Nicaragua Mission 2023
God is moving in Nicaragua.
After a week in Nicaragua, we are back in the states! We will be sharing updates on the trip through several platforms over the summer. You might hear about our experiences at WFR Church, through social media, or the One Kingdom newsletter. However, I want to use this blog to share our experience while it is still fresh!
Our group was a combined team of students from both ULM and LA Tech, as well as the One Kingdom team. If you are unfamiliar, One Kingdom is a global missions organization headquartered at WFR Church in West Monroe. This trip was a collaboration between Campus Movement and One Kingdom’s partners in León, Nicaragua. We worked closely with Esteban, who is an ambassador for One Kingdom and a leader at the church in León. We are all grateful to him for his hospitality and commitment to the community that he graciously shared with us. Thank you, Esteban, for allowing us to see God through your eyes.
The woman in this picture is the grandmother of several children that we visited. She is the matriarch of the family. It was an honor to be able to learn how she makes tortillas to help support the family each month.
The 6 days we spent in León were focused on joining the mission of the church already present in the community. Our team was not concerned about bringing something “new” to people. The gospel is already in Nicaragua and there are faithful men and women making disciples of Jesus everyday. So, the efforts of our mission in León came alongside the discipleship that was already present. For students, this is a valuable spiritual lesson. Approaching an international mission trip this way helps remove the American lens with which we so often see the world through. God is bigger than the air conditioned church building we attended on Sunday. He is bigger than a safe commute to class in a nice car. He is bigger than ULM or LA Tech. He is bigger than the USA. And certainly he is bigger than us. For an entire week, our group mixed concrete, delivered food to families in need, played with kids, and experienced a God who was already moving in the lives of people in León. It was a blessing to step into his mission in that little corner of the world.
This is the home of a family connected to the local church. We spent an entire day mixing concrete for their kitchen, which is 100% outdoors. It may not seem like much, but simply having a concrete floor will reduce the bacteria and increase the quality of life for this family. This is a huge blessing for them and a blessing for us to be able to play a small part in their lives.
It is amazing how Jesus shows up in unexpected ways. In Nicaragua, he showed up around a family waiting for their new concrete floor to dry. He showed up in the joyful eyes of children who have very little. He showed in the hot humid air as our team left the comforts of life back home. Jesus is in Nicaragua and he showed us how he is already working in the people there.
Journi is one of the students who went on the trip. Here is how she saw Jesus throughout our time in Nicaragua:
“I would say that I saw Jesus in the people, How they were so welcoming and loving, and even the people we visited at their homes, they prayed for us, referring to us as brothers and sisters. It was overall such a blessing to have Gotten the opportunity to mix that concrete for those people and give that little boy a room with a concrete floor. God showed me that there is always something to give and it might not be much to us but it’s a blessing to others. Getting to be apart of the labor work and playing with the kids has shown me how a little can go a long way.”
