When I was just twenty-eight years old, I was diagnosed with cancer and given no hope. What I thought would be my end was just the beginning of a journey laden with miracles that took me far from my home in Tennessee. From Nicaragua: Principles for Life and Mission chronicles that journey. It is a story that begins with a love that God gave me for a place I had never been and for a people I did not know. With nothing more than that love, I purposed in my heart to go to Nicaragua to stand with its people in their struggle to make a better life for themselves. Following that commitment, God made provision for the planting of a ministry there that has changed tens of thousands of lives, including mine. For me, a special part of that divine provision proceeded from a miraculous reunion with my Central American family whose patriarch, Col. John Alexander Downing, traveled to Nicaragua in 1866 with a fellow Missourian who later became renowned as one of Americas most famous literary icons. Embedded in this extraordinary story of God events are principles for your life and mission. La base sobre la cual se han fundamentado cada una de las palabras contenidas en las pginas de este libro provienen de mi amor y admiracin por el pueblo de Nicaragua. Los nicaragensesson gente muy orgullosa y patritica con una rica herencia cultural. Dndole un gran valor a sus relaciones afectivas, son gente muy cariosa y amable. Habiendo soportado muchos desastres naturales, disturbios polticos, guerras civiles y colapso econmico, los nicaragenseshan demostrado ser muy fuertes, siempre llenos de esperanza. De esta maravillosa gente he aprendido muchas de las mas valiosas lecciones de la vida.