Eagle Brook Church Blog

Nicaragua trip (pt 1)

Hey everyone – thanks for dialing in on my blog.  If you’re anything like me, keeping up with blogs, facebook sites and tweets could be a full time job. So anyone who takes a minute to read what I have to offer is appreciated.

As I mentioned this last weekend at church, I had the opportunity to go to Nicaragua.  The purpose of the trip was to check out an amazing ministry that connects American churches to Nicaraguan ministries like feeding centers, orphanages, medical clinics and schools.  We had the opportunity to see numerous sites as the purpose was to get a good look at all that was going on there.

The logistics aren’t that exciting for those that don’t know the area, so I thought I’d spend a little more time talking about some “God-moments.”  These were times where I saw God and was struck by His presence.

First – the brief logistics:

-      About a 6 hour trip from MSP to Managua.

-      Spent the night in Managua – west coast of Nicaragua

-      Got on a 12 person plane to Puerta Cabezas.  There we visited a key leader along with his orphanage, school, church, bakery and a restaurant they are trying to keep rolling.

-      Came back to Managua the next day where we spent time at another orphanage, played baseball with kids, went to church on Sunday, played with kids, visited another church, feeding center, medical clinic, some small businesses that were results of micro-financing and a memorable visit to the garbage dump where 1500 people live.

 As mentioned – let’s talk about moments of lasting impact.  Instead of making a long blog even longer, I’ll tell one story today, and write more later.

 God Moment #1 on the trip – As mentioned above, we flew over to Puerta Cabezas on our first full day there.  The temperature was hot (probably low 90’s) with lots of humidity.  We were sweating most our time there.  For dinner, they treated us to an amazing shrimp meal (which comes from the coast there).  After dinner we were told to go to their café/restaurant where the AC was on and where we’d have a night of stories.

The four of us, plus our guide, 2 leaders from their organization and 4 teens (around 15ish) sat down around a long table.  We were each given a cold pop – which I’m guessing was a real treat for these kids and settled in as the leader encouraged each of us to share a little of who we are.  After doing this, the 4 kids from the orphanage told stories about the difficult circumstances that brought them to the orphanage.  Stories of poverty, abuse, abandonment and neglect.  They talked about how they ended up at this place, and someone told them about the love of Christ, how they gave their lives to follow Jesus and how their lives are now filled with hope and dreams to have future jobs and families.

Their stories were incredible, as were the stories of the 2 leaders who were originally from America.  They had given everything up, well-paying jobs, American luxuries and dreams so that they could reach these kids with the gospel.  The leaders stories were as dramatic as the kids.

It was during this time, that I felt something much bigger then me taking place.  Here I was in some café in Central America, surrounded by a city of 80% unemployment and desperate poverty, drinking a cold Fanta, looking into the eyes of 4 orphans and 2 totally surrendered leaders for Christ.  It dawned on me; perhaps God’s not only present in this moment (that was obvious)…but perhaps this IS God.  Is it possible that God would reveal himself in lives and stories of 6 other Christ followers in some far-away land?  A moment that was so beautiful, surrounded by such desperation, yet filled with such hope.  Maybe God is kind of like that, in a desperate world, God’s light shines which is so hope-giving and so beautiful.  I haven’t figured it out, but at this point, I’m sticking with it.  I saw God, in a café in some foreign land in Nicaragua…and it…I mean He…was amazing to see. 

Matthew 25:45 – ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

I’ll stop there for today.  I have a few other God-moments which I’d love to talk about…I’ll plug those in soon.  Here’s a couple shots from those first couple of days.