By Robin Chester
BEND, Oregon--I participated in a missions trip to Managua, Nicaragua, April 4 to 13.
A fellow Christian brought the subject up while I was sharing my faith with him. He said 10 men from the community were going to Nicaragua to add on to a church.
I was the last one to join the group and was unaware that they had been meeting for months at prayer meetings to ask for God's guidance and to encourage one another.
We represented five churches, but from the beginning we had a fellowship of the spirit that has not yet waned. Without knowing it was happening, we had become bridge builders between denominations.
Some had heard of the WCG, and all wanted to know the story of our church. I gave testimony and spoke about how Jesus Christ had moved in our fellowship, beginning with headquarters and then moving on to our local congregation, and then to myself personally.
I realize through my relationship with my fellow missionaries that our past in the WCG has not been in vain, but just the opposite. We have been given an incredible gift of knowledge and understanding that we can now put to use in our service to Jesus Christ. How useful that knowledge is depends on our willingness to step outside our comfort zones and share what we have with others.
While in Nicaragua, we stayed at a mission house compound. Our hosts, Asdrubal and Martha Ibarra, are evangelists for the city of Managua. Asdrubal also pastors a church on the outskirts of the city.
When we arrived Saturday night, April 5, I was told I would be giving the sermon at his church Sunday morning.
In all I spoke twice to his congregation, both times with a translator. The people were friendly and God-centered. They conduct regular worship services almost every day.
Before I spoke, we participated in praise and worship in Spanish that lasted 45 minutes. When the worship leader began to pray, all would bow their heads and pray aloud.
It is apparent that God does not have a particular format by which he must be worshiped.
The people are poor in Nicaragua, and many live in huts constructed of discarded pieces of wood and tin over a dirt floor. Some have a faucet in front of their homes, and some have a single light bulb powered by pirated electricity from a nearby transformer.
In spite of that, when their children come to school they are dressed in spotless white shirts with clean blue slacks or skirts, their hair is combed and they have been washed clean from head to toe.
The church, which was the only real building in the area, was also the school, the clinic and the feeding center. We got to see all of them in operation while we were there.
The school was conducted in the morning for one group and in the afternoon for another. About 150 students were in each group. Jesus Christ is taught as a regular part of the curriculum. The medical team came one day, and all the children lined up for tetanus shots and vitamin drops.
The feeding center was just one of many in the city. Unfortunately only enough food and money is available to feed children three times a week.
Before the food arrives, the children are seated and given a Bible lesson. They are taught that Jesus Christ is the one who provides food for them. Then they sing songs of thanksgiving while they wait. Never is a human agency pointed to as the source of food. At an early age they are taught to look to Jesus for all their needs.
Going on this mission was a life- altering experience. I saw what Jesus Christ is accomplishing through his church in another area of the world, and I now see that my part can be much bigger than I ever imagined, if only I yield myself to him and allow him to work through me.
How we use the gifts we've been given and yield ourselves to his Spirit will determine how effective we are in accomplishing the mission.
The missions sponsor is Missionary Ventures, Inc. You can sign up for a short- or long-term mission.
Write to Missionary Ventures Inc., 5528 Commerce Dr., Orlando, Florida, 32839, or P.O. Box 593550, Orlando, Florida, 32859-3550, phone (407) 859-7322, fax (407) 856-7934, e-mail 73651.202@compuserve.com
MVI is a nondenominational, not- for-profit missionary organization.
In November we are going back, and some people said they want to go or would at least consider it.
Robin Chester is lay pastor of the Bend, Oregon, church.
May 20, 1997, WN, page one
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