Pictures III

Posted in General Articles by Natalie Montgomery on 9/4/2008

Waterfall at the top of the volcano on Ometepe Island

Marjorie our new friend from Cicrin

Volcano: Ometepe

Some of the girls at the Playa

Omar and baby Duna, Ellsa in the background

Cicrin nights--I was trying to get a shot of thousands of fireflies but i couldn't do it so just pretend

the lawn mower at Cicrin

the smallest lizard ever

dried tobacco

fresh tobacco from the field next to Cicrin

Ometepe!

Posted in General Articles by Natalie Montgomery on 9/1/2008

A first taste of the Island!!!

Ometepe, Nicaragua from natalie montgomery on Vimeo.

Words of a Good Man

Posted in General Articles by Natalie Montgomery on 8/23/2008

The following passage was written by a man named Robert Shelton before he passed away roughly two years ago. He seems to have been the type of man that lived a selfless life, giving praise and thanksgiving as they were due. His son recalls a man that approached him after his father (Bob's) funeral. This acquaintance shared that he had seen Bob, by chance, months before at a burger joint in their small town. Bob had pulled up a chair next to him and over the course of their meal Bob took a great interest in his well being. He even asked questions about the man's sick brother. Until Bob's death this man had never heard of his illness. Bob never mentioned his advanced cancer once throughout the conversation. Selfless.

What I take from Bob's stories is that he recognized God as his Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer, no questions asked. Even in his terminal illness he kept in full faith. Once he looked out the window on a drive home from the hospital and declared that maybe he was bored here and that he was ready for something new.

Blessings

"I wish my words had the necessary power so my mind would be laid open for all of you. I encourage all of you to make small continual changes that will lead you closer to God's intended plan. Being thankful for the blessings you have received is a strong motivation to please God. First, we have to be aware and recognize them. Many blessings are received and forgotten. We are not even aware of them. Struggle hard to remember all the events that have guided your life. Maybe some small twist of fate that has forever made the difference. Fate or God's will? Nothing you have done was achieved by yourself.
I was privileged to be adopted by two loving parents whose love is still with me even though they are long gone. I realized a "hidden blessing" from a 1941 movie which details the story of a child activist, Edna Gladney. She ran an adoption agency in Ft. Worth. She successfully lobbied the Texas legislature to have the word "illegitimate" removed from birth certificates. I saw this movie recently and quickly realized that Edna Gladney had intervened on my behalf. I was able to get married and not carry man's stigma on my birth certificate. Was this fate or God's blessing raining down on me? As I looked at some old crinkled typewritten pages of correspondence I looked at all the names of the various benefactors and supporters whose names and titles were in the letterhead. Then I thought. By supporting this Christian agency, all these people had also blessed me. You can carry this thinking as far back as till God intervened in someone's life. My point is that your life is only good because someone allowed God into their life and they acted." - Bob Shelton

I am reminded of the children here at Cicrin orphanage, when I read this. Along the line, someone stepped in on their behalf and cared enough to give them a new life. Helen, the director, has dedicated the last 16 years of her life to children because she was obedient to the Lord's call. Now she is raising up young men and women that are rising up to become spiritual leaders. Many of the older youth in Cicrin lead bible studies for the younger children. And some of the boys have aspirations to carry ministry to the church.

Bob's words have blessed me. I share them with you hoping that you will look at your life not as a chain of coincidences but as a string of blessings that are deeply rooted in God's will for us.

"Perhaps the wisdom lies in engaging the life you have been given as fully and courageously as possible and not letting go until you find the unknown blessing that is in everything." - Rachel Remen

Take to your knees in thanks today for all of your blessings.

Isn't that enough?

Posted in General Articles by Natalie Montgomery on 8/16/2008

If you try to hang onto your life you will lose it, but if you will give up your life for my sake you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but you yourself are lost or destroyed. -Luke 9:25-26

I am here Lord. Isn't that enough?

I thought this year was about me pouring into others and surprisingly God is pouring into me. I thought that growing up was a phrase, but I am right back at the beginning. I am having to drop all of my preconceived notions about life and love, trust and faith and replace them with His truths. As I open up to a new chapter in my life, I am changing my mind about what it looks like to give it all.

You don't need to find yourself, you need to lose yourself.- Theodore Dalrymple

I am growing a little weary of an internal fight. My flesh and my spirit are waring. I fight giving up my life in it's entirety. I am being called to get over myself so He can save me from myself. Selfishly, I don't want to admit that giving myself over means that I have no rights. Pridefully, I want not to be desperate and dependent. Part of me wants to give up everything but at the same time I want to return to my own agenda.

I have lived so much of my life leaning on my own understanding. I take comfort in control and I don't want to take the leap to trust the Lord fully. What does it look like to trust the Lord with no conditions? It is scary to lose control but as I lessen my grip the more I hear a sound inside me. It says, "There is no work for you here, anymore. I gave up everything not so that you could carry burdens but for your freedom."

Only when man is willing to die to everything in his life, including his rights, his virtues, and his religion, and becomes willing to receive into himself a new life that he has never experienced. This new life exhibits itself in our conscious repentance and through our unconscious holiness.- Oswald Chambers

Week in Pictures II

Posted in General Articles by Natalie Montgomery on 8/9/2008

Granada

Maria...best tortilla maker in Granada. took us an hour and 5 locals to find her home

where she works. She has, "known the Lord for 25 years." Amen

Church in Granada

Poverty in the Square: Granada

I love Pueblas: Granada

Bird cage?

animales de Granada

the Secret Garden

Cicrin by night

Ali and Hazel (14) in a hammock in the Rancho (Pavillion)

Sunset at Cicrin in the Rancho

Sara, viewing our new home on Ometepe from the ferry

Church in Granada

Charco Verde beach on ometepe

I live under an active volcano.

