Hello everyone,

I know it has been a little while since my last post. I apologize for not being better about getting updates out to you all. It’s hard to remember that a whole world of people out there exist when you get so caught up in ministry that’s going on around you all day every day.

The past few weeks have been great.

Me and Kelly at Mombacho

In the first few days of February Jim Bob got back from his time in Africa and the states, bringing along with him two other team members Lisa and Lindsay. We’ve been adjusting to our now 8 person team and getting to know each other a lot. Lisa, in her mid-twenties, came here on the World Race back in the Summer of 2008 and fell in love with the ministry here. She made the decision to come back and stay here long term, at least a year, but most likely longer. She is a teacher, and has an amazing gift with working with our youth here. Lindsay, 21, is from Charlotte, NC. She graduated from Campbell University in December, and is here with us for 6 months. Back in August 2009, Jim Bob spoke at a youth event in Indian Trail, NC, and she was there (so was I). Neither of us met her. She hadn’t met anyone involved in the mission prior to moving here for 6 months. She is a great girl with a huge heart for the Lord and an eagerness to know and serve him.

Kelly has connected well with all the girls, which has been great to see. I joke that her and Lindsay were separated at birth because they are so much alike both in their personality and appearance.

Having Jim Bob back here has been a breath of fresh air, not only for the mission, but especially for me personally. Since he’s moved here, he has spent more time with me than any other person (Summer 09 and now), and we’ve gotten really close. We both cut up and annoy the girls with our sarcastic humor, which they say they hate, but we know they wouldn’t know how to function without it. (Okay, maybe that’s a stretch…) I’d almost forgotten what it was like to have him around, mainly because he was away for the majority of our time here so far, but it has been great to reconnect with him. I’m sure we’ll continue to be great friends for years to come and annoy everyone around us with our sarcasm.

Steve and Kelly

Other than our long term team members, we’ve had some short term visitors as well. Steve and Kelly Thrift have spent most of February with us. They’re from a town called Willits in northern California, where Steve is a pastor at Agape Bible Church. Steve and Kelly began to feel a burden for Nicaragua, for whatever reason (God, duh), about 1.5-2 years ago. They’ve been praying for God’s direction on where to go. They looked up lots of ministries, but nothing seemed to click. Sooner or later, they came across the New Song website and instantly knew this was where God wanted to send them. They couldn’t have been more correct. They had such an impact on each and every one of our team members, and were such a blessing to all of us. It was so awesome to see God’s plan unfold in their being here with us.

Kelly and I both were sick earlier this week, which was quite an experience. On my extended stay in the summer of 2009 I had a serious ear infection for a few weeks, which was irritating and painful, but the 24hr stomach bug we seemed to have this time was a whole different rodeo. We were up getting sick for most of the night one night, and the following day we were extremely fatigued and exhausted. We recovered within 24hrs almost back to normal, and after a few days we got our appetites back. We weren’t sure of the cause, but we were surely glad to get through it.

Unfortunately we are still without power on the church property, where we live, in Candelaria. It has been a month now, and we’re currently using a small generator to power lights and fans (and computers ) at night so we can sleep comfortably. We’ve been blessed with some promising connections over the past week that we’re praying will lead to a solution soon. Please keep this in your prayers, as this is the biggest challenge our ministry is facing right now.

Linda just returned from a short trip to the states where an organization paid her way to have her come and be educated on how a bigger organization is run. She’s returneed to us full of ideas, so I am pretty excited to see what we can do. I’m also planning to revamp the entire website for New Song over my remaining time here, adding pictures and videos to make it more interactive, which should keep me pretty busy!

I think God has a lot more in store for us. Hard to believe our trip is already halfway over.

Until Next time,

Evan “Oso” Dixon

PS: Stay tuned for more information regarding a HUGE stateside project i’m planning to do when we return. For a teaser, check out this facebook event (if you have facebook): http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=297694357069

Not surprisingly, our first month here has been awesome. We’ve endured a lot over the past few weeks, but it truly feels like the Lord has been with us all the way, giving us no more than we can handle.

