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Nicaraguan Memories - By Sara Reams
Sitting in our
devotional circle our last night in Leon, I was able to look into the eyes
of everyone who went on the adult mission trip to Nicaragua and know how the
Lord had touched each one. Fayette Presbyterian sent 17 adults to Leon for a
week of mission work; and we all went with some uncertainty as to what we
would be doing and how we would respond to the need we encountered. During
our week we found our hearts broken, our prayers answered, and our faith
strengthened. We cried, sang, laughed, worked, played, worshipped, and found
our reason for being in mission - as many different reasons as there were
people. And, through the entire week, we felt your presence with us as you
lifted us in prayer each hour of the trip.
Setting out, we had a basic outline for the work we would be doing -
medical, sewing, Bible school, and community projects. What we didn't know
was that we would meet a 37 year-old mother dying of cancer, who could be
treated to save her life, but denied the treatment by her family. Broken
hearts lifted this woman in prayer, to find the next day that her family had
joyfully changed their mind and accepted the life-saving treatment. We
didn't know that we would find five women who had been steadily increasing
their sewing skills since last year when we delivered sewing machines and
fabric, now waiting for guidance from us as to how to use these skills to
make a living for their families. Hearts seeking guidance lifted this
ministry and it became a business, run through a local church, with products
and a market. We didn't know that we would find an entire village, adults
and children, awaiting a Bible school and Christian fellowship. Joyful
hearts praised God the next day when we met some of these same children in
town, happily wearing the beads and sunglasses we had passed out and
excitedly greeting their new friends. We didn't know that we would find a
village whose only water supply was a filthy creek, hundreds of yards away,
accessible only on foot. Our hearts were awed and amazed over and over when
God provided workable solutions. Now, this village will have clean drinking
water from its own well. Nor did we know that we would look at a piece of
ground next to the El Ayudante orphanage and see in that dirt the bonding
between men that can only take place when socio-economic differences are
replaced by Christian love and fellowship, while digging a huge septic hole.
Yes, we found some things we expected to find from last year's trip:
laughing children eagerly waiting in the field for a game of ball each
evening, sadness in the hungry faces at the city dump, wonderful hospitality
from the El Ayudante staff, beautiful scenery all around, and even the same
French gentleman in the nursing home who again requested that we sing our
national anthem for him.
And, through it all, we found God - in answered prayers, in fellowship, in
quiet time alone with our Bibles and our thoughts. Thanks to everyone at
Fayette Presbyterian for your prayers. Our mission team's prayer for you is
that, as you lifted us up in prayer, you were also brought closer to God
during our week together in mission.
Nicaragua
Mission Trip - By Rebecca Jones
Gentility may have an antique ring and smack of uncomfortable elitism, but
it is an idea worth retrieving, if only for the way it reminds us of our own
privilege. We who are richly blessed by both material abundance and by the
riches of faith, who have access to peace that passes understanding, who are
held secure in a love that won’t go, who know ourselves to be heirs to a
kingdom, can afford to look carefully, caringly, and kindly upon what is
squalid, struggling, angry, confused, or in pain and speak a gentle word.” (Weavings,
July/August 2004)
What a sight to see at 4 a.m. — the Atlanta airport, 16 adults, carry-on
bags in tow and 38 very full suitcase containing supplies. Would all these
bags pass the weight limit? Would we all get through security without a
hitch? There was some slight (?) concerns, but God quickly let us know that
he was in control of this trip and we should leave our worries behind. So,
off we went with the excitement of children approaching holidays (and a few
queasy stomachs from the malaria pills).
Immediately we were struck by the beauty of El Ayundante, truly a small
piece of heaven framed on one side by volcanoes (by the way, the team tried
to offer the clerk of session as a sacrifice!) and the orphanage on the
other. After we unloaded and headed out to check out our surroundings, we
took a quick tour through the orphanage. Then the children shouted calling
us to play baseball.
The week ahead was full
of opportunities from working in medical clinics, teaching young ladies to
sew, painting, researching ways of providing clean water to the
neighborhoods, leading a VBS for the children, feeding the hungry at the
dump and even digging a very large hole by hand for the orphanage’s septic
tank.
We had an opportunity at the close of each day
to share what we had seen and experienced. It was evident that God had
placed each of us in a special place to do his work. We have returned, a
team on fire. Each of us expressing a desire to return and be a continuing
part of the ministry at El Ayundante.
In closing, the team
wants to thank you for sharing your gifts of money and supplies, but more
than anything your prayers that we would experience the wonderful joy of
sharing our Lord with the people of Nicaragua.
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