Reflections on Nicaragua, Round Two

I have returned, and I've had a few chances to talk it through with my friends here.  I've discovered that, in sharing, I process a lot of what I see and feel.  INFJ and all.

A brief schedule:

Sunday-Thursday we worked with El Shaddai, a church network in Chinandega.  Sunday we spoke at two different churches and went to the beach, and the rest of the time went like this-
Mornings: early wake-up, worship, two people share testimonies on the radio, then everyone help run feeding centers in poor neighborhoods (barios) [including dressing as clowns and throwing candy].
Afternoons: construction/labor, to demonstrate the incarnational love of Jesus, showers.
Nights: 'evangelistic campaigns'- revival service with worship and prayer, testimonies and teaching, skits and dancing.

Friday we worked with Casa de Esperanza (in Managua), a rehabilitation center for women and children moving out of prostitution (some rescued, others by choice).  Including games and prayer ministry, trying to instill a sense of personal worth and beauty.

Saturday we traveled to Masaya, home of our translator (baller, by the way) to run a feeding center there (including teaching and skits).  That night we spoke to a youth gathering at his church (much more like you would expect an modern American church to look like.

Sunday we explored a bit (monkey island, volcano, steak house, the usual).

As my second visit, I expected most of what I saw.  Again, the Lord moved powerfully, and we saw a lot of folks come forward to meet with the Lord.  Many folks met Him in what seemed to be powerful ways,  many for the first time*.  It was exciting.  We didn't see all the healings we hoped or prayed for.  But we saw a few: twisted ankles, headaches**, body pain.  And we did have some really cool 'words of knowledge'***.  There was some really encouraging times of worship (which I got to lead- so healthy for me), and some really powerful times praying with the group and the pastor in Chinandega.  All of that I have come to expect, when I am with a group of people set on seeking the Lord and His kingdom with boldness.

I was also positively challenged by much of what I saw.  The boldness of others, the relentless willingness to pray for the impossible.  The ease with which some slip into worship.  The ever-present hospitality of our family there.  These challenge me.

I was also negatively challenged by some of the methods used in the different churches with which we worked. Some seemed to have very legalistic perspectives on alcohol.  Others seemed to use fear as a motivation to come to the Lord, a method I hope to wrestle with in an upcoming post.  Some seemed to be so 'organic' as to be extremely impractical.  Others so practiced that it did not seem as fluid and Spirit-led.

I am a critical soul, that much I know, and so while these differences remain, I am seeking humility and listening.  And I have chosen to not go into detail here, particularly without digging through them with the leadership on the other side of the gulf.  (Re)Learning Spanish will begin to bridge the distance- something I'd like to work towards.  In the meantime, I hope the Lord will continue to teach me how to understand working under someone's authority, particularly when I disagree with part of what's going on (though often a small, small part indeed).

I will try to posts pictures soon.  I haven't brought all my equipment into the new house yet, but hope to have that all rolling here shortly.

Two prayer requests:
Be praying for Hannah (one of my lovely sisters)- her back began hurting on the trip, and still is giving her trouble.  Her back pain actually meant she and I missed the day at Casa de Esperanza (a huge reason why we both came to Nica in the first place), and was one of the most frightening experiences I have ever lived through.  Never have I prayed so hard for so long, for anyone or anything, and I haven't cried like that in over a year.  She's much better today that she was when it began last Friday, but we still don't really know what's going on there.

Also, please pray for the house I'm living in.  Eight dudes, one dog, in one house.  Big house.  Big potential.  Big danger.  We're trusting and praying that the Lord would do something big here.



Thanks again for reading folks.  It means a ton to me, and writing this blog provides me with a huge means of growth.  Thanks for taking part, and for encouraging me along the way.


 (footnotes, with stories)
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*While we were building one afternoon, we had some kids pull up chairs (literally) to watch.  We were smearing concrete onto a wall with very little success.  It didn't stick- even our local leader there couldn't make it work.  The children were laughing and making fun, which we took in stride, chasing them with muddy hands or jokingly trying to convince them to help.  The ringleader was particularly dismissive, and somewhat rude.  But we kept working.  They could have done it better, easily, but the goal was never to do work for them, but to demonstrate a love and an equality with them, to demonstrate the familial oneness that the Spirit provides and the humility of a God who would join us in all our brokenness and poverty in our very likeness.  This goal lets us rejoice in hardship.  We are becoming like our Lord.

Turns out, so was the boy.  He came to the worship/revival that night, and came forward to receive Christ, as did a family whose house we waterproofed.  What an encouragement, and a blessing.

**God seems let me pray for headaches a lot, and usually heals people when I do.  I remember a time with one of my sisters, a time with a friend in Greenville, and some others, that all have cool stories of headaches leaving when we prayed.  This trip, I really wanted to pray with a guy at the youth gathering in Masaya, but didn't know how to go about it.  I prayed that the Lord would let me pray for someone, and the guy next to me, a student there, turned to me and said, My head hurts.  I grinned and asked if I could pray for it, and it went away.

***Churchy lingo for when God leads you to pray for something before the person tells you to, only to learn that it's incredibly applicable.  For instance, one member of our team was praying for a little girls.  She couldn't speak Spanish, but she felt like she should pray for pain to be healed.  She didn't know what to pray for specifically, much less how to pray it in Spanish, so she prayed in English, Lord, take away her pain.  Later in the day, a translator showed up and was talking to the girl.  The team member asked if she had felt pain that day, and the girl said, yes, all over.  The translator asked her to point to it, and the girl said, no it's all gone now.

In another story, me and a fried were praying for a woman in Masaya, and I had the word "boca" come to mind [Spanish for mouth].  So, i asked the translator to see if there was anything she wanted prayer for regarding her mouth.  My friend said, I was about to ask the same thing!  The Lord had given her the word "mouthpiece".  Turns out, the woman we were praying for used to pray to speak the words of God, but had given up and forgotten the prayer, so we got to pray for her for that.  She cried hard.

****Check out the sermon "The Expulsive Power of a New Affection" by Chalmers.  I have it on PDF if you want it.