Prayer Letters
Here are our prayer letters that we write every three months. If you are not on our email list and would like to receive these letters, please sign up today. Enjoy reading!
June 1, 2002
Dear Friends and Family,
It was only my second week in Nicaragua and trying
to keep up with my normal exercise routine as well as getting to know my
new neighborhood was proving to be more of a chore than I had bargained
for. The heat takes its toll quickly and running up hill didn’t help. That particular
day I ended up in a very wealthy neighborhood that sits on the hill overlooking
the city. In reaching the top and enjoying the beautiful view, I realized that
I had definitely taken the long route. Looking around I saw two guys sitting
on a pile of bricks, so I asked them if there was a shortcut down the hill.
After telling me “no,” then changing their minds and offering to
take me down a trail, I had to stop and think twice about what I was doing.
I wanted to be friendly and trust them and yet at the same time not be naive
and get myself into something I couldn’t handle. With the excuse of needing
to rest, I sat down and just began talking with them. As we talked about the
weather, culture, sports, and life in general, one of them looked at me and
said, “you know it’s cool, that someone like you who is rich will
just sit here and talk with us who are poor.” I immediately argued that
I wasn’t rich, that I didn’t really have that much money. He just
looked at me and asked, “but there’s money in your wallet, right?” Well,
yes, I thought, of course. It took me a second to figure out that that means
I’m rich.
Moving to Nicaragua has definitely been the biggest event in the last couple of months. Leaving Costa Rica though was not easy. Over the past 10 months I had developed some wonderful friendships and bonded with an incredibly special family; however, I knew from the beginning that Managua was where I was headed, so in many ways I was ready for the change. And change it was! Although Nicaragua borders Costa Rica to the north and both countries speak Spanish, there seem to be more differences than similarities between the two cultures. Nicaragua is characterized by its lakes and volcanoes, its extremity between the rich and the poor, its heat and humidity, its rough, politically-corrupt past, its nation-dividing war, its strong people in love and in hate, and its current struggle to take all this and move forward.
Living in a place of such extremes where just having money in your wallet makes you rich and having certain political beliefs can make someone hate you is often challenging and eye-opening. Some of the big questions I have after just being here two months are: “How do you really fight corruption? How do you help someone who has already given up? Are we empowering or hindering people when we help them?” Those are just a few of the many doubts or questions that have crossed my mind or started in-depth discussions with my co-workers. They are also what we think about daily as we plan strategic ways to work with pastors and ministries and the communities they are reaching out to. Our vision for the upcoming year is to be a partner to national churches and ministries through support, training, outreach and international involvement. Our prayer is that the doors will be open for God to move in a mighty way through His church.
Taking a break from a run one evening, I’m still thinking about that conversation a week ago with the guys on the hill and what it means to be rich. Looking around it strikes me that I can either reflect on the absurd amount of trash that is covering this abandoned dirt road or on the beauty of the setting sun as its light disappears behind the mountains. We have a choice to be rich ~ rich in life, rich in joy, rich in attitude, and most of all rich in God. It so depends on how you look at it…
Seeking Him for life,
Amanda Van Deman
"dale una luz a los que aman tanto vivir en Nicaragua."
~ Guardabarranco (Nicaraguan duo)