In what seems like a very short time ago our squad said goodbye to our first country out of eleven, Guatemala, and made the trip south to Nicaragua.
This is the first month that we are separated from the whole squad (55 people) and living and working within our smaller teams, a.k.a. our family for the year. It feels as though we have taken the first step out on our very own to begin this powerful and rocky journey.
Everybody’s Race is different. We all go to different countries, and in those countries we all go to different ministries. Nobody’s journey is repeated. We never know what ministry is coming next, or what our weeks will look like. Will we work 24/7? Will we work a few hours a week? We will know when we get there. (How’s that for adventure?)
We have just begun our second week of ministry with Mateo 516 here in Nicaragua. Compared to last month, we have numerous ministries and jobs to do here in Nicaragua, if less scheduling stability.
In the mornings, Mon – Fri (if all is well) the preschool in the Quinta where we are staying opens up for businesses, and we spend the morning teaching and playing with the students. We sing Bible songs, teach English, and today we did swimming lessons. Most importantly we just love them and play with them. It is amazing how love and joy is carried across any language barrier. The preschoolers don’t seem to comprehend that we don’t speak Spanish, but they are satisfied by our nods and smiles to their stories, and especially by our goofy behavior.
Some of the girls from the preschool. 🙂
On Sunday mornings children are collected from the Barrios (the poorer district here in Dariamba), and brought to the Quinta where we lead them in children’s church. These are the children of all ages that come to us dirty and in need of attention. We give them all the love we can, and I’m telling you, that’s a lot. Yes, they are given meals, but we can’t give them the things that they need to make their lives better. We can’t give them better clothes, or a nicer home situation, or even a future. But we can present the gospel in the love that they need. On Sunday afternoons we lead the church in worship, preaching, and pretty much everything with, of course, a translator.
Another ministry is the ministry to the Barrios itself. I ask for your prayers in this, because we tried all last week to coordinate with a translator to take us to the Barrios, and it fell through every time. Finally today we considered that that might be spiritual warfare keeping us from that area, and we decided to go, translator or none! In the half hour or so that we were there, we met people, prayed for people, and began to feel and understand exactly what the Barrios were and the needs there. This was an area of broken houses, trash heaps, dogs, and people who just wanted to be heard. Once again, we don’t have food or clothes to give to improve their immediate situation, but we tried to bring them love and surround the area in prayer. We have talked about going every day now and meeting people, praying, or doing prayer walks around the area.
This ministry has been both interesting and amazing for me for two reasons. I do not see myself as a kid person. In fact, I have met the idea of the unavoidable, potential children’s ministry with an amount of dread. I don’t even know what you do with kids. But surprisingly, I have had a blast! These kids are at the age where a language barrier makes no difference. All you have to do is have no care whatsoever about your own dignity and they will adore you. As children, particularly the poorer children during children’s ministry on Sunday, they just want love and attention. Suddenly I become filled with tons to give. I’ve been surprised that some of my teammates have told me that my eyes completely light up when I am playing with these kids. That alone is essentially our ministry – just to love on some kids.Everything else becomes small in comparison. I hope to write more about the kids as we get to know them better.
In particular, this month has been amazing for getting to know people! I would like to share some of the people that we have bonded with, and maybe you can be praying for them. Maritza and her daughter Gesenia are probably the people that we spend the most time with. They are at the Quinta every day to cook for us and for the kids. Though they don’t speak English, we have gotten to know them as well as Gesenia’s two amazing children: David (8) and Mike (almost 2).
David and his parrot, Pepe.
I feel as though they have become our family here in Dariamba, and their relationship to us has been a tremendous blessing. Also, we have gotten to know one of the security guards at the Quinta named Elis. The first time we caught Ethan playing cops and robbers with the security guard, we thought he was crazy, but Elis has developed into a good friend to us here, and hopefully us to him. Particularly Ethan, who he threw in the pool today.
Finally, we are continuing to film for the World Race Doc project. Today I got to take the camera into our first trek into the Barrios to capture the homes, streets, and people that we meet as well as their stories (as much as we could communicate) and prayer needs. I hope to push further into this area of filming (so new to me!) and see how God is going to work through the footage and faces that we capture and how these connect with our own stories.
Next week I would love to write with more details as we delve further into our ministries here in Dariamba, Nicaragua and into the relationships we are building.
In the meantime, there are two ways that you can be a blessing to this journey.
One, by giving. Although I am on the Race, I am still trying to raise my full support for the year. Right now I am around $12,300, and I need $15,500 to be fully funded.
Second, by prayer. We need a lot of prayer in what we are doing. Prayer against mental exhaustion and internal strife. Prayer for mental energy and passion to stay focussed on the present and the place where God has us. Prayer for the ministry that we are working with. And please pray for Nicaragua, which is the poorest country in Central America and for the people who have been raised wounded in that environment. Please pray that God fills us with His love for them, and that we can give them the love that they need. And finally and most importantly, pray that the people of Nicaragua grow in recognition of their Lord, and turn to Him in all things.
