Over the holidays we received a letter from a missionary family in Nicaragua that made us think. Usually, we read support letters (really we do) and then eventually place them in the circular file… but this one is still on my desk after two months (and that’s not because it got lost under a pile of clutter). I figured I should share the letter to see what you think.

Nicaragua is often mentioned in negative tones. A majority of the population lives on less than $2 per day. Education and health needs are always in a critical state of failure. Our current government has aligned itself with Hugo Chavez and others who are opposed to freedom and liberty. Our roads are full of potholes, fuel prices are high, running a simple errand can be exhausting and one’s car takes a beating here. Personal safety and protection is a major concern when you visit some neighborhoods. All of Managua’s trash is dumped into the lake of it’s own namesake. All of these concerns can lead one to ask, is there any hope? What about the things of God? What of the future? Is there something we can’t see in all of this?

Contrasting the obvious woes of this country with the good things of the United States is an easy task. North American roads are wonderful, well planned and clearly marked. You never see an armed guard stationed outside of a pharmacy or grocery store. Even though the U.S. is in a recession, restaurants are full, football games are sold out and the average salary is really good compared to here. Most lawns are manicured, each home has running water and indoor plumbing, lots of food in the pantry, the freezer is full and the electrical grid is stable. The average family has two cars. In general, everything is very organized. Leading one to think, these people have the kingdom of God! But, is there something lacking in all of these good things?

This leads to a concluding question, which country is more spiritually free? Nicaragua has voted consistently to keep abortion illegal – it is considered murder here. Each September, the Day of the Bible is celebrated. There are many parades and public readings of the Holy Scriptures – Genesis through Revelation. Easter is our most cherished holiday! Businesses and schools are prayed over for God’s blessings. If you took a poll on the street asking the question, “Who is Lord?” The overwhelming reply would be Jesus Christ.

In North America the Bible has been taken out of schools and special permits are needed to even talk about God in schools and in the workplace. Abortion is America’s holocaust and is the slaughter of the innocents. Christians have been forced to keep their religion private. If you went to a local mall and asked the question, “Who is Lord?” I would imagine for every ten questions you would get ten different answers.

Maybe part of the answer to this dichotomy could be that even though North America seems to have the physical aspects of the kingdom of God, they have forgotten their King! Nicaragua, a nation battered, bruised and classified as a third-world country, but she still remembers her King. In this there is much hope for this nation. The future belongs to the people of God.

- The Buzbee Family

We’ve been back in the US for a little over two weeks, so it’s feels time to give one final post about our family mission trip to Nicaragua. With a lot of folks asking me about our trip, I’ve had some time to consider the most important statements to make. Many of those same people have commented about their own family’s need to complete a trip like ours. When I hear that, I say what has become the new mantra of family mission trips like ours: Can you hug a child with lice?

The culture in the US is so antibacterial that we have unknowingly set ourselves up for failure in certain mission situations. You might think that sounds a bit harsh, but keep reading. For our family mission trip, we traveled to Campo Alegria in southern Nicaragua. We then bussed about thirty kids from the Managua City dump to Campo Alegria, where they were given three days of summer camp fun. Many of the kids had lice. One boy had the worst case of scabies any of us had ever seen (he was subsequently sent home to be treated). Because of this, our team members were presented with a concept that seems totally foreign to most Americans. Can you love a stranger, even if that puts you at risk of contracting something like scabies or lice?

Jesus hung out with people who were considered to be highly contagious. Mark 14:3 places Jesus “reclining” the home of Simon the leper. Aren’t the purpose of mission trips to show the love of Christ to others? Certainly lice and scabies are nothing like leprosy, but they are nevertheless contagious. At home, we do whatever is necessary to avoid contracting those annoying bugs. So shouldn’t we do the same while traveling to another country with our family?

This has been a tough one to digest. One afternoon at Campo, I sat on the floor helping a group of boys complete a foam world map. One 7-year-old sat particularly close to me, so he could be the first to get the puzzle pieces out of my hand. He was completely engulfed in the map puzzle, excited to see how it would all come together. At one point he reached his arm around my neck, and I caught a glimpse of something out of the ordinary along the back of his short, jet-black hair. My initial reaction was to pull away, but I had to intentionally stop myself. Instead I smiled at the boy and continued helping with the puzzle (all the while wondering in my head how close I had gotten to his hair ).

This situation (coupled with similar situations from others on our team) left me seriously considering my commitment to the mission. In the grand scheme of things, catching lice or scabies (both of which are quite easily treated in the US, albeit annoying to deal with) is so very minor when compared with what many missionaries deal with on a regular basis. But for some of our team, these were big issues. I think it was a huge growth experience. We learned to set aside our fear of “catching something” and really love those children. After all, what kind of love would we be showing them if we were too afraid to sit next to them, to share a meal with them, or to hug them?

Now that we’re back in the US, I hope I continue to live this lesson. There are tons of folks around us – in our neighborhoods, schools, and offices – who might be “unclean” but still need the love of Christ. My prayer is that we are able to continue the loving spirit of missions we learned in Nicaragua, here at home, regardless of what we might “catch”

Well, I tried to post on the last day of our camp in Nicaragua, but we lost power and my half-way-written post disappeared. So… I will now post a general follow-up.

17 months ago, we made our first family trip to Nicaragua. It was mostly a scouting trip, to see how we might structure a group trip at a later time. Wyeth and I both had a strong desire to lead family mission trips to the area, but after returning to the states and doing some research, we quickly found that the general concept of “family missions” is pretty rare. Many many churches take youth groups on mission trips. Some also take adult-only trips. But very few take younger children.

