This past week we had a medical/ministry team here from Illinois. This team has been partnering with AIM for 14 years, 12 in Mexico and the last 2 here in Nicaragua. The medical team ran clinics in 4 different communities. In El Guayabo, the doctor set up in a local school and saw around 60 patients. He was tired that evening. The next day, he set up in El Fortin, and saw around 140 patients. He didn't return to our base until 7:00 that evening, working with the last few patients in the dark with nothing but cell phone lights. That night, he was exhausted!! On the third day, Dr. Reese set up literally in the dump, called Basurero La Joya(Basurero means dump, La Joya means jewel. Go Figure). While only working a half a day, he saw approximately 40 patients, while the rest of the team served the waiting people a hot lunch. Finally, on the last day, Dr. Tom set up in el Pantanal en la Tanque, again for one half a day, seeing around 40 patients. In addition, The ministry team held VBS every afternoon in el Pantanal while in the morning visited homes and even holding a Bible study. On Tuesday, three mid-teen boys (toughs, I might add) came to the Lord after two hours of really awesome discussion. Please pray that they will be responsive to being discipled by the staff of El Puente, who are cultivating this area for Christ.
On the final night of debriefing, Dr. Tom told everyone that his favorite clinic was in the dump. I told him that he had a "supernatural anointing". The whole trip was amazing.
I went to the dump in Granada, Nicaragua for the first time in two years today. As my team and I exited the vehicle, flies, stench, heat and smoke accosted us in ways they'd never experienced. I made it to the top of the hill before looking back and realizing the others hadn't left their place next to the truck. They hadn't ever seen anything like this before and immediately drew their shirts over their noses and took dozens of pictures.
After about thirty minutes of dealing with the initial shock, we walked into the trash heaps and spoke with the workers. Among them were buzzards, dogs and a single cow. A couple of guys on my team and I found a little girl and started asking her questions.
She'd been working there for a year, but has only two years left.
She goes to school at night and works at the dump during the day.
She works there with her parents.
She wants to be a cook when she grows up.
Her name is Maricela.
There were about twenty other children working in the dump with her. Some as young as seven years old. They haven't been working there long enough to realize they probably won't grow up to be a fireman, teacher or cook. Like their parents, this will probably be their life.
At Kingdom Dreams, we help launch people into their dreams. It's completely heartbreaking to see dreams die in the trash heaps of Granada.
I left thinking that someone should pay special attention to these kids' dreams. Maybe one of the kids on this mission trip. Perhaps one day I will.
Good Evening from Altagracia, Nicaragua! The New Hope Community Senior
High team arrived in Nicaragua on time this afternoon and they've been
making their way toward Altagracia here on the island of Ometepe.
Calvary Day School left today- All 30 of them safely off onto the plane to Atlanta, to travel back to Savannah. For being the biggest team El Puente has ever seen, things this week were relatively smooth and I saw God working in the ministries that they were a part of. Because of Nicaragua's rainy season, some of the ministries were cancelled, shortened, or no Nicaraguans showed up, but all in all the teams learned to improvise, following God's heart and spreading their love regardless of their situation. Here is Team 4's accounting of one such day:
"Here in Nicaragua, team 4 has taken on the name "Team
Improv'. Apart from visiting the dump, I don't think any of our ministries have
taken place. This has turned out to be the best possible thing we could have
hoped to happen. There are people here we have met that we would have never
come into contact with had our plans worked out. These are the people we have
ended up praying with and praying for. On Tuesday, we were on the way back from
El Guayabo, a place 20 minutes away from where we are staying. All of a sudden,
as we were driving down the road, our truck broke down and we had to stop. We
stopped next to a family, standing outside their one-room shack. Obviously we
had stopped there for a reason, so we got out and asked the family if they knew
Jesus, and if we could pray for them. They said they were Christians and
invited us into their home. I think everyone in our team felt the presence of
God there that day- we asked the mother of the house if she needed prayer for
anything and her reply was that her family had everything that they needed. How
awesome is that? Living in a one room shack, with no worldly possessions
whatsoever, and they had everything they needed in Christ."
This and many other stories have been shared with our group - and has truly shown that God's will and His way is not always our way- that His purpose will always come to pass.
As this week ends and they go home to Savannah, I know that Nicaragua will continue to stay in their hearts and minds, and that they are changed by the many "chance" encounters they have had.
I am here in Granada, Nicaragua with the Calvary Day School team- 30 of them with great hearts for Jesus. Here are some of the teams thoughts and their words on what they have learned so far in the past 2 days:
Team 2 - Team Dominio
We have witnessed a world and a way of life we could not have
imagined existed. We spent time at a dump site where families with
their children dig through the heaps of filth for their livelihood. This
and most everything here - we have never seen and most certainly never
experienced. ur worlds are very very different.
As different
as our lives are in the material sense, they are equally the same from a
spiritual sense. We know that we, just like every "Nica", are in
extreme "spiritual poverty" and we stand before God filthy all the same.
We and the Nicas are in desperate need for the very same Savior - Jesus
Christ. No matter how much, or how little we have, we are spiritually
bankrupt (all of us) in need of our debt to be paid.
Team 3 - Team AMOR
In just 2 days, our team has already been in situations that have affected many emotions. We have been touched by the sad elderly folks that live in the nursing home (hogar de ancianos). We were challenged and saw many people touched as we went door to door and prayed for families in their houses...in a very tough neigborhood. Also we have been enlightened by the way the Nicaraguan people live their lives day to day- not desiring material things but that health is a blessing...
Team 5 - Team Alegria
Yesterday at the nursing home, we were doing physical therapy for about ten of the old folks. One man, Armando, was just kind of going through the motions, but didnt seem really into it; you could tell there was something going on with him. At the end we prayed for a man named Omar whose sister was going to have surgery. Armando saw us praying and asked us to pray for him as well.
That opened up an opportunity to talk to him, as he teared up, we learned he was a pastor for 17 years in Costa Rica, he is sad and lonely because his 19 brothers and sisters never visit him, and noone else visits. I saw God then because without our faith we had in common, we probably would not have individually prayed and spoken as much to him. One thing he said was that the Lord was the only thing that makes him happy, and that is important for us to know that HE is all we need.
----Despite the different worlds, the different circumstances, the students and leaders here are learning that we have the very same God, the very same Spirit living in all of us who believe. And in that we have something in common. And can communicate regardless of race, language, or background----