Posted in General Articles by Natalie Montgomery on 8/9/2008

I am in an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar faces.

I am surrounded by an unknown language
Physically, I am tired.
Emotionally, I am just trying to catch up with how I feel in the next moment.
I am uncomfortable.
I miss what is easy and all I want to do is run home.
Welcome to the island of Ometepe.

I could not let my emotions rule me for long or I would get tangled in them. The moment I released these feelings to the Lord He changed my attitude and my perspective. He started to introduce this place and His people to me through his eyes.

"This world was so completely different than the one I had known previously. Where I had known excess. I now saw only need. In my heart I sensed attitudes of entitlement being replaced by thankfulness. My understanding of the world was being transformed and so was I."- Under the Overpass

I wasn't long before I was humbled by the children and staff at Cicrin orphanage. I began to realize how different my childhood was from these children. The second morning I stood back and watched as 2-3 year olds climbed up on the toilet requesting no assistance or praise for there feat. They continued on, dressing themselves and fastening there shoes to head off to breakfast at 6:30 a.m. At breakfast they prayed together over their meals and silently fed themselves, at the table where their heads hardly reached the table top. It is hard for me to see these children grow up so fast and take responsibility for themselves. My parents walked us through everything. I took for granted the countless hours that they devoted to teaching potty training, eating, tying our shoes, telling time, spelling our names, discipline and so much more.

I love and miss you mom and dad.

As I hear the stories of kids here the more I appreciate my mom and dad and mourn for the kids loss of a childhood.
Ellsa (20) was raised by her mother and abusive father. Her father hit her mother. She showed me a scar on her arm where he nicked her with his machete. Ellsa and her sister Maria Loiussa (16) came to Cicrin when their mother could no longer take them to work. Ellsa was ten.

Jesus (4)

Warning...this one is hard.

Bitana (2-1/2) arrived at Cicrin 3 months ago from

another orphanage. Helen (director) told me that her

parents were both drug users. Her mother left her with her father when she was very young. Her father

would brutally beat her until she would vomit. He would then make her eat her vomit. This might explain why she puts everything in her mouth and eats each meal as if it were her last.

Bitana

Four Tias/Aunts care for 30 adolescents, ten of which are over the age of 16. The eldest, Oswaldo (24) has been at Cicrin since he was 4. The Tias

patients and dedication to the children is inspiring.

It is truly a gift to be here.

Andy (3)

Week in pictures

Posted in General Articles by Natalie Montgomery on 7/27/2008

Cast your vote!

children from a village outside of Palenque, Jerusalen

Streets of Antigua

Catholic Church Ruins in Antigua

Corn fields in Antigua

Guatemalan bambinos

Antigua streetscape

view from our room in Antigua

Volcano shot from the city street

Jerusalen

journey to Guatemala

horse at sunset

trip to Guatemala out the window of the combi

Poverty of the Soul

Posted in General Articles by Natalie Montgomery on 7/25/2008

When we arrived in Palenque, I had no idea what our

ministry would look like. Each morning I tried to wake

with the mindset of a student asking for God to teach me. I was brought back to this verse many times.

Isaiah 50:4
The Sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.

He taught me more than I bargained for. Right away, He broke me and pushed right through my naivety. I was exposed to pain and poverty. I recognized that poverty is not just limited to physical objects but also poverty of the soul. When you face poverty of the soul you recognize the need for grieving.

To grieve is to allow our losses to tear apart feelings of security and safety and lead us to the painful truth of our brokenness.- Henri Neuwen

In grieving, the Lord can fill places of loss. I experienced healing through Mario's story. I was reminded how to grieve my own brokenness. I was also reminded of ultimate comfort and healing that can be found in hope.

Psalm 119: 49-50
...for you have given me hope. My comfort in suffering is this: your promise preserves my life.

Story of Mario

part 1

part 2

part 3

part 4

His Beginning

Posted in General Articles by Natalie Montgomery on 7/24/2008

7/19/08

Mario was straight tonight, clean, and all together, different.

I couldn't have asked for a more closure. We sat at the back of the church and made small talk. From the first day he approached the church he has moved from a drunken seat on the curb, to standing outside the entry, to a seat in the back row. I know he can feel the Lord. He knows that it would be a lie to run away from what the Lord is speaking into him.

After the service, I gave him a Spanish/ English Bible with a letter inside that my squad-mate Dre translated into Spanish. You would have thought that he had never received a gift in his life, which might be the case. He wept. Steph asked him if they were happy tears and out of his tears he looked up and nodded, yes. Then he gave me a deep hug.

The smile he had as he drove away was true, almost like it wasn't of him. Maybe it wasn't. I hope, that what is closure for me is just the beginning for him.

Philipians 1:6 ...being confident of this, that he who began

a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the

day of Christ Jesus.

My preconceived ideas of ministry have been altered drastically this month. Ministry is not an act, it is the movement of the Holy Spirit in and through willing and prepared hearts. Ministry is to speak in Spiritual Love.

Spiritual Love will meet the other person with the clear word of God and be ready to leave him alone with His word for a long time, willing to release him again in order that Christ may deal with him... Spiritual Love will speak to Christ about a brother more than to a brother about Christ. It knows that the most direct way to others is always through prayer to Christ and that love of others is wholly dependent upon truth in Christ. --Baunhoffer

As a disciple of the Lord, I am "interceding/standing in the gap"-Steph, for those that we encounter. We are here to proclaim the Lord's faithfulness and speak Truth.

Church: Mexican Style

Posted in General Articles by Natalie Montgomery on 7/21/2008

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