Faces of Nicaragua

Raman Noodles and popcorn for lunch.

Innocence  

"Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise."  Matthew 21:16

"Let the little ones come unto me."

"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after rightenousnes for they shall be filled." Matt. 5:6

Reading the Spanish Bible with a Gospel tract in the other hand.

"For of such is the kingdom of heaven.."

Nicaraguan volcano  

"That the land spew not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spewed out the nations that were before you." Lev. 18:28

 "Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and the fullness thereof. " Psalms 96:11

The children brought tame parrots

One of three or more. preaching services a day

Pet live Alligator.

The children create their own "toys"

A pet scorpian with the stinger pulled

Tropical beauty

 

Enterprising mama

Guarding our compound

Spanish Bibles to give to the Nationals

Villagers

Inhabitants of Monkey Island

San Cristobel Volcano

Many of the villgers transportation

Nuevo   Jerusalem, Nicaragua  

(June 13 – June 20)

“O give thanks unto the Lord. Call upon His name.   Make His deeds known among the people.” Psalm 105:1

Nicaragua - beautiful land of volcanoes, lakes, mountains, jungles, rainforests, tropical flowers, pineapples, palm trees and coffee beans.  Nicaragua is also a land of much poverty and need as it is the 2^nd poorest country in the world. Haiti is probably #1.

Nuevo Jerusalem used to be one of the poorest villages in Nicaragua until a hurricane destroyed much of the village.  The Red Cross from Spain came in and built the people little cinder block homes and a nice school.  We set up our compound in the school so conditions were better for our team than some of our mission trips.

We arrived in the village by bus Sunday afternoon and had several big trucks full of supplies to open and set up.  Our 65 team members, plus interpreters and National helpers, set up a medical clinic, dental clinic, pharmacy, free store, photography, barber shop, kitchen, noodles and popcorn ministry, preaching tent and children’s church.  My helpers and I had the kitchen set up and supper ready for 130 people by 6:00. The menu was; Spaghetti and meat sauce, garlic toast, toss salad and chocolate pudding.  Church in the tent started at 7:00 each night.

While setting up the kitchen, my camera was stolen.  Someone suggested we offer a free meal to the person who took it, but one of the nationals said the thief would probably sell it and earn enough to have 4 meals.

We had several flush toilets that actually worked. (As long as we could remember not to flush the paper) J  We slept on mats on the kitchen floor after everything was cleaned up and food was started for the next day. We had a few faucets of running water outside (which we couldn’t drink) and electricity most the time, thanks to three noisy generators that ran all night outside our kitchen windows.  Along with the generators, we were serenaded throughout the night by chirping geckos, (lizards) half starved fighting dogs, tropical birds, tree toads, and roosters crowing to wake us at 4:30 to start breakfast. 

The heat and humidity was almost unbearable.  We later learned we were in the hottest spot in Nicaragua.  And the bugs… Most of us came home covered with bites from who knows what!

Just imagine scrambling 20 dozen eggs, frying 260 pancakes and 260 pieces of bacon, add to that 3 gallons of sausage gravy.  After we served 130 people it was time to clean up and start the next meal.  We were suppose to be serving our team of 65 plus the interpreters, and the few nationals and guards we hired to help, which should have totaled around 110.  Each meal the line got a little longer as the helpers shared their “helper tag” with their friend so they could go through the line too.  The Lord still multiplies the “loaves and fishes.”  Just imagine preparing this food with no refrigerator, no oven and only a couple two burner hotplates. Bob, our wonderful “drink man, kept us supplied with ice cold water, lemonade, ice tea, sometimes gatorade, crystal lite and coffee.

By 7:00 each evening the meal had to be finishing, because church would start in the big tent.  The Spanish musicians kept the compound very lively with their Spanish instruments and Spanish upbeat Gospel music.

Americans have not built up an immunity to the many germs floating around due to poor sanitation and the tropical heat, so we take every precaution.  Before entering the kitchen each person must wash and rinse their hands in a solution of bleach water.  All of our fresh fruit and vegetables, and canned food are first dipped in the bleach solution, even the 20 dozen eggs. All dishes are washed and rinsed in the bleach water.  None of the kitchen help was sick on this trip but many of the others who worked closely with the Nationals became very sick and some were on IVs.

Monday morning there were long lines of Nationals waiting for us to open the clinic.  Many had walked or rode buses from all over Nicaragua.  By day 3, we had seen over 3,500 Nationals in the clinics and over 250 made decisions to follow Jesus.  We witnessed 8 baptisms.  15,000 Spanish Bibles were given out. The dental team pulled 382 teeth, and 18,000 prescriptions were filled at the Pharmacy. Medical saw 3,500. 750 photos were taken of families and put in a frame with a scripture on it and given to the family. For most it was their first family picture.  It was difficult to get most of them to smile for their pictures but they sure smiled when they saw the framed photo.  550 hair cuts were given.  Most who went through the long lines ended up at the free store where they received beans and rice and an outfit of clothing donated and made by churches in Kentucky. 5,000 lbs of beans and rice were given to the villagers.  Project Life chose 10 of the worst medical cases and provided medical care for them at the Managua hospital.  Several team members went on house to house visitation to share Jesus.  Mychia got in on a couple days of that and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Wonderful preaching every night, in Spanish and English.  It was hard for the kitchen help to get away but I did hear two very powerful messages that will stick with me.  One message that Bro Gene preached, was...  "There are two classes of people.  Those who need to move up in God and those who need to move up in God. " No matter where we are in our Christian walk, we will never arrive until we arrive in heaven.  God always has more for us, and wants us to draw closer to Him.

