Beautiful Chaos

an open letter to the Crossing & an update on how Christ has been working in my life things to know about me: my name is shelby. i'm a senior at mizzou. i'm currently living in nicaragua doing mission work. i go to veritas and am involved in high school ministries & crossing kids. you all supported my trip and i am so incredibly grateful. and lastly, God is doing big things through the Crossing, and i am thankful. going into this summer, i knew it was going to be hard. being 3,000 miles away from family and friends, moving to a country where i didn't know a soul, learning a new culture, i felt ready. i knew the Lord was going to break me and grow me and draw me closer to Him. i was excited for this. i knew i would be lonely, but that i would have Christ as my right hand man and everything would be A-OK.  but. what i didn't know, is that i would lose heart. what i didn't think of, was that in my loneliness i was in

well friends,  i made it to jinotega. saying goodbye to los cedros was difficult. i felt like i was just getting comfortable with everyone and with the living situation. i had started to form relationships with the cooks and the tias. i was getting used to the bugs and the heat. but when i was back in the states, the Lord called me to Jinotega. so here i am. starting new. by myself. and struggling. things are very much different here in jinotega. the facility is all in one place as compared to the different buildings in los cedros. there's not much privacy and it's quite loud.  but that's okay. because serving Christ isn't comfortable. serving and living for Christ is messy and not always what we want it to be. it's hard and it's work and it's a commitment. it's crying in the bathroom and feeling exhausted and making the best of things. it's reading your Bible and trusting that He has a plan. it's being learning to

buenas amigos! my first week as a missionary is almost complete! the days go by slow, but the week went fast.  it's H O T hot here in Los Cedros. I'm talking 102 degrees each day (one weather site said 108), no clouds, blaring sun. jinotega is supposed to be cooler, so i am definitely excited for that! as i'm writing this post the power is blinking in and out. there's a storm rolling in. and by storm i mean torrential downpourings of rain. HEAVY rain. so heavy it wakes you up. and thunder and lighting. the loudest thunder you've ever heard and the brightest lighting you've ever seen right outside your window. and it lasts for hours. we had a storm last night that began around 9pm and lasted until 1am - maintaining its strength the entire time. it's crazy!!! and a tid bit scary haha. and out goes the power. nope jk, it's back on again. it's raining so hard it's difficult to see! i started language school on monday! we cut it down