July 15, 2007

This is going to be in the newsletter at our church!

The medicine for the summer: a big dose of faith coated with prayer, taken with a gulp of God’s mercy. God has definitely been teaching up many lessons in trust and perseverance. As you might know, Amber High and I are spending the summer traveling around Nicaragua, a beautiful country in Central America. We have been here visiting a group of Baptist churches; the histories of these churches have never been written down and our mission is to tell their stories.
At every church we visit, we give a short presentation: I usually tell of the work I am doing and share a Bible verse that is on my heart and Amber does whatever the Holy Spirit leads her to do. She usually sings a song for the congregations, and sometimes does a bit of Bible teaching as well. Amber also works with the children while I conduct the interviews with the founders of the congregation. As I write this, we only have four of 30 churches left to visit, so we have the routine almost mastered. Nevertheless, there are always those moments that you just never can prepare for: pushing the truck up the mountain, losing the electricity at random times every day, and being attacked by an army of bugs.
Since we are able to be here for an extended period of time, we have had the opportunity to be part of everyday life. We are able to help around the house, run errands, and just experience life in another country. We travel every weekend visiting churches and during the week we stay in a small town with the wonderful family of Nohemy Alegria. Amber teaches English at a nearby school every morning to children between the ages of 6-12; her time at the school goes towards her degree in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) at Ozark Christian College. She has enjoyed this experience thoroughly and will be sad to leave the children.
We have had quite the adventure so far this summer, and we want to be able to share all of our journeys with you when we return. We would like to invite you to gather with us on Sunday, August 12, at 7:00 pm, to tell you about our trip and show you the work that God has been doing in the churches here. The churches that we have visited here also send their greetings to all of you as well. There are great needs within some of the churches and we would like to ask that you pray that God will continue to take care of all their needs and prosper them. We appreciate your prayers and the support you have given us on our trip thus far. God has really blessed us and all of our travels.
In God’s Love,
Melissa Yarrow

July 4, a day without fireworks

I highly recommend celebrating the Forth of July in another country. There were no fireworks, there was no parade, there was (sadly) no cookout, there was not even electricity, and there was no celebration.
What exactly did we do on the Forth?
*Amber and I spent 1.5 hours walking through the town with Baby Carlitos in the stoller, shopping for two things: cinnamon and bananas. Apparently, every store in the town was out both ingredients…all at the same time.
*We read for a couple hours, during the 9 hours which we were without electricity.
*We made some water balloons to surprise Nanito and Hilda when they returned home from work.
*We helped cook dinner which was a mixing pot full of the leftovers (chicken, rice, beans, tomatoes, and a can of corn). It was actually our best concoction yet: the Nicaraguan.
*We curled up on the kingsize bed in Nohemi’s room and watched the movie, The Mask of Zorro, which might be on my Top 10 list now of favorites.
Amber and I talked for two weeks prior to the Forth with our family here about the huge party we were going to have with fireworks of our own and decorations They didn’t seem too interested, because they have become accustomed to going along with whatever crazy ideas we have for entertainment. When the day finally came however, half of the family was out of town working and our plans all went down the drain. We gave up on all of our original plans and just went through the day as if it were any other.
I had never thought much about the Forth of July and its purpose until I did not have a “Forth of July.” It was humbling to realize that people outside the United States don’t really care that much about what we’ve accomplished. It is a great day to remember how our country got to be where it is today and to honor those who gave their all for our country, but to me, it was a greater day when the traditions and the hurrah were stripped away.

A day in the life of....

I would like to invite you on one of our many expeditions. For this adventure, you must use your imagination to fully experience one day with Amber and me in Nicaragua. We’ll start on our voyage as we set off on our mission of visiting three churches for the day in the northern part of the country. The first church of the day is relatively close to our hotel, only about 20 kilometers from the town we are staying in. Our destination is San Lucas, a village which still has native Indian tribes practicing their original rituals. The road going to the town is one of the best we have driven on when traveling to the churches; it is made of gray bricks and reminds me of a cobblestone street that you would find in Philadelphia or Boston or any of the Colonial towns.

When we arrive at the church in San Lucas we are expecting, like the other churches, to be greeted by a church full of people praising the Lord. We approach the front door of the church and realize that it is locked and the only people in sight are children who peek at us from around the building and then whisper and snicker. We follow the children around the church to find the pastor’s wife and the rest of their children who are living in the two Sunday School classrooms attached to the sanctuary. Later they show us the ‘parsonage’ across the street which is in such deteriorated conditions it is unacceptable for anyone to live in. The pastor’s wife greets us with a hand shake and takes us into the church building through a side door where two other women await; her husband, the pastor, is out of town for the day. We smile and introduce ourselves, but they are hesitant to return the friendly greetings.

Since there is no church service, I dive right in and tell the three women what I am doing for the summer and they all obligingly smile and nod. As we get into the interview there is an aura of seriousness which later reveals itself as the burden of great distress which is the product of many trials. The building we are sitting in is one of the most beautiful we have visited thus far. Within the first 10 minutes of the interview, we find that the external beauty is not matched by internal strength, because the church slowly weakening. The constructor of the building did not support the walls with iron rods and subsequently the building had deep cracks all along the walls. The roof which is made of concrete, also has much damage allowing water to get into the sanctuary much of the time. The pastor’s wife goes on to tell us of the other major problem in the church right now: their family probably will not be able to stay with the congregation for financial reason. The couple has five kids, and they want to be able to put their children through college; however the minimal income the pastor receives in insufficient compared to the cost of the university.

