Anna-Marie Valenziano - Lets Love The Nations.

I'm Still Here.

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

So, keeping a blog was not as successful as I hoped it would be. My last blog was in July, it is currently January. Sorry about that. However, recently I felt compelled to start blogging again. So I suppose I will just catch you up from where I last left off.

Since July 17, 2009. During my last month and half in Nicaragua I continued to help teams that came in. We had another week long high school trip and two world race teams came through in August. I loved having the world race teams at the base. It was so refreshing to watch them minister to others. They were in their last month so they were pros, I enjoyed watching and being able to participate in their ministry, compared to the others where I would show them how things were done. I also went to Panama with my dear friend Heather for a week.

Ok, this is the part that I think I was led to blog about, finishing out my time in Nicaragua and coming home. Leaving Nicaragua was really hard for me. Situations had come up that I was just not ready to handle, and came home really broken. However, if I was ready and prepared for everything that God had to throw at me, how good would His teaching really be? I think God was sifting though me and bringing up areas I still had fault and areas I need to work and grow in. Needless to say, coming home was RRrrough. I was home for 3 weeks before I left again to go to college in Seattle. The first semester at school was also rough. I felt very alone, isolated and confused. The feeling that I dealt the most with was an overwhelming loss of purpose. What was I doing? I was JUST going to school, how does that help anyone but myself? Where do I go from here?

The good news is, through prayer, conversations, realizations and work, I have started to come out of that funk and am excited to continue on to where God is leading me. Nicaragua was a HUGE growing experience. I can literally say the first year of my faith was spending focusing solely on God and discovering what it truly meant to be a "Christian" and living that forward every day. That whole experience made an impact on my life and I feel blessed that I could experience that. Thanks everyone for helping me get to that point and pushing me to grow.

So where does that put me now?

Currently, I am attending Seattle Pacific University in Seattle, Washington. I am a nursing major and Spanish minor. Back in October, I started my first paying job since May of 2008. I work at a day care. Its fun, I play with kids all day.

As I go back and think about Nicaragua I still can hardly believe that that year actually happened. My 21^st birthday is coming up in a few weeks and I think back to my last birthday. My 20^th birthday which was spent at an all day pastoral conference, entirely in Spanish. The party was held in a transformed barn, on a dirt floor, with ice cream, surrounded by people that I love and cherish. I was on the losing part of an eating contest and got threatened with eggs the entire day. The year before that, my 19^th birthday, was spent sick, in a dorm room, not really knowing what true community was. Oh, how the years have flown by.

I do not know where God is calling me from here, and am unsure of what my next step will be. I would ask that you would pray for a few things in my life.

1. Friends and community- here at SPU, since my first semester was spent sulking, I missed out on the opportunity to start developing a new community. I ask that you pray for a community for me. Both a church community and a community here at school. I still feel very lonely at times, but I am hopeful as a few new wonderful people have recently entered my life.

2. A renewed since of purpose

3. An outreach. I feel that I have returned to a place where I can start reaching out to people again. It took a while, but rest and rejuvenation has taken place. Additionally, I am searching for purpose for this summer. I feel that God is calling me to do something. One of the factors that contributed to this was my realization of my upcoming lack of home. This summer, I cannot afford to stay where I am here on campus. However, I cannot return home, not because my parents wouldn't love to have be back, but because there is no jobs there for me. I sense that God is calling me to a new place, a new chapter, so your prayers to find that place would be awesome.

So where does that leave us?

I am continuing to read the word and search for truth, I have a new sense of vigor and hurriedness. I eat more rice, beans and tortillas than any normal college student should, and I am finally learning that no matter where I am, God is there with me, He is the beauty in every thing that surrounds me.

I will try to continue to blog more frequently, and post any developments or interesting stories.

Thanks for your prayers. Let us all pray for the rejuvenation of God in this world.

Upwards and onwards (my Step-dad always ends emails like that)

Annie

PS. I started a new blog at http://anniesgreatbigworld.blogspot.com/. I will try to keep it updated regularly with random fun things. you can follow it with the box that says "follow"

breathing room.

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

I am sorry that I have not been able to blog in a while; I have been busy out of my mind. But here is a quick run down of what has been happening this past month:

The entire month of June we had a REAL LIFE team from adventures in missions here. They were a wonderful group. I saw God shine through them in new ways and kind of reenergize the community to ministry. I was a breath of fresh air. I suppose my job though all this was "team facilitator." God has been using this to stretch me, for what, I am not sure yet. Organization was something that I was never good at, but now it is my job to check on all the logistical things of the group and try to make things run as smoothly as possible. It was wonderful to see how receptive the community was to a new group of "gringos."

Immediately following that group, we actually had a 12 hour overlap, was a youth group and medical team from Virginia. They were here for a week at the end of June and the beginning of July. The youth continued the ministry that was started with the real life team. It was interesting to compare the dynamics of the two teams. Both were great, and it was an excellent opportunity for many of the youth on the team because it was their first out of country mission trip for a lot of them. A lot of them said it was a very eye opening experience.

The medical team also went on at the same time. They did a clinic for the community. They taught on public health and also did eye exams. That week was super busy, but God was shining though in so many ways.

ALSO, this is my favorite part...

June 22-30th MY MOM CAME TO VISIT!!! woot woot. We got Linda to Nicaragua. I was so proud of her for being so brave. It was her first time to travel alone, and to leave the country. She said she had a fun time. She got to see the real Nicaragua; she followed the team around for a week and participated in ministries with them. She said that her favorites were the local feeding program and the new children's reading program that we started in El Puente. She also really loved the food and the people. Next time you see Linda, you will have to ask her about her trip.

Then I finally got my first real day off in 5 weeks. It was wonderful; I sat, read books and slept.

But then the next day the work started back up again. We had about a week in between groups. However, this was spent preparing for the bible conference that was being held at El Puente. It was three days of bible talkin' fun.

The prayer house has been up and running recently. We have a prayer meeting with the community and Torre Fuerte on Fridays. Last time, almost 50 people came.

I taught an English class, and got paid for it! I really enjoyed it and am not the substitute for the school.

One night I had to run from a gang fight. Like, legitimately run away from a gang fight that was coming at me. haha. don't tell my mother.

Last night we had another youth group come in last night; they are eager and are being sent out into the city. I am excited to see what they learn.

I am over half way done with my internship part here. I only have 6 weeks left. I am sad to leave Nicaragua but am so thankful for what God is teaching me here. Please pray for my time and what should come next. I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July and summer.

Annie

Juan and Miguel Luis

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT

"And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!'" Romans 10:15

One of the ministries that we work closely with is the Luz Del Mundo church (light of the world.) I love this little church. It is positioned in one of the most dangerous barrios of town, and happens to be a 5 minute walk from our house.

The ministries we do with them are a Monday morning kids program and then a Tuesday afternoon prayer meeting. This week I went to the prayer meeting and saw one of the most touching things.

When we first arrived, there was no one there for the prayer meeting so we started to prayer for people to come. When we had finished praying in walked a little boy and his little brother. They quietly took a seat in the back. I made my way over to them and started to talk to him. His name was Juan and he was 8 years old, he had come with his little brother Miguel Luis who was 10 months old both shirtless, shoeless and slightly dirty. I asked if they needed prayer and he said yes, he proceed to tell me that every night his little brother Miguel Luis gets a fever and cannot sleep. His mother had tried everything to help him get better, but to no avail. So he decided to bring him to our prayer meeting. I was blown away by the maturity this little boy had. He stood in the middle of our circle and allowed us to lay hands on him while we prayed for him.

In addition to this, I was reminded of how quickly these children have to grow up. The way he handled his little brother was just the way a mother should, patting his back, and bouncing him when he got fussy. You could tell that he had been taking care of his brother for a while now. Miguel Luis responded to him the way a child responds to their own mother. Looking at him and smiling, playing with his ears and cuddling close to his shoulder.

some days God does a wonderful job of breaking our hearts for the things that break His.

Continue to seek guidance from the Lord and you will be rewarded.

Annie Valenziano

intern?

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Hello friends and family-

I have been back in Nicaragua for a whole week now. I have a new title "summer intern" or "facilitator" or "inter church coordinator for the El Puente/Luz del Mundo connection." ok, so I dont quite know what my title is yet, but i am so excited to be back and feel so blessed that the Lord would choose to put me back in Nicaragua for just a bit longer.

so far here is what I know about my time for the next 3 months...

Currently, we have a Real Life team from AIM living at El Puente, they are here for the whole month of June. it is my job to help them and make sure things run smoothly. The group is wonderful and i am excited to get to work with them and get to know them better. I cant wait to show them the people and places that have captured my heart here in Nicaragua.

I am still working for Charles and Sarah Kaye. I am running errands and just do anything i can to try and make their lives a little bit simpler.

Additionally, I am continuing work on the prayer house. I nearly jump out of my skin when i first arrived and saw the work that had been done to the building. The roof was nearly up, the floor in, and even some of the wiring for electricity. We have started going back to do prayer with the group that is here now and starting on friday, we will have 2 hours of praise and worship with the local church Torre Fuerte here. here is a link to a few pictures

In the future we have teams and groups comming in and out of El Puente almost constantly until the end of July. i will also help them and work where ever i am need. In the time to come i hope to grow as a person and grow more in love with the Lord each day. I cant wait to see the things to come, the Lord is here, Working in this place, in the hearts of every one who comes in, and in the hearts of those across the world. So I ask that you pray for the people comming, myself, and those who love to love across the world. I will continue to keep you in my prayers. Thank you everyone for your support.

annievalenziano.

Wednesday

Mon, 11 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT

"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."

The time has come.

The past 9 months has been leading up to Wednesday, the day we all go home. Sunday night we returned from our 4 day debrief in Tamarindo, Costa Rica. It was spent relaxing and reflecting. We even had a service and time of worship on the beach.

On our first night of team meetings we talked about the next season of our lives. One important word was emphasized, Leave. We read a chapter from the Donald Miller book entitled Through Painted Deserts. It stressed the importance of change and moving on into the next stage with confidence and love, knowing God will guide your steps. He states, "Learn to love others, God wants something more than concrete ideas."

