A Missionary Moment: Speaking Life, Speaking Transformation

By Jesse Miller

Jesse and Lisa Miller are Christ For the City International missionaries to Nicaragua. Though God has been ministering through them in a number of ways, this is a beautiful testimony of one night in which God chose to use the fact that they were different and out of place to speak life and hope.

I  was gathering images to create materials for print and web, so I decided to hang out in back while the (teaching) session took place to take some photos. It didn’t take long for a few of the kids to find me, and to come see what I was up to. 

I love talking to children here in Nicaragua. They don’t care about my funny accent, and they’ll say anything. 

I spent the 2nd half of the session with these kids, just outside the main doors of the church, as they asked me questions about my hair color and why I look so red. 

All the while, there was one boy; 10 or 11 years old, that remained quiet. He simply stood there, hands tucked into his black hoodie, observing. I could tell that something important was on his mind and he wanted to say something. I asked him what he was thinking about.

“Are you Nicaraguan?” he asked.

“No, I’m from the USA," I answered, "But I live here."

“But you speak Spanish..." he said, "You are the first chele that has talked to me.” 

I was thinking to myself, This can’t be. Teams have been here, guest speakers, etc. Then it hit me: none of them had known Spanish. They had used translators. 

“Did you speak Spanish in the USA?” he asked.

“No," I replied, "I came to your area of the world to learn.”

He asked me how long it takes to learn. I said that I’m still learning, but I’ve been learning for more than a year. His face changed instantly. His eyes opened wide and he smiled, “You mean I can learn how to speak English if I want?” 

I almost cried right then and there but kept my composure. All I could do was kneel down and tell him that he had the capacity to learn and do whatever he wants. This young man has always thought that he was beneath me and those like me, and that broke my heart. 

When I got home I cried as I told Lisa, thinking of that little boy walking through life with that image of himself. Luckily, a CFCI missionary knows his family well, which means I have the honor of reminding him that he is brilliant, capable, strong, and special. God made him that way.

Like Jesse and Lisa Miller's Facebook page, Millers on a Mission, to get updates about the amazing things God is doing in and through them in Nicaragua. 

Edited by: John Michael Den Hartog

Missionary Testimony: Jessica Carter

By Jessica Carter

Some people accept the call of God on their lives without much fuss. God calls them, they go, the end. However, there are others that take a little more than that to get to the point where they can both acknowledge and obey the call God has given them. Jessica Carter was among the latter. This, in her own words, is her journey of going from a place where she wasn't even considering the mission field to one where she finally applied to as a missionary with Christ For the City International.

First Trip

Freshman year of high school I went to Costa Rica for Spring Break. We worked with a church, but it was just really cool for me to see the love of the Ticos (Costa Ricans). Even though I didn’t speak a ton of Spanish, God just worked in and through us. I remember one little boy named Macaroon. [We] would just joke and go back and forth with the phrase “Rapido” (“Quickly”) and “Despacio” (“Slowly”). And it was really cool to see how we could sense the presence of God and love each other.

I came home with this heart and desire to be missional minded at home, but I didn’t know what that looked like. It was this fire beneath me that never went out… but fizzled.

Second Trip

My junior year I had an opportunity to go out with CFCI, and I was super excited bec ause of how awesome the last trip had been. Throughout my life soccer and basketball have been a huge part of my life. To go there and play soccer with the locals was such a cool experience; it was  the first time I saw God and soccer collide. And it was cool to see some of the men in the church listen to me because they respected my soccer skills. During that week I created a really good relationship with (CFCI missionary) Carlos (Mestayer) and with the pastor of the church. As I was leaving, he told me I was his spiritual daughter, and he was excited for how God was going to work in my life.

I went home and graduated from high school and entered college. I still had this passion for missions underneath me, but in my head I still thought everybody felt that way after a short-term trip.

Third Trip

My freshman year of college, one of the girls who had been with me in Costa Rica told me about an opportunity to go back. All I wanted to do was return to Costa Rica. Within the next week, that excitement turned to complete fear as I allowed lies to be fed into my mind about how I didn’t have enough money to go, how I couldn’t miss work, etc. I came up with every excuse for why I wasn’t supposed to be going to Costa Rica. But God had a different plan: I heard Him speak in some powerful ways. He reminded me just how important it is to trust Him. I ended up going to Costa Rica for a month and a half. It was not the most conducive environment for short-term people, but it ended up being a real blessing for us to see what real life is like for missionaries. It was also an awesome time for us to really abide in the Lord – to  see how He’s leading. If we are not abiding, there’s no fruit in it. That summer was such an eye-opening experience, just seeing the power of God - amazing healings, the way that God was working in this ministry.

It was after this trip that I thought missions could be a real thing

Fourth Trip

That October, my sophomore year, I went to Paraguay with a team from my church. It was during this trip that God showed me that  my love for Costa Rica was different from my love for missions. As strong as my love for missions was, I had this heart for Costa Rica. During this trip, I felt God pressing me and one of my friends to start a soccer ministry in Northside (in Lexington) and it was one of those things where we came home all fired up about this, ready to do something.

For the first couple months, we didn’t do anything about it. Thankfully, one of our pastors came to us and said, “What have you done?” [After that,] it was cool to see how God opened doors into the Northside Lexington schools for college students to come in and be Christian role models in the lives of these kids - to love these kids who are at-risk and are not projected to graduate from high school. Really cool to see missions at home – not just overseas.

Fifth Trip

 My sophomore summer I knew God was calling me to missions in some way, but I didn’t really know what the next step was. I was really close to the missionary from my church, Kimmy, who works in Talamanca, and then Carlos with CFCI, so I split my time between both of them that summer. I spent the first half [of the summer] in Talamanca, helping lead short-term teams, just pouring into students from the States that came in. It was really cool time to see the way they do ministry . Then [the second half of the summer] I came back to the city -  I was in Coronado – and I contacted Carlos, and all of the scheduled missions teams chose to cancel. [It was] difficult for me [to experience this]. But God just opened my heart, and I was able to spend some time just seeking Him. And it was  a huge realization that I love missions, I love Costa Rica; but I love it when I’m doing missions.

I left that summer knowing I was definitely going into full-time missions.  

Sixth Trip

I entered my junior year, knowing from my major (Exercise Science) I’d have to complete a practicum. I’m trying to figure out what I want to do because most students are going to sit in physical therapy offices. I got this crazy idea: what if I go to Carpio and work in the clinic and do the soccer ministry? I email Sheila just testing out the waters. I get back a reply: “The doors are open; you’re welcome to come.” I go and talk to my professor to get it approved. I was thinking she was not going to approve it. She’s not a Christian, not a believer. So I go and talk to her, saying, “I want to go to Costa Rica and work with this clinic, and work with the soccer ministry.”

Surprisingly, she approved it. I don’t know why. 

I guess for a while I was ignoring the little signs God was giving me. I guess I was expecting the big voice in the sky. Instead, through a couple of conversations with my grandmother and a couple other people, God started opening my eyes to what he was doing.  He just kept confirming more and more things, and I couldn’t deny it any more.

Jessica Carter is currently working in Kentucky to raise her necessary support. If you would like to contribute to the ministry that God has been leading her in, click here, and choose Jessica Carter from the drop-down menu. 

Interview conducted and written by: John Michael Den Hartog