Greetings from the heart of Nicaragua! In my last blog post, I told you about our arrival in Jinotepe and about an injury I had sustained our first week. This is part two, a continuation of that blog post.
I sustained the aforementioned back injury on a Tuesday. By the following Tuesday, praise God, I was finally feeling well enough to go evangelize with the team. We were helping at a Baptist church across town, so that’s the neighborhood we visited. I’m so glad I went, because the Holy Spirit was on the move!
As our pastor was witnessing to one man, another man approached. I suspected he might be homeless and possibly have some sort of addiction based on his bloodshot eyes and haphazard appearance.
Unfortunately I was right. He had a problem with alcohol. He looked so small, so fragile, as he pleaded with us for help. I said we would lift up some prayers to Jesus, that He is the biggest and most powerful person to help with these types of problems. I also shared my testimony about drinking and how Jesus had rescued me from a lot of darkness in my past.
The man willingly received all of that and was grateful for the prayer. But as we were praying—I don’t know how to explain this, but I just had this overwhelming sense that something big was happening in his heart spiritually. When I was praying (Kate was translating the prayer), I kept hearing him heave, as if he was sobbing; but when I opened my eyes, I saw that his eyes were likewise open, and there weren’t any tears to be seen. He didn’t even seem to be paying attention to the prayer, truth be told. He just sat there, staring blankly.
After all of that, and after talking to him about Christ, I asked if he wanted to receive Jesus as his Lord and Savior. Seemingly disoriented, he started asking if we were teaching English classes, that all he really wanted was to learn English.
My heart broke. I know the power of Christ Jesus, and I knew—I just knew—Jesushad healing for him. I could feel it deep down in my spirit! But instead of accepting that healing and receiving the power of God’s Holy Spirit, he simply took the Book of Romans (in Spanish) that we were passing out and then wrote his name on a track I was carrying. “So that you don’t forget him,” Kate translated as he was leaving.
Heartbroken. I was truly and completely heartbroken.
After the man (his name is Osman Cruz) left, we followed Pastor Cairo into the neighborhood to evangelize some more. Brie and I were together, and the Spirit led us to the nicest people—Dona Julia and Don Julio and their kids and grandkids. Don Julio is 99 years old and is a precious man. Brie called him “Abuelo.” 🙂 We stayed and chatted with them for a while, took some photos with them after, and then met up with everyone else so that we could head back to the sister church for evening services. The whole team was going to perform “Clama a Mi” for that congregation, and it went really, really well. Honestly, I think it was the best we’ve ever sang!
As we were praying and wrapping up the service, out of nowhere I felt the presence of Christ come upon me in a powerful way. I saw Him clearly in my mind, and I even had a vision of us walking down the street together. We were just laughing and strolling along…it was awesome, though I couldn’t figure out why I was suddenly so thickly immersed in the presence of God. I know He’s always there, but I don’t usually feel Him to that extreme (not since I was first born again have I felt him like that).
Moments later, I figured out what was going on. The man from earlier, Osman, had arrived late in the service and was standing at the back of the church. Somehow, he’d made it! I don’t know how—Pastor Cairo had spoken to him briefly, and the church’s address may have been on the back of that Romans booklet he’d taken. But he was so disoriented that I couldn’t figure out how he’d managed to find us in the dark and at just the right time.
The only thing I can surmise is that it had less to do with Osman’s own abilities and more to do with the Holy Spirit. 🙂 Praise God for His perfect and wonderful Holy Spirit!
Once service ended, I walked to the back of the church and greeted Osman with a big hug, asking if he’d changed his mind about receiving Christ. He said yes, so I grabbed the pastor to do the repeat-after-me prayer. It was INTENSE. Osman was terrified to speak the words of the prayer, so he asked me to stand with him and for Kate and a few other members of my team to pray around us.
Some mighty stuff was happening in the spiritual realm, let me tell you. As Osman took my hand, gripping it for dear life, I felt the Holy Spirit hit me head on. It was so powerful, it felt like someone had thrown water on me.
