Based in Managua, reaching out to Nicaragua: Christ for the City International.
Empowering the local church through outreaches, leadership & pastoral training.
Meet the team and catch the vision for missions at CFCI-Nicaragua.
Based in Managua, reaching out to Nicaragua: Christ for the City International.
I can’t believe that after four years, this is the very last “Field Notes.”
It’s been an amazing journey.
Thank you for sharing it with us…and making it possible through your prayers and support. We thank our God for all the memories we have of you.
Que Dios le bendiga! (God bless you.)
Click here to read our last “Field Notes” newsletter.
With only a couple of weeks left as missionaries in Nicaragua, I’ve been thinking about how I’m going to spend our remaining time here. Here are the things I’m plan to do in the next two weeks, my Nicaragua “Bucket List”:
This is bittersweet. Some of these tasks will be really fun…others not so much (i.e. saying goodbye). What else do we need to add to our Nicaragua “Bucket List”?
Merry Christmas to our wonderful friends, family, and supporters!
It’s hard to believe that our time in Nicaragua is almost finished. Our two years in this country – and three and a half total years on the mission field – have been incredible. At no other time in our lives have we learned so much about God, our faith, or…rice and beans! I know we say this often, but we’re always compelled to repeat it: Thanks for supporting us on this amazing journey.
Read about our plans for 2010, the most exciting “Baby Babcock” news yet, numerous praise reports from the Nueva Imagen ministry, and more in this Christmas, New Year’s, and second-to-last edition of Field Notes.
Thank you for reading –- and thank you for supporting the ministry! Que Dios le bendiga.
We received some great news today: Mi Familia, the government agency in charge of adoptions in Nicaragua, approved us for adoption!
We are now officially — after two years of waiting — “in line” to receive the referral of a child!
We still have a long way to go — we hear that the average wait for a referral is one year — but we’re prayerfully optimistic that we won’t have to wait that long. And even if we do, we know that this is all in God’s hands…
His perfect timing will prevail…
And He has already picked out THE perfect child for us.
Again, thank you for all of your prayers over the last two years. And please keep them up for just a little while longer! “Baby Babcock” will be here before we know it! Praise our gracious, faithful Heavenly Father.
So many of you have emailed us and sent us messages on Facebook and Twitter this week letting us know that you’re praying for “Baby Babcock”. We want to thank each and every one of you…
And beg you to keep praying!
I alluded to some problems we’re having with the “red tape” of the adoption process — problems that could grind everything to a halt. (And things weren’t moving that quickly in the first place!) I’d love to give you some more details — and I promise you that you would be outraged at our government if I did — but in the best interests of our little guy or girl out there, and in the hopes that hearts will be softened and minds changed within the government bureaucracy, all I can say is this…
Please continue praying fervently for “Baby Babcock” — especially over the next few weeks!
Specifically, pray for us to have favor with the U.S. and Nicaraguan governments; for our dossier to be approved; and for our child to remain safe, protected, and cared for until we bring him or her home.
God gives us comfort in the promise that “…where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.”
Thank you for being our two or three — or three thousand — gathered from North Carolina to Nicaragua, praying for God to intervene. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you. Your love, prayers, and support mean more to us than you know.
For over a year I’ve been dreaming about a women’s team to minister to women. That dream came true 2 weeks ago when the Seacoast women’s team arrived in Managua. Something always happens when God has big plans. This time it was the team missing their flight in Houston and not getting in until a day later. But that didn’t stop them from arriving with the same joy and excitement.
First they ministered to women from Nueva Imagen, a ministry that works to see women who are working on the streets transformed by Jesus Christ and equipped with new skills and abilities.. The women from Nueva Imagen and the Seacoast team shared testimonies of God’s grace and transforming power and encouraged each other. Then, Constance shared about shame and contempt that comes as a result of sexual abuse since the majority of the women have a history of sexual abuse and/or rape. Many women expressed afterward that they could relate and had those same reactions/experiences. Other things that was on God’s agenda that we didn’t know about was a baby dedication and one of the women’s daughters, Reynita accepted Christ into her heart and was baptized. This little girl has been coming to the program every week for a year and we’ve been able to see God working in her heart, her child like faith. So to see her make a profession faith filled us with so much thankfulness and joy. 
The next day they taught the women how to make a special kind of jewelry. Chris and Linda who are supporters and leaders of our link team had the idea and made it all happen! Seacoast paid for the materials, lots of materials! I was blown away by how Seacoast and Seacoasters invested into these women’s lives in a way that will help make their future better by giving them a new skill and a means to make money. The women have already made about 25 pairs of earrings that will be for sale while we’re in the U.S. We are still learning for sure and I can’t wait to see Linda and Chris to ask them how to make certain styles that we can’t master yet. 
Next, the Seacoast team had a retreat for pastor’s wives from Villa El Carmen, Rivas, and Managua. They pampered them, played games, worship, and testimonies. One of my favorite times was when we split into groups to talk about different struggles, victories, and prayer requests. I loved seeing the pastor’s wives relaxed, open up, and put their wall down which is something they aren’t able to do since they have to be “the pastor’s wife” who is supposed to have it all together and not have any weaknesses. In my opinion the 2 most important results of the retreat was to give them a safe place to share, laugh, and cry and to encourage them and show them that they can meet together to share experiences and prayer requests after the retreat. At the end when they were all sharing they said that the team made them feel like queens. Mission accomplished!!
On a personal note, I was blessed more than I could’ve imagined with all of the girl time. I laughed so hard until my stomach hurt and was so encouraged by them. Thank you Maria, Jill, Chris, Libby, Mari, Angela, and Constance. You were such a blessing to many women including us!
We have a bittersweet announcement to make: After several months of prayer, we have decided that God is calling us off the mission field. We will return to the U.S. early next year. You can read more about this difficult decision, our future plans, a special note to our loyal supporters, prayer requests and amazing praise reports from the Nueva Imagen ministry in this edition of Field Notes.
Thank you for reading –- and thank you for supporting the ministry! Que Dios le bendiga.
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