The Mission Begins: Leaving for Nicaragua

I leave for Nicaragua Monday, January 11 to serve for four months as a missionary with the Methodist Church of Nicaragua, learn Spanish, and discover the richness of the Nicaraguan people and their culture.  I will be working with the pastors and churches of the Methodist Church of Nicaragua and will be learning from them as they learn from me.  I will spend two weeks in Costa Rica serving as a missionary at the Institute of the Bible of Central America and visiting churches and missions in Costa Rica.  I will be staying in Masaya, a city south of Managua, and traveling into Managua to teach and attend the Methodist Church in Masaya and assist there as I can.  Raul Gavarette and members of his school will be my primary language teachers.  It's amazing how much preparation goes into a trip like this.  I am grateful to my church, Bishop, DS,  Board of Ordained Ministry, the Methodist Church of Nicaragua, the Institute of the Bible in San Jose, Costa Rica,  the Indivual Volunteers Program of the United Methodist Church, my family, and donors for making this possible.  A year ago I didn't believe that doing what I am doing would be possible.