Serving in the Medical Clinic

After completing 2 full days of living in community with the Managua Christian Academy we have provided health care and love to over 300 students, including many of their family members.  More importantly we have been blessed beyond our wildest expectations by their love and patience.  Today, over and over again our Nicaraguan family expressed great gratitude as we explained why they had sore muscles, tired eyes, and stomach pains.   In their daily lives, few take the time to say ‘I know this is where life is today, but let’s see what we can do to together to try and make tomorrow better’.    For one young lady, tomorrow has come.  She came into the medical clinic to day with her mom and older sister. She had difficulty walking without loosing her balance because she could not lift her toes up while she walked.   After some Macgyver style problem solving and teamwork, Amy and I were able to put a smile on her face and help her to walk better.

Taking the time to listen and care for people is a key piece of living in the image of God.  Human nature often leads us to be selfish, looking to see how a relationship best suits our needs, with little to no concern on the impact it has on others.  We so easily can spend our days rushing from one place to the next, upset when we get stopped in our path, failing to see that by us stopping, someone else is able to pass by with ease.   Just imagine where this young lady would be tonight if God had not lead us to take the time to create braces!

We still have many more in our family to serve in God’s image with compassion in the medical clinic and are excited to continue to be served with compassion by our family.  Stay tuned for more!
-Tina

100' and Counting! - Well Drill Team

Sunday was a day to get adjusted to life in Nicaragua. Since the community we would be drilling in does not have its own church, we attended a bi-lingual non-denominational church where several LWI staff attend. The pastor preached on the seven sayings of Christ which he spoke while he was on the cross. We also enjoyed some great worship in English and Spanish, singing familiar songs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_Otu81EsYA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiKNNjxeDk8

We had some free time after lunch to explore the city some and see how our Nicaraguan friends live. While it was a nice introduction to the culture, most of us were pre-occupied with the work that was before us.

Our evenings have been spent sharing stories of what God has done in and for our lives and also enjoying the dueling guitars of Will and Stu(our host).

Today we went out to our work site after loading up the truck with the supplies that we would need. The community that we are working in is on the smaller side. Altogether there are only about 50 people nearby and very few kids. The need is still great, however. Their existing well is only about 20-30' deep, open air, and retrieving water means lowering a 5 gallon bucket and reeling it back up by hand. Most importantly, it's far from usable for cooking, drinking or bathing.

After meeting the locals, we began to drill. We barely made it 10' down before I started having flashes of the difficulties that we experienced last year as the engine powering the hydraulics of the drilling rig began to lose power. After some troubleshooting, we found some sediment in the fuel filter that we were able to clean out which seemed to resolve the issue. Thank God for that!

The rest of the day went smoothly. All the guys worked hard and we seemed to hit a sufficient aquifer by the time we made it to 100' so we decided to stop there. Meanwhile, the ladies on the hygiene team worked with the ladies from the village and inviting kids from the nearby communities after school to teach them basic hygiene and, most importantly, share the Gospel.

Be proud of your friends and family, Radius. Everyone is working hard without complaining or reservations. Continue praying for us, by no means is any of this easy. Pray that we would continue to be stretched and be willing to step out on faith as we interact with the community we are serving. Pray that we would also serve and love our hosts well.

-Zoltan

Some videos and pictures from today:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0v3BYE5kCw
http://youtu.be/g_O9QkRGI6c
http://youtu.be/YdINN6_Do80

Setting up the drilling rig

Angel, our lead driller

Ryan drilling, Angel inspecting cuttings, and Mike taking samples.

 Brian cleaning the filter

Mike, Matt, Angel and Ryan add another section of pipe

Zoltan, Matt, and Jimmy waiting to add the next section of pipe

We have an audience!

Little girl playing frisbee

The Medical Team Arrives!

The medical team arrived in Nicaragua today safe and sound.  We were greeted by Henry's family with warm hugs and smiles and they immediately made us feel right at home.   We are looking forward to living in community this week with our Managua family.  In Romans 12 it talks about how we need to let go of our routines and expectations of home and let God do His will in our daily lives.  We are excited to live this out during our time here in Nicaragua.  David shared four reminders of our purpose here this week:

1) serve - serving our host with extravagant generosity
2) listen - quiet our hearts so that we can hear what God is teaching us through His word and his people here in Nicaragua
3) commit - commit to how we can carry over our experience in Nicaragua effectively once we return home to our comforts
4) say yes - letting go of our expectations for the trip and saying yes to the unexpected opportunities God will place before us

Join us this week in living out Romans 12:1-2
"Therefore I urge you brothers in view of God's mercy to offer your bodies as living sacrifices holy and pleasing to God this is your spiritual act of worship.  Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and prove what God's will is - His good, pleasing, and perfect will."
-Tina

Well Drill Team Arrives in Nicaragua!

