Hurricane Eta Relief

The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, And saves such as have a contrite spirit. Psalm 34:18

Hello friends and family! We want to thank you for praying for us here in Nicaragua during this past week. Beside some rain and slight winds, Managua was not affected by Hurricate Eta. Thank you for reaching out to us and checking up on us!

Although we are doing ok here in Managua, other areas in the North Eastern part of Nicaragua are facing great devastation due to Hurricane Eta. An area called Puerto Cabezas estimates that at least 3,000 homes have been destroyed. As a result, there are so many who are now without a home, food, water or basic needs. As the rains continue, there are many other communities along the river that are being threatened, due to the rising river. The need is great and it is heartbreaking.

We believe that as the body of Christ, we need to come together and bring the hope of Jesus to these communities experiencing such incredible loss. Our heart is to share the love of Jesus with the affected families and encourage them in the midst of this difficult time. Our prayer is that they would know that the Lord is near to them. For that reason, we have teamed up with some other missionary friends, and are making necessary preparations to go and minister to the people of Puerto Cabezas in the next week. Today, we have begun gathering materials such as food, clothing, medicine and clean water. We will be making the 12+ hour drive next week and would love for YOU to partner with us through prayer, and if possible, through giving.

Here are some ways for you to pray:

-Safety and health as we travel to and from Puerto Cabezas

-Divine appointments to pray with and encourage people

-That many would come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior

-Sensitivity to the Holy Spirit and what He would lead us to do

-To be a source of encouragement to the local pastor/s and church

-Provision: to be able to feed and clothe as many as possible

If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation, please follow these steps (Please be sure to indicate HURRICANE RELIEF in your giving):

To Give Via Check:

Send all checks to: “Calvary Chapel Living Hope”

625 Seagaze Dr. Oceanside, CA 92054

Memo: Missions: Nicaragua/Booth Family – Hurricane Relief

Online Giving:

Visit:  http://www.cclivinghope.org

-Select the “Give” tab

-Select “Missions: Booth Family, Nicaragua” from the “Fund” pull-down tab
-Select “Optional Memo” type “Hurricane Relief”

Thank you so much for your prayers and support. We will keep you updated as the week progresses and as we make our way to Puerto Cabezas. Please contact us if you have any questions.

May the Lord bless you and keep your heart at peace!

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Together Again…

And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,  not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:24-25

Hello Everybody! Has it been a wild year or what? Regardless of where you find yourself in the world, 2020 has had its many challenges for us all. Due to the worldwide pandemic, with heavy hearts, we stopped having in-person services for a season. Although we are thankful for the ability to use technology and the social media platforms to continually share God’s Word during our time away from our church family, I think most of you would agree with us, that holding online services does not come close to being together with your brothers and sisters in the Lord. A couple of weeks ago, we re-opened the church and are now meeting in person again for our Sunday and mid-week services. We are so happy and grateful to be together again! Mike has just begun the book of Romans on Sunday mornings and is halfway through the book of Acts on Wednesday evenings. We know the Lord desires to do a great work in this new season!

First Sunday back after pandemic shutdown

We would ask that you join us in prayer as we continue to navigate through this season of re-opening the church. Not everyone feels safe to return to church yet. There is still fear due to the pandemic, so while we want to be sensitive, we also want to make sure we are ministering effectively to His people. As we move forward, we are asking the Lord to guide us and show us how to best serve and love His church.

On a personal note, we as a family are doing well. God continues to show Himself faithful to us and we are continually grateful for His goodness toward us. We must admit though, that we are really missing our family and friends back in the states. Our plans to visit this past summer didn’t happen for obvious reasons, so our hearts are really aching to be with our loved ones. Traveling into and out of the country here is a little complicated at the moment, but we hope that airlines will soon return to normal and we will have the possibility of being reunited with family and friends.

As far as the kids, Nate is now 6 years old and in first grade! He is as social as ever, loves being around people and is passionate about life in general. He is also thrilled to be back in school, since virtual learning was not his favorite! Eliana is a fun and busy little toddler who loves to sing and dance like her daddy. Last month we celebrated her second birthday! She is a very determined little girl trying to test ALL the boundaries at the moment!