One of the most important things I learned on this trip was my identity in Christ. What I have on this earth means nothing and will not get me a better seat in heaven, it is only about loving those around you while you have the opportunity. The earth is just a tent; we are here for a short time. Personally, I am trying hard to focus on making a clean break. Even though I am going to return, I want it to be a new start. It will be the same location, but my role will be completely new. I don't want any weird carry over.

Donald Miller went on to say, "you will never be alone, everything will still be here when you get back." God will provide for the next stage of my life, and all of our lives. Whatever it may be. I am excited to see what the Lord has promised for what is to come in my future. I know it will be a time a growth.

My time here in Nicaragua was very special, words cannot really sum it up properly. I will miss my team and the times we spent together. I love the affect that God has had on the community though us. It has been an honor and a blessing.

I arrive back in Nebraska on Friday morning. See you then.

Annie

PS. this may or may not be my last blog. I would like to continue too, so check back here to find out more.

Sing, Sing, Sing

Mon, 4 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT

"God sets the lonely in families, he leads forth the prisoners with singing" Pslam 68:6

God loves when people come together and unite in family. God wants us to live in community with eachother. Granada, Nicaragua has been that for me. I came here by myself and have discovered what "Family of God" means. This past month we have been pressing forward and trying to savor every oppertunity we have with this part of our family.

So one of the things that I have been doing this past month is preparing ministries for when I return. One of the ministries that I am so excited to help with is Luz Del Mundo. This is a local church in the barrio near our house. They are a newly formed church and are really just trying to better their community. There is a children's ministry that occurs here once a week now and I went a few times to get a feel for it. I love these kids so much, they bring so much joy to our team. Their church is constructed of concrete pillars and some sheet metal.

On Easter we had a celebration with the community at El Puente, a BBQ and worship. The night before we decorated eggs. Clearly, things got a little out of control.

we found a cat. Its basically worthless. Its name is jerry/Geri, depending on if it is a boy or girl. We only keep it around because its kind of cute.

One saturday we got invited to a farm to hang out for the day. It was really relaxing and nice to be out of Granada for a bit. We had some lamb and pig to eat. It was probably the best food I have eaten in Nicaragua. The family had a 4 year old, so to entertain him we ALL played musical chairs.

One of the ministries that has been in action for the past two months is a 5K race for Vida Joven. It took place on April 25th. Thanks to God everything went smoothly and the community got super involved. They hope to make it an annual event. My job was to hand out water. This kid is Yadder and he is so cool. He only knows a few english phrases such has "I run", "I cry," "Hey Man, Chill Out."

Since things are coming to a close it has been sad having the last few days of ministry. In the neighborhood Children's ministry that I am a part of we had our last day on wednesday. we had a Pinata and lots of games. We normally have 8-12 kids show up. This day we had 30. We also invited their parents and had a good send off. It will be sad to not be part of those kids lives every wednesday after noon.

best neighbors ever.

On May 1st and 2nd a group of us decided to go back to Ometepe. It is an island in lake nicaragua, on this island there is an orphanage called Cicrin. We spent a week there in December before we went home for Christmas break. I loved the kids there and was excited to have the chance to go back and visit them again.

While there, the majority of our time was spending hanging out with the kids. The first night we took them all to a nearby park. The oldest girls used the internet, the boys all played soccer and the youngest ones spent time playing on the swings and slide.

Cicrin over looks lake Nicaragua, so every night we had an amazing view of the sun set. We could just hang in the hammocks with the kids.

I am astonished that these 9 months have flown by so quickly. I couldnt not have imagined where all the time has gone. Tomorrow is my last day of ministry and then after that we are going off to debrief for 5 days. We come back for 2 days and then head home out on the 13th. I ask that you pray for these last 10 days because they will be hard on all of us. I will be praying of the community in the hopes that we have impacted their lives, I know they have impacted ours. These people have become our family and I am going to treasure the time I had here.

Annie Valenziano

Hebrews 11:41

Sat, 11 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they would live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, through he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being."

-- Acts 17: 26-28

The women on my team and I have been going through a 10 week Beth Moore bible study entitled "Believing God: Experiencing a Fresh Explosion of Faith." Each week is composed of an hour message from the fiery Rhine stone encrusted Texan. The question originally proposed is "Do you believe God or merely believe in Him?"

Over the past 10 weeks, my faith has been challenged and I have been pushed to dig deeper into what it means to have faith in God. This past Friday was the final session, and it was the one that really struck a chord with me. It started out by going over the "Hall of Faith" in Hebrews 11. She states, "Let's stand at the wall and gaze at the space in the heritage of faith that awaits our picture." Hebrews 11 goes through many of the people in the bible who changed history with their faith. Though it goes until verse 40, we were encouraged to add to our bibles a verse 41, "By Faith ..." and fill in the blank with our name, testifying we have the opportunity to redefine what is in our (...).

All though out the course we have been pushed and encouraged to truly believe in God, "...to the death, lets do it completely, lets do it with everything we got, lets pour it out until, literally, He knows when to take us home because the last drop has been loosed out of the cup [2 Ti. 4:6], and he just breaks the thing and takes us home, put nothing on reserve just incase he doesn't come through, Amen? Faith is laying it all out there. I am so far out on a limb now, it doesn't even matter, I have to stick with God out on the tip of this limb."

Oh how those powerful words came at a teetering point...

The day before I was approached with a proposition by the missionaries we work for here in Granada. They asked if I would consider staying here this summer and working as an intern. My original thought was "No, I have to work this summer, I need to earn money". But after hearing this message and praying about it, almost non-stop for 3 days, I came to the conclusion that Nicaragua is where God is calling me. From June 2^nd to September 2^nd, I will be living in Granada, Nicaragua. My role will look very different, I will no longer be an AIM participant, but now almost AIM staff, working as a facilitator for teams that come this summer.

Beth Moore emphasized that faith is laying it all out there, what do we have to lose? Our God is a God who is strong and loving. We need to live every day for the glory of God, not putting it off until tomorrow, or when it conveniently fits into our schedules. Duane and my mother put it wonderfully into perspective: I could go and get some random summer job, or I could be in Nicaragua, working for the riches of a life after this.

I am excited and terrified at the circumstances God has placed before me. I ask that you keep me in your prayers during this time and pray for God to fill in the courage that I lack, the knowledge I have yet to acquire and the maturity of an adult. Additionally, I will need to raise $1000 for the upcoming summer. If God has placed it on your heart to support me financially, you can do this my clicking the support me! button on the left hand side of this page. I will be praying for you and your families, I look forward to seeing and speaking with all of you when I come home for 2 weeks on May 15^th.

Upwards and Onwards

Annie Valenziano

Granada, Nicaragua.

Ps. Beth Moore concluded by having us repeat this Commission of Faith. I hope it hits your hearts and knocks you out cold.

Lord, today I accept my calling

Not to perfection or performance.

My calling is to faith.

I have been chosen for this generation.

I have place in the heritage of faith.

I'm gong to stop wishing and whining

And start believing and receiving.

What your word says in mine.

I won't let others steal my hope.

I won't argue with a Pharisee.

I will believe and therefore speak,

For you, my God, are huge.

Nothing is too hard for you.

Our world needs your wonders.

Rise up, oh Lord!

Please renew your works in our day.

I confess the unbelief of my generation

And ask you to begin your revival of faith

In my own heart.

For you are who you say you are.

You can do what you say you can do.

I am who you say I am.

I can do all things through Christ.

Your word is alive and active in me.

Satan, hear me clearly;

My father is maker of heaven and earth.

You are under my feet,

Because today and the rest of my days,

I'm Believing God!

Gabriel...

Sat, 4 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Hello All, the weeks have just been flying by. Can you believe there is only 6 weeks left?

One of the ministries that I am going to miss is Corazon Contento. Corazon Contento is an educational facility for the disabled. Monday and Thursday mornings are spent teaching. I work in the beginner class, with the students that need the most help. We have 10 students who are categorized into this class, but on a daily basis only 6-8 show up. We work on the alphabet, numbers and common words. One of my favorite students to work with is Gabriel, He is 15. With Gabriel every day is something new. We work a lot with speaking, he can yell syllables, but putting the syllables together is a trick. I have learned that you have to make everything a game; otherwise there attention span is lost after about 45 seconds. When I am teaching him we see who can say it the loudest, quietest and who can say it while touching their nose. We also have a game called Un Dedo (One finger) and it's just a pointing game: point to my nose, eye, shirt, and then the number in front of us. PICTURE: Gabriel, Joann, and Nataly

A normal day looks likes this. We arrive at 8am. We greet the kids and then help clean a little bit. At 8:30 we start class. Normally, we work on numbers or letters at this time, doing worksheets, coloring, or some other kind of teaching tool. At 9:30 is recess. As much as I love working here, it is kind of exhausting, so I take this 20 minutes to walk down the street with a few other girls from my team so we can swap stories and regroup. We come back at 9:50 and it is time for Common Situations. Here the students learn more practical knowledge: how to clean, brush teeth, fruits and household objects. One day when we were working on colors, we read the book "brown bear, brown bear." I was sitting with Gabriel and we would make up a sound for each animal and then say the name of the animal. The sounds were kind of funny, and we were probably slightly disruptive. From 10:50 to 11:50 is dance class! We play some Nicaraguan music and dance around the class room. These kids know how to dance, and most of them show me up. Following, we set up tables and the kids have lunch.

Sometimes for common situations, we are asked to put together an activity for the kids to do so that the teachers can have a meeting. The most recent activity was the Olympics. First, we all made flags with the children's names on them so they could decorate them and have them to wave around. Then we all marched around the yard to the Nicaraguan national anthem waving our flags, this was our opening ceremonies. Then we played a few games and relays. We had made gold metals for each of the students and the day concluded with a presentation of metals and cheering and applause.

This ministry has been such a blessing. I love working with the kids. It has taught me so much patients. It can get frustrating trying to work with the kids. How do you explain to a child how to hold a pencil? Or that the alphabet has an order? However, the small victories are what make it worth it. I remember when Gabriel first counted to 10 or when Nataly, a 6 year old with down syndrome, finally started talking. She was always afraid to talk, but one day she just started and now doesn't stop. I see God so much through these children. The way the are trying and the way the smallest things fascinate them.

Another fun story...

