Team Vessel of Peace is serving at Casa De Gozo in El Crucero, Nicaragua this month.
If you don’t know, Casa de Gozo is Spanish for House of Joy. This name is not coincidental, serendipitous, or random. Over a decade ago, this youth center was conceived after Ms. Kaye, our host, received a vision from God that shifted her whole life.
The ministry vision is spelled out like this:
“God said to call the youth center Casa de Gozo (“House of Joy”) because it will bring joy, transform their lives and fill them with hope for a better future. The center will be a place where children will experience a wholeness of spirit, soul and body. In a vision Kaye saw young people leaving the center with Bibles under there arms, going all directions throughout Nicaragua. The spirit of the Lord told her, “These are the young people that will develop a personal relationship with God and become disciples of Jesus Christ.”
This house sits behind a turquoise cement wall complete with white trim. Its yard is home to a charming, yet struggling, swing set and a set of mini metal soccer goals. It is perched over breathtaking meadows embellished with wildflowers and tall grass in Managua’s hill country. The windows stay open to let the breeze inside and there’s even a big, beautiful, blue hammock hung on the porch.
In addition to scheduled programs like Young Life (known as Vida Joven here), music lessons, girls ministry, and baking & business class, the doors are virtually always open for the local kids to come and go as they please.
The 10-year-old girl crew makes their way down the hall to offer help as we scrape old paint off the walls. The middle school boys pay a visit to kick the soccer ball in the yard (and into the neighbor’s yard, to his apparent dismay). A few guys stop by to practice their guitar skills in the music room.
Love lives here. It’s safe. It’s a source of connection for the youth of this community.
It’s been such a delight to witness God move in this ministry. Though there isn’t a rigid schedule or list of tasks to complete each day, we try to offer help in whichever ways are needed around here. So far that looks like a little bit of everything.
Casa de Gozo, although wonderful and needed in El Crucero, requires a lot of upkeep. I’ve been asking myself how Ms. Kaye manages to keep it all together with only two other staff members.
So we scrape paint where paint needs to be scraped. We facilitate games for the kid’s programs. We serve refreshments. We share testimonies about the dark areas of our lives turned bright and beautiful. We have house church with our host who pours out her heart for others, but doesn’t have a local presence of believers to pour into her. We ask the kids questions about their lives to remind them that they are seen after all.
I think the Lord is using Ms. Kaye and the kids equally to demonstrate his desire for us to hold on to joy.
To explain what I mean, it’s important to complete the illustration I’ve made about this place – El Crucero. It wouldn’t be fair to leave out the less sparkly details.
The natural beauty is astonishing. It’s almost captivating enough to make you forget, even for a second, that on the outskirts of those breathtaking meadows are homes with dirt floors and not enough food for the babies that live in them. It’s tempting to shush the questions about why kids are at Casa de Gozo before school is over when I know deep down it’s because they don’t go to school.
I’ll never forget the first day we were here. We stopped by the grocery store before arriving at the house for the first time. We got a week’s worth of groceries for six people that once put away, stocked the fridge and filled the shelves.
Three girls between the ages of eight and ten came through the gate and introduced themselves to our team shortly after we pulled up. I was in the kitchen. These sweet girls curiously poked and prodded at the various foods on the shelves, asking me how to say them in English. At the time, I didn’t fully realize their fascination went beyond learning vocab in my native tongue.
Since that day, I’ve gotten to know those girls more. They tell me things that let me know they don’t have much to eat at home. I don’t know what this looks like exactly, and I don’t want to speculate. One thing I do know is I am blessed to have what I have.
It’s easy to get caught up in things like comparing top universities when you have your pick, but what about the girl who doesn’t even get elementary school? That girl will one day become a woman, a mother, a person who could work toward her dreams if only someone would validate them.
I’m not saying Nicaragua needs to be another United States. I just mean that my heart is breaking over the disproportionality of opportunity spread among innocent kids around the world.
I wish I could solve their problems. I wish poverty would end with my giving away my lunch so they can be full. Unfortunately, things don’t work that way. I can’t fix the big, complex problems of this world on my own.
One thing I can do, however, is offer a willing spirit to God so he can use me to lift up ministries like Casa de Gozo. This house has been a home to joyful belly laughs long before I showed up and met those girls a week ago. The programs share the heart of Jesus with a big splash of empowerment for the youth that come here.
If that willing spirit is used to scrape paint until my fingers fall off, share my story with 20 kids, or spend time simply talking to Ms. Kaye about life, so be it.
Our squad mentor, Jeremy, talks about bringing lift to our ministry hosts. He actually gave a talk on this topic during our final days of training at Launch.
I loved what he said and I’ve seen it’s importance throughout this entire journey.
No, I’m not going to spend a month in one place and flip its infrastructure upside down. I’m not going to end poverty no matter how many times my heart breaks. I’m not going to cure disease or even save souls.
I’m going serve our hosts gracefully and love the people in front of me, even when running into a corner to play on social media sounds more appealing. I’m going to say “yes” every time the Holy Spirit nudges me on to do the thing that grosses me out or doesn’t make sense. I’m going to seek out God’s will in the little things, because surely they filter into the big. I’m going to do what I can to bring lift to places like Casa de Gozo so they can sustain their impact on the people they serve.
I’m going to follow the lead of the overstretched host or the underserved child and hold onto my joy.
Thanks, Casa de Gozo, for teaching me that in the short time I’ve been here. This house of joy is renewing my house of joy day by day.
