A really really cool God Story

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. - Jeremiah 29:11 

I thought I'd take some time and tell you a little bit about what God has been doing in our lives as far as Caleb's job goes. When we were in Nicaragua and had made the decision to come back to the States after our commitment was up, Caleb had said many times that he wasn't going to farm, he wanted to try something different. He actually had A LOT of job opportunities when we came back, what a blessing. One of his friends works for this trash hauling company in Elkhart and he thought that sounded like a good opportunity for him. We get back to the States, and even more opportunities came up, but he didn't feel like that's what God had for him, and was pretty set on working for this trash hauling company. So, he goes and puts an application in, he met the owner and some other top dogs (I guess that doesn’t usually happen) and they loved all his abilities and told him he was pretty much hired and that he just needed to do the drug test and background check. They gave him a start date on when to come in and everything, this all happened on a Monday. 

The next day, Tuesday, I went to Grief Share with my dad and sister. I was so close to not going, but I knew that it helped my family SO much when they all went after Kody died, and I figured it would help me with my grief. So I went and during that time my dad introduced me and said I was the one that was in Nicaragua with my husband, Caleb, and we recently returned back to the States. At that point it was only a week that we were back. So after the video, Stan, the leader for that evening, came up to me and just asked questions about what we did there in Nicaragua and we talked for a bit. After the meeting was over, Stan came over to my dad and asked for Caleb's number, he said he wants to talk to him because he’s going to hire him…my dad was like umm, you've never met this guy before! So, we get home, and dad tells Caleb about it, and Caleb's like "oh, he probably won't call". Well, 7am rolls around the next morning, Wednesday, and Caleb answers. Stan pretty much just asked if he'd be willing to come down and see what Stan has to offer and talk to him. So Caleb get's off the phone and tells me about it, and asks if we had anything going that day. I said no, so he's like well maybe I'll go, just to see what he has to offer and I said, ok sounds good. So he calls Stan back and says he'll be on his way in 10 minutes. Caleb pretty much spent the whole day talking to Stan, comes back and tells me this CRAZY idea that they have for Caleb, he would work for 1 year to see if this is what God has for us, and if so, continue on working for 10 years, and possibly take over the farm. Stan said that they've been praying for someone like Caleb for 4 years, WOW!!!! That's just been something that throughout this whole process has just wowed me. Their faithfulness in praying for FOUR years. So Caleb said that Stan would like me to come down the following day and see the house we'd live in and the farms, and talk and ask questions. So, we both went down Thursday and again, marveled at how good God is and answering their prayers. They both made it super clear that they wanted us to be in the center of God's Will and that if this wasn't going to work out, it was OK. Stan told us that he had been having some issues with his hand and that they were going the following week to get it checked out and hopefully they'll know what's going on. So we visited for a few hours, checked out the farm house we'd live in and talked more details about what the future could look like. So we said we'd continue to pray about and we left.

 Friday comes around and Caleb woke up and felt at peace with this farming thing so he called the trash hauling company and told them that he has another opportunity that he feels he's suppose to do. Of course they were disappointed but told him if it didn't work out that he would have a job waiting for him. So after he gets off the phone with them he calls Stan to tell him he'll accept the farming job and he was to start work on Wednesday of the following week. Stan called Caleb over the weekend to see if he would wait to start until Thursday because Stan had a Doctor appointment about his hand. So Wednesday rolls around and Caleb and I had just finished lunch with a friend and her little boy and Stan calls Caleb, and I could see that something was wrong because Caleb's face totally changed and so he gets off the phone and tells me that Stan just found out he has ALS. He said it was a hard phone call and a lot of things are going to look different now. Which is totally understandable. So, Caleb goes to work on Thursday, processing things with Stan and what things might look like now. Stan decided to take his family on a big family vacation for two weeks…WHO leaves their entire farm to a stranger??? Stan has said many times how it feels like we've known each other for years, it's amazing how God has worked this all out thus far. 

So Stan and his family left for California on a Friday afternoon, and Caleb started harvest the following Tuesday. I was so worried that Caleb would be stressed about everything, and I asked him about it, and he's like "nope, I'm living in peace"....WOW, God is SO good. God gave Caleb so much strength and peace during this whole thing, I know I would have went insane if it was me. But yeah, Caleb did an awesome job. So Stan's are gone for 2 weeks, they come back, and Stan has been busy spending time with family and friends, figuring out things to make sure his family is taken care of when he's gone. I'm amazed every time I see Stan, he doesn't look like a dying man, he looks like a man full of peace and wants to make the best of what life he has left. So Caleb has been working for Stan since September and he loves it. We're excited to see what all God has for us, and also our hearts are broken at the circumstances, but we know that God brought us together for a reason, and He will continue to show Himself strong. 


We love Stan & Alvera and are so honored and blessed to be apart of their farm and family, it feels like we've known them for forever. Two of the younger boys have spent a lot of time with Caleb and it's so fun to watch him with them.  


Please pray for Stan, Alvera and their children during this difficult time. Pray that God would wrap His loving arms around them all, and that God would give them all the strength and peace they need.

|| Life in the USA 2015 ||

Trusting God!!!!!

