Nicaragua Mission Trip Update 14Jun13

Check out the info below from OrphaNetwork regarding the success of feeding centers (posted with their permission).

Last July, I had the opportunity to serve at the feeding center near Tipitapa, as well as set up a makeshift medical clinic to track the kid's progress and have local doctors provide exams and care.

As you may know, Nicaragua is the second poorest nation in our hemisphere, Haiti being the poorest.  It's great to have our church be effectively partnering with missions organizations in both countries to truly help those in need.

SDG

Then - Yirreth (on the right) had blonde highlights from the lack of protein in her diet. Now - Yirreth's hair is dark and healthy because she is well nourished and receiving the protein she needs.     In Nicaragua it is estimated that one in three children is chronically malnourished.  When we began conducting health assessments on roughly 4,300 of the children we serve through 26 Local Church Initiatives (LCIs) our baseline results showed chronic malnourishment rates at 26%.  Since 2012 ORPHANetwork's Medical Director, Dr. Janice Hebbert, and Nutritionist, Flavia Urbina, have been working diligently with our church partners in Nicaragua to drive chronic malnourishment rates down in the children we serve.  Our most recent health assessments resulted in a 14% average across all 26 locations! Our goal for 2013 is to drive the rates down to 10%, and our primary health goal is to wipe-out malnourishment in the children we serve.     What does wiping out malnourishment in our Local Church Initiatives look like?  Here's a glimpse of what we've been up to as well as a new initiative that we've just begun:   Education Flavia suggests menus to each church location with different combinations of ingredients for the best nutritional impact on the children. Cooks are taught about nutritional absorption of the ingredients in the lunches they prepare each day. Children and parents are learning how to wash their hands before they eat and why it is so important to their health.      Increased Calories Each child that attends one of our LCI's eats a nourishing 800 calorie lunch each weekday. When a child is identified as chronically malnourished they are given soy-fortified milk to add additional calories and nutrition to their daily diet. Many pastors or leaders of the programs make home visits to get a better perspective of what that malnourished child's home-life is like, and often the child is given food to take home to their family as well.     Medical Care    Alternating between health assessment screenings, Dr. Janice's medical team also treats acute medical needs every six months. Twice a year children are given deworming pills to rid their bodies of harmful parasites that may be stealing precious nutrients from their bellies.  The children are also given Vitamin A supplements to assist their immune system's ability to fight disease. Educating New Mothers Dr. Janice and Flavia just began a new initiative for educating and helping both expectant and new mothers in Nueva Vida. Read more here. We could not be making the progress we have without God's abundant blessings, our talented team in Nicaragua, and all of your support.  Thank you for being ORPHANetwork! Many Blessings, Katie Beasley Communications Director ORPHANetwork   1 Country, 6 Orphanages, 78 Local Church Initiatives, Almost 12,000 Children Served Daily

Nicaragua Mission Trip Update

THANK YOU to all who have or are supporting our Team on our trip to Nicaragua!  Please keep us in your prayers as we continue to prepare to serve.

Thanks to your prayer and financial support for trip costs, I was able to match funds for the purchase of 85 copies of Biblia Historias de Jesus, as well as 7 "CPR Anytime" kits.  The Bibles will be used as education material for kids and parents in the areas we serve, and the CPR kits will be used for my CPR/first aid classes - all to be left behind for future reference.

Please continue to pray for our Team as we prepare for our mission!

SDG

One of my favorite hymns

A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and pow’r are great, and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing,
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us;
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly pow’rs, no thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth;
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.

                                                                                 SDG

The Gimp

One of our favorite things to do over the winter is Rollerblading at the Metrodome.  A friend of ours, Rick, showed up one evening limping due to a recurring calf and heel problem.  "Hey gimpy!  How's it going?" we'd yell.  "Oh, well, it's acting up again.  Not sure if I'll be able to skate real hard tonight.  It's one of those things that'll be with me probably the rest of my life."

While Rick didn't acquire his injury wrestling with God, there is someone who God wrestled with and came away with a lifelong limp.  His name is Jacob.

In Genesis, we learn that Jacob cheated his brother, Esau, out of his birthright as the firstborn son.  Esau, needless to say, was ready for "payback." 

While on the run, Jacob wrestled with an angel for an entire night, resulting in a dislocated hip.  In short, Jacob plead for the angel to bless him.  Jacob was blessed, but he was left with a gimpy leg that bothered him for the rest of his life.

God may choose to intentionally dismantle something in our lives (pride, for instance) to remind us that there is never a single second in our lives that we can live without him.  In fact, it's most likely that we'll go through trials of brokenness in order to tie us to him.  Perhaps to get us to trust him, he has to break us (dare I say, especially when we pray to God that he makes us who he wants us to become!).

In many ways, we can be left with a limp just like Jacob - a mark of God's grace and power in our lives that says, "I, The Lord, am The One who carrys you."   

Our need for God is not theoretical.  A sure cure for pride are the experiences where we must rely completely on him through our pain and inadequacy - our desparation.

Another reason that God may break us is to use us on the "other side" of pain.  In his book, Leadership as an Identity, Crawford Loritts explains that "brokenness is a tool that prepares us for the assignments God has for us.  It's His way of "adding weight, supernatural substance" so that we won't lose sight of the awareness of our need for him.  In turn, we are able to comfort those who are broken as well, with comfort that we have also experienced by God (2Corinthians 1:3-4).

Through our own pain and brokenness, others are made whole, which walks us closer to Christ-likeness.

During times of brokenness, Loritts says, we must "hold tight to God.  Even when (we) don't sense the affirmation of His presence, cling to Him.  Absorb yourself if His Word and hold fast to His promises.  Cry out to Him.  Stay connected and lean on your brothers and sisters in Christ."

"Don't waste the spiritual equity; God is creating a greater capacity to know Him and to love Him."

The Call

After we accept Jesus as our Lord, our Savior, it's so easy to think that we'll be without suffering, pain, or struggle.  That God will give us all we want (notice I didn't say "need").

Jesus prepared his disciples for the trials of the world, and we should be prepared as well.  Without preparation, we could end up doubting God's love. 

The disciples may have thought that, with God on their side, no suffering would ever befall them.  Yet, Jesus said, "I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away.  They will put you out of the synagoges.  The hour is coming when whoever kills you will think that he is offering service to God (John 16:1-2).  If we are faithful witnesses to Jesus, we are promised (promised) that persecution will come (John 15:21).  In Hebrews, we have accounts of great victories - and great costs as the world would see it. 

What should our goal be, then?  To conserve and save our lives? 

As Christ-followers, we need to live our life in obedience.  We're not called to ignore risk or to be reckless, and we are called despite hardship.  In fact, refusing or ignoring God's call because of hardship would be a concept that the disciples would find hard to accept as part of obedience.

How is God calling you?
Where does He want you?  Where does He want you to go?
Who do you need to talk to about the saving grace of Jesus Christ?

"For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all!"  (1Corinthians 4:17)