We have chickens living at our house. On March 31, Manny, the Nicaraguan who lives at El Puente, bought two chickens. He though they were going to be dinner the following night. However, the next day April Fools day, they came in very handy. The girls kicked chickens out of our house 5 times before 9am. But during men's bible study we got the boys back. Hiding all their shoes and spirderwebbing a room. When the Kayes found out that we had chickens they loved the idea and today we are supposed to get 10 more. Our chickens have already kind of multiplied and so our grand total will be 15 or so. They are pretty fun to play with in our free time. The eggs are good too.

This weekend was fairly relaxing, seeing as how all the boys are gone. Seth, the male leader, took all the boys out into the wilderness from Thursday morning to Saturday night. They are going to spend that time in solitude. They built lean tos and are solely spending time with God. I am excited to hear about their experiences, but please keep them in your prayers.

I look forward to seeing all of you, welcome to the month of April!

Annie Valenziano.

video in Spanish is Video!

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Hey everyone.

So lets start this blog with a prayer house update. I have so many exciting things to tell you. First off, we FINALLY finished the video! Go and check it out, tell all your friends. It was put up yesterday and in the first 12 hours we have had 90 people watch it! We even have people volunteering to help us with resources and advice. God is so incredible at answering prayer.

Secondly, we started construction. We have people coming in tomorrow to finish up working on the walls of the house so that maybe next week we can start on the roof.

Thirdly, this is the one I think is most exciting. On Wednesday, even after team meeting and a full day of ministry we had 10 people out in the Prayer house for an hour. We even had 3 Nicaraguans come in and join us. It was such a moving experience to pray and sing with one another in English and in Spanish. The word Santo (Holy) has become such a word of meaning for me, after hearing holy for so many years without the meaning behind it, it had, sadly, lost its touch. But hearing Santo just lights my heart. Probably one of my favorite songs to sing is Santo, Santo, Santo, or Holy, holy, holy.

Please continue to prayer for the prayer house. It needs to be surrounded with prayer, not just filled with it.

I suppose the other cool thing to talk about is spring break:

On March 7-14 we were given a week off. So a few people from the team and I went down to Tamarindo, Costa Rica. It was so relaxing. I'm pretty sure I spent 5-8 hours every day just laying on the beach. I have the sunburn to prove it too! The food was incredible, we went on an ATV tour and one day we were even plagued by jellyfish! Hundreds of them washed on to the beach. It was one of the craziest things I have ever seen. It was a blast.

I hope all of you are doing well, I will continue to pray for you!

Los Ancianos

Thu, 5 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Sorry, it has been quite a while since I put up a blog. I have been a little busy.

So I love literal translations. The nursing home that I volunteer at twice a week is call Hogar de Ancianos or Home for Ancients. What a perfect name. Every Tuesday and Wednesday morning I go to the nursing home and hang out with the residents. A normal day kind of goes like this: arrive at 9 and clean for about an hour. Most of the time I spend this hour cleaning the smaller men's room. It can be a little sketchy in there so I try not to touch anything that I don't absolutely have too. There is a lot of things I don't try and figure out what it is, if you ignore the smell, its quite a nice little room. After that we spend an hour or two hanging out with the residents. Most of them do not get visitor because the facility is set up by a local catholic church and was establish for the purpose of giving a home to people who have been abandoned by their families. This hour is probably one of my favorites, we just spending time talking to the residents, picking up dropped objects, putting on shoes, listening to stories, and painting finger nails. Following that, we have lunch, we help pass out food, feed, people and clean up. After lunch, there is the daily event of putting on Teresita's make up. Everyday, it never fails. She is wonderful though. After lunch we have an outstanding card date with Alfonzo, and we just play cards and try to pretend that we do not see him cheating until it is time for us to go home.

Some Tuesdays, when the guy decides to show up, we also have Physical Therapy. This basically involves taking some of the 52 residents up to the therapy room and helping the therapist in whatever ways we can. Most of the time we just sit and hang out with them as they do their therapy. They focus a lot on coordination and motor skills, so we do a lot of puzzles and play with clay and color. It reminds me a lot of the preschool I worked at.... There is one man name Juan, who I normally spend helping. He is a little confused and does not understand why we have to do the puzzle. So I try to explain it to him, it is for fun. Additionally, I cheer on Gustavo as he does his 60 laps on the bars. Every Tuesday he has to walk back and fourth 60 times. He does it though willingly because he says that he wants to be able to walk.

I love doing this ministry. Probably one of the events that has been my favorite is the day a local youth group came in and same some songs with the residents. Some of the women were hopping out of their chairs dancing. Laura Overs and I were dancing with men and their canes, and then, to conclude the festivities, we all did the Bailar Pollo, or the chicken dance. Perfect. Awesome. Wonderful.

I think the person who has made the most impact on me is a guy name Regaberto. He had always been in a wheel chair, something is happening to his legs, they are covered in open sores and are constantly wrapped. He was pretty cool, we talked a few times and he was pretty independent. I remember, after lunch he would always move himself from his wheel chair to a bench to take a nap. However, something happened to him, I believe he had a stroke. He had not been doing well and it was crushing to see him decline so rapidly. JD Russell and I started praying for him one day, and since then we have seen huge improvements. The other day we put him up into his wheel chair so that we could push him outside. I think it was the day that I felt like I had actually helped someone. I was told to feed him and I went to go and grab a spoon and when I returned he had vomited on himself. I cleaned him up. But the part that was incredible to me was the improvement he was making with his movements. He was kind of helping and knew what was going on. He could nod yes and no and actually Smile! That smile was the highlight of my week. Afterwards I asked if I could pray for him and he nodded yes again. We have been hanging out every time I go there and it is good to see his improvement, no matter how small. It is wonderful to see God working in his life, and how that can have such an impact on mine.

So I wish you all could some and visit and meet these incredible people I hang out with. Here are a few pictures of the people who live there:

Alfonzo-

Everyday after lunch we play cards with him. He cant really see so he "accidently" cheats a lot. He also sometimes forgets how to play his own games. He loves it when he wins, so sometimes we take one for the team and let him win.

Paloma-

We is so sweet. Every couple of weeks we paint her finger nails. She sings all the time. She says she sings because she is full of the Holy Spirit, not because she is crazy. She has a different colored dress everyday of the week with matching jewelry. She love to dance and knows how to shake it.

Gustavo-

He is so sweet. Everyday we come in and he has a huge smile on his face. His pants give him a few problems so the first task of the day is to stand him up and pull his pants up. He has to walk 60 lengths twice a week in Physical therapy. He always wears these sunglasses too. Some times we play cards with him too, he smiles all the time, even when he is losing. Him and I have a game, every day when I come in I teach him a new English word. The other day was Shoes.

This is the men's room that Laura and I clean when we go there. When someone urinates on the floor, they just throw dirt on it and then wait for that to soak up the mess. We sweep, mop and make beds. It takes the full hour and sometimes we can even break a sweat.

Juan- I love him so. He is a little confused but that is ok. I help him in Physical Therapy. He has huge glasses and is about 5'3''. He always wears this pink button up shirt and sometimes I help him align the buttons. He always wears his green flip flops also.

Teresita-

We do her make up everyday. It never fails. She is 66 years old. The other day we had her do ours too. I walked away looking like I had two black eyes and had lip gloss on my cheeks for blush. She is a sweet Lady.

I love visiting the nursing home and pretty much think old people rock. I am so excited that God has provided me this opportunity to enjoy my passion.

"The Glory of young men is their strength, gray hair the splendor of the old." Proverbs 21: 29

Prayer House Update:

So the prayer house has been open for 3 weeks. We officially opened on February 10, 2009, and since then we have approximately 200 hours of logged prayer! That is incredible. We are open from 7-7 and of the 12 hours 8-10 are filled with prayer. We finally have enough money to get our roof going! We hope to start building that next week. Caleb Spitler will actually be living in the prayer house for all of spring break so you will probably want to go check out his blog after a bit to see how that goes. Recently, we told Young Life about the prayer house and got some of the youth excited about it too. We also went to a local pastors meeting to present the idea to them, they were all very excited to hear and agreed to the important. I am excited to see how God is using us and using our 4 walls capture people and draw them to Him. Please pray this week that we will have people continue to come and that more people will find the House of Prayer. Pray for Caleb as he will be working with the incoming team and the rest of us as we go on spring break, traveling home and else where. Thanks so much for your support, I hope you will keep us in your prayers as we will be keeping you in ours.

Isaiah 56:7-"These I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my House of Prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my alter; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations."

There will be Joy in the House of Prayer. God's glory needs to be spread to all the peoples of the earth AND THEN he will return. (Matthew 24:12)

Ta dah! Longest Blog ever. I will try to update quicker next time. I Love and Miss you all!

Annie Valenziano

Granda, Nicaragua.

Casa de Oracion

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

"The hearts of the people cry out to the Lord. O wall of the Daughter of Zion, let your tears flow like a river day and night; give yourself no relief, your eyes no rest." Lamentations 1:18

The bible tells us that we need to cry out to the Lord day and night. In Luke 18 it talks about the widow who went to the unjust judge who didn't fear man or God. The widow never relented and never gave up. She continued to cry out for justice. Eventually, the judge gave in. He gave the women justice for her adversary. It ends with the question, "When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"

Another examples of unrelenting prayers is Luke 2:36-38. Anna the prophetess cried out to the Lord for 80 years. She never left the temple, "...but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying" (v 37).

One more example is in Isaiah 62: 6-7, "I have posted watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the Lord, give yourselves no rest, and give Him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth." This is saying that we need to never be silent, never stop crying out, wanting, seeking, and praying, until the day that Jesus returns and establishes his kingdom here on earth.

So what does all this have to do with my time in Nicaragua?

As I talked about briefly in my last blog, I am involved in starting a house of prayer here in Granada. Caleb Spitler and I have been working on this non stop for the past 4 weeks. However, God did something amazing. Last week, February 10, we opened the house of prayer. We have people coming in to pray from 7am to 7pm. Additionally, we as a team have been praying outside those hours. Collectively, we guessed about 12 hours in a 24 hour period, people are praying in the house of prayer. I can hardly write I am so excited about it. The Lord has provided and blessed us beyond reason. Tomorrow we are going to speak at a pastoral meeting. This meeting is for 10-15 pastors in the city of Granada. Opportunity after opportunity has just presented itself in unimaginable ways.

