It was really hot. Like, “sweat showing through your pants, need to drink water but the water is so hot, exhausted to the core” kind of hot.
It was also really beautiful. We ride in open air trucks, so we get to see Nicaragua in all of her glory every single day. Volcanoes in every direction, bright blue skies with stunning white cloud patterns, enormous green trees, flat brown plains, and a feeling of smallness next to the enormity of God’s creation. Seeing all of this as we ride to ministry and ride home makes the heat seem insignificant. In this tradeoff, beauty wins.
My group and I were heading to a nearby community called Candelaria to help lead a women’s Bible study. We arrived around 2:30 and split into two groups…one would lead women’s Bible study and one would walk around the neighborhood visiting with families and praying for them. It was decided for me that I would be a part of the group leading the women’s Bible study.
It was decided for me because at some point, our ministry contacts here at Vision Nicaragua decided that I could speak enough Spanish to translate. I’m not exactly sure when this happened, or even how it happened, but it has been an incredible opportunity for me to lean into the Lord and trust in the Holy Spirit’s ability to enable me to speak a language I know but in which I am, by no means, fluent.
So I’d be translating the women’s Bible study. (Stomach drops to floor.) We walked into the side yard of a home, and there were the women with their Bibles and plastic chairs ready for Bible study. Internally I was panicking. I was rerunning all of the verb tenses in my head…”past, present, future, preterite…wait, what does preterite even mean again?” I was trying to remember the few spiritual Spanish words I’d learned…my mind was racing trying to figure out how I could make this situation work.
Therein lied my problem.
This wasn’t my situation to fix.
“He who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:24
The moment I stopped looking to myself for answers was the moment He quieted my soul. He told me, “I’ve called you to this. I’ve got this. I’ve got you.”
So I prayed that He’d speak. And you know what? He did.
We sat in a sort of circle, and I had a clear line of sight with the pastor’s wife, who would nod in affirmation if my Spanish made sense and would help make sense of it if was jumbled. Two ladies across the way from me became my biggest encouragers. We’d never met before that day, and yet they were for me. They’d finish my sentences if I was struggling to find words. It was so humbling and so beautiful. As my teammates shared from Scripture and shared their own personal testimonies, the Holy Spirit gave me words I’ve never spoken before in Spanish. On my own, I couldn’t translate. But with His aid and this community of sisters in Christ, it happened.
This brings me to the miracle and the poet. Near the end of Bible study, we formed much smaller groups to talk and pray with each other. Very quickly, the two young women in front of me scooted their plastic chairs through the dust and were staring me in the face. We were close. And they held eye contact better than anyone I’ve ever met. Their eyes were deep, gentle, and peace-filled. I was fascinated. As we began to talk, Jessica and Sandra began to light up. Their huge eyes filled with joy and excitement as they shared their own testimonies and stories with me. They talked and talked, and I listened, with awe and gratitude.
Sandra is in her twenties. Years ago, she was in an accident. The doctors pronounced her dead at the hospital. Her mother, Rosa, prayed and prayed that she would be healed. The staff at the hospital told her over and over again that she was crazy, that her daughter was too far gone. She told them she was crazy for Christ and continued to pray. Sandra, with a scar on her cheek to remind her of the miracle, lived to tell the story. She is a miracle, and she tells everyone who will listen, with intense joy, that the Lord healed her.
Jessica is 16. She’s incredibly special. She speaks quietly – always in hushed tones – but with an urgency and intensity as though she’s telling you the most wonderful thing in the world…because most of the time she is. Jessica writes poetry about the Lord. She’s a modern-day David without the angst. She shared countless poems with me that she had written. I was mesmerized. 16!
The Lord is using women like Jessica and Sandra to change the world. Their stories, their passion, and the way they love others are inspiring and beautiful. To even talk with them for a few hours was a priceless gift. I’ll never forget the miracle and the poet. I’ll leave you with one of Jessica’s poems.
Dios es luz, es nuestro guia
Es el que nos da el pan de cada dia
Y tambien me ama Jesus quien murio
En la cruz para salvar la vida mia
God is light, He is our guide
He is the one who gives us our daily bread
and also loves me.
Jesus, who died on the cross to save my life.
Joyfully,
E
