The east coast of Nicaragua is a very special place. In my naivety I never thought that there would be such a difference between the east and west coasts of Nicaragua. The west coast is where the vast majority of the population and the tourism is. The east coast is much more difficult to get to and so much of the aid goes to the west rather than the east. The east has an interesting mix of both Caribbean and Latin American culture.
After hearing God call us out to Bluefields on the east coast of Nicaragua, we made the bus and panga boat trek from the capital of Managua.
We were blessed to be able to stay in the home of Pastor Ed and his wife Ligia of Verbo Church.
Verbo church is very active in their community of Bluefields.
Verbo runs a private faith based school that goes from preschool to grade 12. They have daily devotionals, and provide breakfast for their students. Even though Verbo is a private school they have been able to participate in initiatives and bursaries that aim to improve public education.
Ligia is the principal of the school, and is very proud of all her students and their hard work. She told us of a Verbo graduate who is now working on her PhD in Europe, and showed us a project for a competition that her elementary students won on the national level.
Verbo also hosts a feeding center 5 days of the week. At the feeding center they pray with the kids and help them to memorize Bible verses. The feeding center is a great way for the church community to establish and build relationships with the local children and youth. For many of the children, the feeding center provides their only sure meal of the day.
We were able to help at the feeding center for the week that we were there. The feeding center is at the church property and we were able to witness that it provides kids with not only a hot meal, but also a safe place to play and just be a kid.
The church also has multiple construction projects that they work on at a time. When we visited we were able to help at each of their projects. They were working on upgrading the church property to make it easier to access during the rainy season. They were also working on building homes for two of the church members. One of these houses was being built for a man in their community who is blind and his children.
The church is also in the process of building an orphanage on their property as well. There is currently no orphanages in Bluefields that take children in permanently. Verbo is hoping to have the orphanage open its door in the coming year.
Verbo sends teams to the Casa Materna, which is a maternity home. It is a safe place for women who have high risk pregnancies. Many of the women live in remote areas where it is difficult to get to medical facilities. Often, doctors send the women to the maternity homes immediately after discovering their risk. This is because many will not be able not go to the homes if they go back to their homes because their husbands refuse to let them leave again. This means that often they are forcefully put in the home for their health and the health of their unborn child.
Teams do a variety of different things at the home to help the women to feel special, and help them to see their worth. Teams come to Casa Materna and help to bring Christ’s life and joy. When we, as Christians, walk into somewhere, we can change the whole atmosphere because the Holy Spirit resides in us. He is life and he is light, and we have him inside of us. The Holy Spirit rests in us, and we bring him with us wherever we go.
There is life and light in all that Verbo does. The community is passionate and serious about living their faith. If you talk to any member of the church about any of their projects, they are incredibly enthusiastic. The love of Christ permeates through them and breathes life into the community around them.
