Sold As Ever

After 13 years of serving with Students International, we are still sold on their holistic cross-cultural ministry strategy. Perhaps I could explain this strategy best by introducing you to Petrona.

Petrona and her husband live in a rural agricultural community along with their children and grandchildren.  Petrona’s husband works in the fields, while she faithfully takes care of the house and cooks for her family.   Petrona can’t afford a propane stove, so she cooks her rice and beans using a crude stove fueled by firewood as did her mother and grandmother. Each week, she buys bundles of firewood delivered to her door by a vendor.  Her food tastes amazing, but the wood smoke she inhales while cooking is equal to smoking six packs of cigarettes per day. 

Last year, Students International Nicaragua started a new arm of their appropriate technology ministry adding the installation of healthy, fuel efficient wood burning cook stoves to their existing water filter project.  Students International staff held a community meeting and visited individual homes to raise awareness of the health risks of daily cooking over an open fire and to present a stove that also uses firewood but has a chimney and uses 70% less firewood.

Petrona heard about the new stoves and decided she wanted one.  For three weeks, she and her daughter worked hard selling fruit in the market to earn the forty dollars needed to buy her stove.  Students International sponsors contributed the other one hundred and twenty dollars.

Petrona was excited the day her stove was installed.  At the time of the installation she was also taught how to use and maintain it.  The relationship that Students International staff, Lastman and Bart, developed in this process opened the door for them to minister to Petrona’s spiritual needs.  They visit her family regularly, share God’s truth, give encouragement, and pray with them.

Students International’s holistic strategy, impacts people in the community on multiple levels. In Petrona’s case, she was ministered to physically - she now cooks with a greatly reduced health risk.  She was ministered to economically – she spends 70% less on fire wood each month.  She continues to be ministered to spiritually.

Thank you for your partnership of prayer, encouragement, and financial support which empowers us to continue to serve with Students International.
 

Petrona, Lastman, and Bart. The old stove on the right and her new healthy, fuel efficient stove on the left.

A Year of Transition

Upon moving to Nicaragua in 2012, our primary focus had been to help start a new Students International base of ministry in Nicaragua.  Nate supervised staff and the start up of community ministries and provided pastoral care to the Nicaragua team.  Maggie assisted with short-term outreach hospitality, processing of donations, and facilitating staff activities.  In addition to this, Nate had been asked to give a level of overall pastoral care to Students International. 

     In August of last year, the director of S.I. Nicaragua moved into a new role as vice-president of operations for Students International and for the next seven months, Nate served as interim director.  Maggie also became interim supervisor of the kitchen and kitchen/housekeeping staff at the ministry base. Even though at times we felt overwhelmed as we juggled our director-supervisor-pastoral responsibilities, we experienced an abundant supply of God’s grace.

     It’s been two months now since, Seth Jurgensen, the new director for S.I. Nicaragua, 
stepped into his office.  Maggie is also in the process of training someone else to supervise the kitchen and housekeeping staff.  Our goal is to pass the baton well.

     We’re in a time of transition. Nate is continuing to give pastoral care to the staff in Nicaragua.  He is also now beginning to dedicate more time and energy to overall pastoral care for Students International.  This includes a yearly pastoral trip to Fiji, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic. He will continue to develop bible studies to be used by the 1500 short-term outreach participants who serve with S.I. each year.  He is also a member of the Students International Executive Team which gives oversight and makes leadership decisions for the organization.  Maggie as always is Nate’s partner in ministry.  She meets weekly with other staff ladies to intercede for lives and communities to be transformed by the power of God through the ministry of S.I.

     We embrace this time of transition.  Transition pushes us to new growth, provides opportunities for the development of young leaders, and creates in us a greater dependency on the Lord. 

We are deeply grateful for the many ways you partner with us in ministry.

    

Neighborhood Friends

Miguel, Dani, Jose, and Ronaldo are guards at the housing development where we live. I often talk with them in the morning when I go for my 5K walk/run or in the evening when I go to the pulperia (little neighborhood store) to buy eggs or recharge my phone.

Marvin, a welder, lives just down the street.  One day when I was working in the yard, he stopped by and introduced himself.  For the next hour he told me what life was like  for him as an adolescent during the Sandinista Revolution.  He said that men were killed and probably buried in the area where our house is located.  Those were difficult years for the Nicaraguan people. Here Marvin is repairing a horse drawn wagon that serves as a taxi.

I buy propane from Jose.  He brings a full tank and exchanges it for my empty one. Today, Jose invited me to go with him to the panaderia (the bakery) on our bikes to buy bread.  Even though I already know the location of  several bakeries, going with him will give me the opportunity to get to know him better.

     I came to know Fermin, another neighbor, when I saw him constructing a cement block and wire fence around the front of his small yard.  He told me he was building the fence in response to a conflict he was having with neighbors.  They were putting their bags of garbage in front of his property on trash pickup days.  The dogs would tear up the trash and scatter it into his yard.
  
