After a 10 hour bus ride, we arrived in Nicaragua last night around 8pm. We warned the drivers that were to take us to our hotel that we had A LOT of heavy backpacks, but they blew past our warnings in the excitement of negotiating a price. They settled on a price that we asked for and came for the bags. The euro-vans piled high with our packs reminded me of that Ikea commercial with the small volkswagon bug and the tower of Ikea furniture roped on top. Our driver later said he should have negotiated a higher price. He didn’t realize how much our packs would weigh down his van. An hour later we arrived at our hotel, Casa Mateo.
Glenn and Lynn, two completed Jews, were called here 11 years ago. The Lord had given Lynn a vision of opening up a hotel where visiting pastors and missionaries could stay. Casa Mateo is the materialization of that vision. Glenn pastors a church here in Jinotepe with main services on the weekends. During the week, they spend their time serving the poorest of the poor in the dumps. Nicaragua is the second poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere next to Haiti. The economy has been improving through exportation of cigars, beef and coffee. As with Guatemala and Costa Rica, Nicaragua claims to have the best coffee in the world. Glenn says that if one cup doesn’t wake you up, nothing will. I personally think we were all woken up and ushered back into ‘regularity’ after drinking some this morning 🙂
Cas
a Mateo is honestly a little on the expensive side. We’re staying here at $17.25 a head per night, which is a significant amount more than we’ve paid yet. In Antigua we only paid $6 a head per night, which is incredible considering how much tourism runs up the prices there. Chad feels the Lord calling us to stay here though. He calls us to trust Him and that He will provide for us – and we do. I absolutely love this part of God. It’s the part that dares us to step out so far in faith that He is the only one who can rescue us. It’s the part that challenges us to jump farther and take on more than we can handle because He delights in our dependence on Him. He delights in rescuing his children and stepping out for us when we call on Him. He delights in our faith! The more we step out in crazy faith and depend on Him to come through for us, the more He does! What an awesome God we serve! How many other religions can boast of a living God? None! Our God is powerful and incredible and we need never to fear!
So, bienvenidos a Nicaragua. Lord, we pray you break open the heavens and come down! Break this place wide open Lord. We are ready to do your work and follow you into unknown places. Break us open and use us for your glory!
