overgrown rubble and I happen to have a picture from the same spot as it looks now! So here they are!!