We are here. Most of us have had a very long day. In talking with team members, it seems that most everyone was up before their alarm clock was set to go off. That's if they slept at all. Feelings ranged from anxiety to excitement and anything in-between. Some had never left the South Eastern United States before. Some had never been on a commercial flight prior to today. We are all equally glad to be here and equally excited to see what God will do in our lives in the next several days.

Don't think that we have forgotten about our friends and family back home. Worries about sick family members or the feelings about being away from loved ones in general linger. What we do know and take comfort in is that God is omniscient and omnipresent.

Our travels went as smooth as could be. Flights were ahead of schedule, navigating airports went smoothly and everyone's luggage made it. Some time after leaving the airport in Managua we stopped at a Tip-Top (Central American fast food chain that serves grilled and fried chicken) for a late lunch. There we ran into a second Living Water International (LWI) team from Northern VA who will be drilling at another village in the area.

Upon arrival at the LWI compound we went over some rules of the house, helped unload a supply truck and then ate a delicious dinner.

After dinner we spent some time praying and sharing some of what God has done in our lives and how we've arrived to where we are now, physically and/or spiritually.  We prayed for all of you, our team, our goal & mission but most of all that God would use us. We ask that you do the same throughout this week and beyond.

One thing that is for certain is that lives will change because of the obedience of the 11 folks attending.  

-Zoltan

Nicaragua Bound - 2012

The book of Matthew is loaded with verses describing what the life of someone who professes Christ as their Savior ought to look like. Some are broad in scope (Matt 22:37-39; “love God, love people”), while others are more specific (Matt 5; Sermon on the Mount). So how do these verses shape our lives today?
 

For at least 25 of us, this week, it looks like a plane ticket to Nicaragua. In Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus instructed us to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations...” so that's what we are doing. Split up into two teams, we will be drilling a well for a village and providing medical care to over 400 students and their parents. Most importantly, we will be living out the Gospel in a practical way. A way that many of the people with whom we'll be interacting have never seen before.
 

If you look through the passages above, nowhere does Jesus say that we're guaranteed success nor that we will always be welcomed with open arms. He only tells us to go and to love the people that He created in His image.
 

Please pray for us that we may be able to express Jesus' love to the people we'll come in contact with and that we would be able to accomplish the work that He has ordained for us. Pray that we would have an open mind and to let the Holy Spirit guide us and to leave our own agendas behind.
 

Check back daily as we walk through the week.

-Zoltan

God's Growing Family

One of the beauties of Nicaragua was being able to see first hand how God gave each person on this mission a task to complete and how all our tasks intertwined in His perfection to grow His kingdom. This happened again and again throughout the week and what follows is one many stories I have of how our tasks fit together.

On Wednesday, after a full day of seeing people at our medical clinic, two kids decided to follow Jesus. There is nothing greater to God than seeing His family grow, but what makes this story more awesome is how God let us be a part of it. As we were packing up clinic, a group of kids were playing on a swingset. Joey saw them, walked over and began swinging alongside them. Not too long afterwards, they took Joey and Roy (who went to capture the moment on film) into the woods for a photo op. The next thing you know, all of us went into the woods to get a soccer ball from Martin’s (one of the children we saw in the clinic) home and find a place to play soccer. Chris had given Martin the soccer ball earlier in the week. We made it back to the clinic and a group of us went off to play while others stayed under the clinic tents. Under the tent, a few of the kids gathered around David as he shared the gospel. Martin joined David in sharing the gospel and low and behold, two of the kids accepted Christ! God always knew those two kids would come to know Him. He is powerful enough to have done it by Himself, but He let us be the ones to love on Martin by treating him in the clinic. He let Chris be the one to give away a soccer ball, He let Joey be the one to swing and Roy the one to take a picture. He let David and Martin be the ones to speak. He let everyone witness His love in action, and for that I am thankful. -tina

Parting thoughts...

We finished the week with both teams together with a night of worship and dinner. Great to see everyone after a week doing separate task but tons of great stories of how God has provided, affirmed and asked everyone to take a faith step with sharing the experience. We are ready to see our families, but sad to leave this wonderful community that has welcomed us with open arms, taught us about being generous, and brought us into their families with sincere hospitality.

Thank you Living Water. Thank you Henry Vargas and the Managua Christian Academy. Thank you Lord for the plans you had for us exceeded all of our expectations. - Chris