This year coming to Nicaragua has been a very different experience for me than usual. I have had the privilege of coming before Fox River and getting to help prepare for the team. It was really cool to get to see all the things that go into preparing for a team and being part of that. There is so much more work than I ever knew or cared to think about, the Nicas work many many hours getting La Esmeralda and the houses we stay in ready for us, and Donna runs around the country getting all the things together for us so that the team will be comfortable while they stay.
I waited for the team anxiously at the airport and then finally got to hug them as they walked through the doors! After they had some time to eat we headed for Selva Negra where we would stay for a night. Then the next morning we made the rest of the trip to La Esmeralda and then got settled and a little organized. We built the hygiene packs while the medical people had a little orientation and got settled in the clinic. Those of us making the packs had a little too much fun in the Marena house hahaha! It was so good to get there and spend time with good friends and meet some new ones! Then we went to church Fox River put on a skit that moved many of the Nicas. It was to the song of Oceans and portrayed how the world is constantly trying to distract us from the path God is calling us to. And how our fear sometimes gets the best of us and we don’t take the steps God has asked of us. But in the end if we trust God and keep our focus on Him the things of the world don’t seem as great and the things that look scary don’t hold a flame to His power!
God worked this week. We had two different groups in our team this year, the ones in the clinic and the ones going out into the communities. I got to be part of both sides and I can honestly say that both work extremely hard to accomplish whatever task God has given them on this trip. This year since we had separate groups that meant we had less translators…which meant I was a translator this time. Friday the medical people had their first clinic and saw [] patients and 25 saved!! The community group went out into Las Nubes and La Esmeralda to hand out hygiene packs Fox River donated. We broke up into three groups and headed off in different directions. As we walked around to the houses and started to share these gifts it opened the door for us to invite them to the events we would be having that week, and also to share about the hope we have in Christ and the love He has given us. This is always one of my favorite parts of the trip, and this year was no different. I love this part because even though I don’t know much Spanish I can still communicate to the people that they are loved.
I somehow always end up with Jorvin (youth pastor) and he takes [as I call it] the road less traveled; which means some serious hiking. It also means that we go to houses and people who do not have many visitors if any at all. My friend Enmanuel and I teamed up, we kind of made one translator with the Spanish I know and the English he knows, as we walked around the communities to do hygiene packs. It was really fun being able to do that because it really shows the need for one another in being able to accomplish what God has called us to do. This is something I struggle with if I am being honest. I often feel like things would be easier if I could just do it myself and not have to depend on others. I do not like needing people, but God is teaching me through this chapter in my life that it is impossible to complete His plan for my life without the Body of Christ. It is a hard lesson to learn but I am learning that it is so much sweeter when we come together for the same purpose
Something that I love so much about being with a team in Nicaragua is the unity we find fulfilling God's will for our lives that week. No matter where you come from or what language you speak unity comes by Christs blood. Though physically we don't share blood, spiritually we do and I would argue that the blood that binds us spiritually is a lot thicker and stronger than physical...but that is just me. To me these are some of the best relationships in the world, the ones that are not restrained by conversation and need to always be saying something to relate to the other. Coming together and getting to do ministry in this environment is always fruitful. I believe it is because there is no way we could communicate without God's power, and there is no way that some of the things we do would ever be possible without Him on our side. This is what the Body of Christ is supposed to look like.
I will post multiple posts about this last week because there are just so many things to talk about! Stay tuned for more!
"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing." 1 Corinthians 13:1-3
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