It’s hard to believe I just typed that, because to be completely honest, the past few days have felt like more than I could handle, but looking back, it wasn’t so bad. Our power went out during Saturday evening service on the 16th, and only returned for a short 1/2 day on the 23rd, just long enough to get us excited! We’ve talked about, as a team, how we know people are around the world without power everyday, that haven’t ever lived a day with that kind of luxury. Unfortunately, everything about our operation is centered around actually having electricity. That’s a little different than knowing you’re headed somewhere a little more indigenous. Our walls are made of concrete, roofs of tin, no insulation or protection from the heat.

We’ve been running a generator, which with gas at over $1 per metric liter, a little less than $4 per gallon, it has been costly. The story is, a transformer blew that runs our section of the village while someone was trying to illegally connect to it. The energy company is now saying they will not fix the problem until 80% of what their owed in unpaid electricity consumption is paid. That could take an eternity, or quite frankly, never even happened, so we’ve been working on other options. We’d really like to have solar power here, because it is sunny almost all the time and would help us be less dependent on the undependable system here. We’ve been in contact with a few people in the field, but don’t have any promising leads just yet. The problem with solar is that it is very expensive, not only to capture energy from the sun, but also to store it for when the sun isn’t shining (in batteries). This means costs (in the US) of about $10 per watt for the system. For a system equivalent to the power of our small generator, which produces 2400 watts, we would spend $24,000 in equipment. Our entire mission operates on just a few thousand dollars per month, so that would be nearly impossible, without someone wanting to use us as a test community for research (which we would GLADLY participate in!).

So, with all that said, our current plan is to commission the energy company, Enitel, to run our own private line to the church property, ensuring we have ample and stable power to our facility. This could be a long and costly process. Not only will it cost us up front for the equipment, but if this happens, our property will be metered (which it is not currently) meaning we’ll pay for every milliwatt of energy we use. Prices are ridiculous here, mainly because so few people actually pay for their power. We currently only pay the monthly minimum to the energy company because in over 6 years they’ve yet to put a meter on our property.

Electricity, to be honest, hasn’t hurt us that bad. For me, its made me really realize how dependent I am on it. I really wish I didn’t care. I wish I could sleep comfortably in 85 degrees, but I am just not programmed that way. Even the people in the village wonder how we sleep, which I guess is some bit of reassurance that I’m not completely nuts.

We’ve had much more happening. We’ve seen a lot of progress in our youth over the past few weeks. We’ve had a lot of issues with respect, which through God’s awesome power, most of which have been resolved. Jacob and I taught the youth bible study this Wednesday and I took my portion from a book I just finished called Who Stole My Church. The book is about a church going through the pains many churches, including mine back home, are enduring with trying to appeal to the generation of the 21st century. It says nothing about any third world country such as Nicaragua, but it was amazing how some of the same concepts apply. I taught on how, as a group, we have a choice about what kind of group we are. We can be the way God wants, or the way the enemy wants. We really felt like the kids connected, and though our service was help outside, in the dark, lit only by a Makita worklight, we thought it was a great sucess.

Just before our power went out, God sent us a man named Don. Don is from Oregon, and attended a church who’s pastor now lives here in Nicaragua, and he came down here to work with him. Don is a water purification expert, and it is amazing how God sent him to help us. After finishing with his planned projects, he came out to our property and installed the leftover filtration systems he had on all of our drinking water sources in the house and clinic. Now we don’t have to go buy water! We can actually drink straight from the tap! Something you take for granted, I know. Here we spend hundreds of dollars a year on purified water for drinking, but no longer!

