What Is Happening In Nicaragua?

The following is from one of the missionaries in Nicaragua that we will be working alongside:

“Unemployment is incredibly high and many businesses have shut down.  So many people are hungry.  We give out almost 300 pounds of rice and beans a week.  And it should be much more.  I get asked for work or medicine, or milk for babies, or diapers, or something no less than 20 times a day. In addition, we have been employing an additional 25 people associated with the construction of two new dormitories.  We are so blessed to have a dramatic impact on so many lives.  Yet while that is significant to those people whom we are helping, it is a drop in the bucket compared to the need.  And the need is growing as more businesses close each week.  Some of our friends used to have thriving little stores selling daily needs out of their houses.  Many of them are closed now because no one has money.  Just like economic growth and stimulus has a multiplier effect, so does economic shrinkage.  It is disastrous.  And completely overwhelming.  It is getting worse. There is no welfare or safety net here, just the reliance on others who care to help.  Obviously, the problem is that the need is so great.  We now try to help even beyond our perceived ability.  Like the old widow who put her last coin in the basket, totally dependent on the Lord to provide, we stretch ourselves and abandon our American heritage of being fiscally responsible and saying no.  We give more, trusting more. 

In the midst of this political, social and economic crisis, and while many people are miserable, many people are filled with joy even if they have absolutely nothing.  Why?  Because they have come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior, they understand that Jesus loves them, and they put their faith in Him. Those with little or no faith cannot reconcile a loving God with people in such desperate need.  But they can.  And when all seems lost, it is amazing how the Lord shows up and provides for them.  They trust, and they love.  As Americans, we trust in ourselves, or in our government to provide for our needs.  

 There is so much more happening in these great times.  Our team has grown significantly in their own faith and their ability to better communicate both the love of the Father as well as the power of the Holy Spirit.  More local leaders are emerging and learning as well.  They are not learning about a legalistic church filled with rules and judgment.  They are learning about a loving Father who saves. As part of their growth, they are also growing in their knowledge and experience of the Holy Spirit.  We do a lot of evangelizing and prayer walking.  As our team has grown, we now regularly see miracles happen.  I know that sounds so weird, and fictional.  But when you see with your own eyes people who could not walk and now they can, or people who could not see and now they can, it is very easy to believe.  And as our team experiences even more of these, they get excited and emboldened.  They know that the Lord loves people so much that he will sometimes show them through these miracles.    So now they go out with bold expectations and even more excitement as they talk about a Lord who saves.

 More people are accepting Christ.  They see that we do not profit from our work.  On the contrary, our work is to serve them, not to be served.  It is transformational.  The body of Christ is growing and the hope that we have in our loving Father is empowering.

 

Prayer Needs

1. For more people, both Americans and Nicaraguans to come and join our team.

“The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.

Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore,

to send out workers into his harvest field.”

(Matthew 9:37-38)

 

2. For our team to be filled with the love of Jesus, knowing both his Word and his Power.

“whomever believes in me will do the works I have been doing,

and they will do even greater things than these”

(John 14:12)

 

3. For financial resources to continue to build and provide for the many needs of each person who asks.

“You will be enriched in every way

so that you can be generous on every occasion,

and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.”

(2 Corinthians 9:11)

 

4. For wisdom, strength, health and energy to complete the task given us.

“If any of you lacks wisdom,

you should ask God,

who gives generously to all without finding fault,

and it will be given to you.”

(James 1:5)