 Greetings from the Fletcher's. It's been a while since we did a blog update. A lot has happened since April. We had our busy Summer of teams, it was craziness, but really amazing too. God definitely showed up in the lives of the people that came through SI Nicaragua. It's always a Joy to see lives transformed into the likeness of Christ, ( that's the Vision) watching someone come through those doors, and watching them walk out, changed, it's awesome!!!!! God is so good. 
  
Summer teams came and went, Caleb and I were busy preparing to head back to the States, along with fulfilling our other tasks, and teaching others about how to do the things we did. It was definitely a busy Summer, I was doing Media solo, last Summer I had an amazing intern to help me. So this Summer looked a lot differently, a lot of times I felt overwhelmed, but God always took care of me. Towards the end, I had Miah Mattson help me, which was a big blessing, it was fun hanging out with her and teaching her a few things, she's such a sweet girl and I know that she'll do great at whatever she does. Her family moved to Nicaragua in April of this year, it was so fun to watch their family in their Journey. The first year Caleb and I helped with teams, Spencer and Michelle Mattson came with their church, and the following year, they came with their family, and the following year, they moved to Nicaragua, it's been a crazy journey for them, and we were so blessed to be able to spend time with them and got to know them better before we headed back to the States. We're excited to see what God has in store for them. 

Miah & I out getting footage. 

After Summer teams were over, we had a week of Vacation, it was good. We got to spend a couple days at the Beach in San Juan del Sur with Austin & Jill Hofsommer. It was very nice just spending time with them, talking about God and all the things that happened in our lives during this journey of life in Nicaragua, it was a good "ending" time and we were glad we got to spend it with them. 


The last week that we were in Nicaragua, we packed up our house and we moved into the base. It was kinda neat because when we first moved to Nicaragua, that's where it all started, living at the base, we did that for a little over a year. And than we moved into our own little house about 5 minutes away. So we ended where we started :) The last weekend we were there, all our staff and their families went to the Young Life Camp in Northern Nicaragua for a couple days. Paul Jorgenson from Minnesota talked about the Armor of God, it was a powerful weekend. 

We got back Sunday night, and Monday & Tuesday were just filled with getting last minute projects done, spending time with our SI family, packing, meeting the new Fall Semester students, packing, eating at our favorite place, packing, saying goodbyes, did I mention packing? Hahaha, we did a lot of re organizing since we packed up our house and threw stuff into suitcases and than re did a lot of it once we get back from the Staff Retreat. We were able to bring pretty much everything we wanted, in the end I got rid of some clothes, but that's pretty much it. We came back with 5 suitcases, 2 carry-on's, backpack and a large oversized purse :) Everything went well, all our bags made it safe and sound, two pieces of my Pottery broke, I was pretty bummed about that, but my mom came up with a really cool idea on how to use them. 

It's been two weeks of being back in the States. The first week was pretty rough, the first couple days were really hard. I dealt with lots of anxiety, feeling like we needed to see all our friends, get things done, get things to take back to Nicaragua, and realizing, we weren't going back, this is home now, it was really hard to switch that mind set, because before, it was always that way, we need to do this or we need to do that before we go back to Nicaragua. 

It's a lot better now, I definitely don't feel that way anymore, it's still a work n progress on actually believing that we're here to stay. Getting used to the American way of living, while keeping everything we learned and everything that's changed in us, it's definitely hard and we are fighting to stay the people we've become, to stay connected with God on the levels we've connected with Him, you definitely learn to lean on Him, and not others when your living in another Country, and the only thing you have some days is Him. We don't want the ways of this world to change us, just because we moved back to the States, doesn't mean we're going to be the people we used to be, NO. We are going to be the people that we've become over the past two and a half years, some days it might feel easier to just be the old people, but that's not our desire. We want to be a light for Jesus and serve others. 

We've been living with my parents and are so grateful for their willingness to let us stay with them. <3 

It's been good to be around family and friends, we've had a lot of fun seeing people and what not. This past weekend we went camping with my family and some church family, that was fun. Here's some pictures from that weekend....

Caleb doing what he LOVES when we go camping. So tasty.

Galen, Caleb and dad husking the corn for the big pot boil

Mom did a great job, everything tasted so GOOD.

JOY in my heart <3

It aint' camping if you ain't playing Phase Ten.

When we left Nicaragua, I left a lot of little pieces of my heart there. It was really hard to leave my kiddos who I connected with over the past two and a half years. So this past weekend, I was able to connect with some special kiddos and just love on them, it did my heart good <3

On August 26th when we arrived in Atlanta, I was sitting on the floor charging my phone when Caleb said "hey babe, I think those are Duck Dynasty people". I was like pssshh whatever, so I get up and sure enough, Miss Sadie Robertson, and her mother Korie in the airport getting some coffee, so I jumped up and walked over to them with my heart pounding, and asked if I could get a picture with them. Of course they said yes, so Korie took a picture of me and Sadie, they are sweet people.

