Our time in Nicaragua so far can be characterized by two words: divine appointments.
We have had the most amazing moments here that can only be described as being straight from the Lord.
Let me explain.
Our ministry here is going to different villages throughout Nicaragua with Vision Nicaragua, loving on the people there, and showing them Christ through our actions and words….but there is this one village in particular though that all of us have fallen in love with; Bethel. I think it’s because you can tell God’s hand is upon this place and these people. Bethel used to house a multitude of homeless people because of a volcano that erupted a few years prior that wiped out the entire community; however, the Lord has used Vision Nicaragua to slowly redeem this place. This organization alone has built over 140 houses in this village, but I don’t believe that this is all the Lord has. I believe that He wants to continue to work and redeem the people here through healing. You see there is a sickness that has taken over the community and surrounding areas. The men here are forced to work in the sugar fields because of lack of work, but they are getting deathly ill from the chemicals being sprayed on the sugar. However, the company that is profiting from the chemicals is trying to cover up what they’re doing by saying it’s a conspiracy and it’s not real; even going as far as to hire doctors to misdiagnose workers as being healthy. It’s so surreal to me that sometimes I feel like I am in a movie. So because of this there are so many families in this village who are fatherless, but I thank God that He is the father to the fatherless and He has sent us here to share this with these people.
With that said I want to share with you some of the opportunities He has provided us with…starting with our very first visit to Bethel. So picture this, we are walking down a dirt path making conversation with anyone we meet until it starts POURING (which happens frequently here) so we try and find cover under some trees. We’re just kind of standing there wondering what to do until I look to my left and I see a man waving us over and I think “hey, why not YOLO.” It’s things like this that I love about this culture; they are so welcoming! They not only invite strangers into their home, but they ALWAYS grab chairs to make sure everyone has somewhere to sit (even if that means they’re standing), and sometimes even give you bread and coke on top of that. It’s insane. Okay I’m jumping off my soap box now…back to story time. So we’re just talking to this man and he just randomly goes “hey do you guys play guitar?” It just happened that a girl on my team can play and the only song she knows is “Wagon Wheel.” It was the most surreal moment of my life sitting on this man’s porch, who I don’t know, singing rock me mama like a wagon wheel. Then as if that wasn’t good enough he takes the guitar and starts singing Spanish worship songs, so now we get to worship God with this man! WHAT!? After that we got to end our time with him by praying over him and his family…which is a whole other awesome thing that I am blown away by. I mean I am praying over this man in English so he has absolutely no idea what I’m saying but it doesn’t matter because we worship the same God who understands ALL languages. Yeah, try and wrap your mind around that one.
Now, the second time we went to visit Bethel was even more saturated with Him. When we get off the bus we all decide to pray and ask the Spirit to lead us to who we need to talk to or where we need to go and I am not kidding you when I say that AS SOON as “amen” was off my lips a little girl, Jocelyn, comes running up to me yelling “vamos a la casa” (let’s go to my house)! There is no way that was coincidence, so naturally we follow her. We get to her house and she introduces us to her mother and two brothers like we’ve been best friends forever; I love it. Somehow we end up playing baseball in the street with a stick, only two bases, and some ball they found outside, but it could not have been more perfect. For the next hour and a half we get to love on her and other kids that showed up to play. For those of you who know me you know I am not the most athletic person in the world so I thought it would be a good idea to take a little break and go hang with her mom, Veronica. She showed me around their house, complete with baby pictures of Jocelyn, and even let me in to her heart a little bit. She told me that a year ago on Monday her husband passed away and that Tuesday was Jocelyn’s birthday. Can you just imagine how hard that would be to have to mourn your husband’s death the day before your daughter’s birthday every year? Praise God that He worked it out somehow to where we get to go back Tuesday to have a surprise birthday party for Jocelyn and pour out His love on Veronica.
I could go on and on of more appointments He’s set up but then this blog would be a novel and that wouldn’t be fun to read, so stay tuned for more blogs about how He is showing up because this is only the first week!
(from left to right: Jocelyn, me, and her cousin Yvette)
Lord I pray that you go before us and continue to prepare the way for more divine appointments so that your love will be known throughout the entire village of Bethel. I pray that we are women who listen to your Spirit and follow your leading. Amen.
