Smoke rising from nearby kitchens as the day’s food preparation begins.
Waking up to a chicken walking by my face (for the first time in my life!).
Horses running past on a quiet morning.
Hammock life in between work and meals.
Men casting fishing nets over the still lake waters that reflected the bright southern sun.
Traveling up to a river that only flows during the rainy season to catch fish for our dinner.
Sunrise over the lake as we sat quietly together in the fishing boat, heading back to the mainland.
The way Pastor Ulices kicked out his heels as he led worship and danced before the Lord.
…these are a few of the memories that are imprinted in my mind from Zapatera.
One of the privileges my squad had was to work alongside Pastor Ulice’s family on Zapatera, one of the 365 islands of Lake Nicaragua. Pastor Ulices and his wife, Leila, are respected leaders in their community. They are so thoughtful, wise and generous – characteristics which I’m finding to be commonly exhibited among believers in Central America.
We hopped into a small fishing boat with only our small daypacks, and began the journey from the mainland of Nicaragua to Zapatera, one of the larger islands on the lake. Just under two hours later, we jumped out of the boat into a foot of water and made our way uphill to a two-bedroom shanty with handmade hammocks hanging in the front yard. For our first meal, the women of the family made us delicious pan-seared fresh-caught fish with seasoned rice (yum!). Then, to work!
Ulices’ community is building a shelter to house the 80+ people who travel by foot and by boat from around the islands to church together. We helped them gather building materials for their shelter, motoring in their fishing boat to fill bags with sand for the foundation and carrying cinderblocks for the walls up the hill from the shore. Most of us could carry one cinderblock (maybe two) for the 75-yard trek uphill. But we all watched amazed when the native teenagers could balance five cinderblocks on their shoulders AND carried one in their hands.
I wish I could explain the joy of these precious brothers and sisters. We joined them for a prayer meeting one Saturday night, and listened as Pastor Ulices spoke from Psalm 34.
He explained: “Dice la Palabra de Dios que debemos alabarle en cada momento” – “God’s Word says that we should praise Him in every moment.” His praise should always be on our lips. That’s easy when we feel joyful and things are going well, but it can be a bit more challenging when hard days come our way and it feels more difficult to see Him.
What a living example of this truth these precious brothers and sisters were for us. They literally danced and sang at the top of their lungs that night! They live in simple houses with dirt floors and no indoor plumbing. They consume simple diets of fish, along with what grows on the island and sometimes beans and rice. But they know how to praise. They have little hope of access to education past the eighth grade, and there are not many opportunities on the island for work. But these beautiful people share all that they have with open hearts.
When we asked Pastor Ulices how the islanders earn an income, he explained: “Some take care of other properties on the lake. A few make a small living from fishing. But many families are parted for months as one spouse travels to the capital of Nicaragua, or even to Costa Rica to find work.”
“What do you do?” we asked.
“We live by faith,” he answered, simply. And we noticed.
On our boat ride back to the mainland, Ulices reminded us of the story of Abraham, and his test of faith. God asked Abraham if he was willing to give up his son, Isaac – the answer to his prayers and the dream of his heart – as an act of worship and obedience. Abraham said “Yes”.
When the time came to give up his son, Abraham said to the servants who had traveled with them: “Stay here… while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you” (see Genesis 22).
“Did you catch that?” Ulices asked me. “Abraham didn’t say, ‘I will come back to you,’ – he said WE will come back to you. He knew that if he gave up his son Isaac to God, God could give Isaac back to him – somehow, some way – miraculously. And He did! That is what it looks like to live by faith.”
The night we met for worship, the islanders prayed for our protection, strength and joy as we continued on our journey. We found out later that they had been praying for all of us since the minute they heard we were coming to Nicaragua.
“But now it’s easier to pray for you,” Ulices smiled, “because we have seen your faces and know your names. We may not speak the same language, and we may not live in the same country, but we march under the same banner: the Kingdom of God. And we’ll see you again! If not on earth, we’ll wait for you in heaven.”