Miss Sadie and I at the Atlanta airport :) 

So, we landed in South Bend a little before 5pm. My parents, sisters, grandma, aunt and uncle were there to greet us. Grabbed our luggage and headed for home. We had a supper and some more family showed up, it was nice <3 

WOOHOO!!!! <3

Some of the Fletcher's stopped in to see us on their way back from northern MI. So that was fun to see them.

Family time

 We just want to say thank you to all our family and friends who have supported us, financially, prayers, love, ect, since this Journey started back in 2010, when we said "yes". We are excited to see what God has for us in this next phase of life. Please continue to pray for us, during these next coming months as we continue to figure out a new normal and start our new lives here in the USA!!!! <3 

I started a new Journal for this new Journey we're on, excited to see what God has in store of us <3 Trusting Him!

Our first Sunday back, Lisa Smith asked me if I'd be willing to share about 20 minutes at the Woman to Woman event on Monday night. I was NERVOUS and to be honest, my brain was like "HECK NO", I don't like speaking in front of people, but I said yes. So all day Monday I was preparing and reading my Journals, it was good to just remember all the good times, and hard times and see how God worked. Monday night came, and I wasn't really nervous when I got there, I had a peace, so I was thankful for that. We sang two songs, and than it was my turn, it went really good and I was glad I did it <3 I guess I spoke for 40 minutes, LOL. And here I was worried about the whole 20 minutes, I was thinking, oh maybe 10 minutes, hahaha!!!! Good one!!! :) 

Photo credit goes to Malyn. Thanks girl.

When I walked in, there was only a couple ladies, so I was like "ok Krista, you can do this". Than when I got up in front of everyone, somehow the crowd got bigger :)

Pray for Caleb, today is his first day working at his new job. He's excited and nervous all at the same time. Pray for protection, strength, guidance, wisdom <3 He'll be farming with a guy from Goshen.

                                                            God Bless you all <3 With mucho Love
                                                                            The Fletcher's.

My God Encounter!!

Been thinking a lot about even blogging this just because, I don't know why.....Wonder what people will think or do or say.....But lately, I've just felt super strongly that I need to get this done.....So, here it goes.

I'm sure a lot of you have already read my other blog I posted on January 13th entitled "From my heart to yours". Pretty much everything I felt from my cousins death to a lot of other things that happened in the month of December.

Since then, a lot of other things have happened, some good, some bad, some ugly, some down right awful, things I wish never happened, but because of where I was in that point of my life, it did. Have I learned a lot? Yup, sure have. Buckle your seatbelt, it's about to get real.

Since posting that blog, I really thought I was "OK"......I kept telling myself I was, but in my heart I knew I wasn't. Lots of fears pouring over me, feelings of never wanting children because of watching my aunt Naomi mourn over this precious child who was killed, or one of my friends losing their daughter at birth....Just soooo many thoughts of something bad happening if we ever decided to have children. The devil used dreams to put more fear into my head. One of my worst fears is getting a phone call saying that one of my family members was killed, and in two months time, I had 4 dreams that 4 of my family members died, and the most recent dream I had was that we had twin boys and one of them died suddenly. I know that when we focus on things, a lot of times we have dreams about it, and I know that's what I was focusing on and I also know that the devil was abusing it, a lot. I was able to talk to some other people about what I was experiencing with my dreams and got a lot of encouragement. I tried really hard not to be afraid, but something inside wouldn't allow me to fully get over it.

Since January, I started becoming more and more angry, bitter, upset, unhappy, not really taking charge and getting into the word of God. I wasn't ready, I wasn't ready to talk to God. I was hurt, broken, shattered, and at that moment I felt like He didn't care. But boy was I wrong. He would do little things to show me that He loved me, even if I was angry and bitter, even if I didn't read my Bible everyday, even if I screamed at Him because I was so MAD at Him. I spent many, many nights crying, bawling at our kitchen table because I didn't understand WHY Kody died......WHY my family? WHY did Kody die? Things I asked many, many times, feeling like I never got an answer, feeling alone in this journey of grief. Feeling hopeless, feeling empty. I remember being reminded by certain people to just dig into the Word of God, but honestly, I didn't want to because I was still so angry at Him. Someone told me to listen to worship music, and some days I did, and it felt somewhat good. Other days I'd just listen to sappy Country music, or other junk I never listen too, but i was angry, so I didn't care how it made me feel.

This part I'm not proud of, I hate it so much, but I also know that I need to be honest because I feel so strongly about this. There were lots of times I'd take my anger out on Caleb, say a lot of things that really hurt him, words I can never take back. Times I wished I wasn't even married because life just seemed so much better like that, he doesn't understand me, he never will. He doesn't care, if he did, he wouldn't be saying those things. If he really cared, he would say this or do that, but he didn't, so that means he doesn't care at all. ((sidenote, I look back now and realize that I'm learning things even to this day, it's Ok to have bad days, and when our loved one is having a bad day, we need to love on them, not fight back, give them space, give them encouragement *at the right time*, then talk about it)). I also know that this whole grief process is soooo different for each of us, no person grieves the same, some can move on faster then others, while for some of us, it takes weeks, months and even years. And you know what, that's OK. NO ONE can tell you how fast or slow to take this process, you do it in your own time.

