Final Prayer Requests

Hey everybody! Today I'm heading out to Maryland to catch a flight tomorrow and I just wanted to ask a few prayer requests now since I probably won't post anything until I've been in Nicaragua a week or so.

Anyways, here are a couple of prayer requests.

-The opening of the hearts of the teenage guys I'm gonna be working with
Last night I was led to a passage in Isaiah and a passage in Acts that referenced the exact same thing: God sending someone to a hurting people who have closed eyes and ears because their hearts have been dulled. The passages said that the only way they could be healed would be if their hearts were opened.
These kids have been to hell and back, and some aren't even back yet. Lives of abuse, abandonment, and attachment issues have screwed with their perception of love and trust. I think this is a large part of the "dulling of hearts" I read about. So I would really appreciate prayer that God would break the chains around their hearts so that I can share his love and grace with them.

-The understanding of how to act around/treat kids who have felt those issues
I'm not going to be able to treat these kids like normal teenage guys. As I said above, their perception of love and trust is twisted. I ask that you'd pray that I'd just know how to act around them with the knowledge of those issues. Being an American teenage guy who has had a really safe life, I definitely don't understand what they've been through, but I don't want that to be a barrier to forming genuine friendships with them and telling them about Jesus.

-That I would learn on this trip how I and my gifts can be used effectively in Nicaragua
One of the main reasons I'm going on this trip is to learn what Nicaragua needs help with. It's pretty important for a missionary or missions team to know that, because poverty isn't at all the same in every country. There are many things I know that could help Nicaragua like roads (so children can get to school), better medical care, a police force of reliable/good people, but where does my role fit in this country? That's what I want to find out, as opposed to doing jobs that I may not be equipped to do and therefore not really help Nicaragua.

This is a trip that God is in control of. I have a good idea of what I'll be doing but I have no clue what the results will be or if he has other things in mind. I'm sure he does, honestly.

Thank you for your support :) I don't really know when I'll be updating this again, but I'll make sure to email/post it in the facebook group when I do.

Later, America.

Mark

Enseñame a Amar