Creole Caribbean Neighborhood Ministry

F r o z e n   m o m e n t s 

Like this one 

The missions field was becoming where I belonged

Gazing into international faces 

Stepping into international lives

I could feel myself carrying more of Jesus, more spiritual authority than ever before.

*this picture is actually from Costa Rica, a family of 7 children, 4 of which accepted Jesus!

But it also meant their stories would more easily protrude my heart for good.

Little children in this Caribbean neighborhood had no hindrance in running to us the days we spent painting a church and serving at their feeding program.

Hosea 6:6 : “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.”

James 1:27 : “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

Running to us with their hugs and their shocking stories.

One 10 year old boy here has an illness since birth that he could die from any day – his cousins casually told me about it.

Our team prayed for him, told him about this Jesus who came to save and heal. Told the two girls who no longer had a father that they had a Heavenly Father that loves them.

Then walked over to two mothers God told me to go to, one now single with two children and financial struggles. 

*this picture is also from Costa Rica, our host and a mother and her son who were weeping as we said bye.

The day before I sat with a man who had a daughter and no work to find here in Bluefields, Nicaragua. He told me what it was like to hold onto hope in a country like this. 

The day before we shared the Gospel with a teen selling food on the streets who told us about her family – many of which did drugs or would get in fights. Stopped by and prayed for three women to return to Christ like the Prodigal Son on the way.
There had been this spiritual darkness we had encountered and prayed against on these streets as we passed a couple men. It would be lifted the moment God led us to this hidden church we didn’t know about. Maria and I ended up preaching on the spot that night at that church.

 A cumulative of 10 months serving in Central America was coming to an end. 

I could feel it today. Bittersweet. It was time to step on new ground though. God had made me ready through this squad. It was so incredibly hard to love so deep and then move on from people. But like my friend said you can’t stay where you were, more people need to be fed.

More and more the physical location didn’t matter as much as the home I had in God and in spreading His love.

He is Sovereign. I get to trust Him. Who doesn’t just use me but wants deeper communion with me. 
Creole accents were fascinating and exciting, cool and crisp. Their face structure, their ways of walking and talking. It was something new. I had loved learning Spanish for 10 months, but these beautiful Creole people were pointing to a reality of being called to more cultures. 

To a different side of the globe where I was more prepared than ever to go. This January something new. 
I was made to fish for the people that need to know Christ’s Name which is freedom, healing, and salvation. No other than Jesus can offer this grace, offer the life-giving Spirit. So “Go” He said – make disciples. 

Philippians 3 : “But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Emmery shared one morning in daily intercessory prayer)

No turning back, partner with reaching unreached and refugees in Asia Minor here! I need $2,500 in 10 days

May God both use you to help and see and hear and sit with those who most need it in your neighborhood today.

May God pour out His love on you over and over again…