“¡Hola!” de Nicaragua

Helloooo, dear readers!! I’m a little short on time, but I must tell you about this amazing time with our brothers and sisters in Nicaragua! Words cannot even begin to express this mission trip experience, so I’m hoping the pictures will help me out in this quick post…

IMG_0412The picture above is of Matagalpa- a city about 20 mins from where we are staying (Sébaco, Nicaragua).  You would not believe the hill/mountain that we had to drive up in order to get this view!  It was breath-taking…

calle This is a picture of a street in Sébaco.  All of the houses are so beautifully painted with bright colors!  Below is a picture of my new cat-friend named “Iman” (ee-mahn).  For the first view nights, I’ve been staying at this lovely home with some of the most-kind hearted and god-fearing people–Roger and Ana María.  They have been just like another family to Nick, and they have been so gracious in welcoming me into the family, as well.  Praise God for their hospitality and love.  I’ll write more about them later… 🙂

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IMG_0299This is an old church that sits on top of a big hill on the outskirts of Sébaco… so beautiful

IMG_0313This was our view when walking down the hill and back to the house.

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IMG_0356The streets in town are sooo busy and full of cars, bicycles, “moto-taxis”, and even bikes that have a covered bench constructed on the front to take passengers to their desired destination…

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In the picture below is our friend, Josue… He is precious!!! Nick and I have had so much fun playing with him and his brother, Rámer.

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IMG_0470While I wish I could write more, tomorrow is the big day!  Over one thousand people will be coming here tomorrow in order to celebrate the 20th anniversary of ACIBEN (Christian Association of Baptist Churches in Nicaragua).  It’s hard to imagine, but I cannot wait to see everyone coming to celebrate and give praises to the Lord our God for His provision and guidance of ACIBEN, the pastors, and even the church members.  Through baptisms, baby dedications, marriages, sermons, worship sessions, and a big lunch of rice, beans, and chicken, to God be the glory tomorrow and forever more!  Please be praying for Him to reveal even more truth about Himself through the words that the pastors have prepared, even for Nick as he translates tomorrow for our dear friend Kevin–the pastor at Crossbridge Christian Church in Senatobia, MS–who will be speaking tomorrow, also.

IMG_0466 - Version 2Even now, I write on behalf of both Nick and myself to say thank you for your thoughts and prayers for this trip to Nicaragua.  I’ll try to write again soon with more info about the trip and all that we’ve been doing, especially to give updates about how tomorrow goes!  Then after that, all of the training sessions for the pastors and the pastors’ wives will begin!  What a wonderful time that will be to study and drink deeply of the Scriptures with these fellow brothers and sisters of Christ’s body that stretches across all of the nations.  Until the next time I can write to you, please continue to pray for our hearts to continue growing with the desire to seek God and His kingdom first, and for His work to be done here on earth as it is in heaven…

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“Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known to his deeds among the peoples!  Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works!  Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!  Seek the Lord and his strength continually!  Remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he uttered, O offspring of Abraham, his servant, children of Jacob, his chosen ones!

— Psalm 105: 1-6 —

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Praying your day is filled with SONshine,

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Quick Updates and prayer requests!

Wow!  What a busy year this has proved to be!  Once again, I am so sorry for my lack of writing.  The good Lord knows how I’ve truly missed it!  For this week though, I have some exciting updates and prayer requests that I would love to share with you before getting back to paper-writing, grading, etc…

1- My brother is getting married this weekend!  We are so excited for Brad and Jess 🙂  Please be praying for them as they prepare their hearts for the ceremony, an earthly display of the heavenly marriage of Jesus Christ and the Church!  Praise be to God that He has chosen to display his very own glory, even through earthen and broken vessels like you and me…  Isaiah 54:5

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2- I’ll be leaving to go to Nicaragua for my first ever mission trip in 3 WEEKS!!!! (Trip dates… November 27th-December 11th).  It’s been a loooooonnnnnnnggg time coming, but God has taught me so much, especially in regards to patience, waiting, and trusting HIS timing.  On this trip, I know that God will be teaching me so much about relying on Him, especially while translating and so much more.  Please be praying for me and the team that I’ll be going with as we celebrate God’s goodness and faithfulness with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ and seek to spread the good news of the Gospel to even more…

To help raise money for the trip, I am selling t-shirts! Here’s a picture of the print…

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T-Shirt specs:  light grey, crew-neck (we could potentially order a v-neck though), big navy graphic in the center of the front of the shirt, $15 for adult and $12 for youth

The translation of the Bible verse is:

“All of this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.  Therefore, we do not lose heart…”

2 Corinthians 4:15-16

Please let me know if you are interested in buying a t-shirt!  If you so, you may send me an email at hollinger.sarah@yahoo.com or you the “Contact Me” page on this website.

3. Lastly, let’s continue to pray for God to increase our desires and longing for Him and His will… Proverbs 17:24 says, “The discerning sets his face toward wisdom, but the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth.” I just love that imagery of setting his face toward wisdom.  After all,

what’s the beginning of wisdom?

FEAR OF THE LORD

and what’s fear of the Lord?

a SECURE FORTRESS and “…a FOUNTAIN OF LIFE, that one may turn away from the snares of death” (Prov. 14:26-27)

As always, thanks for reading!  Praying your day is filled with SONshine,

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