10 days....

Wow... I can't believe I will be moving to Nicaragua in 10 days. If you would have asked me a year ago I would have laughed at you. But it will be a year ago next week when I visited Nicaragua for the first time. I am scared, but also very excited!

I am stressing out. I have a lot of little things to do at my house to get it ready to leave. And of course I am putting those off till the last minute. I figure I'll wait till my parents get here and let them help! :)

Someone asked me the other day if I was sad to be leaving or excited to be going...
I can't imagine anyone being just one or the other. I am very sad to be leaving some great friends and a great church. There are a few in particular that I'm going to miss a ton!
I have an adopted family in Murray. It will be very hard saying goodbye that last Sunday!

But at the same time, I am pumped and ready to get to Nicaragua! The Buzbee's are a great family to be working with. I am going to be blessed to be working side by side with Godly people. I also can't wait for us to challenge each other to grow closer to God. For the last 4 years, my faith has been my work. It's hard to understand unless you have been in full-time ministry. But everything I do at church is designed to help others with their faith. Whether I am running youth and children's programs or preaching and leading worship. It's all focused on trying to feed others. I love doing it. Don't get me wrong. But I am really excited to be serving God and being fed myself. It will be nice to be in His presence and just soak it all in. I am needing the time on Sundays to worship him and be fed. I haven't had that in a long time. It's been mostly me worrying about the Celebration service, sunday school, children's sermons, and worship and wonder. It will be great to show up to church again and sit back, be quiet, and listen to God's voice instead of worrying about what I need to do.

Don't take that the wrong way. I am sure someday I might end up in Full-time ministry again. I still feel the calling to be a pastor someday. I just know right now, I am being called to help God's people grow, and enjoy growing myself.

I am also very excited to see the children down there. They have a yearning that the children here don't have. That's a yearning to be loved. Yes, the children here want to be loved too. But these children in Nicaragua don't have parents that show them affection. Most have been abused beyond belief. When you look into their eyes, you see that they just want you to hug them and let them know that you care. I am looking forward to that. I get to be that uncle Tom or as the girls call me Gordito and the boys call me Toe-Mas. I get to be a person in their lives that they know will always be there for them and will love them no matter what. I'm pumped.

Lastly, I am scared. I still need to raise some money for Xalted Ministries. I know God will provide, but it doesn't mean I'm not going to worry about it. I'm not perfect. If you are interested in supporting the ministry, please let me know. Or you can send a check made out to Xalted Ministries to:

John Fuqua
First Christian Church
111 N 5th st.
Murray, KY 42071

If you are wondering who John is, he will be taking care of the donations that are sent in. If you can't help financially, I can use your prayers. I need a lot of them. Please pray for the children that I will be working with in Nicaragua. Please pray for the Buzbee's. Please pray for First Christian Church and the children and youth that I will be leaving. They are so precious. It will be very hard to say goodbye (for now). And above all, please pray that I listen to and obey God's will for the people of Nicaragua and for my life. I want nothing more than to Glority him. Once I leave on the 31st, I will try to update this every day or two. Please check back to see what is going on! Thank you for your support and God bless you all!

In Christ,
Tom Seipel