A few days ago our squad wrapped up the second month of our world race. I feel like I just left home 2-3 weeks ago, it does not feel like I’ve been overseas for 2 months. It’s a good reminder that time slips by much faster than we expect, and if we are not being intentional about how we spend our time, we might look back and realize we missed a lot of opportunities that God had lined up for us.
Nicaragua was a month of diving deeper into Latin America culture, observing the ways God is already working in Granada, and learning how I am capable of getting involved. God has been doing a lot in my heart, but I don’t know that I have it all wrapped up in a nice package where I can explain exactly what I’ve learned.
A few themes keep coming up, here’s what I’ve noticed:
Abandonment: I’m being asked to live with less than what I think I need, to allow God to provide in a way only He can. If I’m so worried about having everything in my pack I could need in any situation, it doesn’t leave room for God to act like God. If my needs are already met, where is there room for God to show up? (I’ll have another blog post on this in the next few weeks.)
Rest: I’m learning that resting doesn’t necessarily mean I’m not doing anything. It’s a state of mind that God wants us to carry at all times. It is possible to be in the midst of a busy day, yet completely at peace with the work set before me. I’m still learning this balance. I work hard, but I still struggle with wanting control of my free time. It’s a struggle I’ll carry until I learn how to rest well and live a spirit led life. Questions I’m still working through: Am I interruptible? How well do I love others with my down time?
Trust: God has good plans for me. He doesn’t promise safety or immunity from difficulties. He has promised to go through all situations with me. So often I dismiss the value of doing life with God right by my side. At the end of the month, me and 3 other girls were robbed by a group of teenage boys with machetes, and even though all four of us are unharmed, it was a bit of a wake up call for me. I’ve always carried the mentality of “nothing bad will ever happen to me”, but I forget how fragile our lives really are. I don’t think God’s asking me to abandon all common sense, but I also believe it stifles the Holy Spirit if “perceived safety” becomes more important than stepping into wherever God has asked me to serve. AIM would never intentionally put us in harms way, but they also don’t have control of every variable.
We had several cool ministry opportunities this past month, here’s a little overview of the different projects we worked on.
Week one:
Casa de la Anciados. Home of the ancients.
In Central American culture retirement homes are actually called “Home of the Ancients” We cleaned and visited with residents here in Granada. Most of the residents only spoke Spanish, but even spending time saying hi and sitting with them for a moment seemed to lift their spirits. Barbara and Ruth are two residents that do speak English. Their stories touched my heart, and I’ll be keeping them in my prayers as we continue along our journey.
Week two:
Isla Zapatera
We spent four days on Isla Zapatera, an island on Lake Nicaragua. On the island we did construction work, working on the foundation of the first Christian church. The island holds about 300 families. After working all day in the hot sun we spent the evenings washing off our sweat in the lake, watching the sun go down over an incredible volcano/ background. The pastor and his family cooked delicious meals for us and opened up their home to us to make us as comfortable as possible.
Week three:
REAP
Restore. Educate. Activate. Perpetuate. Two of our ministry contacts, Scott and Jennifer Esposito purchased rural property on the outskirts of Granada (in an impoverished community called Pantanal). They are in the beginning phases of creating farmland to give purpose and employment to people of Pantanal and Granada that might otherwise be unemployable due to previous addictions and criminal history. They pay their employees well in exchange for labor on the farm. Devotionals and bible studies are done over their lunch hour to help solidify purpose and identity for the men working at REAP. They have a pavilion area to hold Christian conferences, and have vision to form sports league to give the men of Pantanal a better outlet than joining gangs and living a life of crime. Our team got the opportunity to work with the group of guys who are getting REAP up and running. They only speak Spanish, but with our limited Spanglish and some charades we were able to form a unique friendship with each one of them. We planted and prayed over baby mango trees, dug an irrigation trench, and various other projects around the farm. We bonded with the guys over lunch and played a little bit of frisbee before heading home at the end of the day.
The idea is that this ministry will eventually be self-sustaining, but they are currently looking for sponsors to continue advancing their kingdom work. If you’d like more information the website is reapgranada.com and their Facebook Page is www.facebook.com/reapgranada
Week four:
G.C.E.C.
Granada Christian Education Center.
Our team had an other opportunity to participate in the beginning phases of this program. Missionaries Ryan and Adriana Brooks are starting up a Christian education center to get children of Pantanal in school that would otherwise not attend. The purpose is not only to bring education, but to teach these children their true identity in Chirst. As mentioned above, Pantanal is a impoverished barrio on the outskirts of Granada. A lot of the children don’t attend school because the walk to Granada is too far. By starting this school, the Brooks family is hoping the education will bring purpose to these children and prevent them from joining gangs and getting involved in criminal activity.
As resources allow, this school is being developed one or two classes at a time. They currently offer a preschool class, and things are underway for the kindergarten class to be opened in early 2016. They eventually want to have classes for Pre-K through 12th grade and offer career focused classes such as technical school, etc.
Our work included clearing weeds with machetes, picking up trash in the land (the people of Pantanal don’t have anywhere else to place it), and helping out in any other ways they needed assistance.
Partnership is always a need to accomplish anything of value in kingdom work. The website for G.C.E.C. is createdtobe.org.
Keep our team in your prayers as we venture into Juticalpa, Honduras. We will be helping teach at a bilingual private school this month. I’ll be looking forward to sharing some cool stories as the month unfolds! The administrators at the school were under the impression I had experience teaching preschool so they assigned me to work in one of the Pre-K classrooms.
Much love,
Miss KAYYYY-ceeeee (as my Honduran kids say it).
