The flooding has been terrible. A state of emergency was declared last week. I thought the rains were over, but then yesterday the heavens opened once again. As so often seems to happen to Christina & I when we are in Nicaragua, we found ourselves in the midst of an adventure.
Yesterday was very full. I preached at Osvaldo's church in the morning, then we packed up 2 trucks and a van with about 20 people, medicine, clothing and care packages. As we headed toward the Honduras border, we passed houses sitting in the midst of what were fields and are now lakes. We saw men and boys in water up to their chests catching fish in nets. We drove over what is now a raging river–much of the year it is a dry river bed. The vehicles are constantly weaving back and forth across the highway, trying to avoid the huge potholes that are everywhere. We turn off the highway and the road suddenly gets a lot worse.
We arrived in a village named
Israel. After the usual confusion and delays, we drove to the community center. By now it was after 4:30; already it is getting dark under the heavy clouds. There are about 200 people waiting for us. They are from another village. Eight days ago they were evacuated as the flood waters destroyed houses and roads. Now the team sprang into action setting up the mobile clinic, arranging to distribute the care packages to every family.
While the people were waiting to see the doctor, they gathered at the other end of the community center. I took the opportunity to talk to them about Jesus. Many of them believed that the flood was because they had done something wrong and God was punishing them. I as told them that this was not God's punishment or anger, the expressions on many faces changed. After a few minutes, I invited them to ask Jesus into their lives. Many, many of them gave their lives to Him. I had about 6 of Osvaldo's team with me; over the past two years we had taught them how to pray for the sick. They immediately stepped into the midst of the people and the healing began. The first woman who was prayed for began to shout and jump up in the air shouting that all her pain was gone. The crowd began to clap. Over the next several minutes pain left; at least 3 people testified that their eyesight had been completely healed. We handed out a lot of New Testaments and I took a few minutes to show them where to start reading in Mark's Gospel. The team was so excited to be used by the Lord to heal so many of these poor people.
For 3 hours the doctor did assessments and we handed out medicine. Every family received a care package. Among our team was the woman I wrote about 3 days ago; she has been heading up the prostitutes association of Chinandega. Yesterday morning she and her daughter came to church. At the end of the message Osvaldo invited people to come to Jesus; she came forward and invited Christ into her life. Just an hour later, she and her daughter were heading out with the team to help others. What a wonderful first day in the Kingdom that she experienced!
We drove home through the potholes and the rain; most of the team was sitting in the back of the trucks, getting soaked. We came home tired, but very happy. Another Nicaraguan adventure.
Update from Ken and Deb Ermter on October 6, 2010 at 6:03pm 
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