Juigalpa
My plan for nightly updates from Nicaragua just didn’t work out as I had hoped. Overcome by intermittent internet access, equipment malfunctions, and a few other issues, I journaled the daily events the old-fashioned way so that I could blog them later from home. The next several posts won’t be as timely as I had hoped, but the memories are still very vivid and I’ll describe them as best as I can over the next few days.
Sunday morning August 5th, we arose and departed from our hostel on the way to Pastor Henry’s Verbo ministry in Juigalpa. Upon arrival, we unloaded the bus while closely being watched by a handful of curious kids and adults from the community. We divided up into teams of 5-6 people and prepared for home visits in the community. My group was paired with a young couple a bit younger than myself and their niece, whose house we were going to visit. We walked nearly a mile off the main road, away from the bustling traffic, shops, onlookers, and skinny stray dogs. We passed a muddy makeshift soccer field lined by old car tires and the kids paused their play to gawk and wave, just as we did.
We arrived at the small home, nothing more than possibly a 14 x 16 shack, with a cinder block wall forming the front side, and sections of boards, plywood, and scrap sheets corrugated zinc forming the other three. We were cordially invited in by a young mother and graciously introduced to her parents, sister, and special needs son, Adrian who lived there with her.
We talked through our interpreter about her story and her son, Adrian’s medical needs, and her efforts to obtain more education so she could better care for her family. Standing there on her sloping dirt floor I was struck by how positive she was despite the many hardships she endures on a daily basis compared to some of our own lives.
One of our group shared their testimony for encouragement and we invited her to come to the church in the afternoon for the special needs training. She could not attend due to work but promised to send her son with friends of the family. We all prayed together and said our goodbyes and headed back to Verbo.
The afternoon consisted of a community lunch, a short message by Pastor Henry, worship songs and music, and then the special needs conference training and encouragement. We finished the afternoon with everyone conducting a variety of sports activities (soccer, volley ball, tag, hill climbing, etc…) with the local youth. Instant friends we made and I cherish the opportunity I got to play with Ardian and help him kick around a soccer ball for a few hours. The smile on his face alone made the trip worthwhile.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Greg
Change of Mission 