Conversations of the Heart

   

I get asked all the time “what exactly do you do at New Song?“. I have some nice succinct answers that I normally rattle off: 

“I run all of our programs for youth and children.”

“I oversee youth discipleship and Sunday school.”

“I teach small group Bible studies.”

“I run a school sponsorship program for 300 kids in 4 different villages.”

    While all of these things are true, they don’t really describe what my life is like on a daily basis. More than anything else, my ministry is relational which makes it really difficult to put into words. My ministry is full of conversations of the heart. Some are filled with heartache and pain. Others are filled with growth and the Lord’s glory. This is what I love. This is where the bulk of my ministry lies.

    I sat with my Nicaraguan brother. He was drunk. Drinking is something he is trying to cut from his life, but he keeps turning back. He is struggling with the Lord right now. We talked a bit (as much as you can with someone who is drunk) about the struggles he’s been having lately. He asked, “Are you not mad at me?” I wasn’t mad, but I certainly desire more for him. I told him that I hate to see him throwing his life away because he is capable of so much more. I told him, “I want MORE for you.” He just looked away with tears in his eyes. A few days before he came to me and asked me if I would pray for him because he just felt far from the Lord. I prayed for him and will continue to do so. I listen when he wants to talk and I call him to more in the Lord.

    Emerson has really been seeking the Lord ever since Anthony’s death (Emerson and I pictured left). He is growing in the Lord and desiring to see the other youth grow too. He came to talk to me one night because he was concerned about some of the youth who are falling away from their walk with the Lord. His heart broke to see them turning to other things. We talked about how he can call his brothers in Christ to more. We talked about praying for them and speaking the truth in love. So many of the teenagers here have the tendency to pull one another down when one of them is doing well. It’s amazingly beautiful for me to see him begin to build up his brothers in Christ and call them to walk more intimately with the Lord. I’m so proud!!

    One night Rosita and I were sitting at the church and we started talking about relationships. She had recently ended things with her boyfriend. She knew that he wasn’t walking with the Lord. She told me that many of the other girls in the village asked her, “Why would you break up with him? He’s a nice kid.” She told me that it’s true that he’s nice, but “he’s just not what I’m waiting for…” It made my heart leap with joy! She is one of the first girls that I see really seeking the Lord for her relationships and be willing to say no to relationships that don’t reflect the best that the Lord has for her. I was able to share with her the difference that it makes when you wait for someone who loves the Lord and the beauty that can be found in praying and seeking the Lord together for your relationship. She just sat silently listening and told me afterward that the things I had shared with her would stay glued in her mind. I’m so excited to see her begin to desire what the Lord desires for her relationships. As the teenagers begin to want relationships like this, we will see the restoration of marriage and family here in Candelaria.

    I sat with Jasmina in her yard holding sweet Katalin in my arms (Jasmina and Katalin pictured below left). We were passing the afternoon just talking about life. At one point, we started talking about her boyfriend (Katalin’s dad). She began to share about how violent he is when he is drinking (which is pretty much all the time). This isn’t the first time she has shared with me in this way. Today she confessed to me that he often hits her and even hit her several times when she was pregnant. Once he hit her hard enough to knock her backward and almost push her through the plastic sheet wall of their house.
    I looked into her eyes and told her “Jasmina, why don’t you leave him? You deserve better than this.” She told me that she knows she deserves more, but it’s easier to stay with him than to end things. She said if she ends things with him then he will continue to harass her in the streets or enter into her house at night. The saddest part of all of this is that Jasmina doesn’t live alone. She lives with her family. They have to know what’s going on and yet no one is protecting her. Her dad is the same way. Where are the men in her life to stand up and protect her? It breaks my heart that domestic violence against women is so commonplace and accepted here. As long as she chooses to stay with him, I don’t know what I can do for her. 

    More than anything else, this is my life here. I enter in to people’s lives. I pray for them. I counsel them. I tell them of the Lord’s love for them. Sometimes their stories break my heart. Sometimes there is nothing that I can do except pray.

    I am in need of additional support to continue doing what I do here. I am asking you to pray about partnering with me in 2012. I’m in need of an additional $350/month in order to meet my support goals for this year. (To read more about my support needs, read: Will You Join Me?) If you are willing to make a one-time or monthly donation to my ministry click “Support Me!” on the left side of this page to make a tax-deductible donation. Please consider partnering with me as I love and minister to the people of Nicaragua.