The kids and home keep Rocio pretty occupied, but she is also enjoying going through the books of Colossians and Philemon with the teachers at our small school. It has been a blessing getting to know the teachers more and spending time growing in the Lord together.

As always, we thank you for your love, your prayers and your financial support. You are a great source of encouragement and blessing to us as we serve Jesus here in Nicaragua. We love you.

Be Thankful

Hello Everyone!

We hope you are all moving into this exciting time of the year with much joy and gratitude in your hearts.  I was recently reading in Luke 17 about the ten lepers Jesus healed, but only one returned to give thanks. It says “and one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.”  There is so much to learn from this man.  As we approach Thanksgiving, we reflect on God’s faithfulness and know we have so much to thank Him for, not only during this season, but throughout the entire year.  We want to fall before our King and thank Him because He is worthy. 

First of all, we thank the Lord for His unfailing love.  We do not deserve it, but are daily showered with it and we praise Him for it.  We often hear Nate going about his day, singing the classic children’s song, “Yes, Jesus loves me, yes, Jesus loves me…the Bible tells me so…”   Such a simple song, yet its truth so profound.  It is because of His great love that we have been saved, changed and have the hope of glory.  Thank you Jesus, for Your love.

We also thank the Lord for YOU!  We are thankful to have so many of you who are constantly interceding on our behalf and on the behalf of the people and ministries here in Nicaragua.  Please know that we are encouraged and blessed to know that you pray with us and for us.  Don’t ever stop!

Furthermore, we want to thank all of you who financially support us.  Your generous support makes it possible for us to be serving and living in Nicaragua.  You have been used to demonstrate God’s faithfulness, provision & care for us time and time again.  We appreciate you and thank you for your love. 

CCSFS Team Update

Rosie, Pat, Rocio, Nate, Ceci, Bianca
Mike & Eliana, Morghan, Jerry, Kevin, Moses

We also wanted to take a moment to share with you about a team we recently hosted from our church in California, Calvary Chapel Santa Fe Springs.  The team of 8 hard-working adults came in October and served the Lord in various ways during their time here.  We had a blast with them, and it felt like we had family here with us.   They showed our church building some much needed TLC and tackled a lot of construction/work projects.  Some of those work projects involved making a new sound room, putting in some railings for safety purposes, painting, a lot of cleaning and a lot of decluttering.  They accomplished so much in so little time!  As grateful as we are for all of the physical work they conquered, we are even more grateful for how they loved God’s people so well.  They tangibly shared the love of Jesus with the children, the adults, the elderly and everyone in between.  As we look back on the week they were here, we rejoice in all that the Lord did through these guys.  The people sensed the love of Christ and we were all so encouraged and blessed by their being here. Thank you guys for coming and thank you CCSFS for sending and supporting this awesome group of people who displayed Jesus so well. 

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We continue to ask for your prayers for this country, for CC Managua, and for our family.  May Jesus be glorified and may many lives be transformed by His great love.

We pray you all have a great season of Thanksgiving with your loved ones.  Even in the midst of trials and difficulties, may we be like that man who went back to Jesus and thanked Him.

Happy Thanksgiving from the Booths!

Kiddos & Mommas

Hello all! May was a busy but fun month! We want to share with you a little bit of what we’ve been up. First of all, we have officially launched our children’s ministry at CC Managua and it is going very well. As often is the case, our first Sunday we only had about 10 kiddos, but this past week we had over 20 little ones. It is a joy to minister to them and see them come to church with excitement. We are going through the life of Jesus with them and our desire is that they would know their Savior and grow in their love for Him. We are also using this ministry to disciple a couple of the young ladies who love Jesus and want to minister to these little ones. Please pray for them. We long to see the Lord do a great work in this neighborhood by transforming the lives of these precious children. We would also love to have additional helpers, so if you think of it, pray for that too!