Kelly and I have done especially well so far, together, on this trip. We’re in an environment pretty different from what we’re accustomed to, and with each other almost every waking hour. This could have been a death sentence for our relationship, but we really have grown closer and thrived more than ever. I am especially thankful for that. It’s a great feeling knowing we’ve made it a month, not only without killing each other, but enjoying one another, and thriving in our relationship and mission field together. It is great to feel more and more everyday that God truly has called us here for a purpose, both individually, and together, and that we’re both ready and willing to fulfill it. Life as missionaries will be a part of our future, and I am so glad we’ve been able to have this experience to know that we are cool with that, and excited about it! Throughout our time here we’ve both talked seriously about doing this more long term someday, and without this experience, we may never have known that or been open to it.

Tommy is back from the states, and Jim Bob, along with 2 other girls who will be serving with us long term, fly in tomorrow, weather permitting. We’re excited to have our whole FAMILY together.

We’ve met so many awesome people and been through so much this month we can do nothing but truly thank God.

Thank you for reading along, and I hope to share more with you again soon.

Evan “Oso” Dixon
Missionary to…wherever I am!
His will. His way. All for His kingdom.
evan@evandixon.com
704.765.1956 - office/international

The past two days have changed my life…

Linda brought back a team of 5 Americans from the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry in Redding, California, who helped put on the conference Linda attended in Granada. They got there just i time for dinner - i’d cooked chicken Parmesan. We sat there at dinner introducing ourselves and kidding around a bit, and honestly I thought they were just what I would call “normal” Christians. They all seemed like people we would hang out with back home. After dinner, we started our weekly youth event, which they had planned to head up. That’s when things changed.

When I heard them say they were from a school of “Supernatural Ministry”, I have to admit, it did make me think a little bit, but I didn’t give it much thought because they all seemed so cool. As it turns out, they were a group that had been trained for 2 years on prophecy and healing. If you’re reading this from back home, maybe a member of my church, you know those are a few things we don’t discuss or practice too often. So they hit the ground running in our youth service, wasting no time. They started taking turns prophesying over individuals in the group, having each one stand up as they had “words” for them

I had gotten a taste of this sort of thing twice before.

First, back this summer, when I was here living in Nicaragua, and the World Race team was here. We did an activity where we drew names from a hat, and asked God to give us somethiing for that person (without looking at the name), which we were to draw on a peice of paper. It could be anything. I had my doubts. For some reason I felt like i needed to draw a rainbow, which I know sounds kinda queer, but nevertheless, I drew it. I remember giving it to Warren, one of the guys on the team, and finding out it was significant to him, because he had an obsession with skittles (which if you don’t know, use the slogan,”Skittles: taste the rainbow”).

The second time was with the Living Water group that just came from Boone, NC. They continually discussed having “prophetic words” for people, but not to the point where it made me feel wierd. They all just seemed really in tune with the Holy Spirit.

So this was only the third time i’d encountered this sort of thing. These guys were radicals. To be completely honest, at first, I had serious doubts. Things they were saying seemed to be really strange and ambiguous. Then, their “words” started getting more detailed and direct. Then, something happened. A member of their team, Jason, was giving a word to one of the youth. I was paying about 50% attention at this point. I remember the girl had a yellow shirt. I was holding Kelly’s hand, and I looked down at it. Jason started to talk about this form of horseback riding where the rider shows almost no motion to the crowd as he has the horse perform very specific and intricate movements. He said the way it worked was the rider was giving very minute instructions to the horse through light amounts of pressure in his legs. He was that close and familiar with this horse that he could control it so subtly. and this was how he saw her relationship with God being. Sounds pretty weird, huh? Well, in that same moment, Kelly gasps, and says,”Look!!!”

She shows me the ring she’s wearing on her hand, which I was sitting there holding and looking at. It was a horse ring.

This was a sign from God for both of us that he wanted us to pay attention.

We continued listening, much more intently, as the service progressed. Jason ending up giving us a word later on, telling us, as a couple, that he felt like God was saying we make a great team, and that each of our gifts combined made us wonderful for each other. Later, Kelly mentioned she felt led to give the ring to the girl, which after a little encouragement, she did, and it was amazing to see her and her friends reaction.

The service lasted long into the night, past 11 o’clock, which is normally unheard of because kids just don’t stay out that late in our village. I drove several people home and got home pretty late, going to bed not too long afterward.

The following day, the group started the morning off holding another service to minister to the pastors. I wasn’t able to participate for long because we were out of water and didn’t have enough food for lunch for the 18 people that were to eat lunch that day.

That afternoon, we had a chance to meet with the team, right before they left. They were supposed to leave at 4:00pm to head in to Leon, and wanted some question and answer time with us. They shared stories of prophecy and healing that God had done through each of them. I got the courage to share what was on my heart with the team. I explained my background, that in the past I’d always gone to church, believed in Jesus, done the right thing, but that last summer here in Nica I realized I had gotten really good at just going through the motions. I told them I was frustrated with my life and the kind of church we have in America - not our specific church, IHBC, but the “church” as a whole. I explained how recently I felt like God had laid on my heart that he wanted me out of my comfort zone, and wanted to show me that he isn’t the weak, powerless, useless God our American church teaches. We all go to church, and try to do the right thing, but why? I told them about my small experience with prophecy and that my first reaction to their group was a little bit of fear, doubt, and intrigue. Maggie, one of the team members, told me she was right where I was just two years ago. She had a desire to learn more about the real God, and decided to go to this school, where she’d been taught so much about prophecy and healing, and that now, more than ever she truly experiences God and love him more everyday. She did tell me she still experiences doubt, but far less than before. I god prophetic words from Maggie and Sid. I left the meeting feeling understood, unjudged, and relieved. I drove us to Leon and continued to discuss with Maggie the whole way. Her and Ruth commented on what a great attitude I have about everything because I am open to new ideas, but I don’t just accept them

During this same afternoon, Linda went out and healed Paula, a lady of the church, who had been very sick from a serious spider bite. She could hardly move before, and she was up standing on her own by the time she left.

God was doing awesome stuff.

Kelly and I set out for a date night in Leon after dropping the team off in Leon. We went to dinner, and had some time to kill before our movie started around 9:30pm. We decided to get ice cream. We came really close to trying another place, because it was packed, but we decided to go ahead. We sat outside facing the intersection near the park, and as we sat there, we saw Brad, a member of the team!

We walked over and said hello. Their team was doing what they call a “treasure hunt”, where they take 2-3 mins to hear from God who he wants them to go pray for, asking for clues like what they are wearing, names, conditons, and then they seek them out. Right there in front of us, Maggie had found her treasure. She showed us her paper. She had written “Red flowered shirt” and “Maria”, and sure enough, there sat the woman with her husband, named Maria, wearing a red shirt with flowers on it. Her and her husband both got saved just before we walked over. Another person heard God say there would be a couple that was sad because they couldn’t have children, and that the man would be wearing a blue shirt. They found them, literally, no further than 15 feet from where Maggie found Maria.

Kelly and I were astounded. I truly believe God works through what we think are simple coincidences, but this was just too much…the ring, their prophetic words for us, then THIS! It was so eye opening!

Hello Everyone,

This time two weeks ago we were going through airport security in Atlanta to board our flight. It is hard to believe it has only been 2 weeks!

We have been so blessed to be here and witness the Lord do so much. The first part of our trip we worked with a group of about 15-20 college students from Appalachian State that all go to a church called Living Water that Tommy and Linda originally started. This group was full of amazingly gifted and talented individuals - artists, photographers, dancers, actors, singers, instrumentalists, etc. It was amazing to be around such a spirit filled and talented group. Everywhere we went they were on the prow for Christ. It was a great start to our trip. You can see there team reports and pictures at www.harvestequipers.net

We also had the pleasure of spending some time with a small team from our home church, Independence Hill, while they worked in a nearby village, Santa Matilde. They were able to build two swingsets (with 4 swings on each), 4 picnic tables, and 8 benches. This was awesome to see and I am so happy to know that kids will be attracted to come play on our church property there. At the end of their trip, Kelly and I were able to go with them to Granada for a day off. We stayed at a bed and breakfast right on the Lagoon (a lake inside the mouth of a volcano), visited Granada, Monkey Island, and Catarina. Mike, the owner of where we stayed, was on our flight from Fort Lauderdale to Managua two weeks ago, and we sat and talked with him for several hours while we waited on our flight. I thought it was great to reconnect with him and spend some time with the team before they left.

