Hey Friends!

It's been a couple of weeks now since I last wrote so I thought it was time that I updated people on what God is doing here in Granada Nicaragua. A couple of weeks ago we were able to finalize what our weeks will look like. We have classes for half of the day, and ministry for the second half. In class we are going through several books. The first book was Victory Over the Darkness. The book that I teach from is called Celebration of Discipline, which includes topics such as solitude, prayer, fasting, submission, simplicity among others. Teaching is a somewhat new thing for me. God has definately given me more courage and boldness in my teaching. If you'd like to have a specific thing to pray for though, I'd love if you would pray that God would continue to direct me in my teaching abilities and style. Some of the ministries that we are involved in include teaching ESL (English as a Second Language), feeding programs, daycare for the market vendors, garbage pick up, working with young people in a youth group type setting, we can't forget the soccer ministry either, and also doing some manual labour at El Puente. El Peunte is the base for everything. We have church there every other week. The weeks we aren't at El Puente we are at a church call Torres Fuerte which means strong tower. Oh ya, El Puente means 'The Bridge'. The idea behind the garbage pick up here is to try and have a practical impact on the city. We as a team have committed to weekly cleaning one section of the city no matter what. We are hoping that people are able to see the difference and be encouraged. It seems that Nicaragua is plagues with a sense of hopelessness, so they just throw their garbage out on the street. It has been great to see the impact that it is having on the community. first children came out to help, then we saw some of the parents out helping as well. The parents were also asking why we would want to do this, so that was an opportunity to share Christ with them as well. The guys and I are also involved in a weekly bible study. We meet every Wednesday and Friday mornings at 7:30 am. What an amazing, fruit bearing ministry! The people here are great about inviting friends here. EVERY SINGLE DAY of bible study we see people coming to a saving knowledge of Christ. If we are here for that alone, it would be worth it.

So that is a little of what the team is doing. As most of you will recall, my ministry is ministering to my team. God has entrusted my co-leader and me with the priviledge of teaching 14 young people. It has been quite the experience. I've had so many emotions over the 1 1/2 months that I've been with them. I've had times when things have been going very well, as well as times when I wonder what we are doing wrong. God has really shown me what it means to be a leader. My prayer before I came down here was that God would grow me as a leader, and that He would stretch me. Well God is faithful and has done all of these things. I feel as though I'm a sponge and am just soaking things up. When I read these books I get so much from them. It's like what Pastor Tom always says, 'The person who is doing the teaching learns the most', it is so true.

So some of you may be wondering the wild adventures that 6 young guys like myself and my guys might get into. Well, I'm glad you asked! Some of the guys felt the need to catch a gecko, behead it, and cook it over a fire, and then proceed to eat it. Why you may ask? Well you truly aren't a man in Nicaragua unless you do this they claim. The guys on the team claim this, not the Nicaraguan's. Well, I suppose I'm not a man in their eyes yet! They also require that you eat the 'mystery fruit' that grows in our back courtyard. This is a green fruit of some sort, that when you eat, your mouth and tongue and teeth if you can believe it, go numb. All the guys are also participating in 'No Shave November'. So that should be fun. This one I will be participating in. We have 2 of our female counter parts that are participating in this as well, which consists of them not shaving their legs for the month of November. Anyone that might like to join in on this radical adventure are free to do so. Time to support us in Nicaragua! Come on men! Let's do it! Oh yes, I almost forgot. The guys also go to a ministry called Hogar Crea. This is a rehab center for drug and alcohol addicts. Well the guys that attend there have to shave their heads. Well one of the guys felt like God was asking them what would they NOT give up. He said his hair, no way would he cut his hair. Well, God spoke to him and he is now bald, including EVERY SINGLE GUY that attended that night from our group. I, was not there that night. I thank God for sparing me from that! So as you can see we have alot of fun here. It's great to be mentoring and discipling these 5 guys. It's a huge responsibility, and I'm overjoyed that God has allowed me to priviledge to be apart of this. Please pray for me with this. It is very time consuming to meet with them all on a weekly basis and keep on track with how they are doing spiritually, emotionally, and mentally. Pray that God would give me the strength and the words to say. God is good.

Anyone that would like to write me I would love it! My email is rickoshea_@hotmail.com

Much love,

Jamie