First off, it was a hike team of 9 men. Secondly, they were from Harrison, Arkansas...the same church my team was from a few weeks ago. I thought it was cool how we got to have two different teams on two completely different missions from the same church, all serving Jesus. Loren initially told us that we could be hiking for 2 hours from where we parked our vehicles in order to get to Tipilma, so Lauren and I made sure we didn't pack anything but the essentials (more me than Lauren, since I seem to bring wayyy too much stuff all of the time). On that Saturday we were supposed to pick up the team, Karen noticed a conflict in the flights...we thought they were coming in on the 11 am flight, but their flight number was for the 8 pm flight...luckily after calling around the state of Arkansas we found out that they were coming in at night. Going to the airport at the wrong time would have probably led to an aggravated Loren, Lauren, and Jenny. So we picked up the team at night and headed out to the hotel--a hot springs. Now, you may say "how awesome!"..and yes it is awesome, unless of course your intestines have been invaded by a parasite. This was me. I'm not sure how I got the parasite, but I know I felt poopy sick (I know, I know, but it's true and people have been asking me all summer if I have gotten sick, so now I can say "Yes and here's how I felt..."). So I don't recommend getting a parasite, but I took an Abendizol and within 2 days, my tummy was cleared. Anywho, we ended up driving through Camoapa, picking up Pastor Ishmael and Raul (who we later learned was actually named Nahum...oopsie), and drove the 2 1/2 hours down the bumpy muddy road to our parking spot near Tipilma. When we arrived at the little hilltop spot, men met us with horses and mules so that they could carry some of our packs, including all of mine and Lauren's stuff..and then we were told it was a 15 minute hike...what a surprise! 15 minutes, not 2 hours, YAY! So we hiked up and down for about 15 minutes and when we came up the last hill, we saw the church and its counterparts.
Not the little wooden shack we thought it would be. The church had tile floors, painted walls, a separate building for cooking, teaching, storing, and sleeping, and there was a quite nice latrina and a good shower (still needed a bucket of water to bathe, but this shower had 4 sides to it and a place to put my soap). That first day we had such a nice welcoming and we even showed one of the Jesus films to the people of the church that first night.
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That night, as I was laying in my hammock, I woke up around 2..I felt something crawling on my head. It left..but then a few minutes later, it crawled down my face. I panicked and in my imagination I think I threw it off of me..? Then I settled down and tried to go back to sleep...however, another very large critter decided to crawl across my hair and freak me out again. I don't think I slept anymore that night. Welcome to the country, where the ceilings and the walls don't connect or have caulking to keep the cracks from letting wind, rain, or BUGS from getting in.
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The next day was the first day of our distribution adventure. That morning Lauren and I found out that we were gonna get to ride horses...I was super excited but the last time I rode a horse, I was in Costa Rica, my horse was stubborn, and I cried...so this was an adventure. Lucky for me, good old Cayote was nice. His owner, Mercedes was kind enough to let me borrow him..but she led the way in front of me, on her own horse. We trudged up the hills, I tried not to fall off, and when we arrived at a house, I would make my way off of Cayote and we would go inside to share the Gospel. One thing I saw over the past week that inspired me was the fact that Mercedes, and the other Nicas of Tipilma were adamant about preaching to their family members who weren't Christians. I think talking to family about Jesus and getting them to see the light is probably the most difficult thing to do -- family doesn't like to listen to you because you're you and of course you have no idea what you're talking about, right? I know the feeling, and I find it unfortunate to those family members. Mercedes set a great example for me..that's something she will probably never know.
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The next morning...I'll tell the truth...my butt hurt. The saddle on Cayote did me in, and I felt it for days. The next two days we ended up going to two different communities because we had finished our predetermined Tipilma area of about 30 houses the first day. I enjoyed being able to go in different groups with the FBC Harrison men so that I could get to know them all in different ways. Of course when one of them asked me what my name was on the 3rd day, I figured I should talk to him more and more so that he could remember me the next day...or hour. By the third day we had a surprise waiting for us: the women of the church wanted to cook us a meal, and the day they did this was also the same day that John (one of the Harrison men) was celebrating his 54th birthday, so it turned into a birthday party :) They cooked us a feast of fried chicken, yucca, baby corn, chicken meat balls, chicken broth, and rice. It was so good! I love trying Nica food.
That night was our last night in Tipilma, and as the sun began to set, the church service began to commence. I was amazed at how many people were there - at least 100 were piling into the little church to see the Jesus movie we were showing that night. They had trekked through mud and muck to get there, but they were interested. It's amazing how God's power moves through communities and inspires them.
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We kind of had our despedida (closing ceremony) that night, and when it was all said and done, Lauren, Loren and I settled down into a discussion mode. Loren wanted us to read some scripture to him, so I decided to read from Romans. I chose Romans 5 because that morning I had decided to memorize Romans 5:1-5
Therefore we are justified by faith and have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, rejoicing in hope of the glory of God. And not only this but we glory in tribulations, for the knowledge that tribulations create perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
I read through the chapter, and we began discussing the first few verses. We have been justified by Christ's death and are given faith, grace, perseverance, character, and hope. We primarily discussed character: how had we been impacted by this summer when it came to our character. We told Loren how we thought we had, and he told us what he saw in us. As young adult women Lauren and I have grown tremendously in our leadership, our cooperation with people, our patience, our love, and primarily, OUR FAITH. When Loren told us that he's honored to have us here, that was the end of the dry eyes for both Lauren and myself. Then we prayed...and we couldn't help but feel so humbled and blessed. Needless to say, it was one of the best nights I have had here. So real, so true, so Jesus.
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We left Tipilma the next morning with bigger smiles in our hearts than we had arrived with or felt before. We were headed back to civilization, but I couldn't help but think about that community. I pray that God continues to bless it and I pray that the people of the community know how important they are and how much they blessed us.
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So when I mentioned 'the blessings' that we received this week, I was implying that I would discuss many in my blog...but I missed many, so I would like to make a list:
9 men of God from Harrison, Arkansas going to tiny Tipilma, Nicaragua to hand out the Gospel
not too muddy of roads
a 2 hour turned 15 minute hike
a beautiful church with more amenities than we had fathomed
a giving church body
a horse named Cayote
a determined Christian woman, ready to reach out to her lost family
fellowship
discipleship
a faithful old couple who lives on the mountain side, ready and willing to trudge 20 minutes through the mud and muck to the church so that they can see us off every day and be there to tell us goodbye...and in America, we don't even want to get out of bed to go to church and have to drive that 10 minutes on paved roads...they were truly amazing examples of how I hope to be when I'm that age
open arms and open hearts ready to embrace what the movie had in store
professions of faith
a time of sharing with Loren and Lauren about this summer
Tipilma
Jesus' saving grace
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As long as we open the door to our heart, Jesus can be let in. True happiness, satisfaction, patience, strength, solace, and love comes from the Lord. Will you open the door to your heart?
For us there is one God, the Father, of whom we are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we LIVE.
1 Corinthians 8:6
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