Let Hope Arise in the Dumps!

It’s been quite a long time since I’ve written. The last quarter of the school year went by quickly. I went the mission trip to Nicaragua and Honduras at the end of March and when I returned it was hard for me to process what happened on the trip. I felt shell shocked and I didn’t want to talk or write about it till I was fully able to process through it. The Lord was using the books that we read in school and a journal writing assignment in class to speak to me about the experience and to help me process through it.

I was able to talk to some friends recently and meditating on Graham Cooke’s teaching. Here are some of the things that I meditated on that brought closure: The Father is very focused and deliberate in all that He does. Trust in Him to know the side of you that is faithful in His own personal trait first before He gave it to you. Trust to know He will not leave man’s brokenness where it is but has plans for restoration. He only longs for the connectedness of His people to rise up and take ownership of what is His finished work is and looks like. 

I know it’s been 6 months but I still want to update you on it. Sorry for the delay! It’s definitely not because I didn’t want to share my experience. I got to go with some amazing classmates to the garbage dumps of Honduras and Nicaragua with Georgian and Winnie Banov. It was intense seeing extreme poverty and at times it didn’t feel like enough to feed the crowds a meal and love on them. My heart struggled with what can be done about their living situation. It didn’t seem fair that they would work hard all day in extreme heat and barely have anything to survive. We also got to visit a leper colony and a little shanty town. Each place that we went to we loved on the people that were in front of us and provided a meal for them.

What I loved the most is that the love of God was so brilliantly displayed to everyone we encountered. It was totally a love fest. There were times that I pulled back and just watched my classmates love others. Our ministry time consisted of all kinds of creative things. We sang love songs over people, painted their nails, created balloon figures and did prophetic art; prophetic art is where you use art as a medium to bless someone by asking God for a picture that would illustrate His heart for that person.

It was so beautiful to see people getting wrecked by extravagant love. Georgian was playing the fiddle over a teenager while someone was singing her name followed by Jesus te amo. (Jesus loves you) They sang the phrase over and over and tears welled up in her eyes. After they finished serenading her one of my classmates asked if she could paint her finger nails and I asked her if I could give her a massage. As my friend and I were ministering to her with out words tears began to flow down her cheeks. Her mother and sister asked her what’s wrong. She replied nothing. She was deeply touched by love. 

At one of the dumps I met a 16 year old girl name Karla Lissette. Her father passed away when she was 2 years old and her mother abandoned her. She had no family. She lived and worked in the dumps. During the week she sifted through trash trying to find something of value and on the weekend she attended school. A group of us asked her what her dreams were. She didn’t want to tell us her dreams because it was painful and she felt it was silly. We began speaking life into her and telling her that the Lord care about her and her dreams and that he sent us to let her know how much He loves her. I asked her again and she said she was afraid to say it. We continued to speak life into her and then she shared that she wanted to be a teacher. One of my teammates drew a picture of a seed, a plant and Karla Lissette as a teacher with a blackboard. We told her that her dreams are a seed and when she gives it to the Lord He will grow it into a tree and bring her dreams to pass. We hugged and loved on her and as we left she was smiling and filled with hope.

We visited a shanty town where the houses were made out of a tarp like substance with four branches that became the corners to walls. This temporary situation was their permanent living situation. The people we met were such hard works. Many of them were construction workers. It blows my mind the difference in economy and how someone in the U.S. that’s a construction worker has a totally different lifestyle that someone in Nicaragua. The man in the picture below, Antonio, lived with his wife and three kids in a small room that consisted of their house. He invited us into his house. It was such an honor to be invited into his house. He was such a hard worker. He and his neighbor dug a well for almost two consecutive days so that they could have water. He was so grateful to God for what he had. He was such a rich man even though materially he had very little. I had much to learn from him and how his heart was postured. We prayed over him and asked him to pray over us as well.

We got to visit a leper colony. Many of the people in the dermatology hospital were living there because their condition is considered a disgrace to their family. As the team entered the complex a women in a wheelchair, named Thomasita, strategically placed herself at the front entrance so that she could be greeted by everyone that came by. Her legs were amputated from the knee down and you could see the swinging her legs back and forth in excitement as she was greeted by everyone that walking into the room. She was so happy to receive hugs and kisses from everyone.

While we were in Nicaragua we stayed at an orphanage with the most precious little kids. Each evening after we had got back from the garbage dumps we would eat dinner at the orphanage and had the opportunity to connect with the kids. We’d paint their nails, play soccer, jump on the trampoline with them, and chase them around. As they days progressed they’d wait for us to arrive and call our names to come play with them as we got off the bus.  One of the little girls from the orphage that was less than 5 or 6 years old was rescued at the U.S. border. She was being trafficked for her organs. She has such a precious heart.



Art at Casa Bethedsa Orphanage



It’s one thing to know about injustice that happens around the world and it’s another thing to see it first hand. Seeing, touching and being with people that experience injustice does something to your heart where it becomes reality. It’s no longer something that I can be passive about. I don’t know what that is going to look like in the future but I’m sensing that it has to do with part of my life calling. I’d appreciate your prayers in that regard.

I was chatting with Ben, one of the group leaders and he said something so simple yet profound. Everyone (who’s not in relationship with God) is looking through garbage trying to find something of value; it just looks different based on where you’re at.

There were physical healings that occurred as well but the stories that I shared are what captivated my heart the most. Thanks for you patience as it’s taken me a while to write an update on the trip.