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After prayer walking the first day, Ciudad Dario was very receptive to the gospel. We even had a lady come up to us asking if we were there to talk about Jesus even before we had begun to hand out any books of Luke. One of the days I was blessed with having the opportunity to pray for an old man on the street. Rachel had constantly been telling us that we don't have enough books to hand out to everyone on the street because they would all be getting books in their homes as well, BUT if we felt like we should take that opportunity to stop someone and give them a book, we should. So I did. I stopped the old man, gave him a book, and asked him if we could pray for him. As we started praying, he began to cry. He was so thankful for our prayer, and I was so grateful that the Lord made me feel like I should turn around and give this man a book and pray for him. I don't know what was plaguing him...whether he was sick or just tired in his old age, but in that one moment, our hearts were lifted up to Jesus, asking him to bless this man (which we are constantly reminded in the Bible that the Lord has already blessed us). What an opportunity. Thank you Jesus. Later on that day, I went into a house on the street and started rattling off the Spanish I know to 4 older men. One of them asked me where I was from and what state. When I told him around Houston, TX, he smiled..then I noticed that he was wearing an Astros cap, and he started speaking perfect English. We discussed the purpose of me being in Nicaragua and our ministry and he told me that it's great to see that we have traveled so far A. because we have a heart for telling Nicaragua about Jesus and B. because Americans need to get away from all of the comforts and experience what it's like beyond our borders. Eventually I came to find out that he works at Continental Airlines in Houston..so honestly, I hope to see him when I go home on August 2...how cool would that be?
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Overall we were blessed with the help from the church members from San Isidro who helped us work Ciudad Dario and we ended up handing out about 5,000 gospels of Luke. We showed the Jesus film twice and during the second night's movie, Sergio (our driver/the Godly Nicaraguan man who is the missions director for the Nicaraguan convention/Loren's successor in taking over Operation Go) led 3 people to accepting Christ as their Savior. Crazy how the Lord works. One of the women had received the book in her home while she wasn't there, read it, heard we were showing the movie, came to ask about the book, and then accepted Jesus. I don't know about y'all, but I'm clappin' for and praisin' the Big Man upstairs.
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During the week we had a despedida at ACIBEN for Loren and Karen. It was basically a despedida from the Nicaraguan Baptist Convention for them, so pastors from around the country of Nicaragua came to show their appreciation for the Dickeys.
I was happy because I was able to see Pastor Hector from Esquipulas, where FBC Schulenburg was last year, Pastor Juan from San Lucas, and my favorite, Pastor Francisco from Los Encinos/Las Sabanas, all in one place. They gave Karen and Loren a pinata and 3 cakes as part of their going away party. 
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It's all kind of a blur, but I wanted to talk about the other fun things we did while we were at ACIBEN in the afternoons. We played NINJA, climbed trees, played SCUM (a card game), ate food (yes, FUN), and I TRIED to play baseball and soccer and realize now that I should never do that again...mainly because I was a sad excuse of an athlete.
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I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed this group from Charleston BC. I felt like they were more of a family than a team..and they looked out for us just as much as we looked out for them. They were very giving, accepting, and loving to us, to the Nicas, and to the Lord. I'm glad we were blessed with the opportunity to meet and share a week with them, and they were a great last team to have. I also really liked the fact that they were so Southern in their accents. It's always fun having a group of people who speak the same way you do (with heavier accents) :)
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When it came time for us to leave ACIBEN and Ciudad Dario, it was kinda weird. Rachel, Lauren, and I had finished our last days of distribution with our last team, and it didn't feel like it at all. Even today, 2 days after they have been gone from Nicaragua, it still doesn't seem like our summer is over. Now we have to trust in these verses that I have written and talked about so often:
I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.
1 Corinthians 3:6
and
My Word, which comes from my mouth will not return to me void. It will accomplish what I have sent it out to do.
Isaiah 55:11
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