Do you see Jesus in the small everyday things? Do you feel like you have to be doing the “important” things like evangelizing on the streets, preaching at a church, dealing with sex trafficking, etc. to feel like you are making a difference?
This month is a whole squad month which means we have all 21 people here instead of just the 5 of us. We are in Nicaragua at the AIM(Adventures In Missions) base which is on a farm called Campo de casecha. They have 7 dogs, a pig, a field of plantain trees(which we have helped uproot because they are done producing plantains and want to plant another tree there), a garden of different vegetables, and around 70 acres of land. They have one building with dorm rooms and are currently building another one for more squads/people to stay here at once. They have a kitchen and an eating area which they are going to build onto soon. They have land for soccer fields, a volleyball court, and a pavilion for a basketball court. They use that as a community center for the people around the area. Everyday, there are kids that come and it’s kind of like a safe place for them to come. On Sundays their are games all day long involving soccer, kickball, and softball. They have a 5 minute sermon before each game that we get to help with.
Our ministry this month has been a lot of different things:
We have worked on the farm helping them dig out and uproot the plantain trees. That reminded me of Iowa and how I use to detassle sweet corn. It was a sweet reminder of where I grew up.
Another thing we have done is go prayer walking in the community. The way they do prayer walking is walk to each house and say hello and ask if they need any prayer while also talking to them (making small talk) before we pray with them. I really enjoy this because it is kind of what we did in Honduras.
We also have gone to the nursing home. We brought coffee and snacks to feed them. My team and I started talking to this one man who was 81 years old and he was sweet. He started singing to us and wanted us to sing to him. A few of my teammates sang a Christian song in Spanish and we were able to take a picture with him and make his day.
We have also went to the dump to give a sermon and feed them lunch. That was something I am still processing. It was really hard to see that these people dig through the trash 7 days a week to find anything worth of value to sell. That is their job and how they earn a living.
Another thing we have done is fill 900 bags with soil and manure. Then plant seeds in each of them. We are going to have to water and take care of them while we are here.
The people at AIM who work at this base have told us that they want us to get filled up and to work on spiritual disciplines while we are here. I will be talking about that in the next blog.
I have noticed that God has showed up in each of these small mundane things. In the times when we are scooping up soil that has manure in it, is just as important as evangelizing and prayer walking. I get to do these things not just FOR God but WITH God. And that is what makes life worth living.
