I want to update you with what we did last month in Nicaragua!
Nicaragua was all-squad month, meaning our squad worked together with one organization rather than being dispersed throughout the country working work many organizations.
We did a lot of door-to-door evangelism, played a lot of futbol (soccer), ate a ton of rice and beans (nearly every meal), and were nasty dirty by the end of every day because of all the dust and dirt.
Our transportation were trucks with open-ish beds and pew-like seats, although I preferred to stand towards the front of the bus.
We interacted a lot with children. Vision Nicaragua has two crates of toys and arts & crafts supplies, and instructed us to empty the crates before we left. Challenge accepted! We did several activities such as face painting, drawing, incorporating Bible stories, playing games and sports, and more!
There were several times when we showed up and we were expected to lead the crowd in a message, song, invitation, and prayer. It was amazing to see God working first-hand. For the whole month we had 120 salvations. 120! Heaven is rejoicing! That’s including men, women, and children.
Pastor Antonio went with us to ministry every day, and recorded the names of the people who accepted Christ so that they could continue to pour into those people.
Everything seemed all fine and dandy, but as we witnessed to more and more people we began realizing that they want to take this step of faith. It was just near impossible because they didn’t own a Bible. Not even one!
So some of our squadmates decided to make a goal of $1000 to raise to buy Bibles. It seemed a little ambitious, maybe, but I kid you not that money was raised in less than 24-hours! *holy ghost bumps!*
With the money we were able to go buy Bibles from a small local store. How cool it is to support a small store because we bought out all their Bibles!
If you missed it, check out the story I posted of a boy I met named Josue (inserted below for your convenience). That was definitely a special memory I took away from month two.
Here’s is a recap video of our second month: Nicaragua!
The Story of Mi Amigo Josue:
“This is Josue. Josue and I always ride at the front of the truck so we can stand with the wind in our faces. A few days ago I talked to Josue. He really kept to himself and seemed timid, yet attentive. I talked to him in the broken Spanish I knew, and I really felt like I wasn’t making any sense to him; that I was just a silly gringo. But God encouraged me to keep talking with Josue, and brought back Spanish words I had forgotten. One day I asked Josue if we could take a picture together. And for the first time he verbally answered with a shy “si”. So we took a photo, but I noticed he wasn’t smiling. So I told him to smile for the next one. Then we took a smiling photo. Then we took silly photos and funny photos. That’s when we connected over laughter. From then on, our conversations blossomed into gestures and my broken Spanish until Josue began helping me with my Spanish. He also taught me new words! The more I tried to communicate with the Spanish I knew, the more laughs and corrections. We began playing a game where you poke someone and then look the other way, leaving the other person bewildered. Super fun, I have to admit! Today was a hard and sad day, as I knew our friendship was coming to an end. When we dropped off Josue at his village, I knew the last time of see him would be tomorrow. We went back to our home and began getting ready for the evening. A while later, the truck came back, full of our local friends. Josue hopped off, ran over, and poked me in the side, as our game entailed. Apparently our friends from our month here came to surprise us with a going away party of gratitude and encouragement and worship! Best. Surprise. Ever. I felt like with our worship came a glimpse of heaven. A familiar tune being sung in different languages simultaneously. *holyghostbumps* Today was beautiful. This month has been beautiful. Thank you, God, for being present regardless of language barriers. And thank you for friendships.”
