Philadelphia Sisters and Brotherhood of Christian Aggies are two organizations at Texas A&M that strive to serve the Lord in all that we do. In January, sixteen Phillies and four BCA members got the chance to spend a week in Nicaragua and watch the Lord do incredible things in that week. On our trip we went to the Marvin and Emmanuel communities and held VBS for the kids in the morning and did youth groups for the young adults and teens in the afternoons. Throughout the day we did evangelism and some construction projects.

VBS and youth group were a great time of teaching, sharing the Gospel, and discipleship for those who knew the Lord. For the kids, we went through stories in the New and Old Testament, and talked about the role they had in the Gospel and how God was present in each event. It was a huge blessing for us to watch the precious hearts of the children sharing with us and each other all that they had learned. We even had kids running up to us asking to tell us their bible verse on camera. Our continued prayer is that as they grow up they see that Jesus is Lord and Savior and become His hands and feet in these communities.

Youth group was an awesome time to answer  questions and to teach the Bible more in depth. We talked about the fear of the Lord and the blessings that come from having a reverent attitude toward Him. We also covered the Gospel from Adam and Eve to the return of Jesus Christ. It was awesome to watch the Lord work through it and put on our hearts each day what He wanted us to talk about. One of the days we had a few people give testimonies and a man standing in the window in Emmanuel asked to come in and share what the Lord had done in his life. The Lord used him powerfully. He was passionately speaking of what the Lord had done in his life and sharing with his friends and community members the goodness of Jesus in salvation. It was great to see the Lord empower the people to begin sharing with each other and loving each other with the Gospel.

The Lord used us to meet needs, love with the love of Jesus, pray for those who were hurting, and most importantly bring the good news of Jesus to a people that will hopefully one day all be saved by the grace of our God through faith in Jesus Christ. 

The most wonderful thing we learned as a group was something we have grown up knowing but don't act on like we should.  It is God's greatest commands to us.  "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the great and first commandment.  And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Matt 22:37-39  (This was the memory verse we taught the kids.)  We learned that we are supposed to FILL ourselves with the love of God so that the love that we love our neighbors with is not our love but HIS that is overflowing from us. He is our focus, and His love is so great we cannot help but share it with everyone! Please join us in praying for the people of these communities and focusing your entire self on the Lord so that He can use you to love others.  

~ Whitney Woodby, Team Member

"If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans."  Before this trip, I often smiled at this expression but never fully grasped the extent to which it is true.  Our group of 21 young adults from Tennessee, Texas, and Georgia came to Nicaragua ready to minister to children through Sports Clinics and Backyard Bible Clubs.  Each day, we went to the barrios of Xiloa and Las Banderas ready with our own plans and agendas.  Thankfully, we serve a God of no limits, and He had so much more in store for our group than we could ever imagine.  Each day we were blessed to meet and experience the precious people of these two barrios, and we quickly found ourselves falling in love with their smiles and zest for life.  We not only were able to reach the children through our planned activities, but were allowed to share in blessings far beyond our own preparations.  Take Maria, for example: an amazing Christian lady that has been bedridden for over 20 years with polio.  God allowed us to be a part of the blessing of providing her with a wheelchair to fulfill her main desire to attend to church and tell her neighbors about Jesus.  Whether it be playing in a 20 versus 20 soccer match or just sitting and laughing with a loving mother, each of us was able to experience the wonder of what God is doing in Nicaragua in our own individual ways.  Every night we would marvel together at the incredible ways God was able to use our flawed and imperfect team members to minister to these amazing people.  We witnessed God at work in indescribable ways in those two barrios, and we'll never be the same because of that which we have seen God do.

~ Jana Ogg, Team Leader