The time spent in the prayer house differs great with each person. Some time when we go out there as a team it is loud with praise and worship. Other times it is silent, simply looking up at the stars (we dont have a roof), and just being in the presents of God. I love it. Emotion can just over take us, excitement, repentance, or joy. I love the time spent in there, both with a group or simply me and God.

Besides being able to have contact with so many pastors in the community, the building itself is getting an overhaul. We have no money for this project. However, we have so many people willing to donate time. We have 5 men who have volunteered their time for construction, a man willing to wire the place for electricity, and another who can build us a roof. Awesome.

In the future, we hope to have a roof, a solid building, and be able to open up it to the community, having it available to anyone to just walk in. we want this to start a fire in Granada. The 3 main reasons for the prayer house are: Intimacy with God, Revelation in the Holy Spirit, and Revival.

Ok, now that I have blurted that out in a moment of excitement, we still need help. Remember the part where we said we have no money? Well, we have set up an account at aim for donations. Please pray about that, and just pray in general. This needs to be surrounded in prayer. When I get the account information I will post it. Also, we are currently working on a video for the house of prayer. I will get that up as soon as possible. I am excited to see the things to come with this. This will not peter out, the fires will keep going strong, prayer is important and Prayer is power.

I will be praying for you, please keep me in your prayers

Annie

The Great Divorce.

Sat, 7 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

So I have been reading the book "The Great Divorce" by C.S. Lewis. While reading I found this quote. Something in it made me really stop and think. The premise is that a man is one a visitation to Heaven. While there he talks with the various people who are in Heaven. This conversation took place between him and a Scottish man who he called "Teacher."

"They say of some temporal suffering, 'no future bliss can make up for it', not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory. And of some sinful pleasure they say 'let me but have this and I'll take the consequences': little dreaming how damnation will spread back and back into their past and contaminate the pleasure of the sin. Both processes begin even before death."

What I got out of it is, its all a matter of perspective. Even in agonies, knowing it is in the God's plan, can be turned or viewed in the light of God's glory. In the same respect, if you refuse to give up even one small sin, knowing it is a sin and being willing to take the consequences, this damnation will move back into your life. The thought that was interesting was that, in the book, it said: Life is what you make it, Heaven or Hell, but whatever you make it will correlate with your time after this life.

I had a hard time putting it into words. But here is another view on it directly from the book. This is in the introduction written by C.S. Lewis:

"If we insist on keeping Hell (or even earth) we shall not see Heaven: if we accept Heaven we shall not be able to retain even the smallest most intimate souvenirs of Hell. I believe, to be sure, that any man who reaches Heave will find that what he abandoned (even in plucking out his right eye) was precisely nothing: that the level of what he was really seeking even in his most depraved wishes will be there, beyond expectation, waiting for him in The High Countries'"

I would love to hear your opinions on this quote, or even the book for that matter. I will probably read the book again, there was so much stuff in it that was so wonderful and thought provoking. Thanks for your time. I will be praying for you!

ministry.

Fri, 6 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Hey everyone. So starting Wednesday we were into our first official week of ministry since being back. This part of the trip will be characterized with more individual ministry on a more regular basis. We are expected to put in 25-30 hours of ministry per week at a certain place or two. So I figured I would give a quick run down of how a normal week will look for here on out.

Monday

Mondays have 7 hours of ministry. They start at 8am. Every Monday I will be going to Corazon Contenta. It is an educational facility for disabled children. Today was my first day there. It was spent hanging out with kids and teaching them numbers and colors. This morning was spent mostly with Natily, a girl with Down syndrome who is about 6 and then Alberto, a man with Down syndrome also. It was so much fun. Natily sat on my lap and colored, mostly on the paper, but occasionally on my pants, hands, face, and her shirt. Alberto and I practiced numbers 1-20 (all in Spanish), and also worked on colors and basic instructions. I loved watching the improvement just from the beginning of the morning to the end. We finally mastered where 13 fits into the scheme of things! I was at Corazon Contenta (happy heart) from 8-1 and then spent the next 2 hours running to various grocery stores to get the team food for the next couple of days. You might be surprised how much food 15 gringos can eat!

Tuesday

This morning starts out a little early. At 7:30am we have a bible study for women in the community. We are also providing a day care/children's program at this time. That is my involvement. We hope that, since we have a child care, that more women, especially young mothers will be able to attend out bible study. After that I head over to Hogar de Ancianos (home for ancients...I love literal translations). It is the local nursing home. There are about 50 residents that live there. The appalling thing is most of these people were abandoned by their families. Most of the residents do not need to really be in intense assisted living. We go in and clean a little bit, but mostly spend time with the residents. The Nursing home is a non-profit organization so staff and supplies are short. We are just happy to volunteer. We talk with the residents, play cards, help with lunch, and do whatever is needed. The other day we painted the women's finger nails. We made a friend whose name is Gustavo. He is so sweet. We helped him with physical therapy; we just walked back and forth across the bars with him, 50 times to be exact. The part that always makes us laugh is when we play cards: none of the residents have glasses, so they are always cheating, but on accident.

Wednesday

Wednesday is another day at Hogar de Ancianos, from 9-2. After that, from 3:30-5 we have a children's program out in the barrio that we live in. It is the same group of kids that came and helped us do the trash pickup. We love the friendships that we had with these children and didn't want to lose them. We go over and sing songs, play games, and have a short message. This semester we are going to try and get the kids more involved in prayer and how prayer is key in their relationship with God. I normally come back so exhausted and disheveled, but it is a blast.

Thursday

Thursday is another morning at Corazon Contenta from 8-12. They split up the kids into classes based on skill level. I am helping with the beginner class. I have come to find out that God will be working patients with me. In the beginner class we are still trying to cover the basics. This takes time and energy, both from me and the students. We are in a one on one ratio, but still it is mentally exhausting. This last Thursday, I practiced numbers with a little girl named Melissa, (there is a picture of her) she is 8 and has Down Syndrome. We practiced the numbers 1-5 for an hour. I believe she is making improvements. She can identify how many fingers she needs to hold up when a number is placed in front of her. For some of these children, this is their first time ever being in a class room setting, besides teaching numbers and colors we are trying to teach them how to even behave in a class room setting, what is appropriate and not appropriate. I love the work that we are doing there, but it is defiantly stretching me.

Friday

Friday is my day off! Kind of. A project that I am working on, that currently does not count towards ministry hours, is a house of prayer. I have partnered with Caleb Spitler, and we are trying to get this going. This project has become so important to me, I have been pouring over books and materials. On this day we go to meetings and pick up supplies for the house we are building. I feel so blessed that God called me into this project. We already have four walls (you can see it in the upper right corner of the picture) and the church Torre Fuerta to get us started. Next week we hope to open the Prayer House to the community. We are going to try and get prayer for 10 hours a day, but hope to get up to 24/7. God can use prayer in such amazing and powerful ways, we want to provide the community with a place to come and just be close to God and have a refuge from the outside mayhem of the world. This is a huge task in itself, but we know that God is backing us on this, we cannot do it alone. Please prayer for this ministry and we will keep you updated. (if you want to read a more details about what we are doing you can go and read Caleb's Blog Posts (click here), "It's coming..." and "Fire Starters")

Thanks so much for all the continued prayers and support. I am sorry that I did not post last week, I promise to post again tomorrow!

Anita

La Chureca.

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

On January 21, we traveled to Managua to a place called "La Chureca" it is the city dump. However, hundreds of people live there, they make their way though life sifting though the trash looking for things to recycle. It was quite a mind blowing experience. So today's blog is directly from my journal when I tried to write about when we got back home. It actually turned into a poem.

January 21, 2009 6:08pm

It's good to have my watch back [we had to remove all jewelry]

So the dump was incredible.

I was actually really nervous before we went in, Daniel [the man we went with] was talking about it and a boy came out, who must have been about 12-14 years old and he said that he was a glue sniffer. That already shocked me. That is a big problem here.

Going was hard to describe.

There was ~~piles~~ mountains of trash. Plastic bags. House made from debris. We went to the school and the clinic and those were the beams of light in the community. Something clean and worth looking at. Then we went into the part that was the dump, we literally climbed a mountain of trash. Children stood and were covered in soot and dirt. Some where so skinny, but their faces were so precious. When we got to the top it looked like a desert. Very desolate, but teeming with life at the same time. Billows of smoke rising into the air, chocking our throats and blurring our vision.

Tires were burning. People brought their cattle here for food, while they scavenged for themselves. Glass, plastic and metal the treasures of choice. The [trash] trucks had just come in and with every one a new chance to make a life, a difference for you or family.

I wondered,

"could I live like this? Could I be happy?"

Still, these people beamed with hope, joy, and integrity.

They faced adversity but,

Where they really different from those that live else where?

We too fight the masses

Looking though the garbage,

Trash and perceived nothing.

Only really searching for something to grab,

to have to do it again tomorrow

Day in and day out

Yet, do they know?

What they are seeking is not something you an hold in your hands,

Cannot trade for money

What we all ultimately search for is not in short supply

Enough for everyone

Stop your wandering,

Stop your cries

Simply fold your hands and close your eyes, and feel the riches unfold before you.

la chureca dump

Additionally, there is an organization working at La Chureca to help get things going. It is called "Love, Light and Melody" I have provided a link to their webpage. Daniel, the man I talked about earlier, works for them and goes into the dump almost everyday. Also, I have an album you can look at online to see photos (click here). All these photos came from other people on my team.

Please pray for this place and these people. They are starting to see glimmers of hope. I will keep you in my prayers.

Annie

So heres what happened.

Sat, 17 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Hello all-

Now I almost didn't post this blog because of all the stuff that happened today. I figured I would need some time to process and that I was just going to be lazy and wait until next week to tell you. But why hide and put off God's glory?

God has so many far reaching ways to meet us exactly where we are. If we just open our eyes to them.

Today I was sitting in central park, I was there because a couple of friends from the team were meeting a man there who needed some help and advice and had reached out to them. We were suppose to meet him at 12:30. Except, he did not show up.

