Little Dreams Come True

My first week here in Nica, God showed me a way that he already has answered things I prayed when I was here before. During one of the days I was here in March, I went on a quick delivery run with the Amigos staff. We left the Villa, which is where visiting groups always go to work and play, and went to another village I had never seen before. There was a school there, and we delivered a bunch of donated backpacks to their students. The school was about the same size as the one in the Villa, but the kids were not nearly as vibrant as the others. They didn't run up to us to try to play like they do in the Villa. I remember praying that God would send Amigos there too, because these people were in a lot of need, but they did not have the American groups come to work and play among them much.

The first full day I came back this summer, we were told that the groups were mostly digging pipeline in a different place. Amigos had just finished drilling a well for another community, but needed to dig 6 miles of line to get the water to them. So, we went out in an old school bus full of 60 American high schoolers, parked on the side of some random highway, and started digging. At lunch, the staff walked us about a half mile down to where this community lived so we could meet them. We walked through the village and then came to the school, which looked a tad familiar. After staring at it for a few seconds, I realized that it was the same school I had helped deliver backpacks to, months before.

These kids who before had been tired and slightly suspicious now ran up to us to play. All this summer, the American groups go out twice a week to dig this line and get to go interact and play with the kids in the afternoon. They play field hockey, football, and jump-off-the-back-of-the-slide-and-have-a-gringo-catch-you. It is so cool to see that a little wish I had that a village could get love like the Villa has been realized so abundantly.

Reunited

There is a little boy here in Nicaragua named Junior, and he is my absolute favorite (not that I have favorites). When I was here in March, I played with him just about everyday and completely fell in love with him. I could never tell if the feeling was mutual though because these kids have Americans come and play with them almost every week. He always called me "Gringa," which is just what they call white women. So, when I left, I was sad to leave him, but didn't think he would even give my departure a second thought.

My first week back here in July, I didn't see him. I figured he had moved or something because he hadn't come out to play with the Americans like he had before. So, my third day in his village, I prayed that I would be able to find him and set off toward his house to see if he was there. As I was walking down the road, I saw an unfamiliar looking boy sprinting strait for me. When he got closer, I saw that he was wearing the shirt that Junior used to wear. I was so confused and disheartened, figuring Junior was surely gone. Then, just as this boy was about to crash into me, I got a good look at his face and realized that it was Junior, he had just had a buzz cut. I yelled, "Junior!" right as he took a flying leap into my arms. I spun him around and told him how happy I was to see him again and that I had been looking for him for days.

We then went to the swings to play. As we were sitting down, some others girls I didn't know came up and asked if they could play too. Before I could respond, Junior said, "No! She's my gringa!" They replied that they could play with me too, but he shot back more angrily this time, "No! She's only mine!" I was floored. I never would have thought that he would remember me let alone have become so attached. The staff down here later told me that he actually doesn't get close with a lot of Americans. So now I'm definitely glad I found him and get to play and hang out with him for three more weeks. Maybe eventually he'll learn my name :)

You Did For Me

One of my favorite memories of Kenya was simply playing with a little girl. The first few days, I had trouble playing with the kids and loving them, because I was afraid to attach myself to children I may never see again. I hate loving people and then leaving them. One night I realized this and asked God to help me with it.

The next day was Seminar day so they had canceled school and there was not a child to be found. I was a little disappointed, especially since I didn't have anything to do until the youth arrived in the afternoon. Finally I saw one little girl wandering down the hillside. I ran and got one of our children's crafts, went up to her, and just handed it to her (remember I can't verbally communicate with her at all). She looked skeptical, so I sat down, took it out of the bag, and showed her how to do it. Still unsure about me, she sat down and began to do it, but looked up every few seconds to ponder who in the world I was.

After she finished, she held up her work to show it to me, and I indicated that I thought it was great. She immediately lit up with a huge smile and giggled with the cutest laugh I've ever heard. After that we started playing. We began with peek-a-boo esque games that eventually progressed to a stampede of children, who had gathered to watch us, trying to catch and tackle me.

Now, I've played with children a lot before, but this time still stands out in my mind everyday. What was so amazing about this particular instance was what it was like to sit with this girl. It has proven incredibly difficult to put into words, which is why I have avoided posting a blog about it until now. The best I can come up with is that sitting and coloring with this girl was like being with Jesus - like physically. My sudden love for her and connection to her was so intense I barely believed I wasn't dreaming. I couldn't figure out what was going on, so I asked God. Right then, I remembered the parable in Matthew 25 where Jesus says that whatever we do for the least of his brothers and sisters, we do for him. I hung out with her almost all day, and all I can say is that it was one of the best days of my life.

