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, 2003
Dear Friends and Family,
I am sure you can imagine my surprise when I walked in and saw 12 huge black bags of donated clothes. I realized quickly that while she had been with us on a medical team here in Nicaragua, she had taken very seriously what had only been one of my many thoughts for the future. If there is one thing that I never seem to lack it’s ideas or dreams; the hard part most times is putting them into action. However, when someone takes your idea and begins to put it into action on their own account; it’s kind of hard to back out later. My biggest problem at that moment was how was I ever going to get 12 big bags of used clothing from San Francisco to Managua.
Once all the items were here (a BIG thanks to the Menlo College group for bringing them), I began to think of different ways of distributing them knowing though that God already had a plan and that I would know when that moment came along. I have learned in my time here that too often we rush God into trying to do what we think is best, but He alone is the One that is at work here and He has a plan even down to how to distribute used clothing. A couple of weeks later a friend of mine told me about an activity that their church was doing to raise funds to buy property to build Sunday School classrooms. Different groups in the church were going to sell food or raffle off different items to begin raising funds in the community. That is when it hit me, why not donate this used clothing for a group in the church to sell?
The idea was a success and just from the clothing alone the church raised over $200. It was a simple idea to begin with – collect used clothing and toys through the various short-term teams that come throughout the year and then sell the clothing at incredibly cheap prices to help out local ministries or churches. Many people may ask but why not give the clothes away if people are in poverty. The problem with making anything free here is that too often it causes chaos and everything is gone before you’ve even blinked an eye. In the end no one has really won because you keep those in poverty believing the lie that their lot will never change and that they truly deserve to be given handouts. However, when there is a small cost involved like selling a t-shirt for 5 cordobas (about 33¢), then each person has to make a choice and takes ownerhip of what they end up choosing. That t-shirt was earned by all the hard work it took to earn those 5 cordobas.
A couple of weeks ago a very famous Latin Christian singer, Marcos Witt, was here in concert. The music was lively and the stadium was packed, but the best part about that concert was what Marcos pointed out mid-way through – that this huge concert and conference had been organized and put together completely by Nicaraguan churches and ministries. If you could have heard the screams of excitement and shouts of joy, you would have felt along with me a sense of pride in seeing people who want to see change in their country and believing that they themselves are the ones that can do it! A week later my pastor asked the congregation to look ahead 5 years and asked us – “Are we willing to look that far and see this country changed? Can we envision Christians involved in every aspect of life bringing about the hope and change that God is all about in this life and for eternity?”
Would you be willing to support that kind of change? Would you be willing to be like one other individual who after hearing about an idea for scholarships to help children go to school, went back home and is in the process of raising $3000 for scholarship money? Or would you be interested in supporting national missionaries who are passionate about bringing change in their own country? It only takes putting it into action.
Seeking Him for life,
Amanda Van Deman
"dale una luz a los que aman tanto vivir en Nicaragua."
~ Guardabarranco (Nicaraguan duo)