We are currently helping lead a team from Concordia St. Paul in Minnesota who are here to serve as a service team. They have been wonderful to have around, and have done quite a lot. This is the first group i’ve ever had the chance to help lead without Diego here, so that has been interesting. They did a field day with lots of relay races one afternoon, and did a tye-dye event for the youth.

Things are going good, but it is stressful at times trying to make sure everything is taken care of with the finances. In Jim Bob’s absence, Brittany and I are in charge of handling the money, which sounds simple, but because of the nature of New Song as a non profit, we have to be very thorough with records, get reciepts for every penny spent, and be very careful to keep track of everything.

Linda is away this week at a conference in Managua, so it really is our time to shine as a team. Please keep us all in your prayers!

Evan “Oso” Dixon
Missionary to Nicaragua
His will. His way. All for His kingdom.
evan@evandixon.com
704.765.1956 - office/international

PS: Here’s a short slideshow of a few of my photos so far. Click to enlarge:

Hey everyone!

I have so much to share, but I can’t right now. We have had a LONG day, so I’ll keep this short and sweet, with much much more to come. (I left this in here so you would know these were my INITIAL intentions…)

We made it, obviously, but it wasn’t without a speedbump or two. We had a pretty long layover in Fort Lauderdale, not leaving until about 1am (1.5 hrs late). We ran into a guy I knew from Nicaragua, Mike, who owns a house on the Lagoon here, and realized we were on the same flight down. Definitely not a coincidence. Pretty cool.

We landed, got through customs check-in without a hitch, and claimed our bags, made it through without even having to have our bags scanned. That was a huge blessing, because usually, they want to go through them by hand and see what they may want to take out

Brittany, who Kelly and I got to see in the states right after thanksgiving, was there with Yader (a Nicaraguan who works for the mission we’re serving with) to pick us up. They came in a car they had to borrow from one of our translators, which threw me off a little. Tommy had taken a group out to the volcanoe and got the truck stuck on a trail, so they couldn’t use it to come get us. The drive to the village was pretty much a blur because I was so exhausted. We arrived around 5am and went pretty much straight to bed.

The following day I woke up to Kelly, Brittany, and who knows how many kids beating on my door to get up. It was like 11:30am. I stumbled out and immediately ran into lots of people excited to see me. I met a married couple, Josh and Ashley, who’ve been here a week and will be living with us for the duration of our stay. We ate a quick lunch of rice, macaroni and cheese, and chicken, and headed to Chinandega on a flatbed truck to run errands. We had just about the most productive day I’ve ever had in Nicaragua. Jacob and Ashley bought some furniture for their room and 2 bicycles and we bought some building supplies for the house - including 83 2×2s for adding ceilings inside the house. By the time we got back and unloaded everything we were pretty beat. We cooked ourselves some dinner and had a little “family meeting” to try and get some things cleared up before Diego leaves for Kenya next week. Hit the bed pretty hard, and slept well.

