Restoration of the Nations

Monday, March 28, 2011

Pablo - We rejoice with him

Pablo Ernonde at age 12 is one of the earliest students in the vocational program, not to mention, our youngest student. We made an exception to our rules when we accepted him into the vocational school. We said we would try him for a week or two, evaluate him and then make a determination as to whether he would continue. He showed so much determination that it was unthinkable to turn him away.

He resides at the Remar International - Leon facility due to a gambling addiction. You read it correctly, our Pablito is a card-shark. He was an excellent student in public school but dropped out to pursue the gambling. He left the rehab facility for a few days a couple of months ago, but had to return; his habit was still not under control.

Each day he attends class, is a day of surprises; you never know what you will get from him. He is whitty, talkative, bright, enthusiastic, determined and very charming. He's more than capable of taking care of himself, but the other students take on the role of big brother and feel it is their duty to watch over him.

Recently he shared with us that he wanted very much to change his behavior but he always found himself doing what he knew he should not do. Does that sound familiar? During the weekly gathering with our Pastor, Pablo was asked to elaborate more about why and how he wanted to change. In his usual style of honesty and sharing deep from within his heart, he talked about his life and his desire to know more about the Lord. At that moment, the presence of the Lord was felt in the room; He definitely was in our midst. Pablo accepted Jesus as his Savior and committed to serving Him with his whole heart. He had an intense desire to worship and all of us stood in a circle singing; except that I found myself watching Pablo. As his eyes were closed, swaying to his own music, he had a smile on his face that could be described in many ways: joy, peace, happiness, contentment. For a time, I know that he was "not in that room"; he had journeyed somewhere else within himself. On the drive home, I asked Pablo how he felt in his heart. He said "it felt empty, not in a bad way, it was free".

Pablo stays in a facility located far outside of town on a farm. It is very remote, thus it is very dark at night and he gets frightened a lot. The next day after his encounter with the Lord, he shared with us an experience he had at bedtime the previous evening. While lying in bed, he was scared and he started praying to Jesus. He said that he saw 2 "Lights" on either side of him and he knew that they were Angels. He started talking to them and singing. One of the other Christian boys in the bunkhouse told him to be quiet or the others would think he was crazy.

Yes, we are rejoicing with Pablo! We are happy that he has found more joy than he can contain. This young boy has a very special calling on his life and we get to be a part of watching it unfold.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Claudio's Birthday

One of the boys who now lives with us has a birthday for the first time. Today, he is "officially" 18 years of age. How can this be?

One night at dinner, we were having conversation with the boys who live in our home. We asked them how old they were and when was their birthday. When it came time for Claudio to share, he said there was no record of his birth (more on this in a later blog). He said he was 18 but he did not know when he was born. We told him that we needed to establish a birthday for him. We asked him to think about when he would like to celebrate his birthday.

During that discussion of birthdays, it was revealed that everyone at the table had a birthday in March, everyone except Claudio. So, he decided that he wanted his birthday to be in March. We asked him what day in March would he like to celebrate his birthday and he chose the 10th. When I asked him why the 10th, he said it was because he liked the number.

For over a month we have been building up to this day - Claudio's celebration of his birthday.

I asked him this morning, how old was he today. He again said he was 18. I want to try to establish how old he really is but for now we will continue to say he is 18. When he told us previously he was 18 he might have been referring to the number of years that he has been alive. Claudio may not grasp the concept that with a birthday you add another year to your age.

Last night after supper, he and I walked to the store to buy mix and frosting so that I can bake him a cake. He wanted chocolate; is there any other flavor for a teenage boy? On the way home, we practiced his English. He is now learning how to count to ten and colors. One number that he really loves is 6. He was calling a lot of numbers "6". I tried to get him to slow down and think before he would answer.

The other "task" I had with Claudio was to read him the book of John in the Bible. Pastor Jose has assigned the reading lesson to the boys. Claudio does not know how to read. His reading ability would be equal to an elementary student in the States, reading "Dick and Jane and see Spot run". I have a bilingual Bible. I would read to him in Spanish and if there was a word I could not pronounce, he might correct me if he recognized the word. Or if neither of us could pronounce the word, I had my google translator next to us and I would type the word into the computer and we would both listen to it. Whenever he recognized the sound of a word that I was mispronouncing, he would correct me. It brought a lot of pleasure to him.

Yesterday, was a very special day for me. a walk with Claudio and time reading the Bible together. Also, it was Wednesday and that means Pastor Jose comes for a couple of hours to spend time with the boys. I so much enjoyed my one-on-one time with Claudio. He knows now that we will have a "date" each day to read the Bible.