There were days when I'd get my devotional out, just to read it, to see if there was even anything in there to "help" me get through the day, or to even see if God really cared. HA! He did, because every time I opened it, something always made me feel like God cared, He really loves me, so why don't I just quit feeling this way, and get over these feelings of fear and just say "OK GOD, I TRUST YOU, TAKE IT ALL????"....But then right away my head went to "NO, I cannot say, ok God, I trust you". Because if I did that, what if something bad happened, what if I say that and then I get pregnant and have another miscarriage, or something bad happens to our child when he/she is older, or what if something happens to a family member or a close friend....I just can't, I'm not ready. My heart wants to, so bad, but there's still just so much fear. I can't do this. So then I'd just keep being angry, bitter, sad, mad, angry at the world for whatever reason it was that made me mad that certain day. Anything set me off, crazy drivers on the road, the way people would look at me, everything. It was ridiculous because I would let "that" ruin my day and then I'd come home a grouchy mess. And then Caleb would say 'what's wrong babe?" and of course I'd say "it doesn't matter, you don't care anyways".....Jeez Krista!

For months I was back and forth, back and forth. I had a lot of people sending me messages, saying they're praying for me, or just even thinking about me, it really, really meant a lot to me. My friends here would say encouraging things, tell me that they were here for me if I ever wanted/needed to talk. I'd take them up on their offer, and it felt good to just "talk it out". I had been talking to Maggie Slabach a couple different times during this process of grief and about being back in Nicaragua. She always, always encouraged me, and I always felt better coming out of our talks.

There were times that I felt like I was going to be able to say "ok God, I'm ready, here I am, I give you everything", but then I'd get distracted and say maybe next time, maybe the next time I open my Bible something will stick out to me and that'll be it. But it didn't happen, something almost always came up or I just decided I still wasn't ready....

A couple weeks before Easter, I told Maggie that I wanted to talk to her, let her know what was going on with me and just really searching for some answers. It didn't work out for our schedules and they left for Costa Rica for a few days. They returned, and we had a team arrive on April 6th. Well on April 5th (Easter) it was a bad day for me, that was one of the days where I said a lot of hurtful things to my husband and I wish I could take them back. But I can't. On Monday, I stayed at home all day, the team arrived early during the day, I think right around lunch time, but I didn't want to show my face because I was super upset from everything that happened the day before and to be honest, I didn't even want to do media that week, but I put my big girl pants on and went into the base for dinner that night. I think (ok, duh, I know) my emotions were all over my face because I wasn't happy, I didn't want to be there. Nate and Maggie arrived and of course I got a hug, and we just chatted a little bit and she asked me when it worked to meet that week because she knew I had asked before when we could meet...Thinking in my head, I wasn't even sure it would work that week because I only had 3 days to get media and put together a video for this team, but I figured Tuesday (next day) would work because it was the first day in sites for everyone and normally it's a little slower on the first day, so I would probably not have a lot of footage to organize that afternoon. So I said, Tuesday after sites would work for me, lets just make it work. So, we did. It felt like EVERYTHING went wrong that day, people were being stupid on the road, I was late to things because traffic was messed up, I couldn't make it to certain sites because they were to far away for my vehicle to go (which is why I need a moped, hint hint CALEB). LOL. So yes, bad day. So I drop people off at the base from sites and Maggie arrived soon after I did. We grabbed some water and chairs and headed outside.

Thinking back before this meeting, throughout the day, I thought to myself, Maggie is so wise and full of encouragement, I'm pretty sure I'll walk out of this chat, feeling a little better, and have some tools to make things better in my relationship with Caleb on how we can work together during this grief process. Because it felt like all we did was fight over silly things that normally didn't matter, but because of what our family experienced, everything changed.

So, I started talking, pretty much about everything leading up to that day (past 3 months) and how I was feeling angry again, she asked me a lot of questions, and we just talked it out. One of the things I remember telling her was for the past 3 months, I've had this feeling of anxiety, my chest feeling so full, hard and at times like it was going to explode. Towards the end, she asked me if we should pray, of course I said yes, ((thinking she was just going to be awesome like always and pray for me)), but no, it was different this time, she told me to go ahead and start ((and in my head, I'm a little thrown off because I wasn't planning on praying at all)). So she said to just ask God the hard questions, He wants it all, tell Him all you're feeling.....So I did, I prayed, asking Him to help me get through this, told Him I don't understand everything, help me! Then Maggie began praying, powerful things, praying for the feelings of my anxiety to leave, the things that weighed me down, and as she was praying I felt this sensation in my chest, being lifted from my body, my chest NO LONGER felt hard, I could actually breath and not feel like it was going to explode. I've never in my life experienced that before, it caught me off guard and I wasn't even sure what was happening, but I knew something happened because I felt different, so I told Maggie what was happening, tears running down my face. I said Maggie, I just felt something HEAVY leave my body, my chest isn't hard anymore, PRAISE GOD, THANK YOU JESUS!!!!!! I prayed, thanking Him for that experience....Maggie began praying again, and then I prayed, asking God to take away my hurts, my pains, I said "Ok God, here I am, I give you everything. Maggie started praying, asking God to take away my feelings of fear, anger, bitterness, etc.....As she was praying, I got this sensation of those feelings dripping off my arms, like when a candle stick is burning, and the wax drips off the side, that was the picture I got after it happened. Again, I was taken back because I've never ever ever experienced anything like that before, it was powerful, the Presence of God was there, I could FEEL it. God took away those feelings, gave me PEACE, I felt happy inside.....WOW!!!!! Gives me goosebumps just thinking about it. I remember being so overwhelmed, just rocking back n forth in my chair, all I could say was "wow, thank you God, thank you". Afterwards, we thanked God for that incredible life changing experience and hugged Going into this chat with Maggie, I never imagined it would end the way it did, LIFE CHANGING, POWERFUL, IMPACTING, PEACEFUL, HAPPY, FOREVER CHANGED!!!!