I love the fact that God can use a situation that seems futile to start something incredible. While we were waiting for him the 3 other people that I was with started talking to other people and sharing the news of Jesus Christ with them. It was incredible how God put people there who could be reached, and in most cases, reached out to us first. One example is Laura. She was sitting and reading her bilingual bible while we were waiting. A man on a bike came up to her and kind of stood behind her for a moment, and then he made the first move in asking her about the Bible. The conversation ended with the man reading the bilingual bible with the man on the bench next to him.

Recently, I have been having a hard time dealing with the question, "do I do enough." People around me are always telling amazing stories about how God opened up to them and lead them to a person, or how something amazing happened in their lives. I do not know why I felt like this, God has done incredible things in my life; it was just something that I was dealing with today.

So while sitting on the bench, I was looking around watching the other 3 people who were with me going out and telling people about Jesus. We were not "required" ministry, today was our day off, but they still found such joy in going out and telling people around them about the Love that Christ has for every single one of us.

I started praying to God about having an opportunity for me, I wanted to share in this joy also. I have felt the love of Christ and want to share it with others. A few minutes later, a woman walked by and went and sat down on the tree behind us. I started to get this little twinge that I was supposed to go and talk to her. However, I don't speak Spanish, I don't know the bible, and I didn't know what to tell her. Those were all lies from the devil.

That impulse in me started to grow stronger and stronger. Eventually, I was searching my bible for verses that I thought might be helpful and writing them on my hand. I still wasn't sure if this is what God wanted me to do, and I thought this lady might be a prostitute, would she even want to hear what I have to say? Then, as if almost a whisper, I heard the lady say from behind me, "I am waiting for you." I still don't even know if that lady said it or not, maybe it was just the Lord trying to get me off that bench.

After a while people were coming over and talking to us in a group, I was still sitting on the bench while others were talking, still having that debate in my head as to whether I should go and talk to that lady sitting on the tree. I stood up to get into the circle better. After standing I made eye contact with the lady and she asked me a question. I couldn't hear what the question was but I went over and started talking to her. Alone.

I think this was truly God dragging me to this lady. I don't go talking to random strange ladies who are speaking to me in Spanish, but this woman I could not ignore.

As soon as I got there, I met Martha, and our conversation started. I do not even remember what we talked about. But soon Martha was telling me about how her son had been murdered. It felt like the more I listened, the more I concentrated on what she was saying, the more I deeply cared for this woman, the more English she spoke. We had our entire conversation about her son in English. I asked her if I could pray for her and she said yes!

I prayed for Martha and we continued to talk, after a while a verse from the bible came to mind and I quickly grabbed a bilingual bible. I looked it up and showed her the verse. However, she said that she could not read it because she didn't have her glasses. I told her I would read it to her. I tried so hard to read to that woman in Spanish. But I could not. At that moment little girl walked up and sat down next to us. The woman asked her if she could read the bible to her and she agreed. The little girl sat there and read the whole bible passage of Romans 5: 1-11.

This passage is about struggles and how the Lord uses struggles in our life to create hope. It has been a verse that has always been in my mind as I go through hard times. Romans 5:3-5 says, "but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."

I love that little girl. Our conversation continued, but this time, it was entirely in Spanish. I know the Lord had a hand in that conversation. Helping me to understand that parts that really mattered, allowing me to relate and feel for this woman. I thank God for putting me exactly where I needed to be, for guiding me and showing me what needed to be said and where to do. I am thankful that the Lord does not give up easily. After hearing it audibly that this woman was waiting for me I still did not move. It was not until she looked up at me and asked me a question. Thank the Lord that He is patient and gives grace. I invited Martha to church tomorrow and I am excited to see what the Lord does in her life, I will continue to pray for her and I hope you will too.

instant hatred.

Sat, 10 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

"No one thinks of the pen while reading a letter, they only want to know the mind of the person who wrote the letter. That's exactly what I am in God's hand- a little pencil. God is writing his love letter to the world in this way, through works of love." Mother Teresa

Yes my friends, we are starting out the New Year big, quoting Mother Teresa. However, I really love this quote out of the book I am reading about this incredible woman, "Mother Teresa" by Kathryn Spink.

During the Christmas break, God has blessed me with the opportunity to see my family, and rebuild relationships that had become thin. I had a wonderful time of relaxing and thinking, and processing what the heck has happened over the past 7 months, all from the space of my room, in my house, in my tiny town in Nebraska. Sharing Christmas with my family was wonderful, cutting down the tree and decorating it and going to visit my Grandpa. New Years Eve was spent playing Yahtzee with my mother and step-dad. True, it may have no been the action packed break that some of the other members on my team experienced but it was spent in rest, peace, and eating.

One of the high lights of my break was speaking in church. It was great to see all of you and just be able to share what God has been doing in my life and see the growth that has taken place in Pawnee City and in the lives of my church family. Although, I was slightly nervous, I did get a lot of encouragement. Duane can tell you, what I wrote and practiced the night before was nothing like what I actually said during the service. But I believe that it all came out fine, so thank God. Another one of my favorite experiences was going and talking to Rachel's Spanish 2 class about what Nicaragua is like. I had been looking forward to seeing her and her friend for quite some time and that was an interesting way to do it. Some of those kids are pretty obnoxious, but I was still excited to see the response from some unlikely people.

Since returning to Nicaragua, our team has just been spending time readjusting to the culture, climate, and weather. Its still soo hot here! We have been getting used to our new house, at El Puente, the bilingual church we attend. It is only a few block away from our old houses but now boys and girls are living in the same building, and the bathrooms and showers are outside. The house is smaller, but there is plenty of land around us where we can wander and be alone.

Something that I did not miss about Nicaragua was the bugs. Early early this morning, about 4:30, I heard a weird beeping, chirping, almost croaking noise. I just could not figure out what it was. In the dark of the house I tried to go though my things. Eventually, I thought it was my laptop and after a few shakes it stopped. However, in no time at all it started back up again. After about an hour of this I finally hit my bed mate, Amy, and asked her in the loudest whisper possible, "do you hear that noise?" She did and we decided to investigate. Searching with just her head lamp we came up the source of the noise, a huge jumbo cricket, just looking to snag a chick. As if our new friend cared, I looked directly into its beady little eyes and said "I HATE YOU!" We ran outside to get the plank of wood we used to kill giant things and went to work. Trying to be stealthy at 5:30 in the morning moving luggage and clothes and trying to smash it with just a board. It eventually got away, I hope it ends up cold and alone.

My adventures back in Nicaragua look to be numerous. I cannot wait to see what God has planned for us here. I will be praying for all of you. If you all get a change I would encourage you to read "Captivating: unveiling the Mystery of a Women's Soul" written by John and Stasi Eldredge. The book promises much more than the title lets on. It really has helped me a lot deal with things in my past and my identity as a woman both in Christ, and my role in a modern changing world. Have fun this week!

7:35am

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Hello friends and family!

I hope that your navaidad season is going great! I cannot believe it! Tomorrow I will be flying out of Managua at 7:35am, this requires us to leave our home in Granada at 4am. I will roll into Nebraska at about 6pm. This will be the first time I am home in 7 months. I cannot wait to see all my friends and family and hear of all the wonderful things that God is doing your lives.

This morning I was talking to my sister and she said that today in Nebraska the high will be 8...just 8. I am currently sweating because I am typing so fast. Additonally, there will be 4 inches of snow on the ground when I return home. I cannot wait! (I believe I have already said that...maybe more than once)

However, I am so thankful for my time here in Nicaragua. God has shown himself to me in so many incredible and amazing ways. This past week we were in Ometepe, an orphanage on an Island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua. God worked in so many ways there, in the lives of the children, our team as a whole, and with me personally. I am excited to tell you all about it.

There is one request that I have of you. I also heard that there is going to be a big ice storm tonight in Nebraska and I do not know how far south that will affect. Please keep me in your prayers as I fly into Kansas City tomorrow. Thanks for everything.

3 John 1:13-14

"I have much to write you, but I do not want to do so with pen and ink. I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face."

Annie Valenziano

Great and Powerful Wind.

Sat, 6 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

"The Lord said, Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by. Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. " 1 Kings 19:11-12

This verse has been so important to me over the past couple of weeks. People are constantly asking me "what has the Lord taught you this week." Most of the time I cannot stand this question because I do not have a big "Ahah" moment. At times I even get defensive and start to question whether or not the Lord has to be talking to you or teaching you something every moment of everyday.

However, I realized that He does. God shows us His glory every moment of everyday. We just have to be open to listening. If every time God had something to say to us He used a big earth shattering moment we would start to expect more and more from Him. Therefore, when He is talking in a whisper it makes that moment all the more special and intimate. Just like when you whisper to a person: you have to stop, really concentrate and lean in a little closer. God uses these small whispers to draw us closer to them. To really rely on Him. Putting your faith in Him when all you have is the slightest whisper in your heart. That is the Lord speaking to you.

Additionally, He leaves us signs of his presence all around. Little reminders about how wonderful and beautiful He is. Whether it is the amazing pink drangonfly down by the lake or the children who pass us by and yell or names or run across the street to hug us. That is God reminding us that we have worth and He loves us.

This week God has spoken His love to me so much, by creating moments where I can just sit and listen to Him. Seeking His guidence. Creating oppertunities where I have to go out and put my faith in Him and the reward has been something magnetic and glowing. God has showered me with love through my favorite friend Alberto. God doesnt leave you behind, He is always watching and wanting us to draw a little closer and listen to His whisper.

Thank you for your continued support in Prayer. If you happen to be in Pawnee City, Nebraska on the 4th you should stop by the presbyterian church, I will be giving a presentation about how maraculous God works. Thanks for all your continued support. I cannot wait to see and hear from all of you!

Thanksgiving Nica style

Sat, 29 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

So here in Nicaragua we look for any reason to throw a party and have some fun. Thanksgiving was no exception. We had been planning Thanksgiving for 2 weeks, trying to find everything we needed to have a traditional American Thanksgiving, while living in Nicaragua. So the morning of the big day had finally arrived. Two very dedicated girls on our team got up at 5 in the morning to start cooking. When I woke up the house smelled amazing! Somehow I was kind of put in charge of the "pumpkin pie" which was made out of Akoyta (?) yep, I had never seen it before, but it is kind of like a squash, but its from Nicaragua. I was going to make a pie out of that, without a recipe, so I hoped for the best and made it up. It seems like many Nica things were substituted that day, all with a smile and a prayer.

