from Steve

It is my last night in Puerto Cabezas and I am exited to be heading home.  This has not been a vacation in any sense of the word but it has been very satisfying.  I am quite sure that words and pictures will never begin to describe an experience that is, in many ways, beyond description.

The pastors’ conference was an amazing opportunity to connect with indigenous pastors who come from small villages up and down the Rio Coco River as well as local pastors from Puerto Cabezas.  These men worship the same God we do yet they seem to have an experiential understanding of His reality forged in a life of poverty.  They may not have advanced theological degrees, in fact most struggle to read and write, but they know Jesus because they have experienced His power in their lives.  Without all the niceties that money and first world opportunity provides they have to rely on Him.  I honestly don’t think I have ever met any more gracious or thankful people in my life.  They were so glad we came, listening with rapt attention in stifling heat and dim light when the power went out.  They thanked us for the things we gave them to help them in their ministry, I thanked them for renewed perspective on what really matters. 

We went back to Betania today, the small village that Austin Fricker is working with on his agricultural sustainability project.  The villagers had made a lot of progress on clearing the field he will be planting in.  Being entrepreneurially minded, I love this project.  The end goal is to raise more crops than the village can use so that the excess can be sold in town for cash.  With not much rain in the past few days the ground had dried out enough to give one hope that farming is possible.  On the way back to town with Pastor Earl we tossed around several ideas on what crops would work.  I would love to see a healthy orchard, with guava, citrus and mango trees next time I am here.  I also would love to see legumes fixing nitrogen in depleted soils along with tomatoes, maize, and beans growing in ways the villagers previously have not thought possible. 

So tomorrow as I get on that big aluminum plane to whisk me back to a world of full time electricity, clean water, and familiar foods, I realize that a week in Nicaragua really can change you.  What changes you is not the poverty, the smells, the heat, or the struggles of living, but rather what changes you is the people who live here.  The people who live with all this on a daily basis and yet still manage to find their hope in Jesus in ways I am just beginning to understand.  Perhaps next year I will be back for another lesson from pastors who came to learn from me and taught me a lot about what really matters.

Steve Gatos