Not only did that amazing experience happen, I also got a lot of great tools to work with for working together in my marriage with Caleb and I, things to look out for, things to do and not to do when it gets emotional. I am forever grateful for that experience and I can honestly say that I'm a different person because of it, I don't feel angry, bitter, unhappy, lonely, full of anxiety, fear, NO....God took it ALL!!!!!! I am happy, my personal devotional times have been wonderful, every time it's always perfect, journaling what stood out to me, and spending time in prayer. I can tell a huge difference in how I react to things that normally bothered me and offended me before, it doesn't affect me like it used too. Wow, ONLY MY HEAVENLY FATHER CAN DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT!!!!!!! I've been told that people can tell a difference, they can see that I have peace. Caleb tells me that he can tell a difference, it's amazing. Prayer is so POWERFUL....

Don't get me wrong, there have been days where the devil tries to pull me down, and uses the people I love most, but I fight back and he's NOT going to win anymore, BECAUSE I HAVE VICTORY!!

Just the other day I was deleting pictures off my laptop because it's become super slow (I have over 10,000 pictures) and came across Kody's viewing/funeral. I hadn't cried about Kody since receiving that peace, but in that moment, I started crying, it was a different cry though, it wasn't because I was angry or bitter, it was because I was sad, broken hearted that Kody isn't here with us anymore. Everything about it just felt different, it felt good, it felt free. Yes, I miss Kody so much and some days it doesn't seem real, but i know he's in Heaven, playing with our little Angel Babies, and one day we will see them all again

I don't know if this will make sense, or whatever but I just felt super strongly that I needed to share this, so there it is.

If your struggling, please, find someone you can trust and talk to that person, tell them everything, don't hold anything in because it will just eat you alive and you'll be so miserable. Through Jesus Christ, YOU CAN HAVE VICTORY....

VICTORY

AMEN

April 7th will be remembered as a life changing experience <3 <3 

Celebrating TWO years in Nicaragua.

Greetings from Nicaragua. We just celebrated our two year anniversary ((April 1st)) of living in Nicaragua, wow! Insane how fast time has flown. Thinking back how how God has worked so many things out for us to get here, all the doors He opened and closed, times when I doubted things, but then God always confirmed it and I knew that this is where we were suppose to be. 

We just finished up our Spring Outreaches, lots of new people and some faces we’ve seen before. Lives changed, miracles happened, it was good. One outreach in particular, I did an interview of a young man by the name of Isaac, he shared his experience at the Potter, and talked about how when we are going through fire, we need to Trust God and have faith, because He’s going to be beside us every step of the way, and then a couple days later, him and a few others were playing a game outside (in the dark) and he fell into a fire pit and got first and second degree burns on his legs. It was so impacting to the other students on how his attitude was the whole time, some wrote him notes on how he’s touched their lives already just from watching him, it was great! When we showed the video at the end of their outreach, everyone had to laugh at what he said because of what had happened, but it was very impactful for everyone because of his attitude and what he had to say in the interview. It's amazing to see how God works in various ways in touching peoples lives. I'll post the video link below. 

Our 3 lovely interns, Megan, Collette & Kelsey have returned home. It's been very different not having them here, but it's been really awesome seeing their transformations during these past 3 months. 

Having fun taking Kelsey's Senior pictures

Please keep them in your prayers as they adjust to life back in the States and figure out what God has for them. 

On April 14th, this beautiful family arrived here in Nicaragua.

We are so excited to have the Mattson family serving with us. They've had a busy week of shopping for things to fill their house, lots of time driving around and showing them places. We're excited to see what all God is going to do, please keep them in your prayers as they serve here these next couple years. Pray for a smooth transition, and also as they start learning the lovely language of Spanish.

On the 18th, Caleb and I went to this community called "Cristo Rey". We got to work with a bunch of youth kids doing a photo scavenger hunt. It's a lot like the dump we work in beside the base called Valle de Volcan. But Cristo Rey is very BIG and there's roughly about 17,000 people who live beside this dump. We had a lot of fun with them and of course our team won the challenge, now they want us to come back so we're on their team :) It was a lot of fun because we got to built new friendships with these young people. Most of them are into drugs and\or prostitution and wind up pregnant at a young age. Please keep the people of Cristo Rey in your prayers, that God would keep changing the hearts of the people there.