The reasons many people avoid taking children on mission trips are plentiful… Is it safe? What can 7-11 year old kids really do on the mission field? What dangers will they be exposed to?

But we decided to pray for God to answer all those questions. A year ago, it was just a dream. But then, in the fall of 2008, we decided to send an email out to friends and family, seeking anyone interested in joining us for a summer 2009 family mission trip to Nicaragua. At first, the response was minimal. Eventually, we had a group of 27 people willing to travel to Campo Alegria, about 2 hours south of Managua, Nicaragua. The youngest was 7, and the oldest was 47.

Campo Alegria is uniquely suited for family missions because it IS safe (Nicaragua is safer than Philadelphia or Baltimore for the most part), and because mission teams lead summer camps for poor children. There is little (if any) manual labor. Our kids can participate in the camp right along side the Nicaraguan children, or help run activities like Arts & Crafts or Geography.

Now, looking back on our trip, we can say that the trip was a huge success! During our debriefing, one middle-school girl commented, “I learned how lucky I am just to have a house… I knew I was lucky to have certain electronics, but I didn’t realize how lucky I was just to have a bed, or a house. I am changed because of that.” AMEN!

We were tested, stretched, molded, and generally made uncomfortable by various elements of the trip. But that was different for everyone. Some were most affected by the bugs and heat. For others it was the food and unsafe water. Or, just witnessing the poverty. And for some… it was the fear of the unknown. But everyone was taken outside his/her comfort zone and asked to rely on God’s provision. It’s impossible not to grow from that. And when you serve as a family, you also grow closer with each other.

Many of the team members are already talking about returning next year. We hope there will be many groups from Harford County and Maryland traveling on family mission trips. And for those who are not able to travel to Nicaragua, perhaps you could consider organizing a fundraiser for the project? In particular, we are praying God would provide the funds to build additional family housing ($100k), to purchase two school buses for campo ($50k), and to put new roofs on the cabins ($12k). We seek your prayers and support to make this happen. THANK YOU! Gloria a Dios.

VIEW PHOTOS from our trip: http://picasaweb.google.com/wwccwillard/FamilyMissionTripJune2009#

Yesterday the kids arrived just after 11am, with a boatload of enthusiam and even bigger smiles! We split them into teams (red, green, blue, and yellow), then held our first chaple time. All of the campers participated in singing (which drowned out our out-of-tune, mispronounced Spanish!) and loved the skit our kids put on. Next, came lunch, then four rotations of activities (science, sports, health, and arts and crafts) before we all headed down to the beach for some swimming.

The lack of breeze left swarms of no-see-ums hovering over the water, and lots of fish jumping out of the water to eat the little bugs, but the kids didn’t mind at all! They swam and splashed and swam some more… pretty much right up until dinner time. After dinner, we played a few group games, then watched “Horton Hears a Who” on the projector. For the kids, the best part was the popcorn we served along with the movie!

After the movie, the kids were asking to go to sleep, so off to bed we all went! It was a tiring day, but one also filled with plenty of laughs (even if most of those laughs were from the campers, as they laughed at our attempts to speak Spanish).

Today (Saturday), went even more smoothly, as we had learned a few tricks on Friday and were able to tweak our schedule a bit to accomodate the needs of our specific group. For example, our campers are quite a bit younger than those of past camps (ours are 6-8). This means they get tired sooner, and lose interest in certain activities more quickly. Never fear! As Clark keeps reminding us, every “problem” is just an opportunity!

Some highlights so far… listening to the campers sing a song we taught them – on their free time, throwing them countless times in the waves (after the wind picked up this morning), watching them attempt to play a Chop Point favorite - Glow-timate Frisbee, trying fried cheese (wait, that was one of my lows, not highs ), and being so so proud of the youth of our team as they friend, lead, and care for the campers.

It’s time to get some much needed rest now. We will say good-bye to the campers tomorrow afternoon, and I will try to post again then. In the meantime, we appreciate your prayers that the wind would return, that we would be refreshed by this evening’s sleep, and that the campers would leave Campo Alegria feeling God’s love through us.

So today we spent some time getting ready for the campers to arrive tomorrow. We also painted the latrine (a bright sunny yellow!) and took plenty of time to swim in the lake.

I think everyone felt much better upon waking up this morning. The sun rises early here (BEFORE 5am!) which means we do too… but then it sets by 6pm. (We are two hours behind our friends and family back home.) The chickens and rooster were gracious enough to wake us, lest we might have missed the beautiful sunrise .

A wonderful storm blew through last night, bringing us a bit cooler weather, and wind to blow away the bugs. They seem to have returned a bit tonight, as the wind has died back down. Everyone who lives here says they’ve never seen the wind this calm for this long. Hmmm… the only downside to that is this: the normal 40-50mph winds blow away the bugs. So, can you send up a few prayers for some wind at Campo Alegria? Thanks!

Our kids really enjoyed swimming, riding the horses here at Campo, swimming, and more swimming. Tonight for dinner, we enjoyed a wonderful Nicaraguan specialty – nakatamale. It’s essentially a tamale with chicken (bones and all), potato, rice, and some other delicious extras, all wrapped in a banana leaf. It was wonderful!

Now we will spend a little more time getting ready for the kids to arrive tomorrow morning. Until then…