The last night the missionaries were asked to come to the front and all the villagers came around to thank us for coming. I think I was hugged and kissed by everyone in the village.  I couldn’t understand their whispered words of thanks but I could see their tears, feel their love and their thankful hearts.

Earlier, before the trip started I asked the Lord for a word and He gave me Psalms 29:11 “The Lord will give strength to His people. The Lord will bless His people with peace.”  The work was hard, the conditions were harsh, the weather was unbearable, but the Lord gave us strength and blessed us with peace. GOD IS GOOD! ALL THE TIME!!!!

Lots of interesting things on this trip such as the scorpion Corey found and took the stinger out of and turned it into his “pet”!  The live “pet” alligator that a young man brought to church service. The pretty little green parrots that came through the clinic sitting on some of the children’s arms and shoulder. When you don’t have toys you create them.

Then there was the very poor family that hadn’t eaten anything but grass for a few weeks because they had no food and another young mother of 5 or 6 children whose children were malnourished for lack of food.  We found a nice box of food to send with them.  The mother hugged me with tears in her eyes and didn’t want to let go. I started to put some plastic spoons and forks in the box but Omar, our kitchen interpreter told us not to bother, that many of his people never used silverware.  Everything could be eaten with hands and soup could be drunk from a cup.  Most of their food is just beans and rice. (When they have it)  We look very rich to the Nicaraguans. Most the stuff we throw away, like gallon cans, mayonnaise jars and drink containers etc. were snatched up by the villagers to use.

So much could be written about our week in New Jerusalem.  Each clinic station has some very interesting stories. At one point I took a break and walked through the village with a national.  We couldn’t communicate through language but he motioned for me to visit at his house so I did.  His wife was rocking a naked baby.  She was proud of her little daughter and motioned to Mychia’s camera, I was carrying, to take a picture.  So I have a family picture with mom and dad showing off their al-la-natural baby. Many young mothers were standing in the crowded lines nursing their babies.

Thursday we packed up and headed back to the mission house in Managua.  On the way we stopped to play in the ocean.  We drove very close to San Cristobel, live Volcano and also by the Masaya live volcano. Both looked to be very “angry” with much steam boiling out the top.

Yesterday, Friday we loaded up the busses again and drove to the Masaya “dirty” market, where we bought our gifts to bring home.  On our way back to the mission house we stopped at the huge lagoon, a lake made from the mouth of an inactive volcano.

At 3:30 Saturday morning we were up, getting ready to leave on the bus by 4:00 for our airline departure.  From Huston TX to Indianapolis I sat by Dr.Francisco Dario Lobo Lara the Magistrado of Central America.  He is the ambassador to the United Nations for all of Central America his title is “Corte Centroamericana de Justicia”. I shared with him about the problem we had when we drove our bus through Central America, three years ago and how at the border, Nicaragua confiscated our bus and all the medical supplies we were donating to the clinic in Waslala.  He seemed very concerned about that and gave me his very official business card and told me to keep it.  He said should I be in Central America again and have any issues, to give him a call and he will help us.  He said he would always remember me and the work we do in Nicaragua and wanted to help in any way he could. He is working to unite all the Central America Countries to be united like the USA.  With Nicaragua being Communist now it is making that possibility more difficult.

So much red tape to enter or leave a country.  As we entered Nicaragua, all the officials in the airport wore masks.  They said in the past couple weeks there’s been 75 cases of swine flu.  As we got off the plane we stood in front of something that looked like a camera but instead it was a machine that registered body temperature and should someone have a fever, they might not get to enter Nicaragua. 

We went through several official scans as we were leaving the country.  As we entered the plane they were checking through everyone’s personal carry on luggage making us take everything out and they were picking and choosing when we couldn’t take.  I had a tiny can of Vienna sausage I’d planned to eat on the plane for lunch but the man said it was illegal so he took it.  Everyone else got to bring theirs through.  Then he took 4 tiny oval shaped magnets I had bought at the gift shop for the girls, made from black lava rock.  He said magnets were illegal to carry on the plane.  Had I packed them in my check on luggage there would have been no issue.  I figured he was hungry for Vienna sausage that day and wanted the magnets for his kids. L Oh well we came to serve the people.

The huge beautiful new Managua airport is showing signs of Communism.  Huge posters of “Sandino” Sandinista leader of the revolution and other revolutionists are hanging around and busts of other leaders are on display.  All through Managua are huge posters of Daniel Otraga.  One of our interpreters said he is taxing his people very heavily to do some of the big changes he promised. 

It was a good trip and I’m tired but feeling so blessed to have been on this mission!  I highly recommend it!!! J  The need is great, the harvest truly is ripe and the rewards are eternal!

Paul encourages us to endeavor to "keep the Unity" of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Eph.4:3    "By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another."  John 13:35 

Could it be that love/unity is the key to reaching the world for Christ?  If unity is the key to evangelism then shouldn't it have precedence in our prayers?  Shouldn't we like Paul make every effort to "keep the unity"?