Travel fatigue resulted in an early end to the first night, and the many hours of sleep made morning welcome. Our breakfast of local fruits and French toast seemed an appropriate illustration of our combo crowd of Nicaraguans and Americans. Between breakfast and church we filled the hammock-chairs and rocking chairs and each in our own ways went to the Lord. Excited and filled with the Spirit we joined the children in the buses, turned up the music, and spent the ride dancing and playing.
The church we visited is very familiar with us, and some of our returners worked the room socializing as though we were in Williamsburg. Many of us have described the time of worship as an example of “reckless abandon”, and we mean so in the healthiest sense. It is clear that though they may not have silver or gold, they do have The Christ of Nazareth upon the throne of their heart. The songs were like jazz, flowing and stopping and bursting in response to the Spirit…and though we may not have moved as well, and certainly not with the same flow, we were filled with no less joy. The sermon was translated for us, and as one of us who went to Passion this winter said, “There are so many differences between here (Nicaragua), and there (40,000 college students in Atlanta), but it is the same offering of praise and the same word being taught.” And he is right. We learned about the pride of Saul, and that service in the name of one’s own glory, such as claiming credit for another’s victory in battle, is not any kind of service at all. And so we pray for humble hearts of true service.
After another meal treated as though it may be our last we thankfully enjoyed an hour of down time—an hour which cannot be reported upon for lack of non-nappers. But! Energized by our rest and excited about games with the children we tromped across the short path to their buildings and, of course, were destroyed in soccer (futbol). But the score of the game isn’t important, right? I mean it’s about relationships, right? Well fortunately whether we believed that during our competition or not, in the unique way that team sports can, the play further united us. We all walked off of the patchy grass with our arms around each other, shouting jokes in mixed languages and at least for us Americans, and hopefully for the Nicaraguans, we left carrying something rich in our hearts.
Tonight was a unique night because JMU and VaTech joined us (William&Mary and UVA), for a conglomerate “porch time.”It was great to host the other schools, but it was even better to conquer them in a food-eating contest. (Big Z, Chris Johnson, Mallory Schafer, Joe Sherman, and Abby Sams were our representatives, and Christ topped off a valiant comeback by killing a huge soda in seconds.) Juan Carlos and Lilly, both Nicaraguan translators for Orphan Network, shared their stories of how God intervened in their lives, and He now uses them to be a part of His doing the same in the lives of Orphans. A fellow named Eric, the Nicaraguan culturalist of the group, built a context of Nicaragua for us. He drew a timeline freckled with natural disasters and corrupt government. He told us about the many trials endured by his people, the love of his people, and the beauty of his country. And then he said something that for us was very poignant, and because our God is the God of the exodus both of the Israelites and of ourselves we may even believe it—he said that we “are making history”, that we are stepping into the cycle of depravity, both emotional and financial, and that the way that we are changing history is through our service to the children. So we pray that his words would be true, and we ask that you would join us in doing so. Thank you for the prayers that you have already offered and for the ones that you will. !Hasta Manana!