 ³⁴"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'
 ³⁷"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
 ⁴⁰"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

Water from Rock

The Kilgoris Project has been working on a well at one of the schools for a while now. While we were preparing for our trip to Kenya, the team prayed that the project would get a drilling permit without cooperating with corruption and bribery. After a few weeks of praying and waiting, it was finally granted. They drilled and drilled and we prayed and prayed that they would hit water. Yet, after digging down more than 200 meters, they still had not struck water.

But, they then realized that even though they had not hit water at the bottom, this now 200 meter deep rock tank started to just fill with water every night. We essentially now had a giant cistern with enough water everyday for the school.

So, on Sunday, our last day, we all went and christened the well as the Kenyans sang songs about how God doesn't change and he can give us water. It was quite the modern day example of the Old Testament stories of God providing water for his people out of rock.

Here's the awesome video Jon made about it:

New Well at Ntimigom from Jon McCormack on Vimeo.

We Treat, Jesus Heals

This is the sign for the hospital in Kilgoris. We found their motto to be true on our trip, in our work, as well.

The first day, one little girl hung out next to me for several hours. Her head was covering in boil-like eruptions. I didn't know what was wrong with her, so I just prayed and prayed that Jesus would heal her. As I did, I got the sense that he really cared for her, but her head still looked the same.

Later that day I saw one of the women from our team who is a nurse looking at this girl with one of the Kenyan women. She told us that they had figured out that the little girl had a very advanced case of ringworm, so they had treated her for it. 

We went back to the same place on our last day. The girl ran up to me in her Sunday dress and her head looked completely different. There was not an open wound on it, just a few places where you could see it had healed over. It was so exciting to see our presence and small ability to pray and treat bring about a big change for one girl God cares about so much and who I had also come to love and cherish.

Splashing Around the Love

Every night this week, we have taken some time as a group to gather in the backyard and sing worship to God. It's been a great way to relax, refresh, remember who God is and give our love to him. The first night while we were singing, I saw a picture of a map of Central America, and the six of us sitting in a circle in Nicaragua with our faces turned up to God expectantly. Then, from God's perspective, I saw him take an enormous bucket of water and dump it on us while laughing hysterically. It was pretty funny and made me think of how it poured rain here last week. The next night, I saw the same picture right as the song lyric said something about God pouring his love out on us. The night after that I saw the same thing except this time, we had buckets too. As the water drenched us, we caught some of it in buckets and splashed it on the Nicaraguan kids.

I really liked this analogy of our time in Nicaragua. We were together waiting for God's water, and he poured out more than we could ask with abundant joy. It was his water that we also were able to collect and transfer to the kids in playful love.

The next day after our morning activities, I was feeling pretty exhausted, so I stayed in the house while the others went out to the Villa for the afternoon. When they came back, they told me that their job had been to throw water on some of the newly worked on houses, and that they had ended up getting in a water fight with some of the kids who were out there. They told me that they had had buckets and threw the water in them on the kids (and vice versa) to everyone's delight. It was really neat to see how the picture of us throwing water on the kids had come out in reality the next day. Jason in particular had a great time "loving" another guy by chasing him all over the village with a water bottle ;)

Zechariah 10:1

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Originally uploaded by MollyInNica

I read Zechariah at the Spirit's leading a few weeks ago and got a ton of things out of it. One of the things I remembered was:

"Ask the LORD for rain in the springtime;
       it is the LORD who makes the storm clouds.
       He gives showers of rain to men,
       and plants of the field to everyone."-Zech 10:1

It has been rediculously hot here. The first few days I thought I might faint just from the heat. I was telling Jesus about how this was taking a lot out of me and my ability to love when we were in the village. As sort of a passing thought, I said something like, "I know it's the dry season, but if it would cool it down some, would you send us rain here?" A few hours later, it was pouring rain, thundering, and flashing lightning. I was stunned. Katie was too, and her surprise is caught on video here :)

After this video, the power went out (as Katie says it often does for a couple hours when it rains hard). I played in the rain a little bit, but then realized this power outage was gonna make things with a house full of 40+ people a little hard. So I prayed, "God, could we have the power back on?" Literally, right as I prayed that, the power came back on. I could barely believe it and sprinted back in the house to tell Katie what had just happened.

