Hello!

Thanks for giving this page a look! I’m so excited to be heading to Nicaragua this August! I want to tell you the story of how I decided to go to Nicaragua, largely due to the fact that I’m a sucker for stories. There are so many factors I could mention, but to keep this story in focus, let me start in December when I first read about the trip.

I recently decided that it was time to go back to college and pick up a career, and picked Fall 2015 to start community college. The Lord was (and still is) showing me of the joy and importance that comes from community and just from loving others. I have met some wonderful specimens of humanity up in Portland who just leak Jesus in their lives, and they have been a huge inspiration for me in my own life and future.

One Sunday at Westside, Hear the Cry and all the work they were doing all around the world was the focus of the service. One challenge that I walked away from that day was to consider giving more than my money: my time as well. That got me all fired up. I remember looking at the list of trips Hear the Cry was going on in the New Year and wishing I could go on them all. At the time, no decisions were made, just a hope to go.

I started going back to the college group at Westside a couple months back and they were announcing the trip to Nicaragua. I remembered looking at that trip. I thought about it, but still no decision. This continued for the next few weeks, and the more it was brought up, the more I wanted to go. I was looking to get connected more with the community at the Bridge (college group) and I wanted to go love people. With the deadline of signing up drawing near, I started to really pray and consider it. There are two thoughts that helped push me to sign up.

The first was hearing to stories of the girls at the Villa (read all about it further below). I have a niece who is possibly my favorite human being on the planet. She is not quite two years old and is a total sweetheart. I love her to pieces. But I started to think, “what if it was her down in Nicaragua?” I would have already been on a plane to get her. So why not go down for these other girls? The conclusion I came up with was that Jesus totally would go. He was constantly going out of the way to love others. I should too.

The second thought was relating to a moment in Moses’ life in a passage in Exodus. Moses was undoubtedly called to the Israelites. But he would also get called away from those he was called to so God could minister and equip him to serve and lead to very people he was called to. I love this passage.

“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘come up to me on the mountain and be there; and I will give you tablets of stone, and the law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them.’” (Exodus 24:12 NKJV emphasis mine)

I love that “be there” because of the simple implications that comes with that. Don’t be with the Israelites. Don’t be back in Egypt. Don’t be with other people or at other places that you may prefer. No. Be there, on the mountain, with God. So good. I realized that God was calling me away from Portland, where I believe I’m called to be and the people I’m called to in order to experience Jesus in a new and beautiful way. And that is really my heart for the trip. To be in Nicaragua, to love on the girls, to get in closer community with my fellow peers that will be on the team, and to experience Jesus in a new and empowering way in order to be a better servant of love in Portland.

By the time I realized that it was time to get more info on the trip because I didn’t know all that much, it was the last day before the deadline. I wasn’t able to get all the information, but I decided to act out of faith and I applied to be on the team with 32 seconds before the cutoff. Talk about perfect timing.

 All that to say, I need prayer. For me, the team, and the girls we will love on in Nicaragua.

Thank you so much for reading this! It means the world to me! :)

 With Love,

Evan Winnett

Here is the scoop with where I will be and the beautiful work happening in Nicaragua:

La Villa Esperanza is a home for at-risk, adolescent girls in Managua, Nicaragua. These girls face the threats of hunger, emotional distress, and sexual attack. By providing for these girls emotionally, spiritually, physically, and relationally, La Villa provides an opportunity for young women to break the cycle of generational poverty that they are often born into. 

Hear The Cry partners with Forward Edge International who sends dozens of short-term mission teams to Managua every year. While the foundation of these trips are the girls at La Villa, each day while the girls are at schools the teams will go throughout the city on work projects. The hope for the Villa is not just that Jesus would radically impact these girls lives, but that He would also impact the girl’s families, the workers at La Villa, and the surrounding communities. Our teams get a chance to help make that impact by working alongside La Villa’s workers, spending time with the girls daily, and serving where there’s a need in Managua. 

Trip Cost: $2,100