A Trip to Remember

My husband and I just returned late last night from a week-long visit to Nicaragua to see his sister, Kim Pate, who is a missionary there with EMI. I am ashamed to say that it has taken us nine long years to make the trip. There have always been excuses at hand: “The kids are too young;” “There just isn’t money to make it happen,” or “We have to work.” (As if the world would fall apart if we left for a few days. . .) The timing was finally right, the budget worked out (supplemented greatly through the generosity of family, friends, and church), no baseball state tournament games, the boys old enough to stay by themselves and work, and the girls farmed out to family and friends all over the state.

One of the biggest blessings of the trip was getting to experience what my sister-in-law does on a weekly basis. She has helped to plant four churches and a medical clinic and works to feed many children who might not otherwise eat in an area so poverty stricken that it overwhelms me when I try to think of ways to describe it to a people who know little (if any) need. She has been the hands and feet of Christ in the place where she is, and it’s humbling to see how God is working there through her and many others who have come to Christ and give tirelessly and unselfishly. Through God’s orchestration, we were able to go into all of the churches during the afternoons with a group of friends from another church, most of whom I have not seen in over twenty years, and conduct VBS with the children and Bible studies with the adults. We also went to church a lot. Did I mention that these people really like to meet with other members of the body of Christ? They have meetings most evenings during the week—even Friday nights at a church that is mostly young people. They love to gather to sing and praise God and hear His word. (How likely is that to happen on a regular basis here on a Friday night?)

I think mostly I’ve been overwhelmed by the extreme need: both physical and spiritual. Then I think I’ve been overwhelmed by the service of the people who are there ministering to win others to Christ. I know I have been overwhelmed by the simple joy and willingness to serve that the Nicaraguan Christians have even in the face of extreme need. I have also been overwhelmed with the idea that there is so much more I could be doing. I walked into my huge, comfortably air-conditioned church this morning and tried to sing “Preach the Word” with the choir, but all I could do was stand and cry with my face and hands lifted up to God. He is mighty, and I am not. He is holy, and I’m so far from being finished. He is worthy of praise, and I am so not. He is everything to the people I met who are serving Him, and He has not been my everything because I’ve been too full of me to see the truth. I will be sharing more as the shock wears off and I realize how blessed I am and how much is required of me. This has definitely been a trip I will never forget.