Osman did pretty well with most of the prayer, but the moment came when he had to speak the words of repentance. They were very simple words, something like “perdon a me” (pardon me), but that’s when he paused, struggling…oh, he struggled so much. There was one point where I felt led to bind the strongholds over him: alcohol and addiction, among others. That seemed to help, and we eventually got through the prayer.
Relief settled on his face when we were done. He looked like he felt better, and he was in higher spirits, no longer anxious or trembling.
The church was closing up, and our team was leaving, so I walked Osman out. As I did, I grabbed my guitar and sang “Clama a Mi” for him. “Si usted necesita ayuda,” I said in Spanish, “recuerde las palabras a este cancion.” Which translates to: “If you need help, remember the words to this song.”
FYI, the song is about calling on the Lord when you’re at your lowest and that He will respond to you. I am witness to that truth. He may not answer in the way we expect, but He does answer, and He will lift us up out of the stormy sea we’re in if we but surrender to Him.
The goodbye with Osman was bittersweet. I wanted to spend more time ministering to him, but we had to go. I gave him my World Race bracelet, which he lovingly accepted, and I’m going to ask Pastor Cairo if we can go back to that neighborhood so that I can look for him. I feel compelled to see him one more time before month’s end.
Prayers for that and for dear Osman would be so, so appreciated. Please keep him prayerfully in your hearts as the Lord begins to lead him out of the darkness he’s submerged in.
In part three of this mid-month update, I will be talking about our three-day ministry tour, where we visited a couple of different ministries in this region. Stay tuned for that in the next few days!
Oh, and before I go: I wanted to remind everyone that I’m currently accepting donations for some post-Race expenses I’m going to incur after the mission, including our flight home. Here’s the info:
Adventures in Missions is flying us from our final country (Guatemala) to Miami. I am then responsible for my flight from Miami to San Antonio. I found flights for around $280, and to secure that price I should probably book the flight as soon as possible (since the flight is going to be around the holidays).
Please, please, PLEASE let me know if you can help with this. I also have a student loan payment due right when I get home ($212), and I’ll have other miscellaneous expenses until I’m able to find a job.
For those who may be wondering about the job front: I don’t yet know where the Lord is leading me with that. Should I pursue a job with a non-profit? A church? Should I start my own ministry? I really don’t know at this juncture. The only thing He’s talked to me about so far is being a wife and mother, which I’m really, really excited about. 🙂 Recently, when I was praying about future ministry, I heard Him say, “Your children will be your ministry.”
So yeah. I’m pretty excited about that. 🙂 But motherhood isn’t going to happen right away—I mean, I’m obviously not married yet. I’m not even dating anyone, actually, so I have no clue how all of that’s going to work. But even though I don’t yet know what life will look like post-Race, I do know that I will need a little help during that transitional period.
If you’re willing/able to help, please Paypal donations to [email protected].
NOTE: Please do NOT send donations to Adventures.org via the link above. Those funds will stay with Adventures in Missions and cannot be released to me due to rules and regulations associated with tax-deductible donations.
A great big THANK YOU to my friend Eric, who sent the first donation toward my post-Race expenses; my friend Beth, who’s offered to let me stay with her and her mother after the Race if needed; and a gianormous THANKS in advance to everyone else who will be helping me transition home from the mission field. Thank you also to my friends who’ve sent me some supplies to replace the personal items that have broken the past couple of months. God bless y’all!
I’d also like to say THANK YOU AGAIN to the donors who put me over the mark to get me fully funded for the World Race. FYI, any additional funds received are going toward Project Searchlight, a post-Race conference offered by Adventures in Missions in January. I’m eager to see what this conference has in store, as Adventures will get us connected to ministries throughout the country, and there are all kinds of internships and other post-Race opportunities available.
Stay tuned for part three of this series, which I’ll be posting in just a few days. Coming to you FROM THE HEART OF NICARAGUA!
