This month my team and I are taking part in what Adventures in Missions and the World Race calls Unsung Heroes. Unsung Heroes are people that are working all over the world and more specifically in their communities towards spreading the Kingdom of God and that gain little recognition and even less rest, by the World’s standards, for the work that they are doing . They could be pastors that are starting churches from the ground up, people that in their love for Christ have started a children’s home after seeing the children in their area dig through trash heaps, people that are working to build clean water solutions in their surrounding areas, and really anyone that is kingdom focused.
This is week three for my team and our pursuit of Unsung Heroes in Nicaragua and as I sit in the fourth home my team has had this month I can’t help but be thankful for the people that I have gotten to meet in the past few weeks. God is doing so much in Nicaragua! When it talks about iron sharpening iron in Proverbs 27:17 it isn’t a joke, seeing the people here in Nicaragua and how they are ushering in the in-breaking of the Kingdom of God around them… it is encouraging. Even with our brief meetings and the knowledge that the chances of our meeting again this side of heaven are slim, in those moments we get to see the outworking of the Holy Spirit in the lives of others and as we encourage them they too encourage us.
Unsung Heroes look like Leoncio and Camila Cordoba Lopez.
(Insert a picture of a cute couple that the Blog Site won’t allow me to upload, you’ll have to just imagine them for now)
This couple is 60 and 80 and they are still serving the Lord, they are still working towards the Lord’s Kingdom. I remember talking with a friend back in Hawaii before the Race about what we thought we were going to do when we were “older”. I think that I have always joked about being the grandmother that smothers her grandchildren with love, candy and stories but I never considered where the Lord would be in that. She, though, told me that God was never done with us, even in old age. When I met them, they exemplified that reality.
As we shared with them about what Adventures in Missions and the World Race was Leoncio nodded his head frequently, agreeing with each “requirement” for hosting Racers and explaining how he and his wife could handle them. I watched, though, as Camila wrung her hands over in over and I felt the Lord telling me that I needed to tell her something. Because it was the middle of the meeting I scribbled down what the Lord gave me and continued listening to her husband. (I will come back to this later)
After we explained to them what and who we were they began to share with us who they were and they are beautiful.
During the Nicaraguan War their family fled to the United States of America and that is where God took ahold of them. From there they became missionaries to an area in California until they felt that God was calling them back to Nicaragua to their own people. So they returned to their country and began to serve in a part of Nicaragua that they called “the jungle” but is more commonly known as El Coco in Nueva Segovia. There they started a church and for the past four years they have been pastoring and discipling a growing church that is now a congregation of 90 people from within that area.
As a team we love to finish our meetings with our Unsung Heroes in prayer and after we prayed I asked my teammate, Sandra, if she could translate what the Lord had given me earlier for Camila. I told her that it wasn’t a lot, just a few words but that I felt God had given me them to share with her. To that, she smiled sweetly and nodded her head.
The words that God had given to me were these: “You are not alone, God still has a plan. There may be days when you are too tired but He knows what He is doing.” In my head I thought that it was something relating to the work that they were doing in El Coco and I almost didn’t share it. As the words were translated and came out of Sandra’s mouth Camila began to cry. When I was done with my two sentences Pastor Leoncio told us that it was something that they needed to hear because a week or so before their son had found out that his wife had been cheating on him with a catholic priest and upon finding this out he killed the priest, his wife and himself. Leaving behind children. Leaving behind a grieving mother. Pastor Leoncio also told us that three days after finding out Camila was in the pulpit preaching the love of Christ.
Even in her pain she was still there pursuing the Lord and His kingdom.
It was then that I told her about the accident, my Bumpa and my Mom. I shared with the both of them about what I keep being reminded of about God. That before the things that tore at our hearts happened God was there and He was good. That on the days that our families were broken God was there and He was still good. That even now, when we feel poured out completely, God is still here and He is still good.
They were such beautiful people and their love for each other, us and God was evident in the way they spoke, acted and prayed.
Partnering with them in prayer:
*They are in the process of building their church but they had to stop after they built the walls and the roof from lack of funds. (But they are still there!)
*They are working towards being able to build a new building to hold a feeding center in the area.
*Their family is dealing with the loss of a son/brother/father