Mother’s Day is May 30th here in Nicaragua and it is a BIG deal! Mother’s should be celebrated, right? Well, we got to do just that! A few Sunday’s ago, the mom’s at church got showered with some love. The mother’s were prayed for, each one got a little gift and we had some finger foods to enjoy together after church service. One of the highlights of the day was a song and video that the children prepared for the moms. In the video, the kids shared why mom’s were so special to them. It was very sweet to see the mom’s enjoy a special time together with their church family. One of the ladies has continually shared with us how blessed she was and how beautiful everything turned out. It truly was a joyful day of celebration and fellowship!

May the Good News of Salvation through Jesus be proclaimed here in Nicaragua…and among all the nations.

Sing to the Lord, all the earth;
Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day. Declare His glory among the nations,
His wonders among all peoples.   1 Chronicles 16:23-24

Thank you for your love, prayers and support! You are appreciated!

Family Transportation

Greetings to all. We miss you and love you.

Our last post updated you on how our first few weeks had been, since our return. As we have continued to settle back to life here, we have also taken some time to see how our belongings have held up over our time back in the United States. We recently took our truck into the mechanic so that they could perform their 80,000 km service. As they serviced the truck, they found a few costly long-term problems with it. We opted to not make those repairs at the moment, so that we could patiently pray and consider all our options. One of our major reasons to no jump into repairing the truck is because we have been thinking about changing to a more family appropriate vehicle and switching to an automatic transmission so that Rocio could feel more comfortable driving here on her own.

We are now considering to sell or trade in the truck and purchase an automatic SUV. We are looking into different options, but with each option there definitely seems to be some additional cost involved in order to make this change happen. Many of you often ask how you could help and what specific needs we might have. For that reason, we decided to share this information with you all. We trust the Lord to provide the right vehicle and the finances for it in His perfect timing. If you feel led to give toward this specific financial need, you can still do so through Living Hope, our financial hub, and make a note indicating it is for the “vehicle”. If you have any specific questions or would like to talk to us regarding this, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We would be happy to chat with you!

Here are the giving details: (you can also find these details under the tab labeled “Where to Give.”)

Check:

Send all checks payable to:

Calvary Chapel Living Hope

625 Seagaze Dr. Oceanside, CA 92054

Memo: Missions-Nicaragua/Booth Family-Vehicle

Online Giving:

Visit: www.cclivinghope.org

            -select online giving tab

            -select: Missions: Nicaragua/Booth Family

Above all, please continue to pray for us that we may have wisdom from above in all of our decision making.

Thank you!

Booths in Nica–Take 2!

Warm greetings (literally!) from Nicaragua!  It is hard to believe that we have been back here for a month now!  It has been a busy few weeks, settling in, adjusting and getting back into the swing of things once again.  There have been moments of joy, moments of frustration among many other emotions. Through it all, God has been so good to us and as always, continues to be with us as we move through this transition. 

We have some very exciting news to share with you all! Within 24 hours of us arriving to Nicaragua, we received news that our residency had been granted! Talk about impeccable timing and God’s favor and grace upon us!  After several days spent at immigration, we finally received our Nicaraguan ID’s and were granted a one year residency.  Wohoo!!! Thank you to all who have prayed with us regarding this.  We now have to go through the process with Eliana, since she is new to our family. We will be submitting all of her documents in the next week, so please pray that things go smoothly for her.

Mike has been busy getting some projects done at CC Managua and at our home.  One exciting project he has been working on is installing a new sound system at the church.  He’s learning a lot about sound and then teaching a few guys at the church so they can learn as well.  He’s also meeting with the worship team and pouring into them as well as working together with them as they all seek to grow in their talents and skills.

Rocio has been working on organizing the house and trying to establish some routines with the kids.  She’s also praying about some ministry opportunities at church.  Nate and Eliana are doing well.  Nate loves being back in Nicaragua and has enjoyed getting to know all of the children in the neighborhood. The highlight of his day is getting to play outside with all of his friends.  He has also started playing soccer, and so far, he is loving that.  We are praying for what direction to take regarding Nate’s education this coming fall as he begins kindergarten (homeschool or traditional school).  We appreciate your prayers for that as well.  Eliana, who just turned 6 months, is still adjusting to the drastic weather change. She doesn’t really enjoy being sweaty! 🙂 Other than that, she is doing well.

We look forward to what the Lord is going to do as we continue to settle in and move forward in serving His people here.  We wanted to leave you with some prayer requests:

-CC Managua

-Wisdom and guidance in diverse areas of ministry

-Sound and worship ministry

-The country of Nicaragua (many are unemployed and hurting)

-The missions teams that will be visiting us this year

You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.  These things I command you, that you love one another. (John 15:16-17)

Home

“For our citizenship is in heaven,

from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior,  the Lord Jesus Christ.” Philippians 3:20

Have you ever felt out of place?  It’s not the most comfortable feeling, is it?  During the past months, our family has walked through some of these feelings—having left our home in Nicaragua unexpectedly back in April of 2018, experiencing some difficult changes while here in the states, and now getting ready to return to Nicaragua.  It has certainly been a time where we’ve often questioned, “Where is home?”  In the beginning of this year, as I wrestled with that question, the Lord brought me to the well-known verse above, Philippians 3:20. For what this season of life has been, it has given such a fresh and encouraging perspective.  It’s a reminder that we desperately needed: our permanent “home” is not found in any specific location here on earth, our home is in heaven.  We are pilgrims through life here on earth, but our permanent residency is above, and we EAGERLY anticipate being in our eternal home with our Savior.  As we wait for that day, regardless of where we are living (Nicaragua, California, ect…), we want to faithfully be doing what He has called us to do.

We wanted to take a moment to thank each of you who have prayed with and for us and our family during this season. A lot of change has taken place in these past 10 months.  There have been changes in Nicaragua, changes in our family, and changes in our own hearts.  Some changes have been difficult and others a beautiful blessing.  Through it all, we know God has sustained us, walked with us and shown His faithfulness time and time again.

We will be making our way back to Nicaragua at the end of this month.  Once again, we ask that you join in praying for our family as we return and settle back into life there.  We are looking forward to sharing the love of Christ with those who are hurting and in need. Please pray that we would be attentive to God’s leading and all that He would want to do as we serve Him and these people whom He loves dearly.

Our contact and donation information can be found on the tabs listed above labeled: “Where to Give” or “Contact Information.”  We would love to hear from you!

By His grace,

The Booth Family: Mike, Rocio, Nate (4 years old) & Eliana (4 months old)

VBS: Nueva Guinea & Managua

Recently, in our kids Sunday evening study, we covered Mark 10:13-16, where the little children were brought to Jesus.  This passage is always a great reminder of how special kids are to our Savior.  Jesus is “greatly displeased” when the disciples “rebuked those who brought” the children to Him.  He tells his disciples, “Let the little children come to Me, and DO NOT FORBID them; for of such is the kingdom of God” (emphasis mine).

Working with children can be tiresome and even challenging…but never a waste of time.  Jesus took time to minister to them and invest in their lives.  So, it is a joy that we have been able to do that often, and even more so in the last two weeks.

VBS Nueva Guinea

Last week, we had the opportunity to take the 5 hour drive along the country side to the small town of Nueva Guinea. Over the last 6 months, we have been blessed in getting to know the missionaries who serve at the Calvary there, and they have become dear friends.  We were able to come alongside them and the church body to do a two day VBS-type outreach for the children of the church and the community.  Our time there was fun, rich and a great blessing.  We got to spend those days with about 40 kiddos each day.  Our time with them consisted of Bible lessons, music, crafts, games and a lot of hugs & laughs.  Would you pray that the Bible truths, songs and love poured into each of their little hearts would produce lasting fruit?  Many of them come from very rough backgrounds (which is the sad reality for many children of Nicaragua in general), so our desire is to bring the hope of Jesus into their lives, in the midst of the difficulties and hurt many of them face.

