UPDATE #2

Sunday, June 4, 2023

Today was another great day here in Nicaragua!  We had two additional outreach events with Iglesia Nueva Jerusalen and Iglesia Principe de Paz.  We began the morning at New Jerusalem Church, the location for Saturday night's Crusade.  New Jerusalem Church is located on the same side of town as the two churches we worked with yesterday, so being nearby, we had 4 "repeat customers" this morning.  It is good to see the men again as it gives you additional time to go a little deeper into conversation.  When we arrived, the ladies of the church had two huge pots of soup cooking and this church had the largest participation of men of the four churches.  This is Dave and Regan with two of the ladies working on the soup.

Pastora opened with prayer and several church members vibrantly shared their testimonies.  As the morning went on, additional "men" arrived, several as young as 12 and 13 years old.  These boys have grown up in a cycle of generational substance abuse.  Another man came with his toddler son.  The oldest participant was in his 80's and was blind and very hard of hearing.  One man was slumped over the entire time, and for a while, I (Katy) wasn't convinced that he was breathing (thankfully, he indeed was).  

New Jerusalem Church is located on a hill right beside what has become a dump.  It is much larger than the picture shows and is very hard to see.  

Livestock on the road with cars (just out of view) and people.  You can see more of the trash that surrounds this area in the lower left corner of the picture.

We also met a sweet family in the church whose 7 year-old son, Mateo, fell into the dump pit when he was 4 years old.  After much time spent in the hospital, three years later, he can still no longer walk, he has frequent seizures, and he can not speak much at all.  He was a completely normal and active child until this accident happened.  But Mateo has a smile that will melt your heart.  He is a sweet boy whose eyes lit up at being offered a "caramelo" (a little candy).  When I asked if his sister liked candy, he shook his head yes, so I gave him another piece to give her.  I had already given his dad a piece of candy as well and so I asked if he thought his mom might like a piece.  His eyes sparkled and he was so happy to be able to take a piece of candy to his mom.  This family is so faithful and joyful and so very poor and needs your prayers.

The event at New Jerusalem Church got started later than anticipated, so we did not have time to stop for lunch before going to the last of these events at Prince of Peace Church (POP).  POP is on the other side of Veracruz, so this was an entirely new group of men.  Most people who live on one side, stay there and they don't typically cross over very much.  Pastor Manuel was delayed in arriving and so he asked Regan to open the event and to take his place speaking if he did not make it back to the church before the soup was served.  Several church members again shared their testimonies and then Regan shared a very powerful, Spirit-led, message of the Gospel of Christ.  Pastor Manuel arrived just as Regan was finishing up, so he was able to speak as well.  

Pastor Manuel (on the left) pictured praying with an older gentleman who prayed to receive Christ at the event.

Both of these two churches had services at 5pm tonight and we were planning to go to one of them, however since we had not yet eaten and were a bit weary, we made the decision to eat dinner and make it an earlier night.  The laundry I hung out to dry last night took up our whole laundry room and is not completely dry (how, I am not sure, because it is certainly hot here!), so the second load I started is still sitting in the washing machine.  Hopefully I will be able to get it hung tomorrow morning before we leave so it can dry.  These are not things I have dealt with before on previous mission trips, so that has added a new element to this trip.

We are tired, but in the best possible way!  Tomorrow we are working with the students at Veracruz English Academy (Regan's English school), so we will report more later.  Thank you again for reading!

In Christ,

Katy, on behalf of the team