The stories of the congregation continue to unfold, and my heart clenches a little tighter with each one. As I sit there in the front of the dark church with these three beautiful women, I wonder how I will be able to continue doing this job for the rest of the summer. Then, my faithful Father God reminds me that their pain is not my burden to bear—it is His. The spirits of the women are lifted as they move from sharing the burdens of the church to the testimony of the work God has done in their own lives. The first woman’s mother did not feed her dinner after she would attend church against her mother’s will. The second ran away from home, and her family, to get married because they disapproved of her marriage with a Catholic boy—he was later saved and is now the pastor of this church. The third had a young daughter who loved attending church services which lead the way to her own salvation.

As we bring the interview to a close, the women are easier to smile and talk positively about their future. “The purpose of our church is to continue no matter what happens. We give thanks because the Lord has been with us in all the good times and the bad. The little that we have done, the Lord has blessed us.” As we head out the door and get in the car, it hurts almost as much to leave as it did to hear of their trials. After listening to the women for more than two hours about their lives and about the church, I feel as if I am forever attached to them.
We head onwards up the mountain as another church awaits our arrival. The temperature rapidly drops as we slowly crawl up the mountain in the truck. The road is narrow and filled with crevasses and rocks. The truck bounces back and forth while Carlos tries to maneuver the road. At one point we come around a bend in the road which opens up to a lush valley which is the ‘green’ carpet leading to a family of majestic mountain peaks. For a second I feel as if I have been placed in the middle of a life-size painting, nothing around me is real. This feeling of unrealism is only heightened as we cross back into the forest. Massive trees, bumpy terrain, and foreign shrubbery transport us to a jungle safari ride at Universal Studios. Our trek comes to an end when we spot the town which is the home to our next church: Las Sabanas.

Las Sabanas is small and secluded. No other vehicles are in sight and our red truck stands out like a sore thumb stating that we are not from around here. We pull up to a church but encounter the same problem as the first: this church is locked and deserted. Instead of peeking children this time around, we have neighbors to question. The pastor waited on us at the church all morning, but left to go home shortly before our arrival. A man who attends the church immediately sets off to find the pastor and our group of four is left in the empty sanctuary to wait for the return of the pastor. Half an hour later, a joyous man comes bounding in the doorway to greet us, apologizing that he had not been there for our arrival. After talking to him for a few minutes, he informs us that the third church we plan to visit that day in El Encino is still in the ‘mission’ stage. This means there is a strong congregation meeting in the town, but there is no church building. The congregation has never had any visitors, if we are willing to travel the taxing trip to get there, we would be the first group to see the mission.

With only a slight hesitation, we decide to embark on the next leg of our journey. We are told that the trip will take about 1.5 hours by car because we have to drive around a mountain to get there, but if we had the opportunity to ride horses we could go over the mountain in about 1 hour. I thought we had already experienced the poorest roads in existence, but that notion dissipated within the first five minutes of the drive. A majority of the roads were far beyond anything you’ve seen on any off-road SUV commercial. If the road was not swelling with large rocks, it was overgrown with grasses, covered in mud, or underwater. The constantly changing scenery is enough entertainment to keep us occupied as we stare out the windows for the entire trip. The road makes a drastic incline upwards and the truck starts struggling with the road; our engine is pulsing and we lose traction. The incline is steeper than most paved roads, but we have 2 feet wide trenches and boulders to maneuver as well. The only solution to make it up the ascent is to help push. Carlos drives as Nohemi, the pastor, Amber and I help the truck up the hill. We all feel a burst of excitement with our success when the road levels off again, but the feeling doesn’t last for long. There are several more steep inclines similar or worse than the one we just conquered. We get out and push the vehicle up the truck up the mountain three more times feeling grateful we chose not to wear our skirts for the day. The last incline we face is the longest, most difficult challenge yet. We are close to the top, when we come to a standstill—our pushing is not enough for the four-wheel drive truck to make it up the mountain. We recruit the assistance of a teenage boy walking his bike up the mountain beside us and the extra force is just enough to make it to the top. We are weary and sweaty as the pastor informs us that there are at least two more inclines even worse than the one we just climbed. There is no way we would be able to climb the mountain from this point on with the truck, and so we are forced to turn around after our two hour effort to visit El Encino. The pastor, who usually walks to the mission over the mountain, ensures us that he will tell the congregation of our effort.

Our spirits slightly discouraged, we head back to Las Sabanas where the congregation is gathering and waiting for our return. This atmosphere at Las Sabanas is in stark contrast to the atmosphere earlier in the day at San Lucas. We are greeted by smiling faces and countless handshakes. The interview is very positive, focused on all the great things that God has done in their church, especially with the mission they are working with in El Encino. They have had many struggles of course, but they are hesitant to share of their trials. It is easy to listen to them tell stories and they even ask questions about our work and homes. I feel as if I have known these people all my life and that we are gathering to catch up on everything we’ve missed over the last few years.

We say goodbye to our new friends after a couple hours and head back to the hotel, exhausted from the day. I sit back in the car as the sky darkens with the setting of the sun and just reflect on the day. The churches are beautiful, no matter what stage they in. Even in the midst of suffering, all the work of the churches is for the work of the Lord. God is prospering each of the churches in a different way beyond what I can understand and my heart dwells on these verses from 2 Corinthians 4:15-18 which I would like to leave you with today:

All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.