Nicaragua this Summer

Just recently I went down to San Juan Del Sur Nicaragua, a small tourist town next to Costa Rica border overlooking the Pacific Ocean. I stayed with 3 friends in a room a few hundred feet above sea level. From our room, you could see a 70 foot statue of Jesus positioned on a mountain - a replicate of the Jesus statue in Rio. . There was a prominent Catholic church stationed in the city center. It was evident that you were in a very Catholic country. Activities were constantly going on throughout the city including Small parades with children dressed like Disney characters. The town had a small, yet conservative Key West feeling and from our locale, it was hard to believe that you were in the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

So we began to explore. It did not take long to find poverty. Heading north in a Toyota pickup with four wheel drive, we drove into small little villages that were comprised of thatched roofs and stick framed supports. The water supplies were murky, brown and tepid. All the statistics we had heard about the poverty in this country, became very visible and real outside the tourist town. About every 5 miles small schools were erected. The students were engaged in their studies. Life looked very normal except for the basic living conditions and standard amenities that we take for granted every day. We drove on for another hour to find a medical clinic that was centered in the midst of these tiny villages. When we found the clinic I was surprised to see how clean it was. When we went inside it appeared to have the basics. So we asked to speak to the head nurse at the clinic since there were no doctors. As we began to discuss the needs we realized that the clinic was anything but normal. There were 4 sinks that were built in the clinic, yet only 1 had water actually hooked up to it. There was a medicine room but it only that had supplies for 10 days, thus being a problem as they only received their supplies every 90 days. The nurse also told us that she had received her last training 16 years ago. She explained that it was her responsibility to service an area of 50,000 people. This experience was quite different from what we felt in San Juan Del Sur. It was easy for me to see that there was tremendous need.

Upon returning to our room, I began to think about other countries I have visited and I started to realize that there was something missing from Nicaragua that I had seen in the other countries - an evangelical presence. My experience in Africa was quite different. Wherever you traveled you would see Para-churches and small churches in almost in every market. There are stickers and billboards with clichés about the Christianity everywhere. Here there was nothing. Even in San Juan it was clear that there was very little Evangelical presence. In San Juan, I wanted to meet with leaders and found few. I asked people in the city about the churches that were evangelical and they indicated that there were some but not many. The people described the churches as “cults” with legalistic tendencies. It was clear that they were having very little impact. Although San Juan is fine economically because of all the money from tourism, it was poor spiritually. I left San Juan not sure where to find the gospel.

This summer our church has an opportunity to change that as we plan on partnering with organizations, doctors and the Nicaraguan government to help bring healing and spiritual awakening to this region. A church-wide mission’s trip to Nicaragua will be in July if God wills. We must pray that God continues to open doors for us to raise support and supplies for this scarred country. The mission trip to Nicaragua is open to all ages including youth, young adults and the adults all exercising their gifts in service. You will have an opportunity to serve. As you prayerfully consider what your level of involvement may be, please consider this opportunity as a project that will change lives forever.

The people of Nicaragua need your help!!!
Contact the Outreach Department at 954-334-5069 for further information.