I have a favor to ask of anyone reading this blog, if you desire. Would you email a birthday greeting to Claudio? I would like to show him that there are many people who know who he is and care about him.

Post to us on Facebook at our wall: Sandra N Preston Barnum

We will share those posts with Claudio. I'd love to show him that the World says....

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CLAUDIO"

Thursday, February 17, 2011

When Love Hurts

We are having to set boundaries with a boy that we love very much and has been in our lives for over 3 years. This incident is just another example of the mindset of the young men in this nation. But, not so very different from the rest of the young people in this world. A generation that much of the world is starting to call "the entitlement" generation.

We met Kervin on our first trip to Nicaragua and immediately, God joined our hearts. We loved him no less than our own children. He and his younger brother live with an aunt in an over crowded home in a rural, poverty stricken village. They had been abandoned by their mother over 12 years ago while she went to Costa Rica to work, but never returned. When we first met Kervin, he was not attending school and his aunt was wanting him to work in the cane fields in order to provide income for the family. We made arrangements to provide the equivalent of a salary in order for him to return to school. The only stipulation we asked of him was to do well in school and continue to attend church.

We loved visiting with he and his brother on our trips to Nica and looked forward to the day when we would be here full time and see them on a regular basis. I have no idea what went awry. Were we too generous? Did we not instill in them the desire to reach for the future, that anything was possible? Or, is the Nicaragua mindset of "life is what it is and it will never be different" too engrained in them?

Kervin was several years behind in school and he struggled, but he kept pursuing his education. He is passionate about music. When I say passionate, I mean music consumes him. He is practically self taught on the piano and guitar. There was a time his desire was to be a famous Christian recording artist so that he could make lots of money and help his family and country. I feel that his dream of being a musician is dying. He seems to be settling for what is available to him NOW. Maybe the pursuit of music was too time consuming; maybe people started snatching that dream from him; maybe there was not enough encouragement from the people he shared a home with. Maybe life was just proving to be too difficult.

He came to us recently asking if he could live with us. I was thrilled at the thought of being able to spend more time with him. But it became very apparent in our conversation that he expected a lot of perks without any responsibility to us or our home. He wanted total freedom to pursue his interests and agenda without submitting to standards that we have set for any of the other boys that we educate or allow to stay in our home. I won't go in to the details of his change in spiritual beliefs and behavior; but I will say that this is not the same boy that I knew just 6-9 months ago. At 19 years of age, if he chooses not to pursue his education and prepare for his future, we could not continue to support him financially or provide him with a home and meals.

One of the purposes of our being in Nicaragua is to encourage young men to strive for a better future. We will not enable them to continue to walk in the welfare mentality that seems to exist in regards to their relationships with the missionaries that serve here. It's ironic that we have been tested within our own "Nicarauga family" to walk out our ministry principles and purpose.

Kervin stayed with us for the night and our hearts were very heavy. The next morning he came to me saying that he was very sad and I shared with him our pain. It's been weeks since we said "good-by". I worry about him and what will become of him. He is a young man with so much ability and talent. We talked with him all the time about making choices that would ultimately change his circumstances and thus begin changing the poverty that had been so much a part of his life and his family.

I ask myself would things have been different if we had been here years sooner; did we arrive too late? Or is the system so broken that we may never reach the young men with the idea of a life free from oppression and poverty? Maybe, it is a matter of them not being able to dream of the possibility of a life different from what they have always known.

We have experienced disappointments and hurts since our arrival in Nicaragua, but this hurt hit too close to home. This time it was "our son" that chose to keep his life, for now, as he has always known it.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

The Restoration Begins

Starting tomorrow, the ministry of Restoration of the Nations begins to walk in the fullness of it's original vision: ministering to the total needs of the young men of impoverished nations. Not only are we to teach vocational skills in order that young men can be employed and thus sustain themselves and their families; but we will teach them basic life skills that should have been taught to them by their parents or other family members. More importantly, we want to fulfill God's command to "go into the world and disciple the nations". To us, discipleship is more than preaching God's Word. It is a process of investing yourself into the life of a person, walking out the love of Jesus into their every day life.

We were given the vision that we would have young men living at our school facilities. These boys would be from places that were too far for them to travel to and from the school. They would be boys that may have been abandoned by one or both of their parents. They also may be boys who have lived part of their lives on the streets but wanting to make a change.

