One of the definitions for the word renewal in the dictionary is “the state or process of being made spiritually new in the Holy Spirit (among Charismatic Christians)”. One of the leaders back at training camp told me that she received this word for me during worship and told me to pray into it and see if it becomes relevant during my trip. I think that part of the purpose of being on the world race for me is definitely to become more aware of and in tune with the Holy Spirit, and that began with his prompting of the leader who spoke the word renewal to me before we even left the U.S. Since then I have been thinking a lot about renewal and what that might mean, and this week it has started to become especially applicable in a few different ways.
Tuesday I had a really special opportunity to go out into the island with two of my teammates and a visiting missionary named Ted Sandquist. Once again, I am so thankful for being able to speak some Spanish because it has already opened a lot of doors on this trip. Part of the reason we were chosen to go along was our ability to help translate for Ted. He is in his early seventies and has been periodically doing ministry on the island for decades, as well as in many other locations around the globe. His mission for the day was to visit some friends and do declarative prayer for Nicaragua as the country is experiencing corruption in the government and political unrest.
We hopped in a van and Ted gave us each a key off of a keyring that he carries and explained that he prays over each of them and scatters them all over the world in his travels. They represent the keys to the kingdom of Heaven in Matthew 16, and he asked us to pray over them as well and leave them somewhere that we felt led to during the course of the day.
First, we visited the house of another American missionary named Thomas. Ted in fact had no idea if Thomas would be home, but he trusted that he would hopefully be there, and thankfully he was. We were greeted with surprise and gratitude and Thomas took us up to his rooftop deck. His house is absolutely beautiful and has a breathtaking view of the Concepción volcano. While we were there, we learned about Nicaragua’s history and current situation with the government, learned about and practiced declarative prayer focused on Psalm 85, and Ted played some of his original worship songs. It was a really beautiful and powerful time, and I felt like the Lord was emphasizing to me Nicaragua’s need for renewal in the government and that we need to keep praying specifically for free elections and democracy.
We did some prayer walking in two different towns in addition to visiting two more of Ted’s friends. I left the key that Ted had given me near a place where my teammate and I prayed for renewed sight for a woman who we saw getting her eyes examined. Ted’s friends whom we visited included a man named Ari who had suffered a head injury from a motorcycle accident, and Fernando, the leader of a group of pastors on the island. Ari and his wife showed us their miniature farm where they had some pigs, rabbits, chickens, parrots, a dog and small injured lemur type animal they kept for a pet. Tourism has really gone down in Nicaragua because people are afraid to visit due to the political unrest, so many Nicaraguans have moved away or are struggling to find enough work. This is why Ari and his wife are trying to make money from raising animals, and Ted was visiting to check on them and help with funding a new structure for more chickens. At Fernando’s house my teammate and I translated conversation and then we all went across the street to a park and split up and prayed through the area, again focusing on the words of Psalm 85. Throughout the day as Ted told us really cool stories about the power of prayer, led us in worship and teaching, and introduced us to new people, I just felt really grateful to have been a part of it as well as a renewed sense of energy and excitement for being here and for being a part of what the Lord is doing.
On Wednesday I went out in a team of 4 to do evangelism in the neighborhood. We were able to walk around and talk with people and pray for them, and it was a really powerful experience. We were met with both receptiveness and gratitude as well as darkness and resistance, but all of our interactions were definitely being used to strengthen the kingdom in some way. This week as we have been encountering some spiritual warfare I’ve really begun to understand more and more about the power of the Holy Spirit in us and the power of Jesus name. The songs “Tremble” and “Break Every Chain” (linked at bottom) have been in my head all week long, and I don’t think that is a coincidence.
This week I feel I’ve also really made strides in growing closer to my community of 15 women here on my team. Some of them have been challenging me and calling me higher regarding certain areas of my life and it’s reinforcing that this trip is definitely something that I want to be a time of renewal for me personally. I’m motivated to use the time I have away these three months to reevaluate my priorities a little bit and be refreshed in my desire to follow after the Lord and be an image bearer.
This is already the end of our third week here in Nicaragua. We have just a week and a half left before we head out to Costa Rica. It has begun to feel really familiar here and we’ve gotten to form relationships with so many people including the sweet kids at the orphanage, CICRIN employees, people at the church, the tuktuk drivers who take us into town multiple times a week, and even the workers at the coffee shop and pizza place in Moyogalpa where we have become regular customers due to the amazing smoothies and free wifi. We are looking forward to really digging in and making this last full week a good one but also becoming sentimental as the end is in sight and goodbyes are around the corner. However, I’m choosing to be thankful that our time here so far has been good enough that it will make it a little bit hard to leave 10 days from now.
Songs:
