Are you spoiled? I am spoiled. I am very spoiled and I just recently found out just how spoiled I am. I just spent eight days in Managua, Nicaragua teaching English to some of the neatest people I have ever met. I went with some dear friends from my church led by Jody and Trisha Kennedy on a mission trip partly to teach English but mainly to make friends "for the sake of eternity" as my pastor says. It was an eye-opening trip in many ways including showing me what it means to live and live abundantly.
I have been on several trips with Jody to various places including Mexico, Germany, and several different prisons and every time I go I come back considerably more blessed than anybody I talked to while there and with an appreciation for the effort that Jody puts out to make it a success. I told Jody that I would go anywhere with him and if he said we needed to go to Mount Everest to teach the Sherpas English then I would go buy a coat. The real reason that we went to Nicaragua was to tell the people about Jesus but we offered an English class to make it worth it for them to come hear us. If one would think that to be sneaky or deceptive let me assure one that this was an incredibly professional English course that was well-planned and very informative. The people really learned English no matter what level of knowledge they had and we were trained to do it. And, yes, the people I taught now speak English like a redneck! I taught them "y'all" but "Git 'r Done" was difficult to explain!
Managua is the capital of Nicaragua and as such the residents are far better off financially than most of the rest of the country due to better job opportunities. Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the western hemisphere next to Haiti, though, so "better off" ain't so great. Most of the people in town were fairly well-dressed but the houses were pathetic structures made from cinder blocks and corrugated tin. We stayed at the local baptist church and did not have time to go very far from there except for a couple of hours one day when we drove about an hour to visit the children's home outside of town. A family in our church provided Christmas stockings to all thirty-eight kids in the home and I wish you could have seen those kids' faces. It was worth the trip! If you have ever seen a prisoner or homeless person or anyone else who never gets a gift finally receive one you know that they do not open it right away. These kids would just walk around with their stockings unopened relishing the fact that they had a gift. It was very humbling. Humiliating might even be the better word.
At the church we slept on cots in non-air conditioned rooms with a couple of fans blowing. It was not too bad at night as it would drop to about seventy-five degrees overnight which is pretty good for sleeping. The mice, spiders, ants and flies seemed to like it! It did not take long for me to miss my bed back home that was filled with pillows, blankets, comforter and beautiful wife but I slept very soundly while there. During the day it would reach about ninety degrees which is not the hottest I have been but not very comfortable. You would think that a cold shower would feel good but they have no hot water anywhere and I remember the first shower I took there. I remember thinking that there was no way I could take showers all week without any hot water and I thought shaving would be impossible. I would love to be able to tell you that I finally started enjoying the cold water but that would not be correct.
In the eight days we were there we made many new friends and came to see many of them start a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ. I will never forget the way that they were all always smiling and happy. It made me wonder about what it takes to be happy. As a Christian, I believe I know what it takes to have joy, but I am still trying to understand happiness. These people have very little in the way of material goods. They barely have the basics much less the affluence we enjoy in the United States. It made me realize that the vast majority of the "stuff" that I have is just really not necessary. It is not necessary to survive and it is not necessary for happiness. John 10:10 talks about having an abundant life. I realize now that it never says anything about air conditioning or hot water.
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