Right now, we do not have the facilities that we had envisioned to house such boys. But God has made it plain that we are not to wait. He has orchestrated events where 3 young men, all the age of eighteen, need what we have to offer. So, these young men are coming to live in our home. We have spent the last couple of weeks preparing our home to receive these boys. There is still much work to be done but we are far enough along that the boys no longer have to wait. It's by divine appointment that we have these boys.

Many months ago, we heard about a man, Pastor Dennis, who had a rehab center. We tried to find out more information about him but the people we talked with were not familiar with him or his program. Recently, we acquired a new next door neighbor who just happened to know the man and within hours had a meeting set up for us with him. Timing is everything! When we talked with him, we learned that his first group of men had completed their time at his rehabilitation center. He was concerned as to what would happen to the young men when they left the facility. They needed more training and time to transition themselves into society, but he did not have the means to do this. What we had to offer him was exactly what he felt the boys needed. Into our lives we welcome Eduardo and Elvis.

The very next day after our meeting with Pastor Dennis, our interpreter received a phone call from a person who heard about our vocational school. She knew about our desire to have young men not only attend the school, but live at the school to receive the additional help they needed to become more self-sufficient in every way. Into our lives we welcome, Claudio.

This is a huge step forward for the ministry and for us personally. We look forward to the building of relationships with the boys as well as imparting to them skills which will lead them into a life that is productive and full of peace, love and joy.

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Monday, January 24, 2011

Bethel Church

We were blessed to host a short term mission's team from Bethel Church in Redding, CA. It was our first time meeting the group. They arrived to our home when we were without electric or water, not too uncommon for us; except that this outage lasted for about 36 hours. They were good sports when it came to using our laundry tub's pila (we keep filled with water) in order to wash off the day's dirt and grime.

The team ministered to some of the boys in the carpentry class. A local pastor, his wife and son stopped by and joined the team in ministry. They prayed and prophesied over the boys. One boy, Jose, has had the same Word repeated to him by each missions team that comes here to visit. He is destined to preach. All the boys have been chosen by God for special purposes. We look forward to the upcoming years when we get to witness them begin to walk in their callings.

The evening was spent with the group ministering to us and other local mission's leaders and pastors. Being in the mission field, a person's soul can get very dry. Visits like this from fellow English speaking believers, who's only purpose in coming to visit was to pour into us, does so much to encourage and refresh us.

Time was also spent ministering to the youth at a local church called Nuevo Restauracion teaching them how to "hear" from God. They prayed over each young person and imparted a Word from God to them.

There was a couple who was a close friend to the team leader that experienced a mission trip for the first time. It was apparent that their lives were forever changed. It will be interesting to hear in the upcoming months what direction their lives will be headed.

The team experienced how most Nicaraguans eat their meals. After the time of ministry to the youth at Nuevo Restauracion, we stopped at a late night vendor who sells food along side the road. We took home our meals wrapped in banana leaves and had a feast of typical Nica food consisting of gallo pinto, chicken, beef, pork, plantains and tortillas. All eaten with the fingers. I love the fact that it cuts down on having to wash dishes.

Meeting the team from Bethel is the beginning of what appears to be a lasting relationship. Their heart is joined with ours in seeing the youth of Nicaragua rise up and become tomorrow's leaders in their homes and in their communities.

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Sunday, January 16, 2011

Scarleth

As we begin ministry in the new year, we are very much aware that we could never do this without God's help and the helper He provided for us.

We met Scarleth Chavez 3 years ago while she worked for another ministry. We would tell Scarleth on many occasions during our first year in Nicaragua that she needed to find us our "own Scarleth". When the other ministry went through many internal changes in structure, Scarleth became available to pursue other work. We immediately recruited her to work for us part time until we moved here and now she is permanent.

In her private life, she is a mother to a 14 year old son and wife to a handsome man from the Dominican who has a passion for baseball. She is beautiful with a spirit to match, witty, and brilliant. When she is not working for us, she loves to work as an interpreter with small mission groups that come for a week or two to volunteer their time and services.

Scarleth is our interpreter, advisor, instructor, mediator, miracle worker on the seemingly impossible and most of all trusted Christian friend. She not only speaks Spanish and English but learned French as well. This gives you an idea of the drive and passion that she has for education. She studied in France to better learn the language but returned to her beloved Nicaragua.

She has a heart to see the young men of this nation arise to become the leaders God meant for them to be in their home and community. The only way this is possible is through education and a personal relationship with God. Scarleth fits in well with the boys in our school, they love her. She is a natural teacher and mentor. She helps to balance us out and is patient with us in our misunderstanding of the cultural differences.

