So Nica is different....

I love it down here. Lets get that out. But At the same time, boy it's different.

For instance. I just had a nice gecko walk across my bed. Only in Nica! The girls home has a pet baby black and white squirrel. Only in Nica. I could give so many more examples. But I thought I'd just say hi.

Still havent ordered internet yet. It's frustrating not being able to communicate when I want to. But I'm surviving. I was up at 5am this morning to walk the girls to school. It's only about 5 blocks. It was nice to be over there. They are older than the boys and they can joke around and poke fun more. The boys are fun, don't get me wrong.... but hey dont always undestand my sarcasm yet.

Well.... I'm going tosee if I can call home now. I will go to Pizza Hut tomorrow to use their internet and write a lot more. For now, it's jst a short hi!

Take care all and God bless!

I miss my internet!!!

So I won't have internet for 7-15 days until they install it. In the meantime I will try to get on at my friends house and make a trip to pizza hut and use theirs too!

So I am now living in Casa Robles (the boys home). My room looks like a room. I have pictures and shelves and such!

There is a team of about 37 high schoolers here. They took the boys and girls to the beach yesterday. I got sunburned, but it doesnt hurt.

Last night me and a couple friends saw X-men. It's really good.

Church today was awesome. We rocked out. I love the band down here. I missed not leading worship, but I trust everything is going well and is in God's hands back home. It was weird to go to church and not worry about anything for once. I'm going to enjoy that part of it!

Sorry this is short. Cant stay here for internet any longer. In a week my church group comes down. I'm excited for them!!!!

Anyways.... I gtg. Love ya all. You will hear from me a lot more once I get the internet!

Chillin....

Well i'm just chilling up on the 3rd floor lookout. It was another cool storm in the afternoon. Got really windy and I just sat in the hammock and enjoyed the weather.

I bought some furniture today. A couple shelving units so I have something to put my clothes on.

A big group comes down tonight. It's a Christian High school from Colorado i believe. I think they have around 35 people coming. So it will be a big group. I am moving into the boys home tomorrow. And on Saturday the high school group and the boys home and myself will be going to San Juan Del Sur which is about 2 hours south. It's really close to where Survivor Nicaragua was at.

It will be exciting to get my first dose of work with a mission team and the boys. I have no clue what to expect, but i'm pumped.

Well, time to take a nap i think. It's pretty quiet till this group gets here tonight. Peace out all!

Power of Prayer....

So today was awesome.....

I bought a cell phone. I'll give you guys the number here soon. Its in my cabin right now and I'm up on the 3rd floor under the stars in the middle of a storm. The lightning is amazing!

We went to the boys and girls home today. I loved seeing them.

And the highlight of my day was prayer time. Coburn (who is a friend of the Buzbees down here) has 6 guys here doing some construction work on the school he runs. Well he asked Chachi and Mr. B if we could pray with them today at 3pm. So we met at Ruby's house and went up into the prayer room. When we were done prayer it was almost 5:30pm. 2 and a half hours of prayer!!!! I know some of my friends would think that sounds crazy. Most of us can't stand it when the church service is more than an hour! hehe But this was amazing. First it felt like we were praying for 20 mins. not 2.5 hours. And second it was just awesome. Everyone was prayed for. all 10 of us all praying out loud at the same time. I felt led to sing some worship songs quietly as my prayers. I guess my prayers were providing the soundtrack of our prayer time. I felt amazing. I sang song after song from what wonderous love is this and were you there, to casting crowns and Chris Tomlin. When I sang shout to the Lord, a lot of the guys joined in. I couldnt believe I had enough songs to sing for 2.5 hours in my head. Nothing I planned on. I just felt like I needed to sing. And a new song popped into my head after every one finished. I think that's how I enjoy praying the most. I would like to think I was blessed with an ok singing voice. So I like offering my song back to God in thanks. I hope we get to do this weekly!

It was awesome though. Then we came home and had a great fried chicken dinner!

One thing hit me.... Coburn said "Hey Tom, you can help me next week some time...."

I realized.... normally I had a countdown till I had to leave. But it made me realize I will be here next week. And the next, and the next.... It's crazy. There is no rush. I am serving God and my only agenda is to have none and be willing to listen to God! What a perfect life. I am blessed I have so many people who love me that are supporting me while I do God's will and serve Him. I couldn't be here without all of you!

Please feel free to leave any comments on my blog. I love to hear what you think about my blogs. Plus I love to hear from you guys. I love ya all and miss ya.

PS.... my skype name is Tom.seipel if anyone is interested in chatting. Love ya all and talk to you soon!

And so it begins.....

Today is the day. I am sitting in the Nashville airport waiting to catch my flight. I had a long drive this morning to think about some stuff. For the first time I am actually scared. Yesterday was a hard day. I said bye to the Fuqua's and Parker's. They have been a huge part of my life. They have always been there for me and I know that if I need ANYTHING, they would be there. I also said goodbye to the Arnetts. This was hard. I was and i consider myself still a part of their family. I love each and everyone of them. Michael, Alex, and Abbey are like the siblings/children I never had. Mark and Diana are amazing people. I can't wait to come back to see them. I think being away from them will be the hardest. I have never seen so much love in one family in my life. And I mean that! And I had to say goodbye to my brother Josh. I consider him my brother. He has always been there for me.... well, except the deck :) I'm gonna miss him a ton!

My youth will all be missed. Some of them came over late last night to say bye. But I'll get to see a couple of them in a couple weeks when they come down!

And my parents.... They are used to being away since we never lived close together. But a big THANK YOU to them. I couldn't do this without you and your support. I love you guys!

So I am on my way. My journey begins. I hope you can all come along on this journey through my blog. I think it will be a great experience for everyone. I am going to miss you Murray. I love you all....

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