Along with the children’s outreach, Mike had the opportunity to teach the Wednesday evening Bible study.  We are grateful for our friends who are faithfully serving Jesus and the community of Nueva Guinea.  If you would like to see more of what the Lord is doing in Nueva Guinea, you can check out their website: http://graceministriesint.com

VBS Managua

This week, we had the privilege of having a team of parents and their teenage children from  Christ Journey church in Florida minister to our kids, here in Managua.  They too did a VBS-type outreach with the kids from our Sunday evening study and an additional small group of students from the school (Club Cristiano La Esperanza).  The kick off took place on Sunday evening, where they shared with the kids about Palm Sunday.  Then, the Easter story was continued the following morning, along with songs, crafts and games.  On Tuesday, we culminated our time with the kids by getting on a bus and driving out to Ruby Ranch, which is about an hour outside of Managua in the country.  At Ruby Ranch, we had a fun day full of games, water slide, horses, bikes, and so much more.  We are so grateful for the team of Christ Journey Church who poured the love of Jesus into the lives of the kids we’ve been ministering to for the last 9 months.  Not only did the children have a blast, but they tangibly experienced the love of Christ.  Please pray for these kiddos as well; That God would do a deep and life-changing work in their lives…so they would in turn make an eternal impact in their families, communities and country.

Happy Easter

“Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2)

We hope you have a wonderful Easter, celebrating our risen Savior!  He has conquered and our lives have been eternally changed.  That is worth celebrating!

One more thing…

If you or your church are interested in coming down to Nicaragua, please feel free to contact us.  Summer is approaching quickly and now is the time to begin planning!

Blessings to you all and as always, THANK YOU for praying and reading.

Bluefields Missions Trip

On Monday, March 12, we set out at dawn to make our way to Bluefields Nicaragua by motorcycle.  We finally arrived at our destination by 4:30pm, after a long journey across the beautiful country of Nicaragua.

Map of where Nueva Guinea and Bluefields are located (Managua, where we live, is the blue dot)

Bluefields is a coastal city, which is known for fishing.  The people of this region speak Creole, which is an English based language, so it makes it made it easy for us to communicate.

Brinson, Mike and Greg

The initial plans for the trip were for us (Brinson Buzbee, Greg Brakensiek and I) to join a medical team as they made an exploratory missions trip up the river and visit some of the communities in the region of Pearl Lagoon.  When we arrived to Bluefields, we were told that the plans had changed.  The medical team was no longer coming and that this was now “our” missions trip.  Although the medical team was no longer coming, our plans didn’t really change much.  We had always planned on going into the communities to share the Gospel, teach the Word and pray for others.  But now, the time and focus of the trip was going to solely be focused on doing this.  God’s plans are always greater.

On Tuesday, the 13^th, we set sail and made our way up the river with the end goal of making it to the community of “La Fe” by the afternoon.  On our way, we stopped by Haulover where we were able to say hello to a dear friend named Margarita.  We had a sweet time of prayer and then made it to La Fe early that afternoon.

Brinson and Margarita

What happened at La Fe was such a God-ordained time.  Within moments of arriving in this little town, we were sharing the gospel and praying with people.  I talked to an older gentleman and mentioned our passion to share God’s Word and that we would love to do this in the community.  He said, “If you invite people, they will come.”  So we did just that. For the remainder of the afternoon we spent time getting to know the community.  We visited homes, continued praying for and ministering to the families and children that followed us around.  As we made our way through the community, we met Pastor Alan, a local pastor.

Pastor Alan

Pastor Alan pastors a church in this little town called “GoKing,” which means “God’s Kingdom Come.”  He is a very sweet and hardworking man.  I asked him what were some of the major needs for him and the community, and his response blew me away.  He said that himself and the other pastors in the surrounding communities have no one to train them and pour into them.  They do the best they can to pastor, but they do not know how to do it.  Immediately, my heart was stirred.  He also mentioned that there was a need for a Christian drug and alcohol rehabilitation ministry, and that La Fe would be an ideal place to set one up because it is the only community in the region that does not sell alcohol.

