Candelaria Update

“Caught a glimpse of your splendor in the corner of my eye.
Most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. It
was like a flash of lightning reflected off the sky and I know I will never be
the same.” -Third Day

The other night, the four of us girls sat around our
makeshift table and poured our hearts out to God. Loud thunder shook the house, and it sent
chills down my spine. We have been able
to catch a glimpse of God’s splendor and glory in Candelaria! God is moving in mighty ways in this small
community, and we are overjoyed to be able to witness and experience an
overwhelming harvest of young kids turning their lives around. I wish I could clearly communicate all that
is happening here, so please be patient with me while I try to paint a picture
of all that is taking place.

Our most exciting news
is that seven of the youth from our Bible study have decided to be baptized
this Saturday.   We were extremely
excited when they told us they wanted to be baptized, and we were even more
excited when they said they wanted to do it before my team and I left for Vietnam. We have been putting so much time and energy
into discipling these teens during our short time here in Nicaragua, and
it is such a blessing to already see the fruit of our time and commitment to
them. We didn’t realize how much we were
going to fall in love with these teens and we are already extremely sad at the
thought of leaving them next week.

Two of the nine teens that are being baptized are boys that
we have been praying for as a team. Anthony and Andres are two of the younger boys, and we could see that
they were at a major crossroad in their lives. They were always hanging around the church and coming to the youth
events, but they were also starting to get involved with the gang that has been
terrorizing the community. The other
teens said that the boys wanted nothing to do with God, but for some reason they
were committed to coming to our study twice a week. Not only were they coming out each morning,
but they were actually paying attention and interested in what was being
taught. To our excitement, both of these
boys have committed their lives to Christ over the past week! 

On another note, we
finally got to sit down with the young boy who broke into the clinic and stole
some of our stuff. The police and Tommy
had been looking for him since it took place, but he went into hiding and they
were unable to find him. To our
surprise, Krystle, Lisa and I happened to see him standing near the entrance of
the church property when we were leaving to visit some of the teens. Thankfully we had Anthony with us and our
translator, and we were able to briefly speak with him. We told him we were concerned about him and that
he needed to talk with Tommy. 

Again, to our surprise, he showed up when he saw Tommy pull
into the church. Tommy and Marylnn had a
bit of a showdown, and Tommy was on his way to bring him to the police station
when Marylnn finally promised to turn his life around.   Tommy, wanting what was best for Marylnn,
decided to give him one last chance and brought him to our house so that we
could discuss what he had done.

So the four of us girls, Tommy, and a translator sat around
our table and talked with Marylnn. He
sat there with his head down and explained to us his side of the story. We could tell that he was scared and it was
evident that he was fighting back tears. We told him that we forgave him for selling our stuff, but explained
that he needed to turn his life around. I was able to share with him how God does require justice for sins, but
that God is a God of grace as well. God
is willing to forgive him, but he needed to choose God’s grace and choose to
live his life for God. Then we asked him
if we could pray for him. All six of us
gathered around this boy and began praying over his young life. While we were praying, the tears he had been
fighting started streaming down his face. It was comforting to see that he was not completely hardened yet. When
we finished, Tommy took him home. Now we
are just hoping that he will continue to come to the youth events like he did
before. 

There are so many more things I wish I could share! I wish I could introduce each one of the
teens and share their stories. I wish I could take you for a walk down the dirt
roads of Candelaria. I wish I could give you a taste of what it’s like to live
here. I wish I could share all the stories of our ministry and life here but there
is just too much to share! Just know that I’m so thankful for all of your
prayers, support, and encouragement.