Getting ready for the scavenger hunt. 

OK, so we would like to ask you guys to prayerful consider jumping on our monthly support team if your not already. Why? Because we've completed our two year commitment and some of our monthly supporters were no longer able to continue support.  But we feel like we are needed here until fall, so things run smoothly as we transition out of our roles here in Nicaragua. 

We're short about $7,000 so anything you can give would be greatly appreciated.

Here are a few ways you can donate.

Online, just click on this link and you'll be directed straight to the link that donates online, you can do that each month. (( http://stint.com/our-communities/country/staff/?id=75027))  If you have any questions just email one of us.

Sending checks: Make check payable to

Students International (memo, write Caleb & Krista Fletcher)

PO Box 2733

Visalia, CA 93279

Automatic withdraw or Credit Card. 

Email us for more info

Our emails:
Caleb - calebjay_86@yahoo.com
Krista - kristafletcher88@yahoo.com


Video link of GCU's Outreach ((Isaac's interview))
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcHbomyOABI


THANK YOU so much for ALL the amazing love, support, financial support that you've all shown over the past couple years, we can't say it enough, we love each and everyone of you guys. Please keep us in your prayers during these next couple months.

                                                                     God Bless
                                                                    Los Fletchers

February 2015

God is GOOD.....

 Well, our first Spring team has come and gone. It was an incredible week. A lot of peoples lives were changed, a lady from this team accepted Christ as her Lord & Savior and got baptized. It was so awesome seeing her life transformed as the week went on. 

Christina accepted Christ, Praise God 

I was had the honor of working with this amazing woman during the outreach, her name is Elsa. She's seriously gifted in media\photography. She spent a lot of time taking video and then lots and lots of time editing and putting this amazing video together. I learned a lot from Elsa and I can't wait to use what I've learned. She's a strong woman of God and I can't wait to see what God has in store for her life. 

(( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcdzLaWPSD4&feature=youtu.be )) || Link the her amazing video, check it out.

While Elsa was busy shooting video, I was busy playing with my favorites, Luisa from Valle de Volcán.

The past couple weeks have been super hard, really missing my family, thinking a lot about Kody and really wishing I could be there to love on my cousins, but I know that the best thing I can do right now is just pray, pray for them everyday. As much as I want to be home, I know that God isn't finished with us here yet, there's still so much work to be done here. I'm excited about the next upcoming Spring teams and all the teams coming this Summer, I know that great things are going to happen and we're going to meet great people. 

Please continue to keep Vern & Naomi and Zak & Jamie in your prayers <3 <3 

Thank you for all your prayers & support, we appreciate you all so much, God Bless. 

"From my heart to yours"

Sometimes I dread thinking about writing on here, sometimes I enjoy it because I feel like I actually have something good to talk about. I get excited because I have some really cool pictures to share, and talk about what God is doing in Nicaragua or in our personal lives. This time, it's different..... What I'm going to talk about is my raw feelings\emotions of everything that happened in the month of December, raw feelings towards God, towards my husband, towards other people, about life. 

Our first week and a half back in the States was great, we met with our friends, hung out with our families, had my Yoder family Christmas the day after we got back from Nicaragua, it was wonderful. On Monday, December 15th I was walking out to my car, and seen my cousin Kody playing hockey with his school buddies (The school he goes to is right beside my parents house). So I seen him playing, enjoying himself, so I decided to yell his name.... "HI KODY"....He looks at me and yells back..."HI KRIS".....Little did I know that that would be the last time I ever seen Kody alive. 

Caleb and I were on our way to Mishawalka and my dad called, he asked for Caleb and I could tell the tone in his voice, something was wrong....He hung up and he didn't have to say anything, I knew something bad happened and it was serious, I said "CALEB, WHAT'S WRONG?...Is someone hurt?....He said yeah.....I said "WHO? Someone in my family?"....He said yeah........I said my sisters????.......No!!.....VERNS????? My heart is pounding at this point, I knew it was bad, because he couldn't even talk.....He said yes, I asked if it was Kody and he said yeah....I said "IS HE OK? IS IT BAD???????"....Caleb said yea......I said "CALEB IS HE DEAD?".....Caleb said (yeah)......... Ok, let me just say, that as I'm writing this, a lot of those feelings are coming back, it's hard typing this, my heart is pounding, and some of those raw feelings are here. I started screaming "NOOOOOOO, NOOOOO" This isn't real, this can't be happening, "NOT KODY, GOD PLEASE DON'T TAKE KODY, BRING HIM BACK GOD, PLEASE DON'T TAKE KODY, GOD WE LOVE KODY, PLEASE DON'T TAKE KODY, PLEASE GOD, PLEASE DON'T TAKE KODY". Anger began to settle in, I couldn't even say anymore to God besides begging Him to not take Kody, he's to young, he belongs with us. I kept trying to call my mom or dad, but my dad was stuck somewhere with his semi, some stuff wasn't going as planned, my mom was with Vern & Naomi at the accident site, trying to be there for Naomi. I wanted answers and I wanted them NOW. Finally my mom answered her phone and I started screaming into the phone..."WWWWHHHYYY MOM, WWWHHHHYYYY???" Over and over until I couldn't breath anymore.....She told me she had to go, because she needed to make more phone calls to let her sisters know...So she hung up and I called my other two sisters, and they were bawling..... I remember telling Caleb that I was DONE, I can't do this anymore, I was so angry at God, and I said I was DONE. God isn't good, He took Kody, I AM DONE!!!