Today we met the big group from Living Water from Boone, NC. It’s about 20 kids our age, all really awesome, godly people, filled with the Holy Spirit, and were a joy to be around. Jacob and Ashley are from that church. There was a Sunday School celebration today, where all the kids that come to Sunday School at our church in Candelaria came and got gifts that had been donated (Shoes, Hats, Crayons, Toys, etc). It was awesome to see them all so happy to have a few small things. We had a rice dish for lunch that the cooks always make when we have a big group that is made up of rice, chicken, sausage, carrots, peppers, onions, raisins, and who knows what else. Around 1:30 we started our staff meeting, which consists of all 6 of us living on the property (Deigo, Brittany, Jacob, Ashley, Kelly and I), Tommy and Linda, native Nicaraguans, and translators. Yes, it is a semi-bilingual meeting, and therefore, fairly chaotic to the untrained ear. The mission is a little, ummm, nervous isn’t the right word, but maybe “on edge”, right now. There are a lot of teams coming in and out in the coming weeks, but on top of that, both Tommy and Diego are going to be gone soon for a few weeks. Tommy is needed in Charlotte to help a Pastor and wife of a church he started there that are going through a hard time. We don’t know now how long he’ll be gone, but it could be weeks, and he leaves Thursday night. Diego will be heading out for almost 3 weeks for a mission trip to Kenya. That’s right - leaving one mission field in Nicaragua for another. The fact that Diego handles a LOT of stuff, including almost all the finances, means we have a lot of planning to do to make sure things go smoothly while he’s gone.

After our staff meeting, we loaded up into a few vehicles to go over to the Bloquera, where the big group from Living Water is staying, for dinner and a time of worship with 12 of our youth from Candelaria. The evening was awesome. We had such a wonderful time worshiping God together. The spirit moved in ways i’d never seen before, which was eye-opening.

It’s nearing 2am now, and we’ve been home maybe 2 hours, so I guess I’ll be calling it a night. Music, dance, and sound system classes tomorrow with the group from Living Water, and possibly a New Years Eve celebration.

Pics to come soon, and many more blogs!

Until then,

Evan “Oso” Dixon
Missionary to Nicaragua
His will. His way. All for His kingdom.
evan@evandixon.com
704.765.1956 - office/international

Hello everyone!

Greetings from Fort Lauderdale, Florida! Our first flight has arrived safely, and we’ve got free WiFi! Our flight from here leaves at 11:35PM to Managua, Nicaragua, which lands at 1:15am (local time). We then jump in a truck for a ~3hr drive to the village. We’re not really halfway, I guess, when you put it in those terms.

We started our day around 8am this morning, saying goodbye to family and headed for Atlanta.

The drive went without any issue, that is, until we hit downtown Atlanta. Apparently, the interstate randomly changes names from I-85 to I-75, and then back to I-85. We panicked when it changed, not realizing we were still on the right track, and turned around. We later realized it was just a temporary name change, and got back on track.

We stopped for lunch in Atlanta at the Dwarf House, the original Chic-Fil-A. They served burgers! Blasphemy!

We arrived at the airport just before 3, and were 3rd and 4th in line at the Spirit Airlines counter, which was set to open at 3. The two gentlemen in front of us were Hispanic, and did not understand English real well. As they made it up to the counter to weigh their bags, the attendant made them take some things out in order for them to be under the limited weight of 50 lbs. Kelly and I both knew our bags were a few pounds overweight, but we’d already taken out everything we felt we could do without (and more). We were a bit nervous, to say the least. I knew in the back of my head our bags were about 1-2 inces oversized too. In spite of all that, I told Kelly not to worry and that everything would work out.

“Let me do the talking,” I told her, as we walked up.

I buttered up the lady as much as I could, making small talk, being polite, etc. Even managed to make her smile a few times and chuckle. Anyway, I cringed as I put Kelly’s bag up first. 52.5 lbs… 2.5 lbs over. The lady slapped a tag on it and threw it on. I smiled and sighed with relief. Put my bag up next, still nervous, but a little less. 51.5 lbs. Slapped a tag on it and threw it on the conveyor. She didn’t even seem to glance at the scale. Oh 0 and did I mention she asked US if we wanted exit row seats. YES SIR! Didn’t even have to ask!

God was there. He’s always there. He’s watching over us.I have been continually reminded of that.

As we go forward, I hope to be able to be in tune with God, recognize his presence in my life, and learn what he wants from me.

Thank you for your prayers. We love you all, and truly appreciate your support.

