The following emails are raw and unedited. They were typed from my iphone while I was in Nicaragua. Each night I would try to send a short report (although I was totally exhausted) to my wife, son, Mom and Dad. I find that reading back through them now, they communicate what I experienced fairly well.
7/23
Sent from Mark, after arrival at Hope Central, in Nicaragua, Saturday night:
All is well. Everything is great. We are excitedly exhausted. I preach manyana. We had no problems. Love and already miss everyone. Wish Conner was here.
7/24
I just can't put into words yet how awesome things are. All I can say right now is that both Tory and I are being blown away by the experience. I am so proud of who Tory is that I can't even contain it. She is amazing and in her element. She is a little Janene. She IMMEDIATELY had children all over her and loves every minute of it. She has no fear. Tonight during our worship time she shared and it was the best thing anyone said including me. I was blown away.
My sermon and the worship times have gone very well. All stress is gone and mainly I feel incredible joy. It borders on euphoria.
I love and miss everyone. I mentioned Conner because I am so proud of Tory and know I would be proud of him too and want him to experience this. Seeing Tory like this makes me miss Conner.
Massive love to all. I border on tears most of the time here. Project Hope is the most amazing thing ever. I can't wait to tell you everything.
Love,
Mark
7/25
Things are awesome. I can't begin to tell you in an email. I have been talking to the man who is the Dad of "my family" for two days and he was not a Christian. Today he accepted Christ. Details later what more can I say.
Love you all.
Mark
7/26
I don't know how to start to tell you about things. I could tell you more about Tory and some of the others from our church and how proud I am with them. Mary shared the gospel with her family today and I’m so proud of her. None of these people will ever be the same.
My biggest news... I planned a meeting with my whole family today. I had a good interpreter. I preached the Gospel to them starting in Genesis. They were like sponges. God gave me words I wish I could remember and use again. Antonio reaffirmed that he made his decision yesterday. Maria said she had never been saved and "could I please do that today?". I led her in the prayer of decision and she received Christ. They were sitting together. He prayed again with her. They now have a new family. I talked to them about building their house on the rock and how much things will change. They were excited. They are not the same as some I have experienced. They made serious decisions and it didn't come easily to them. Others had planted seeds in previous teams I am sure. They knew what they were deciding. They decided to follow Jesus and accept the gift of salvation.
There is so much more I could say. I don't know if I will ever be able to express what has happened here. I am overwhelmed. We are building a new community for Christ.
Tory is simply an amazing young lady. I just want to hug her all the time. She is working mostly with the children. Her family is a young lady and her kids. She has shared the gospel with them and they are already saved but she has been sharing love with them.
Our worship times have been sweet too. I could live here but will settle for coming back every year.... maybe.
I do miss home, too. I love you guys. I wish I could walk with Christ like this all the time. I pray maybe I will always be different after this. I can't manufacture this though. Words escape me.
I will stop there. I look forward to telling more in person.
Love,
Mark
7/27
Kristy's prayer for rest for us was answered with an afternoon shower and we came back a little early. I was able to squeeze in a short siesta.
Today I talked to many people about baptism. There is a huge misunderstanding here. They think they have to have all the sin out first. Antonio decided to be baptized today. This was the third time I had talked with him at length about it. He will talk with Maria tonight and I pray she will do it with him. Assuming he doesn't back out it will be tomorrow afternoon. I will get to do it myself in a lake. They say it is safe. Obviously I will be careful. There is a possibility of others too so please pray about this.
This morning I was asked to preach to the Nicas. God laid on my heart Ephesians 2:8-10. There is a gospel of works that is prevalent here. God gave me words. I felt amazing about it. I drew a line in the dirt at one point with my foot in talking about crossing the line of faith. I felt God with me. I preached the Gospel. I felt like Paul. The translators are very good and there are several around. I have picked up mucho Espanol.
Tory's gal, Graciella is also considering baptism. I talked to her too as has Tory. Tory spends a lot of time with her and with many children. Watching her is such a joy.
I have never felt more used by God than this week. It is a powerful feeling.
Much love to you all.
Mark.
Ps the food at base is AMAZING.
7/28
Today was beyond unbelievable. We experienced an abundant harvest. I can't begin to tell you how much pastoral work I have been doing. I have shared the gospel many many times and have explained about baptism and marriage to groups and individuals. There are many misconceptions but God gave us fertile soil and soft hearts.
Where to start... Both Maria and Antonio showed up today both ready to be baptized. I met with a large group of people and explained again about baptism.
Bottom line: We baptized 7 people today in the lake. I baptized 4 including Tory’s little Madre [Graciela] who she has talked with all week. Another guy baptized 2 and a gal baptized 1. Seven total. Can you believe it?
If that isn't good enough there is more. One of the big hang ups here is that people are not married. It is a hassle from both the church and the government so they just don't get married. Meanwhile the church says they cannot get baptized until they are married. Money is also involved.
In the course of explaining about baptism many had this hang up. Whilst telling them I would baptize them regardless (in the Bible baptism was immediate period) I also mentioned that their heart should be to get married asap but you need to understand that these couples really are already committed to each other for life and would tell me so. I'm not so sure God doesn't see them as married already. See the OT.
Anyway I heard one couple wanted me to marry them before the baptism. I then talked to Maria and Antonio about this. He proposed on the spot in front of others. Word got around and I married 4 couples today under a tree in the village.
You read that right. Today I did the wedding for M and A and also baptized them. This is my family. The one I have prayed over for weeks.
Tomorrow is gift day. Each family gets a huge bag of toiletries and a goat. We already gave them a huge bag of food. I plan to provide a garden for them after we return. PH takes care of it.
I am euphoric.
Love,
Mark
7/29
We gave our families their goats and a huge bag of toiletry items. We also had a celebration with a piñata. The culture here is wonderful.
After the gifts we said our goodbyes. I had the chance to say some more words to the people. I warned them of false teachers (wolves) who would come along and I also talked about following Christ in good times like this but also in bad times.
As I said my goodbye to my family (privately) Antonio responded with a speech of his own. He thanked me mostly for my teaching moments with him but also for other things. They were both so excited to be saved, married and baptized. What can I say? I can't even believe all this really happened.
I shed a few tears but then when Tory got on the bus she totally broke down And of course we both just cried and cried in each other’s arms. Most people cried. It was bittersweet. Tory and I are closer than ever of course but I miss my Conners. Next year, bro.
After that we went to a restaurant on the beach (couple hours away) and played in the ocean and Soccer on the beach. It started raining and we kept playing. It was a total blast and Tory and I looked pretty good out there I must say. It was a memorable experience. Cleansing.
I am now in full bore homesick mode but one more service to carry on tonight.
Love u guys too much. This should go out when we get back to base.
Love,
Mark