At about 11 myself, Laura and Jessica all decided to go to Heather's house to cook some food, she had a free oven. Turns out this was the best decision we could have made. Soon after we left the power at our house got cut (not turned off...cut). So people are scrambling to find a new place for the turkey. Meanwhile, we are enjoying the finer things of Thanksgiving over at Heather's house, watching movies, checking in on the latest football scores and taking delightful naps on her couch.

At 2:30 all our food was finally done. Because we had so many plates of food we had to take a taxi. We sort of told the cab driver, in broken Spanish, about Thanksgiving or Dia da Gracias. Even with a few minor set backs, at 4:15 we finally sat down to eat. We had all the traditional Thanksgiving food: Turkey, potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, everything! We were having our Thanksgiving at El Puente so I was very excited to see how our Nicaraguan friends would like our food, or even the idea of Thanksgiving.

It was so incredible, we had one table, and it sat all 22 of us. It was such a time of joy. All the days work of cooking and planning and taxi rides and having our food all over the city had finally come together in this perfect moment of family. It was probably one of the best Thanksgivings I have had. We had only known each other for a little less than three months, but I felt as though these people were my family.

The day ended well, most of the food was eaten, some random games played and definitely Thanks given. Turns out that Nicaraguans think that American food is weird, and we were still without electricity. A wonderful day...Oh! and my pie did turn out delicious.

Hope your holidays were full of fun...see you all in 20 days!

Anita (we all have our Nicaraguan nick names...)

House on the Lake

Sun, 23 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

On Thursday morning, Mario, our translator, Joann, and I went down to the local barrios for a feeding program. I had never been to this area of town before so I was excited to go and see what else is in the outskirts of Granada. This area was one that had been affected by the recent rain and flooding. However, I thought that flooding ended about a month ago. When we got there we could not go through the neighborhood to the house near the lake. We had to take a back way around, through a barbed wire fence, and over some sand bags that were being used to keep the flooding out of someone's house, dodging the waves that washed over our feet. When we arrived the scene seemed like something surreal, something out of a movie. The whole area was full of water and trash. The waves were coming in strong and brushing against the sides of families' houses. The only thing that was stopping the water from coming in was the sand bags laid up against the plastic bags or pieces of metal that were the walls of their homes.

When we arrived we were quickly set to work cleaning the rice and beans. Since it is cheaper to buy rice and beans "dirty" we have to go through and get out all the rocks, sticks and dirt that end up in it before it is cooked. There really is no easy or efficient way to do this other than go though, by hand, and pick out whatever you see. The job is daunting, but we would do anything to help. After most of the food had been prepared we had time to sit and relax with a local family. We went into their house. The family had 7 children, and another one on the way. The house where they all lived was composed of 2 rooms, one that had 3 walls, one of plastic bags, one of tin roofing, and one of cardboard that stood as the divider between the rooms. We sat with the family and talked, they told us how their house floods everyday. Everyday the father goes out and rakes the trash from his front room, which is just open, and how every couple of days he goes out and builds up the trash barriers to try and keep the water from coming to far into his house.

The children were incredible. Joann and I had so much fun playing with them. We listen to some of their music and built sand castles in their front room. The littlest one, a boy, went and got out a few of his dinosaurs and we played with those also. To our surprise they pulled out the game "Cootie," where you have to build bugs, I believed we played 10 straight games. It was such a moving experience to see how these people live, I was getting anxious just being in this environment for a few hours, the realization that people live here just washed over me, completely draining me emotionally and physically.

Around noon we were told that it was time to serve up food for the program. Today we would be serving beans, rice, bananas and liver stews. Children started coming out of the woodwork, all trying to be first in line. The part that really shook me was that most of these kids were coming in barefoot, just climbing and jumping over all the trash. At one point, a strong wave came in and covered all our feet. I remember looking down at the dirt, rocks and trash that were now all over my feet, I cannot imagine how it must feel to be barefoot. However, the light that shown out of these kids' faces was undeniable. We tried to talk to every child and ask their names and ages as they stood in line with their bowls and tickets, each one more then happy to tell us where they were from, some even pointed out their houses to us.

As we trudged out for home, I could feel the weight of the day bearing down on me. I saw the people and children who were living, no more than 15 minutes walk away from where I was living. The conditions were unbelievable. However, do not take pity on these people, which is the last thing they needed. I actually admire and honor them for making the best with what has been dealt to them. That experience was one of the first of extreme poverty that I have seen in Nicaragua. I have seen it briefly, but never fully explored or been immersed in what is going on around me. I came back that day tired and completely out of it, I even fell asleep in class.

God had truly reveled Himself to use though those families in that community. Showing us how truly wonderful He is, even when conditions look bad, you have to remember, God is there. The family we stayed with offered us more hospitality than we could have ever hoped for. Sharing with us everything that they had, we had never even met them before. The children were so excited to have someone new to talk and play with. They didn't mind our broken Spanish and told us all about their families and school. Every child in that neighbor offered us a hug and a smile. It was incredible and heart-breaking all at the same time. I have fallen in love with God's creation, community, and people all over again.

"At that time Jesus said, I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children'" Matthew 11:25

Kids and Trash

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Hello again!

I heard that in most of the places that you live its freezing cold. Well I just thought that I would let you all know that Nicaragua is holding fairly steady at a lovely 85 degrees, nearly everyday. I am sweating as I type.

This week we were having a discussion about bringing more ministry into our ministries. Is it enough to just do good things for the community? If we do not share we others the love of Jesus what does it all really mean? Will we have a lasting affect?

Since the beginning of our trip, every Wednesday afternoon we do trash pick up in front of our church El Puente. It is in a rougher neighborhood and we thought it would really make an impact on the community if they saw us picking up trash and that maybe when we leave we could leave this ministry in the hands of some of the locals who live in the community. However, we realized that we are just picking up trash. Not that that is a bad thing. Most people will tell you that trash in Nicaragua is a big problem. But after we leave will people really understand the reason we are picking up trash? Yes to keep it clean, but more importantly, because we love God, and we want to help share his love with others by doing good works for Him.

Normally, trash pick up involves us going out and picking up trash for a few hours. Local kids from the community come out and help and we have started forming some really good friendships with them. They are normally waiting for us. Its really fun to go out and talk with the kids and play games and pick up a little trash while we are at it. But this week, we decided to try something new. Two other girls and I planned a small 15 minute children's ministry to do at the end of trash pick up with all our friends. We were not sure how it was going to go.

We just decided to keep it short and simple for the first time. Game, message, song, prayer. It would be simple and hopefully they would get something out of it. We spent the night before planning and we thought we were set. Still a little nervous but excited at the same time. We were using this to take this ministry to new places. Hopefully, if the kids are into it they can get their parents and it will start something.

So after our pick up we told all the kids to get there brothers and sisters and friends and meet us at the soccer field in 5 minutes. There ended up being like 20 kids there. 3/4 of them were not even at the trash pick up and a lot had just stopped by on their way home from school. We played a simple game that was similar to tag and then told a short message about how God loves us and wants to hug us, and that He loves us no matter what. We sang Jesus loves me in Spanish. I was surprised at how well they listened and wanted to learn the song. They didn't know it. When we had finished we were still sitting in a circle and I think the most exciting thing of the day happened. None of the kids moved, they continued to sitting waiting for something more.

We are excited to go back next week with more things for them to do. This was an amazing first time thing. Children's ministry is never easy and I feel blessed that the children cooperated as well as they did. Our translators did an amazing job also, we gave them no warning about what would happen. I would like to thank Go do letting this ministry be so successful. Without Him behind us we would have nothing. Hope you are all doing well, enjoy the cold and I will see you on December 19th!

Crea

Sat, 8 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

God answers prayers, and not just sort of.

The past couple of weeks in class we have been learning about how to present our stories and how we can minister to people through events in our lives. We were all told to pray that we come into contact with someone and be given the opportunity to do this. It seems like during this time everyone had been receiving great opportunities to do this and having amazing, sobering, experiences with God. However, I felt like I was not experiencing these. I was starting to feel less than the others, maybe I was not close enough with God to deserve this kind of reward or answer. During these few weeks I had also been struggling with my faith. Doing something completely self-centered, I prayed one night to have God show me something that was undeniably Him. Little did I know that He would do this in one of the most powerful ways.

During our time here in Nicaragua the boys in our group go to a drug rehab center called Crea. They share all these amazing stories about how they have seen God though the men at Crea. Crea put on a worship celebration last Saturday (Nov. 1) and we were invited to present our drimes (dramas to music) and have a couple of people share their testimonies. Now, I have always been really afraid to share my testimony, for fear of what other people would think. However, a few days before when we were asked if anyone would volunteer, my hand SHOT up. I remember thinking "shoot God Shoot! why is my hand up? I don't want to give my testimony"

During the following days leading up to the celebration I was really struggling with my feelings about God, trying to sort though how I really felt and why. I didn't just want to believe in God because I was told to, I wanted to have my own reasons and fully stand behind them.

The day I was supposed to give my testimony was probably one of the hardest days I have had in Nicaragua. I was really really struggling. A few hours before I was about to speak I still had nothing. I almost didn't speak. I was questioning every belief I had ever had about God. At that moment in time I was probably the exact WRONG person to go and talk about how God is amazing in my life. I was not feeling it, and did not want to lie to these people about how God is amazing all the time and He has just made my life amazing. That's not what these people want or need to hear.

Feeling defeated and run down I went to my room and prayed. I have two hours before I am supposed to speak to a group of people and I don't know what to say. I don't know what I think about God and I don't want to feed these people a line. God Help.

Immediately following that prayer I knew exactly what I was going to talk about. I wrote the whole presentation in about 10 minutes, got dressed and went to Crea.

The entire walk there I was still filled with anxiety. I didn't know if it was going to be good enough, I didn't know if it was even the right thing to say, what if I had not prepared enough, I did not want to embarrass myself. The walk there I was talking with Joe, he was going to talk also, and he just seemed so confident and he knew what he was going to talk about. The service before the testimonies was filled with worship and drimes. Our group did amazing!