We cannot count the times that she was called when we were in challenging situations: such as the house being flooded because the roof was leaking during a torrential downpour, or when we were left alone between the borders of Costa Rica & Nicaragua unable to understand the person who took charge over us, or to simply comfort me (Sandra) when I was having a melt-down. We have cried together and laughed heartily more often. We've celebrated the American holiday Thanksgiving together as well as New Year's.

Scarleth is very important to the every day schedule of Restoration of the Nations. Shortly, we will begin another class of carpentry for beginners and Scarleth will be the instructor. She has picked up the training techniques quickly and very much enjoys working with the boys. We are blessed to have her contributing to the success of the ministry.

We are more than blessed to call her friend.

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Friday, December 31, 2010

2010 Year in Review

"Even if surrendering means leaving everything behind" is a line from the video song "I Would Die for You". When God first called us to serve in Nicaragua, we never imagined that we would be leaving all behind. There were personal possessions which we knew would be helpful in our work here, but we sold or gave them away. Our children, grandchildren and now a great grandchild remain in the US.

Prior to coming to Nica, we had an acquaintance ask us "Do you have to do this?" "Have to? We GET to" was our reply. We never dreamed that surrender would come at such a cost. Each day brings a new set of challenges, but it also brings rewards beyond measure. Many days we feel that we receive far more than we give.

It's hard to put into words the love that we have for the nation of Nicaragua. Only God can bring a person to respond with this kind of love.

We came to Nica to provide vocational training to the young men. We are teaching the poorest of the poor. When we say poor we are not talking only about their economical condition but also their mental and spiritual condition. Most of the boys have lived without parents, either living with extended relatives or on the streets. They've learned how to use manipulation to get whatever is needed for them at the moment. They are lonely, untrusting yet they desire to be recognized, validated and most of all, loved. They are young teen age boys who have never had the opportunity to be teens. All they've known is hard times and intense responsibility to either keep themselves alive or help keep the people they live with alive. They are proud, in spite of their living conditions, they keep themselves very clean. They are God's chosen children who have been given a chance to "change their destiny".

In early 2011 we will be starting the next phase of the ministry. It's in this phase that we hope the greatest growth in the lives of the boys will take place. In the beginning, we will have a residential facility that will accommodate 4 boys. The original vision of the ministry was designed to encompass a residential facility to house the students with the greatest needs or where distance from school would be a problem. The vocational training is the practical side of what the ministry does. What the ministry is really about is "the whole being". The bible teaching and discipleship that we do during class is elementary. We want to speak into their lives on a deeper level.

Having boys live in the school's residential facility will allow for deeper biblical teaching, model Christ-like behavior one to another in a home setting, teach them the life-skills needed to effectively manage their lives on their own and give them the attention, acceptance and love that they so desperately want. Our days in class are interrupted on a regular basis because of a boy acting out only for the need to be reprimanded - someone pay attention to ME!

We are including with this blog a video recapping our experiences during 2010. It shows our life as we live it everyday along with the boys from the school, our purpose for being in Nicaragua. We've been blessed beyond anything that we could imagine. God is so amazing!

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Saturday, December 25, 2010

Israel

Israel Antonio Hernandez Ramirez is 16 years old and comes from Honduras. He is the middle child with 9 siblings. His parents do not live together.

Just when you think the stories about the boys' backgrounds couldn't get any worse, you hear one more. Israel has been at the Remar Leon facility for almost 2 years. He suffered extreme abuse back in his native Honduras and it caused him to act out. He had a father and uncle that tried to kill him. He tried to cross the border into Nicaragua and was captured and had to spend 4 months in prison when he was 14 years old. He also has told us that his life would be in danger if he returned to Honduras. A Christian recommended the Remar facility and that is now his home.

When we first met him, he was quiet and had a hurt look about him. As we've come to know him, he has opened up and is a lot more outgoing. He is transforming before our eyes. This kind of change can only come by a touch from God. See for yourself the change in him.

He is always very helpful with the other boys in class. There is a protectiveness that he displays towards some of the other boys. He works very diligently on the projects. During class, he likes to sing to himself and his voice is deep and beautiful.

He had been attending "public" school on Saturdays and studying English, but circumstances have recently prevented him from continuing his studies. It is evident that he understands us more than he lets on. He wants very much to be able to continue his studies.

His desire is to serve the Lord and be a good example to others. He would like to stay on at Remar and serve in their ministry.

We enjoy Israel's presence in class. He truly is a special boy and God will use him in huge ways.