Our contacts, Glenn and Lynn, are amazing people after God’s heart with a vision bigger than themselves; a vision that can only be accomplished through their reliance on God. And they have seen the impossible become possible through God and their faith is admirable.
If you are aware of any political news in Nicaragua, you might know that the major communist leader before the revolution here in Nicaragua is president again of this country. So although the country moved out of communism into a democracy, the people reelected this man, Daniel Ortega, to be their leader. Interestingly enough, every U.S. citizen I met who lives in Central America has compared him to Obama. But that is just a side-note. Ortega was elected because of his ability to manipulate the people and basically pay for votes. This is pretty typical in third world nations. And although Ortega has ideas that sound good, he has no solution or means to solving the problems in this country. For example, he has made it impossible to have an orphanage in this country because he believes in putting children back with their families. In theory, this sounds like a good idea, however, the children would not be in the orphanage if the families wanted them to begin with. So by shutting down all the orphanages, the government is putting kids into even worse, unloving environments. And also, from what I’ve learned he also hates Americans and doesn’t want us adopting their kids.
Because of this law, Lynn and Glenn run a boys home/school for kids 14 up to 23 years old. Many of the kids don’t have any education because they were told their whole life that they were not worth it and weren’t going to amount to anything. Some of the kids only have an elementary education. At La Quinta (the home/school) the kids are able to get an education and also be in a safe and loving environment. The kids are absolutely amazing and from what we have been told, have completely transformed in the last two years. The ones who were hostile and angry are now the most loving, warm people. It amazes me to see how innocent and pure these kids are after all the awful things that have happened to them. God’s ability to transform us and make us new shines through the lives of these kids.
As you can probably tell, they have everything running so smoothly here that we are not needed for outreach or even labor within their ministry. We hang out and play with the kids, but mostly we pray. We have been praying so much this month and it has been powerful. We have seen some of the changes and effects of our prayers but mostly we are praying in faith believing that God has big things in store, that we may not get to see. But I am still asking to see it before we leave for Thailand.
Please keep the people of Nicaragua and Daniel Ortega in your prayers. I believe that God has put Glenn and Lynn here to affect the entire nation. I believe that the vision that God has given them is going to transform people and give them a legacy here in Nicaragua. Please pray for them as well. They need much encouragement and are constantly in need of financial support. And please pray for La Quinta and all the kids who live there because more and more I am beginning to see how God plans to change nations through the youth of that nation. These specific youth are going to change the nation of Nicaragua.
I am going to end with something that our contact in Guatemala had told us at the very beginning. Poverty is not about money but it is about education. Those who live in poverty live with a mindset of poverty and it is not because of a lack of money but because of a lack of education. And I remember my sophomore year of college, in my Philosophy class on the first day, we had an assignment to write about the value of education. I think I might have made something up not really thinking about it. But now I believe that I truly understand that value and am overwhelmingly grateful for the education I have received and the opportunities that have been set before me. Now if only the youth in America could have this revelation and appreciation for education.