Evan “Oso” Dixon
Missionary to Nicaragua
His will. His way. All for His kingdom.
evan@evandixon.com
704.765.1956 - office/international

I didn’t go to church this morning. It wasn’t out of laziness or because I was running late. For some reason, I wanted to finish reading this book I had just recently started, Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller.

We got to meet Donald Miller at CharlotteONE one night after he spoke as a guest speaker. He spoke about how life compared to a story. One of the central things I took away from it was the concept he explained about conflict. Every good story has a good conflict. Without that, it isn’t much of a story at all. If we look at our lives through that lens, the story lens (this is my terminology), then we realize the conflict in our lives is what makes our lives have value. The struggles. The hardships. The triumphs. The failures. All of these things involve conflict. He made it clear that he thought the best way to live our lives to the fullest is to just step in to the conflict when we have the opportunity. Not tip-toe around it or avoid it. Just walk smack into it, and face it head-on. This doesn’t mean go about it stupidly, or not to think about it and pray about it beforehand. Anyway, it is one of the things he said that i’ve continued to remind myself of whenever a conflict, however small or large, does arise. Anyway, I got to meet him like this: we were walking back from eating at Fuel Pizza after the service downtown, and we saw this huge tour bus. Surely it was his. Melanie, one of our group leaders, was a huge fan, and several of the people with us were fans too and even brought along copies of his books. Everyone was so giddy that it was his bus, but no one wanted to knock on it. Here I come in. I hadn’t even hardly heard of him before that night. I thought to myself, “What’s the worst that can happen? They tell us to back off…whoopdy doo…” So, I knocked on the bus door. Here he comes out, says hello to us, talks to us, takes pictures with us, the works. He invites us ONTO HIS TOUR BUS. It was pretty cool.

So, I met the guy weeks before I ever picked up his book. I’d gotten it from church in 2007. It was a gift they gave to all the graduates that year.

It was so cool reading the book after having met the author. Not only did I have a face to put with these stories, but it made it real. He is actually a person - i’ve shook his hand and talked to him. He isn’t some guy i’d only seen pictures of, or worse, just read on the cover of the book.

So much of his book hit home with me. One of the stories he tells is about a time in his younger years when he lived out in the wilderness with a group of hippies. He get a new outlook on life through that experienced, and later, when he re-entered the “real world”, he found a place where he looked and acted different than everyone else. It wasn’t that he was uncomfortable being that person, the oddball, he actually enjoyed it. It was empowering for him to think of himself as “cultured”. He’d been to the other side, and no one around him had (apparently), and that gave him a sense of pride. I could relate to this, because it’s almost ecactly how I felt returning from Nicaragua. I remeber wearing my Chacos, about 15 bracelets, and a bandana on my head on the airplane home thinking about how different I would look when I got home. I had this beard, i’d lost about 40 lbs, and my mentality was 180 degrees different. Okay, maybe only 170 degrees, but you get the picture. I had a sense of pride about where I was spiritually, what i’d seen and how i’d changed. Pride is sinful. How ironic. The attitude faded as a re-immersed in US culture, but it hit me pretty hard when he told his similar story.

Miller describes how he felt about these people and later came to a realization about the disregard he felt for them. Basically, we are to love. This is what Christ did. When someone spoke to them, he cared about what they were saying, and it showed. People can tell when you care or don’t care about them when they are talking to you. It’s a subliminal message, but we can control it. When you send the signal that you DO care about the words coming out of that person’s mouth, and that you care about THEM too, they are much more likely to be open when you at some point talk about your faith to them. If you don’t, they won’t be receptive.

I could write on and on about things I can relate to from this book, but this is one that really stood out. I need to learn to love everyone, and show it.

Evan “Oso” Dixon
Missionary to Nicaragua
His will. His way. All for His kingdom.
evan@evandixon.com
704.765.1956 - office/international

That’s right, only 9 days.

The challenging part about knowing you’re about to leave to be a missionary in a foreign country, for me, is different than you’d think. Not the language. Not being away from friends and family and Wal-Mart. Not the money. Not food. Not the weather. Not traveling. Not safety. Yes, all of that does concern me, but the most challenging part is realizing my life doesn’t begin as a missionary in 9 days. It should be constant. You’ve probably heard of people say we need to be missionaries in our own backyard. It’s true. You shouldn’t have to travel out of your city, or neighborhood for that matter, to serve others and share the gospel. Ever since I knew I was going back to Nicaragua, this has been in the back of my mind.

I remember when my 11 weeks in Nicaragua were wrapping up in July 2009, earlier this year, I was afraid of coming home. First, I was afraid. So many things had changed for me, and I didn’t know what life was supposed to look like. Second, I was….afraid, again. Afraid that I’d lose everything i’d “attained” over those weeks there. The closeness to God, mainly. Third, I had no idea what i was supposed to DO. I didn’t feel like I had anything to come home to, anything to give me a sense of purpose.

God answered all of those fears. I came home, and things just fell in to place. He provided a thriving college ministry at our church, Momentum, that continued to help me grow spiritually. He worked miracles in my life. He healed broken relationships, and cultivated new ones. My closeness to Him taught me to listen and see God in the things I never notices before, the ordinary. He worked freakin’ miracles!

I found a sense of purpose, in photography, that I never had before, and discovered that it really is something God has gifted me with, and something I can use to glorify him. (gallery here)

God told me to go back to Nicaragua before I ever left. I know that. Things I didn’t know were: he was gonna send Kelly, too, we’d be joining a bigger team there, not returning to what we left, and that he was gonna work freakin’ miracles.

I started raising support as soon as I could. Thinking originally that I would be in Nicaragua until August, I thought I should get monthly sponsors. Since then, God has blessed me with almost 30 monthly sponsors, and countless one-time contributors. Not only did he bless me with sponsors and contributions, but provided for my basic needs as well.

I came home feeling like God was leading me away from the life I had been leading before I left, and part of that, I felt, was not going back to my old job. Well, it wasn’t really available to me when I got home, so that made it real easy. I relied on God more than I ever had without that. He sent me job after job fixing computers and taking pictures. It wasn’t anywhere near what I was used to making, but I never went without. I truly believe God used that to show me that he really would care for me if I was obedient to Him.

We had a “Going away Fiesta” / Fundraiser on December 3, 2009, and God used it to bless us even more. We were astounded with how many people showed up to support us, and how God used them to support us. Seeing that many people show up, for the sole purpose of supporting YOU, is a huge thing. It’s one thing to know the God of the universe loves you, but that is so hard to comprehend. When you actually SEE a gym full of people that love and support you, it is so impactful. A company donated almost 800 cookies, Chic-fil-a donated condiments and tea, Burger King sold us burgers and hamburger buns at wholesale, and Harris Teeter donated hot dog buns and lemonade. We only paid full price for the hotdogs and the chips. We raised over $900 profit that night. I remember laying in bed that night in amazement at what God had done for us.

If you’re reading this, you’re a part of all of this, which makes you legally bound to continue and read my blog. It’s true. It’’s in the constitution. Okay, not really, nut don’t you want to?!?! Sure you do.

I’ll keep you posted. He’s gonna do great things. Just watch.

Evan “Oso” Dixon
Missionary to Nicaragua
His will. His way. All for His kingdom.
evan@evandixon.com
704.765.1956 - office/international

Hello everyone,

Kelly and I having a going away “fiesta” on December 3, 2009. We wanted a chance to get everyone together before we leave, so this is it! Come, have a good time, hang out with us, and hear about our plans. Meal will be hotdogs and hamburgers, and donations for the meal are optional.

Hope to see you there!

If you plan to come, please let one of us know, or RSVP on the facebook event here: facebook.com/event.php?eid=177050363106&ref=mf

..::Details::.

Date: Thursday, December 3, 2009
Time: 6-9pm
Location: Independence Hill Baptist Church, 10220 Eastfield Rd., Huntersville, NC 28078
Dress code: Shoes and Shirt required.