Would you join us in praying for Pastor Alan and the pastors in that region?

That evening, at 7:00pm the people we had invited to come out to the center of town showed up with their chairs and began to sit around.  Within moments, a worship service had begun!  We sang some songs that were familiar to us and then they sang songs that they knew.  It was such a beautiful scene.  One of the locals that went with us on the boat shared with the group about what it means to sincerely follow Christ.  After, I got to share on Romans 13:11-14 and Ephesians 6:10-17.  Included in the message of encouragement and exhortation, I also shared the gospel.  At the end, I gave an altar call.  At first, they were very timid, but eventually one lady raised her hand to pray to receive Jesus.  Then, many others followed her example. That time was like nothing I’ve ever experience before.

The next morning, Greg and I decided to go spend time with Pastor Alan.  We were able to meet with him a few times throughout the day.  We spent some time ministering to him and we got to take him through the Inductive Bible Study method.  It was neat to sit with Pastor Alan, open up the word and study it together.

On Thursday, we made our way back down the river and stopped by another community called “Kukra Hill.”  There we passed out some gospel tracks and shared with people.  We got to share the gospel with Danny, a motorcycle mechanic.  After some time talking with him, Danny prayed to receive Jesus.  Praise the Lord.

Thursday evening, we made it back to Bluefields and early on Friday, we made our way back to Managua. We thank the Lord for his protection and for His perfect plans.  Truly, this trip was incredible and we will continue praying to see what the Lord has in the future.  We know He loves these people, sees their needs and is already at work in this beautiful region.

Thank you so much for praying and please continue to do so.  God is faithful.

Looking ahead…

Greetings everyone!  We hope the beginning of 2018 has been pleasant for you.  A month ago, we returned home from our visit to California.  Our time there was rich, full and FAST!  We thank the Lord for allowing us to see so many of you and for the time we got to spend with family. We were so blessed!

A Night to Shine

A few weeks ago, we had the opportunity to serve at  “A Night to Shine” event that took place for the first time here in Nicaragua.  If you are unfamiliar with a Night to Shine, it is an event funded by the Tim Tebow Foundation for children with disabilities.  It is a night where they get to go down the red carpet, enjoy a meal and have some fun.  Most importantly, it is a night where they are loved on and are reminded that they are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14).  We had a great time loving on these precious kids.

 

“A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.”

Proverbs 16:9

MARCH

As we approach March, we wanted to share some things we are praying through and planning to do as the Lord leads.  We want the Lord to be the One who directs each step and so we ask that you join us in praying for that.

First of all, Mike is praying about possibly going on a mission trip to an area of Nicaragua, called Bluefields.  Him, along with a friend and a missionary from CC Nueva Guinea will travel to Bluefields and then take a boat up an inter-coastal route, through a series of bays and canals to get to the region of Pearl Lagoon.  The purpose of this trip is to see what ministry opportunities are available to share Jesus with the communities located along those areas.

Next, we are planning on going to visit our friends of CC Nueva Guinea and doing a small children’s outreach while we are there.  It will be a two day VBS-type of event for the children of the church and the community.  We appreciate your prayers as we prepare for this exciting outreach.

Map of where Nueva Guinea and Bluefields are located (Managua, where we live, is the blue dot)

APRIL

We are really excited for April! Not so much about the weather, since it is the HOTTEST month of the year…but we do look forward to receiving our firsts guests of the year.  We have our friends, Pastor Daniel and Matthew Chavez coming in the beginning of April, as well as our friend, Pastor Mike Sternad (Mobile, Alabama).  We anticipate for what the Lord will do during their time in Nicaragua.  During their visit, we will be doing a men’s fellowship night at CC Managua.  Please pray the the Lord would draw the men out and that they would be encouraged by His Word and the fellowship that takes place that evening.

THANK YOU

Once again, thank you to all who read, pray and give.  We love and appreciate each one of you.

Thank you for praying for us!