We were about 15 minutes from being back home and my mom calls.....*They got a heart beat, PRAY!!* I remember screaming back into the phone saying "ARE YOU SERIOUS, OH MY GOD, THANK YOU"...... My cries to God changed, and I said OH GOD, THANK YOU, PLEASE LET HIS BRAIN BE OK, GOD, PLEASE, BREATH LIFE BACK INTO HIS BRAIN, DON'T LET HIM BE BRAIN DEAD, GOD PLEASE, DON'T TAKE KODY GOD".......I started doubting, because I knew that there's a certain amount of time that the brain can't be without oxygen, more doubt started coming in, but I tried to ignore it, I felt like I wasn't having enough Faith & Trust in God. I didn't want to get my hopes up only for it all to be thrown out the window. I kept begging God, please don't take Kody. We FINALLY made it home, mom called me to tell me that they were flying Kody up to Bronson Hospital in Kalamazoo. She gave me a list of things to go get at Verns to bring to the hospital. Katie, Kelsey, Kimmy and I headed up for the hospital. The ride up there felt like FOREVER.....We got to Vicksburg, and I just started praying again "God please don't take Kody, we love him, we can't live without him, please God, breath life back into his little body, he's ONLY 10 years old God, please don't take him". We finally got to the hospital, found where his room was.....My sisters went in first, I stood outside his door for about a minute, trying to catch my breath, preparing myself.....Nothing could ever prepare a person, seeing Kody's body laying there in the hospital bed, hooked up to a bunch of wires, a machine breathing for him, his chest moving up and down, his warm body, feeling his heart beating in his chest....WHY KODY GOD? WHY? WHY MY FAMILY? WHY IS THIS HAPPENING? 

Naomi was holding Kody's arms, bawling. She was broken, shattered, her whole world, upside down, changed forever. Seeing my cousins weep, their hearts broken into a million pieces. We are so close, our family is tight, WHY GOD, WHY???!!!! I don't understand. God, HOW could you have let this happen??? Why didn't you save Kody???.......

By law, they had to keep Kody on life support for 12 hours. His older brothers were both gone, Zak was in Kansas, Jami in Thailand. That was another thing that really made me angry, WHY did BOTH of his brothers have to be gone, one half way around the world.....SERIOUSLY GOD?????......

I remember seeing people come in and out of Kody's room, some not crying, I would get very angry, thinking to myself...."How can you NOT cry during a time like this??? You don't deserve to be here because you aren't crying, you obviously don't care"....I wanted them to leave. They didn't deserve to be there. 

I was so angry the next couple days, I would lash out at my family, over something soo silly, or be upset about something that I shouldn't even worry about, things started affecting me in negative ways. I remember Thursday night (the 18th), I was talking to Caleb and my dad upstairs in the kitchen, laughing about something, and then the next minute, I'm bawling my eyes out, and storm downstairs, barely being able to breath, because I'm just weeping. Caleb tried to get me to take a shower and go to bed, but I couldn't, all I could do was sob. Finally I was able to settle down, take a shower and crawl into bed. It was so hard to fall sleep, my mind would play stupid head games, thinking of how Kody died. It was awful. 

Thursday morning, Zak finally arrived at the hospital. Friday afternoon Jami finally arrived from Thailand. Thursday afternoon (18th) the Doctor declared Dakota Jay Yoder *dead*. I felt like in my heart Kody died in that field, he was gone, but because the EMT's got a heart beat, there was that tiny bit of Hope that Kody could come back, he could be a MIRACLE and come back. But I knew in my heart he was gone. 

Early Saturday morning (20th) they took Kody back into surgery to take out his lungs, liver, pancreas, kidneys (two people each got one), intestines and heart. Kody saved the lives of 7 people. What an amazing Christmas gift he gave to those people. 

There was over 2,000 people at Dakota's viewing, hundreds of people at his funeral. This child was only 10 years old and he made an impact on so many people, young and old. It didn't matter if you were male or female, Kody loved everyone, he was so passionate about life, hunting, spending time with his brothers, with his dad, and of course spending time with his momma, they had such a special bond, Kody was always asking Naomi if she needed help with anything, made sure he picked up the heavy things, because Naomi has a bad back. Monday night (Dec 15th) Naomi took Kody hunting, they had a special time and Kody was sooo wanting to shoot a deer to impress him mom :) He made Naomi her birthday dinner on the night of her birthday, so many special things happened that month.

*Finally coming back to this.... I wasn't expecting to start feeling those emotions of everything once I started writing.....Back in Nicaragua now, it's been fine so far. Coming back to a house that was broken into and robbed while we were gone, actually found that out 6 days after Kody's accident, I felt like it was a God thing when we found out because we were actually with our pastor and his wife, so thankful for the words they spoke into our lives during that time. 