On reflection, it taught me / reminded me of several things. First, God likes us, knows what's hard for us, and wants to help us. Also, he knows what we need before we ask, and we don't have to "pray really hard" if we want something miraculous. It's not the strength of our prayers that sends rain, but the strength of our God. When I am weak, he is strong.

It also made me think metaphorically about how the earth here is "scorched," and that what scorched earth needs is rain. Situations here and the culturally/politically embedded injustice seems so impossible. I don't have any water for this land. But God can send a rainstorm, even if it's the dry season. This little gift from God made me realize just how mighty to save this city, country, and world he is.

Could We Get a Breeze?

After church on Sunday, we went and climbed Cerro Negro, Nicaragua's most active volcano, with the high school group that is here. After we had gone a little ways, several people were having a rough time since we were very tired from travelling and people were nauseous and such. I was a little dizzy and dehydrated, so I asked Katie to pray for me.

She then asked Kelly, the group leader, to gather everyone to pray. Kelly asked God for healing, strength, and encouragement for the group. It was rediculously hot and humid, so at one point she prayed, "Would you please help us know you are here, like, could we get a breeze?" Literally, right as she said that, a strong wind blew over us, and kept getting stronger as she wrapped up the prayer. It was neat to see that God wanted us to know he was with us and willing to offer us a bit of comfort. The breeze lasted the rest of the hike.

When we got to the top, we could see so much of the countryside and other hills and mountains. When I first heard we were going to go hiking, I was a little disappointed, thinking I didn't come down here to go on vacation. But it turned out to be a good way to get acclimated to the weather on our first day, get perspective on this new country, and know that God here too.


There was also a pretty sweet sunset at the end of the day.

Feed the Children

Here’s some of how God has led and provided for us as we prepared for the trip… Several weeks ago, Jason’s dad told him that he’d been having a reoccurring dream about our trip to Nicaragua with the message “feed the children.” So, Jason told us and encouraged us to ask God to help us understand what this meant. One afternoon when I had some time to ask God about it, I felt like playing guitar so I asked God if he’d speak to me through song. I started strumming and God inspired a new song that revealed more of his heart and intention behind the message. I’ll copy the lyrics at the end of this post for those of you who haven’t heard it yet. I relayed this to the rest of the group to get their thoughts since it wasn’t exactly specific instructions for what we should do. Katie (who lives full time with Amigos in Nicaragua) said that they don’t really do handouts of food, but that they don’t have bibles in Spanish and would love for the kids and families to be able to have some. So, we decided to try to take down as many bibles as we thought we could fit in our bags. We got Core involved in this so that they could invest in our trip in another way than praying for us. We took a collection at Nightlife (our large group meeting), asking people to donate a bible, which were $2 each. When we counted it afterward, the amount Core donated was exactly what we had spent on the bibles that we’d already had shipped so they would make it in time. I was in awe that God would provide so amazingly for what he had inspired us to do before we even left. In addition to the bibles, people also decided to donate children’s books in Spanish, musical toys for the kids, and additional money that we can use for whatever other needs God leads us to while we’re there.

In all of the preparation, it was quite encouraging to see that God is really with us in this trip, though it was largely born out of the desires of our hearts to see, encourage, and work with Katie and the people in Nicaragua.

Pray for:
The bibles to make it to us in time for Jason, Jeff, and Erin to bring them down
Wisdom in using the provision God has given us
Continued leading from the Spirit while we are there in all that we do

Feed the Children
Verse 1:
Feed the children
Love my children
Shine light into the dark of night
Care for the oppressed
Love the lonely one
Make my will done

Chorus 1:
On an earth that is scorched
And in hearts that are slain
Oh, they need to know
Know my name
Let my light be shown
Let my love be known
You must be my witness
To the ends of the earth

Verse 2:
Feed the children
They are my children
Do not neglect the apples of my eye
You must care
You must go
Or they will never know

Chorus 2:
For the earth it is scorched
And their hearts have been slain
Oh they must know
Must know my name
Let my light be shown
Let my love be known
You must bring my healing
To the ends of the earth

Bridge:
Don’t you know you are my children
Redeemed from the pit of death
Don’t you know that’s free
And free for all to see
Don’t you know I want to save
And that I am brilliant love
You’ve got to trust
That I am mighty to save

Chorus 3: An earth that is scorched
And hearts that are slain
Oh, they need to know
That I will save
Let my light be shown
Let my love be known
You must preach my word
To the ends of the earth