| ONWARD | MORAVIAN
MISSIONS May 2003 VOL XX11 – NO. 5 PAGE ONE |
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RETURN TO NICARAGUA-2003 |
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One of the dreams our family has had for 34 years has been to return to
Nicaragua, the land of our first official Call to Ministry for 11 years
and the land of birth for three of our four children. We had hoped to
return within five years, but a bad fire, a devastating earthquake, a
terrible civil war and two hurricanes stopped us. Our oldest daughter,
Debby, who was born in Bethlehem, PA and went with us in 1958 when she was
three months old, recently got very interested in returning. This whetted
our interest and we got the bug. We were amazed at the reasonable R/T fare
from Raleigh, to Managua, so we began to explore. We also discovered the
first real Nicaragua Travel Guide that was hot off the press. It gave us
much helpful advice about travel, not only about Managua, but a great deal
about how to visit the East Coast. We made our plans to go, one week
seeing the West Coast, and then having Debby join us for a week in
Bluefields. We are glad that we made the trip for many reasons. First, we
renewed many friendships with former colleagues and friends. Second, we
visited three of the homes we lived in and though they were damaged still
stand. Third, we got to do some touristy things we never had time for when
we worked there. Last, we are reassured that the Lord's work that we
shared in is continuing and some real progress has been made. Some high lights are: The vital work in the capital city of Managua. We had been there at the beginning of the work when we just held services and had a fellowship group that looked for Moravians who had moved to the capital. Now there are about five congregations and several fellowships in nearby cities. The congregation in Managua is a vital group not only worshiping, with fellowship groups, with the Alice Hooker Center giving classes in homemaking, music, health, etc. There is a very successful clinic open three afternoons a week that is entirely volunteer with nurses, three medical doctors, and a good amount of medicine being given on the doctor's prescription. Many American churches send them contributions and supplies that maintain the work. Most of their patients have no other medical access. The Colegio Moravo in Bluefields is a roaring success! The only thing that holds them back is a lack of space on the large campus. We thought it was big when our kids went there, but it is over twice as large now. There are two sessions of the primary eight lower grades. About 600 kids attend from 7-11:45am. Then at 12noon a second faculty and 600 more students go till 4:45pm. |
Almost 700 students make
up the secondary. Their facilities are strained to the limit, but many
more want to attend because it is the best school in town. The
congregation celebrated with great enthusiasm the 154th anniversary of the
arrival of the Moravians. There were at least eight special services,
including a 6AM communion with over 500 all dressed in white. The
missionaries' graveyard is immaculate as they are very proud of those who
brought the Gospel to them. A procession there, lead by the Colegio Band
was a prelude to an outdoor service under the hot sun. I spoke twice on
the Sunday we were there. The morning worship has been changed from 11am,
as the missionaries had scheduled it, to 6am at the most beautiful part of
the day. It is a challenge for a "Yankee" to preach that early but it was
great. Then I preached at the 5pm evening worship to a full church (800).
The Choir, dressed for the first time in their new gowns, sang the
Hallelujah Chorus. The leaders of the Church and Colegio held a wonderful banquet at a lovely restaurant over the waters of the Lagoon and even managed to give us a gorgeous full moon that rose as we were eating and singing. Br. Steadman Bent, retired but still very active, arranged for us to have a tour of Rama Cay and the Bluff in a panga,, a highspeed motor craft. It was wonderful to see the beautiful churches in both places and speak to so many of the Ramas. Plans are underway to restore the parsonage in Old Bank that was so badly damamged. The large chapel has been rebuilt. We met the pastor of the large Miskito congregation, which has a large church building on the Old Bank campus. The Cotton Tree Chapel has been replaced with a church and CE building. We were pleased to meet a medical team from Holland, MI, members of the Reformed Church in America. They held clinics at all the area places served by our church. Instead of starting another church, they have opted to help the Moravians, instead. They come often. We made our first trip to beautiful Corn Island. There was no Moravian work there years ago, Now, the biggest Church is the Moravian Miskito congregation. We were impressed at the growth of Pearl Lagoon with a beautiful new church towering over the town. We enjoyed the traditional Nicaraguan foods we love and catching up on news of the living and the dead we knew but met so many new and hardworking Christians. The church is in good hands, There are problems, but they are hard at work solving them! JHG |
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