And then it was my turn to speak, I was so nervous. But as soon as I opened my mouth the Lord just flowed out. That testimony was one of the most powerful speeches I have ever given, and it was the Lord using me. I spoke about not doing things because you feel you have to live up to some expectation. Looking holy for people around you will not get you into Heaven. God knows your motives and He knows your heart. Putting on a show is not what the Lord wants for any of us. I spoke with such passion and authority that it could not have been me. There was no way I was capable of giving that speech. It was incredible how God has used me, drug me down, made me question everything and then used that experience to relate to people. God had thrown my hand up into the air for a reason. I accredit everything that happened with me to the Lord. I would not have done it by myself.

God had answered my prayers. I prayed for someone to share my story with, and He gave me an audience. I prayed for something that was undeniably God, and He didn't just show me, He used me as part of it. I have been blessed as a result of what happened at Crea.

I thank God for this time that I have here in Nicaragua. I hope you are doing well and I look forward to hearing how God is using you for his purpose. Thanks for all your support.

Random Nicaraguan Fun.

Sat, 1 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

So, as you can probably imagine, Nicaragua and the United States are not the same. Nicaragua has so many things that, at first, are strange and new to me, but over time I have become used to them. The other night we were talking about all of our favorite things in Nicaragua and so I am going to share so some of my favorite things.

1. Food in a leaf. On nearly every street corner you can buy food in a leaf. It is a random assortment of items, depending on the vendor. Some of our favorites are Chicken, rice, beans, slaw, plantanos, or potatoes. Everyone has their favorites and normally you can get a huge leaf of food for 1.50 (30 cords).

2. Ridin' Nica Style. It is possible to fit a whole family on one pedal bike. We have tried and we have failed, we get laughed at.

3. Our water and power at our house. We are not sure why but the power in our house will randomly go out. It can blink or it can be out for hours. The same with out water. Some times the water pressure gets really really low, this can be fun when we try to take a shower. Imagine taking a shower from a super soaker, its just one solid stream. Currently, we are in a water low. We are told that we will not have water for 2 or 3 more days. We found a collection of rain water in a giant rusty barrel in the back of our house and use that for cooking and cleaning. We just pick out the dirt.

4. ANTS- Just assume you will always have a few ant bites and that you will always have one on you. We eat them on a regular basis and we excited when there are only a few in our sugar, we just pretend the little ones are dirt in our coffee.

5. Eskimo- Ice cream, Friday nights, Be there.

6. Granada is small. I am not sure how many people actually live in Granada but it feels like a small town. You can walk to everywhere or take a taxi and be there in a few minutes. We also frequently run into people we know. Our favorites are our new friends from the street, this picture is infront of our house one night, this is a fairly regular group. We also see our ESL kids walking around. Our least favorites are ones that speak English. We have a friend named Richardo. We see him nearly everyday. He enjoys talking to us about all the things he owns like the PGA tour, and his famous friends, Denzel Washington and Tiger Woods. We invited him to Bible Study.

7. Nerts- Nearly every night me and two other girls play some fairly intense games of nerts. We are loud and insulting, and play until we cant see straight.

8. Pulperias- Local stores. There are always a few on every street. They sell cookies and pop. There is one right across the street from our house. We are frequent customers. Additionally, down the street is the best bread store. We go and buy Picos or Empanadas. They are tiny pastries of awesomeness. They know every single one of us and just ask us how many when we go in.

Hopefully this will give a little insight to the culture and sweet surroundings that I have been blessed to be a part of. Please continue to keep the team in your prayers. Please pray for courage for all of us. thanks!

annievalenziano

From Nicaragua.

Pelicula (movie)

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

"Nations- All the world's people reguardless of region, tribe, or clan. It does not pretain solely to states or governments."

--Jesus For Presdient by Shane Claiborne

Friday nights in Nicaragua are always a time of relaxation and getting to know the local children. One way that we do this is to go to the local Pelicula (movie). This is just a projector that shows a movie onto a building down the street from us. We like to go and talk to kids and practice Spanish.

Last night, Laura, Tana, and I went down to the local movie, we said that we were only going to go for a short time because we were tired after a long week. When we got there we sat down but were instantly surrounded by local girls. They were between the ages of 7-12. They remembered us from the last time that we went. They wanted us to come and play more games with them. No matter how hard we tried we could not convey that we were only going to stay for a short time. However, for Laura and I, games with Nicaraguans go like this: screaming and laughter in Spanish, older kids picking on younger kids, and then some sort of a circle is form. They always pick us to go first or be in the middle. They think it is quite funny to watch us. I am normally the last one to figure out the game, I have to wait for Laura to understand the game and then have her explain it to me. Graciously, the children do not really seem to mind. They patiently wait for us to figure it out or laugh at us, out of kindness, when we get it very very wrong. It is more of a trial and error on our part.

Normally, to start the night off we play a few rounds of down by the banks, the game where you stand in a circle and slap hands to a song. They always want us to sing it in English. The loser has to stand in the middle of the circle. The girls normally take this as an oppertunity to hug us. We are not really sure why we have to stand in the middle, it is just part of the game.

Last night a few more games were added to our arsenal, Laura and I normally try to name them something in English so we can remember them.

Freeze game: You run around in a big circle all holding hands and sing some song that ends with uno a la dos a la TRES! then you freeze. If you move you have to go into the middle, or if the children think it would be funny to put the gringos in the middle we go to the middle.

Number game: You run around and someone calls out a number, from what we can tell its whoever wants to call out a number, and then you have to form those groups with people. It also involves a lot of hugs.

Object game: This one helps us a lot with out Spanish, some song is sung. The kids think its hilarious when I attempt to sing it in Spanish. Then an object is called out and whoever can go and find it first wins...we think.

Freeze tag: this is one of the games that gets a little interesting. Remember that I said we were playing with a group of kids between the ages of 7-12? So in this game we all run around and someone (we dont know how they got picked) is it and they have to tag people. When they get tagged they are frozen, to become unfrozen someone has to crawl between your legs. Laura and I do not quite fit. Laura attempted to dive through, but just ended up belly flopping onto the cement.

Our final game of the night was played with probably about 15 children.

Dance model game: you form a circle and sing some song in Spanish and clap. One person runs around the middle and towards the end of the song strikes a pose and does a little hip shaking to indicate the next person in the middle. We almost died laughing the first time we saw this game. The first person in was a little boy, who was probably about 6 years old. The cutest thing I have ever seen. We loved this game so much that we went and invited some of the guys on our team to come and play. The children loved this and went crazy when they were picked to be in the middle.

I look forward to every Friday and every day that God gives me the oppertunity to ministry to children through games and play. That is truely an oppertunity I am willing to embrace. Thanks for your continued support and prayers!

climbing an almost mountain

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Hola!

So as you can see my Spanish is improving...sort of.

This week there were a lot of ups and downs with ministry. This week really taught me about learning to be flexible and work with what the Lord gives you. We dealt with a lot of changed plans this week. However, one of the high points (literally) was last Saturday.

In the community at the church we attend they are doing a program called Young Life (Vida Joven) and we are always invited to attend. It is not exactly one or our ministries but it is always good to get out into the community and build relationships with the local kids. We were invited to go on a hike that they were going to take the kids on, they were going to test it on a few of us to see how we liked it and make sure that the games and lessons they had planned for the kids would be beneficial. Although all of us were invited only 5 attended, and I was one of them. I figured this would just be a run through of sorts. We woke up super early on Saturday and made our way up to Gringo ( Gringo = white tourist ) street. There we met with Yenner, the Vida Joven leader, his wife, Carlos, and Ezekiel. We were off on our hike to the mountain. It was a fairly long walk to even the base of the mountain. Along the way we tried to make conversation with Yenner and Carlos, we would try to teach them English and they would try to teach us Spanish. We would ask simple questions and try to respond the Spanish. They were so patient and always kind to correct us. At the base of the Mountain we stopped and had a Bible study and some snacks and played some games. By this point we were fairly well out of town and more into the poorer rural outskirts of Granada. I am pretty sure that the locals though we were crazy, we played a game called Frio (freeze) where you would have to Cantar (sing) and Bailar (Dance) and then Frio at the correct time. It got fairly intense, and loud. Following our study and game we set off to hike up the mountain. We had to walk through a slum to get to the base. When we got there we climbed up to the top. It wasn't really a mountain, I have been calling it an intense bluff, but it was still a good 15 minute hike up.

Once we reached the top the view was incredible. We could see the lake and rural neighborhoods and all of Granada. It was incredible. There was a large cross at the top too. Once we got there we had some lunch. I also took this time to be a tourist and take a few pictures. We sat down and had some worship and another Bible study. It was so incredible. I thought it would just be a run through in preparation for the real thing but it meant so much more to me than that. We worshiped and prayed together and at that moment the language barrier did not seem to be an issue. The fact that we were worshiping the same God, a God that went beyond languages and cultures was enough to connect us. We spent a long time in prayer and prayed over the city of Granada.

The hike back to town seemed full of conversation, both in Spanish and English. I think God worked in all of us, giving us ears to hear one another. I managed to tell Carlos and Ezekiel all about Alaska, entirely in Spanish. It took awhile but we managed to share about our homes and lives and how we came to Christ.

When we returned I felt that I had accomplished something and had grown so much. I was very sunburned and had a lovely t-shirt tan, but I am excited to go back out next week and travel with the local youth and show them the wonderful and amazing connection you can have with God out in the world He created.

Thanks so much for all your continued prayer and support. I will be coming back home to Nebraska on December 19th and will stay until January 6th. I look forward to visiting with you and hearing about all the adventures you have had. I will keep you all in my prayers. Please, as you pray for me, also keep the rest of the team in your prayers too. Some have had a hard time dealing with being away from home and culture shock. We work as a team; we all need to be strong.

Annie Valenziano

From Nicaragua.

ps. I will try to put up some pictures as soon as I can.

ESL (Elephante Systemic Launch)

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

So we are currently getting owned by a tropical storm. It is raining so hard, and all the time. But our house is no longer flooding because we fixed the problem!

