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Mission Accomplished In mid-June 2003, a ten-member team representing Friedens United Church of Christ traveled to Nicaragua. It was an opportunity to work alongside a poor farmer and his family, get to know their community and listen to their stories. Most important, it was an opportunity to share their Christian faith with one another and the people they would meet in their travels throughout Nicaragua. Mission Team 2003 members were Ellen Tuttle, Ellen Huddleston, Elizabeth Kruger, Lannae Stuteville, Jill Rusk, Debbie Bucholz, Terri Richert, Mike Rusk, Jim Van Eeopoel and Joe Stuteville. At a special “Mission Sunday” worship service in July, Lannae and Debbie shared their insights and experiences with the Friedens congregation. Following the service, church members stopped by a booth in the Narthex to talk to team members, look at their photographs and viewed a strongly visual Powerpoint presentation designed by Terri Richert. Below are team members’ recollections, impressions and thoughts about their participation in the 2003 mission. Poverty and RichesNicaragua is a land of poverty and riches. The poverty comes from political corruption, an import/export imbalance, and natural disasters. The riches are those that are common to all of us. They are the ability to laugh, smile, sing, and dance and the gifts of family, community, and faith. On our mission trip, we were able to share with individuals, families and communities through our faith. We now need to pray for each other and our countries. We also need to pray for guidance in how best to help. First, we must understand the struggles of those we wish to help. We must walk a day in their shoes, working side by side in the fields as we did. We must leave much of ourselves behind as we give of ourselves to the situation and avoid interpreting by our own frame of reference. Understanding can be hard because we are products of our own environments. We need to be willing to change our ways and be less selfish. It only takes a little to help so many in the land of Nicaragua. After the 2001 mission trip, the others and I were so focused on the electricity issue in Abangasca Sur that we failed to see the bigger picture – day-to-day survival. Now, I see hope for these communities. Hope from us through prayer, mission trips, and donations yet also from within through CEPAD, the Patio Projects and young men like Carmelo Porta who is studying to be a human rights attorney. As one church, we can’t do it all but our enthusiasm is contagious and I believe we can make a difference. Our service is what will show our love and they’ll know we are Christians by our love. Debbie Bucholz,
Change of SceneryWhat I first noticed while flying into Nicaragua
was how scenic the land was. But as we left the airport in
I thought I knew about poverty but never to the
extent we saw, the colonization of the dump on the outskirts of
In Samulalí, you could not help but be inspired by the obvious faith the people have and the determination to make their lives better by helping each other. The children were like any children playing here, happy and carefree. I think we all wanted to bring Inez’s children home with us. 9-year-old Vanessa was something else. Little by little, groups like CEPAD are making a difference – from the pond we dug to the Patio Projects we observed, people’s lives have a chance for improving. One thing that will always with me is the lasting bond that developed within our group. Thanks for letting me be a part of Frieden’s community. Jim Van Eeopoel, Tampa, Fla.
Snapshots From a Nicaragua JourneyHere’s a recipe for the next edition of the Friedens United Church of Christ cookbook: What do you get when you take 10 corn-fed, white bread folks of different ages and backgrounds, put them in a cultural blender 3,200 miles from home and broil them rapidly for an unforgettable week? Gringo gumbo. Between June 11-18, 2003, eight members of Friedens and two of its good friends journeyed to Nicaragua to share in Christian fellowship with our brothers and sisters in that tropical Central American nation. It was an incredible, inspiring week that transformed our lives in similar yet vastly different ways. Let me share a few snapshots of what I saw, learned and experienced with my teammates. We worked side-by-side with Inez Reyes, a farmer and leader in the tiny village of Samulalí in the central highlands. Our group scraped out and began to dig a large rectangular hole, forming the foundation of a fish hatchery. We got down and dirty and tired moving rocks, tree limbs and digging. Some of us also worked in pepper fields; others prepared an area for passion fruit. We dug holes for fence posts and cleared large rocks from fields. We weren’t there long enough to complete most of these projects, but we know that our small efforts will help the people in some small measure. And there are two critical things I gleaned from our field experience: First, the person next to you swinging the pickaxe or machete always has the right-of-way and worthy of your respect. But the most important lesson for me really was a reminder – that people working side-by-side for a common good can accomplish much in a short period of time despite language and cultural barriers. Let me tell you a little about Inez, his wife, Juana, and their children, Daisy, Yolanda, Rosa, Marta, Vanessa, Luis. Like most in Nicaragua, they live a hardscrabble life. They rely on the food they grow for their meals and to sustain the meager income they take in. Our group lived with this family in a community house in Samulalí for nearly four days. They cooked our meals and attended our needs in every way. We shared so many things in that small amount of time, including much laughter. Our unique “camping experience” beneath canopies of mosquito netting, roof-pounding rain and the fragrant insect repellant also was insightful. I learned much from my teammates. What an amazing group of folks to live with and get to know for a week, and how their faith in God guides their lives. And I learned much about my teammates – maybe far too much – but I will spare you my recollections of the sound and the fury of the hurricane-force snoring rocking our humble shelter in Samulalí. Here are a few more snapshots permanently sealed in my mental scrapbook:
9-year-old Vanessa gloating after stomping me in several games of chess. Can
you say “jaque mate”? Reunion With FriendsOur trip also reunited our church with Abangasca Sur, a community in the western edge of Nicaragua. During our brief visit there, we toured the homes we had helped build a few years ago and where some of us last year spent a week, learning and living among the people. Here are a few more mental photos that stand out:
The time to board our
bus came too soon – far too soon – and we bid our friends in Abangasca Sur
goodbye. After two blown tires, a rain shower or two, and a whirlwind visit to a
market, we arrived safe and tired at the CEPAD compound in
Down In The DumpIndeed, Managua, the sprawling capital of Nicaragua. The day before our fieldwork took us to Samulalí, we visited a place dubbed “the dump” on the outskirts of Managua. You smell this community long before you see it. Thick clouds of smoke and swarms of flies cover this sprawling garbage dump that spills into Lake Managua. Spoke-ribbed cattle and dogs nose through the filth. Vultures swoop low and slow on constant patrol. On any given day, you can find hundreds of people trying to eke out a meager existence by scavenging for scraps of food or anything that can be resold for a few cents. Most of the scavengers are half-naked, barefoot children with protruding stomachs and skinny legs. It makes you cry. It makes you wonder what kind of world we live in where so few have so much and so many have so little. It makes you scream inside that long uttered plea to heaven, How long, Lord? How long? When you leave the dump you leave behind a piece of your heart there. Forever. A Final SnapshotEarly on a Sunday morning, our team ascended a small mountain jutting above Samulalí. It was at a time when many were arriving for services at Friedens. About an hour after the trek began, I was on the summit with my teammates. As I gazed at the surrounding peaks and clouds, it occurred to me reaching the top wasn’t the real achievement. It was all about getting there. Each plodding step and every breath-catching stop along the way. And that, to me, seems to encompass in large part what our travel to Nicaragua was all about and what our never-ending journey as Christians in this world should be. Jesus doesn’t perch on some faraway throne on a mountaintop waiting for us to climb to reach Him. He is among us in the comfort of our homes, surrounded by our loved ones and in our daily lives. He’s there every time we gather in the sanctuary of Friedens. He is there sharing the tears and the misery, trudging alongside the ragtag citizens of a miserable, sprawling dump. And He is there singing beautiful ballads and quirky, off-key tunes about a family named Brady on a laughter-filled Saturday night in a distant place called Samulalí. Joe Stuteville |
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Copyright ©2004 Friedens United Church of Christ |