We got the call from our director that someone broke into our house, stole stuff, unplugged our fridge which caused A LOT of maggots and nasty smells, why they unplugged the fridge, no clue. But our director told us they went through almost everything. Of course he's not going to know what they took until we got there, but we knew they took Caleb's tool box and possibly some necklaces. Well, after I found this out, I was just in pure shock, like seriously God??????? First Kody, now our house.......I became a little bit more bitter. 

The day before we came home, I found out a friend I used to go to school with lost her first born daughter, she was stillborn, I felt like that was the last straw for me. I was so over everything, I just wanted to crawl in a hole and never come out, how could God seriously be "good". How could God allow a 10 year old boy to die and be taken away from his family when they loved him so much, how could God allow this precious newborn baby girl to die, when her parents were so excited about this precious gift He gave them and them and then 9 months later, just take her..... I was so confused, shattered, broken, upset, angry, bitter.....Emotions I've never felt before, all happening at once and I was just numb. I didn't want to come back to Nicaragua, how could I? How could I come back here and say "God is Good" when that's the last thing I was thinking. At Kody's viewing, towards the end, a couple that I admire and am so thankful for, came up to me and I gave her a hug and just started bawling, I was struggling with the idea of going back to Nicaragua, and she had no idea, you know what she did? She started praying, praying for peace, peace to go back to Nicaragua and serve, and how I will use this experience to encourage other people, and so much more, I was just completely blown away at how she prayed for everything that I was struggling with and she had no idea, it's amazing how God uses people like that, even though I was still upset and angry at God, I wasn't ready to not be angry anymore. 

So, we get back to Nicaragua, Tuesday night (6th), first thing I checked was to see if the robbers really stole my necklaces, sure enough, both nails where I kept them on were empty, I lost it, I fell to my knees and lost it, I didn't understand any of why this had to happen, I know that it's material stuff, but those necklaces meant something to me, my very first necklaces Caleb ever got me to the last one he got me for my birthday this past year, to ones my parents gave me, Jagger got me one for Christmas a couple years ago, special things. That night it was hard for me to sleep, every sound I thought was someone trying to break in, of course your brain makes you think you hear something when it was just the wind or a stupid bird. So the next morning, we got up, kinda did a walk through and realized they took a lot more precious items....

*My camera bag with a $400 lens, everything else that was in it.

*Tripod 

*Hair dyer

*Caleb's guitar (This made me even more angry, because he was passionate about becoming better)

*Jewelry box

*Clothes, shoes

*Flash lights

I know it's material things, but everything meant something, and thinking about how strangers broke into our *house*, went through our things, trashed it, raided our fridge before unplugging it and making everything spoil and rot and get full of maggots, seriously. JERKS!!!!! 

Wednesday night there was Prayer Time at Nate & Maggie Slabach's house, during the day I told Caleb I didn't want to go, I didn't want to be around people, let alone spend time praying. Well Caleb said that we needed to go, so I put on my big girl pants and went, definitely had a bad attitude towards it, but I'm so glad I went because that night, everything changed for me. Nate shared a few things that really opened my eyes and made me realize a lot, we sang songs that were perfect for what I was going through....Something that Nate shared that really stood out to me was the woman who poured her most expensive perfume over Jesus's head. God wants us to take all our dreams, desires, goals, feeling, emotions and put them in this jar and give it all to Him, those words hit me and thats when I knew I needed to give everything to God because being angry, bitter was painful, it's not pleasant and I was tired of it all. So, I put it all in a jar and gave it to Jesus, since then, I can't even begin to tell you the peace I have, I know that Kody is in Heaven and one day we will see him again, dealing with the separation is HARD, but death does NOT win, because we live FOREVER in eternity with Jesus Christ!!! Yes, I still have my days where I see a picture of Kody and I cry, I will have those days, but I'm not angry anymore, God has given me that peace and I am so thankful for it. 

I am so thankful for the people that God has brought into my life since Kody's accident, peoples prayers I have truly felt <3 THANK YOU!!!! 


Some of my favorite pictures of Dakota, there's sooo many more I could share, but these are some of my favorite. 

This was taken at our Yoder Family Christmas. It was by far the best Christmas ever!!

A picture that I took a couple years ago for Vern & Naomi's Christmas cards. 

Dakota Jay Yoder 2014-2015 school picture <3 

A picture taken by Naomi's 1st cousin Gina Stauffer, her son Jeffery (who's one of Kody's good friends) seen this *upside down RAINBOW* and said Look mom, "Jesus is smiling because there's another boy up there!

What kind of life are YOU living? Are you passionate about something? Kody was, it showed, he loved being outside, he loved helping his mom in the kitchen, or his dad working out in the shop, or hunting with big brother Jami and driving combine with big brother Zak. Kody loved life and this kid impacted so many people, if you knew Zak or Jami you always found out about Kody because he was so important to them and he loved tagging along whenever he could. 

Lets remember to spend time with family, tell them you love them, speak words of encouragement to each other, give hugs, ask them how their doing, never ever take your family for granted <3 <3 

In our Hearts forever "Dakota Jay Yoder".