So this week we got to do one of the things that I was most excited about, ESL (English as a Second Language). I have been looking forward to it since I found out that that was something that we were going to be doing. Me and three other girls went into the school Collegio San Antonio on Monday and Tuesday. We were told we were going to be teaching 9^th graders. We were slightly nervous before we even started. When we got there that nervousness increased 10 fold. There was one class room at the end of the hall with a very large amount of very loud children. I could hear my leader quietly praying for us. When we got into the class room we quickly split the children into four groups and began. My group had 8 children. It turns out that these children were between the ages of 11 and 13. We had no books and no supervisor from the school. I had so much fun getting to know my children through teaching them. We started with the alphabet and then numbers and simple sentences. I think that God had blessed this group because no one freaked out or got stage fright. We remained calm and focused on what we were there to do. I had a blast. I cannot wait to go back on Monday and Tuesday to continue to teach the children and get to know them more. I will have the same group of children in the same classroom until Christmas and I may get the option to continue with ESL even beyond Christmas.

We celebrated our one month anniversary with cake on the 8^th. One month ago on that day we all showed up to training camp. Can you believe it?!

Another amazing experience we had this week happened on Friday. We were going to go and do a ministry at Sisters of Charity orphanage. We were told they were doing a day care and a feeding program and we were going to go and play with kids and help our where ever they needed help. When we showed up they were doing day care. There was 45 children, between the ages of 2-8, running around the tiny playground they had on their property. As soon as we came all the children rushed us and instantly started with the flying squirrel hugs. It was amazing. We spent the next hour just playing and running around and hugging them and just showing them love. The boys in our group entertained the entire orphanage with their dance skills. They had a model/dance off. The whole place was in an uproar. After that we went and fed them lunch. All the children were so well behaved, even with all the strangers running around they still quickly washed their hands, and sat down at the tables and prayed. We helped them with their lunch and sent them off for nap time, a huge mat on the floor that they all shared. About that time we realized that it was time to go, for we were tired and could also use naps.

I cannot wait to see what the Lord has in store for the rest of my time here in Nicaragua. Everyday is an amazing opportunity to bond and build relationships with the people and communities around us, ourselves and the Lord included. I cannot wait to hear from you, have a Happy October!

God uses the bathroom too.

Sun, 5 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

=Siempre supe que tenias un gran corazon= ( I always knew you had a big heart...from a greeting card)

Usually, once a week we have the afternoons free to do ATLs. An ATL (ask the Lord) is when you get together in small groups and pray and go where you feel God leading you. No preassigned destinations or goals. Just go and do Gods will. Monday was just our day of ATL. So my group got together and started praying. One girl in our group, Amy, just had been remembering the relationships we had started to form with the locals. Remeber my friendship with the ladies at the ice cream parlor? Those kind of relationships. So we decided to take off towards the moutains and go in the direction of the ice cream parlor. When we got ther they told me I should go in and talk to her. However, earlier in the day I was saying, jokingly, that I bet God will lead me to ice cream. Also, I didnt have any money. So I declined and we decided to keep walking and praying.

Right next to the ice cream store is the local school. As we were walking by the school I had said that I wanted to go in and look around. I was told by the rest of my group that I would not be allowed to because there is an iron fience and we would probably need a pass or something to go in. However, the gait was open. When we reached the gate I just froze. I also had to go to the bathroom really really bad (remember the title of this blog?) at that moment and was wondering if I could go in for that purpose alone. I was still just standing there, probably with a dumbfounded look on my face, when a random guy came over and said we could come in and look around and do whatever we wanted. When God opens doors for you, you should probably go in. We spent the next 45 minutes going around to each classroom and praying for all the students and teachers and employees of the school. It was one of the most rewarding things I have done since coming to Nicaragua.

After that we came out and sat on a bench trying to figure out what we should do next. We saw an elderly lady sitting in her house, I thought she was cute. I waved but she did not wave back. After a bit she got up and looked out the door like she was expecting someone. Another girl in the group, Sarah, said that she wanted to go and talk to her. We were at her house talking to her for an hour and half. She was the sweetest lady. Her name was Marina Gomez. She did not speak any english, was close to deaf, and thought that I was fluent in Spanish. It was quite an experience. When we finally told her we were missionarys, she was so excited, she said that we could live with her, and her husband could sleep on the floor so that there would be enough beds available. She was so sweet. She showed us pictures of her family. We told her we would come back and visit. I cannot wait! She was so excited just to have us come in and have someone to talk to, it didnt even matter that could not speak back. Doing ATLs are incredible.

one quick story: So on Friday our house flooded. The drain that carries out the water from the part of our house that does not have a roof over it was clogged. The whole floor flooded and came into our rooms. Thankfully we were home and could move all of our things. Two guys came from El Puente came with a long pipe to unclog our drain. Turns out it was a dead mouse, 2 rags, and 3/4 of a nerf football that caused our house to flood.

I look forward to hearing from you all! If you want to write a letter feel free to send it to:

Annie Valenziano

In Care of Charles and Sarah Kaye

Apartado 123

Granada, Nicaragua

I will be sure to write you back! see you all at christmas

Annie Valenziano

From Nicaragua.

Machetes and Dance offs

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

"Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven" Matthew 18:4

Some of my new friends are the two ladies at the local ice cream parlor. Since I am a frequent visitor to the Eskimo, we have a special bond. Every time I go in I attempt to order alone. However, I am easily stumped by even the simplest questions. Another girl told her that I don't speak much Spanish. She smiled and said that she would have to be my teacher. Now when we go in, she teaches me words like sizes, foods and utensils.

Recently, we have begun doing manual labor at the local church called El Puente (the bridge). We move rocks, shovel dirt, and play with machetes. The men at El Puente are really an inspiration to us. The four guys who work at El Puente all have come out of extensive drug and alcohol treatments. They have given their lives to the Lord and now live and work at El Puente. Another little guy that lives at El Puente is El Capitain. He is a tiny puppy that still hasn't quite mastered walking. He was payment to one of the guys for drug money that he owed him. He serves as a reminder that their strength grows in the Lord.

Every night around 7:45 we hear "Buenas...BUENAS." The street in front of our house serves as the meeting place for the nightly soccer (futbal) game among the local children. This is one of our favorite ministries. We just run around and talk with the children. There can be as many as 20 kids. One night, we were talking with a group and they said that they enjoyed dancing. I said that I did too. Some how the situation turned into a dance off between me and Joe, another boy on the team. They clapped and we tried to show them all our sweet dance moves. I ended up being the victor though a show of applause.

We continue our ministry and enjoy seeing how God uses us to spread love to those around us.

If you would like to recieve email updates for when this blog is updated hit "update alert" on the left hand tool bar, also, you can browse my uploaded photos.

thanks again for all your support and continued prayer

annievalenziano.

we made it!

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

"apples to apples...it should be called apples to stupid" -- our fearless leader

Through out the week of training camp, Adventures In Missions kept things fairly intense, both physically and spiritually. In the morning we went through sessions on relational evangelism, spiritual warfare, and listen to God through prayer. In the afternoon we were doing physically demanding team builders. Obstacle courses in the hot Georgia heat and humidity.

On one of the last days we went into Gainsville and did evangelism based off what we felt we were lead to go, based entirely off prayer. I was extremely nervous. I wasnt really sure if I had ever really heard the Lord and now I was supposed to go out and minister to people based solely of what we had received from the Lord.

Once again, the Lord worked in awesome ways. I was planning on just taking a step back and watching. However, after we had started i felt drawn to pray for certain people and go to certain places. Each resulting in a positive encounter.

After we had endured training camp we were sent out into the field. We flew to Nicaragua, through Houston. We didn't have any problems or delays, despite the recent hurricanes. Our first night we were greeted by the Kayes, our missionary contacts. Since then we have been exploring the city and learning and adapting to this new culture.

Next week we will be starting ministry. The one I am most excited about is the ministry at the local girls orphanage. We will be playing with children, helping cook and serve food, and mentor and tutor the older girls in English and in their school work. We will also be working with the local hospitals, cleaning up lake Nicaragua, and doing street evangelism.

Jesus is incredible. When I arrived at training camp I had the realization in the back of my mind that I could be going home. When I arrived I was roughly $3000 short of funds needed to leave. I was also scared and harbored the fear that this is not the place for me. However, I have received conformation that this is where I am supposed to be. I am excited about the ministry we are going to be doing and am learning Spanish quickly. I also managed to received $3100 in funds just during my week of training camp. This brought me up to the required 60% needed to leave. Our God is AWESOME. Thank you for all your continued support and prayers. I will see you at Christmas!

Annie Valenziano

In Care of Charles and Sarah Kaye

Apartado 123

Granada, Nicaragua

I would love to hear from you

James 1:27

What am I doing here?

Mon, 1 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

So I get the question a lot "why are you doing this? What brought you to decide this?" I thought this would be a fairly good background as to why.

I believe I was called to this mission trip while on a self-centered trip to Alaska. I came up to Alaska to work at the Kodiak Baptist Mission for reasons that were only for me. I wanted to be able to hang out in Alaska for the entire summer and have a pretty sweet time hanging out with children. When I first came to Kodiak my faith was not strong at all. For some reason I figured this would not be a big deal. The fact that I was going to a Baptist Mission would have no affect on me. I was very wrong.

After spending a few days in Kodiak I realized that the people here were amazing. They all believe so strongly in the Lord. I had this immense fear that they would figure me out. That they would completely see through me. I nearly left.

I started talking to the people here more and more about my faith. They only gave me encouragement. They said they could see God working through me even though I couldn't . I felt that I had come up to Kodiak for reasons that were self-centered. However, God had a bigger plan for me, even though I couldn't see it.

I started studying and trying to renew my faith in Jesus. I slowly started to realize that college was not for me now, my sorority was not for me. I soon started searching for a mission trip or something I could do during my time off from school. One morning I google searched "Mission Trips" and Adventures In Missions was the first to come up and the trip to Nicaragua was the first thing that I saw. It instantly seemed like a good idea. I applied two days before the deadline closed.

God has used the time since to strengthen my relationship with him. He has put me into situations where I know that I cannot do it by myself. I must put my faith in the Lord. I want to use this opportunity to show this trust to others.

Exodus 4:10-12