     And then there is Bismark, a tailor, who custom makes clothing.  He has his sewing machine and cutting table set up on his front porch.  
     I love getting to know the people in our neighborhood.  I pray that these friendships will provide opportunities for me to share truth ... that they would prove to be redemptive relationships.

Volcano Valley

Dr. Celia gives medical attention to a mother and her children.

 This past week Students International did a one-day medical outreach in a small barrio (neighborhood) called Volcano Valley.  Doctor Celia took medications and vitamins into the neighborhood, set up an area in one of the houses, and attended to those who were needing health care.  She treated many children with extended abdomens caused by parasites. 

Micro finance leaders, Maria and Miriam, joined Dr. Celia during the medical outreach.

  We learned about Volcano Valley through a woman who came to our Micro Finance ministry. This neighborhood was created by the local government giving small plots of land to very poor families and is located next to the town dump.  Now ten months later, thirty-five crude houses with tin roofs, timber post and plastic wrap walls, and dirt floors have been constructed by the land recipients.  One hundred and thirty people currently live in Volcano Valley - sixty adults and seventy children.  We believe that the neighborhood will continue to grow.

One of the nicer houses in Volcano Valley

There is so much need here.  Once per week a truck brings water to the neighborhood and the people store it in barrels, buckets, and other containers.  As I spent time at the medical outreach, I noticed that there were small larvae swimming in the water barrels.  This water is then used for drinking, cooking, and bathing.  I also understand that the children aren't attending school because of the distance to walk and lack of resources to buy uniforms and school materials.  
Lowell and I sense that perhaps God would be opening opportunities for ministry here.  Ideas would be: women's social work, education for the children, and sanitation (water filters, latrines).  Above all, the people of Volcano Valley need to experience life transformation from the inside out.  They need to know Jesus.  Pray for us as we dream and seek the heart of God.  

Renewed in His Presence

Coming back to Nicaragua after being in the States for three weeks, I wanted to spend significant time with our staff at each of their ministry sites. I wanted to connect, to listen, to  observe, to encourage, and take the overall pulse of how everyone was doing.

It was great to join the staff, hear their stories, and talk with people to whom the staff minister in the community.  In our absence, the staff had done a great job of faithfully fulfilling their ministry responsibilities just as I had expected.  I did however get the sense that they were feeling somewhat depleted physically, emotionally, and spiritually.                                          
As we talked about this, we decided to set aside an afternoon for a retreat.  We cancelled the afternoon's ministry activities and met at the Students International base with our bibles, journals, devotional books, and personal worship music.  We had no programmed agenda other than each of us getting alone with God and drinking deeply of his Word, his grace, and his presence.

The words of Isaiah are so true, "those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength". 
 

Peacemakers

Each Wednesday evening we gather our staff for a time of prayer, bible study, and fellowship.  Currently we are going through an eight-week study called Peacemaker.  Conflict is a very real part of everyday life.  We sometimes experience conflict in marriage, in the family, at work, with our neighbors, and even in a ministry setting, or at church.  The question is, "How can I work through conflict in a way that honors and glorifies God."  Each week we read a section of the Peacemaker book, watch a teaching by author Ken Sande, and spend time discussing and helping each other apply the teaching.  The principles we are learning are equipping us to work together in harmony and to help others work through conflict as we minister in the communities around Masaya.

The past six months have extremely busy.  These have been months of establishing ministry sites, hosting outreaches, making pastoral trips to the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica, and participating in Students International leadership meetings in the States.  In all of this, our blog was neglected.  We did however put together a video which gives you a glimpse into life in Nicaragua, takes you to the S.I. ministry base, introduces you to our staff, and takes you to the ministry sites we have opened in the community.  We invite you to check out this video if you haven't already done so at:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWw1rXeNhlU

More Than One Way ...

There is more than one way to haul a queen size bed.  After three weeks of being in Nicaragua, Maggie and I secured our own house and moved out of the Students International ministry base.  We didn't have access to a pickup, and discovered that using the luggage rack on our vehicle, Nicaragua style, worked just fine.

There is more than one way to haul five large pieces of luggage filled with construction tools from the airport to the Students International base.  The luggage came down with a team from Southern Michigan and Northern Indiana who in one week built a cabin for us that can house sixteen outreach participants.

There is more than one way to haul a large locally-crafted armoire that we purchased from a missionary who is leaving Nicaragua.  It took four guys to lift it up onto the luggage rack.  Once I arrived home, I was left with the challenge of how to now get the armoire off of the rack.  Within a few minutes three guys from our neighborhood volunteered to help.  It proved to be a great bridge to developing relationships with neighbors.

"Mato Dos Pajaros Con Un Solo Tiro"

     It's Sunday afternoon, and I just got back from biking to Maxi Pali and picking up a few things Maggie was needing.  Pali stores can be found throughout Nicaragua and are owned by Wal-Mart.

     I've also been biking to the S.I. ministry base, a six mile ride from our house.  When I bike, "mato dos pajaros con un solo tiro", (I kill two birds with one shot).  I save on fuel which is currently at $5.50 per gallon, and I get great physical exercise.