THE REAL MEANING OF CHRISTMAS

For the past couple of months, I have found myself very slack in keeping up my blog.  We have had so many wonderful events and incredible blessings throughout this past year that one would hardly know where to begin to share in writing.  I could write of occurrences that took place in Nicaragua while we were there over five months through the summer and fall, and how we are looking forward to going back soon.  

Volcano on Ometepe Island, Nicaragua

I could tell you of our wonderful 45^th anniversary on the volcanic Island of Ometepe, or the emergence of our newly formed men's group.  I could share about the moving of God’s grace in a recent program of giving that was delivered by our church in a local school. 

I could even write about sitting in my comfortable chair and watching the birds and animals out the picture window of the beautiful and stately old farmhouse that God has blessed us with, or wrapping my arms around my grandchildren. I could spend long hours writing about our wonderful family and friends that have so abundantly blessed our lives over the years. 

So I am not short of subject matter, it is all about how to rekindle that fire that normally burns inside of me to put my brain in gear and let my fingers fly as fast as my used up arthritic hands will permit.   But these last few days with the advent of the Holidays and the spirit of Christmas, a refreshing new determination is awakening within me. This new attitude emerged recently when we had the privilege of visiting our granddaughter’s school for her Christmas party.  To watch her sing and jingle her little bell took my mind back to what family is all about. 

Abigail at Christmas party with her little brother Elijah and grandma and
grandpa

 And my thoughts ran to my other grandkids in Spain, and how God is at work in their lives.   Then I really began to focus in on what life is all about.  I recalled the story of the baptism of three of my grandchildren, and that sets the stage for this blog.  Please enjoy along with me the story of a little girl in a missionary family who God is using to touch the hearts and lives of her friends.  Oh, did I forget to mention she is my granddaughter, Rebekah Davis. Please read her story.

Last summer my family and I went on a summer vacation to Asturias, a beautiful campsite in northern Spain where I met a nice girl named Luisa.

We had a great time together until summer was over and we had to go home. We exchanged Emails and we have talked ever since.  A couple of weeks later just before school started I told her that I was thinking of getting baptized. She answered me with an Email that said:

"Why do you want to get baptized?  What will it do for you?"

In that moment I truly had to stop and ask myself why I did want to get baptized and what it would do for me.  I already knew the answer to both of those questions in my heart, but I wanted to make sure that what I thought was the answer was correct. Before I answered such a serious question to my non-believing friend, I asked my parents what they thought.   I talked a little with them and it really helped me refresh everything that I had previously learned about baptism and also a little bit about God too!   So I gathered all the spiritual info that my parents crammed into 10 minutes and I wrote Luisa back.   This is what I wrote her.

Our grandchildren in Spain, left to right
Nathan Rebekah and Micah Davis
(Jacob not in picture)

"It's not about what the baptism DOES for you that matters, what matters is that you SHOW your friends, family and neighbors, as well as the members of your church and the people that go to your baptism that you have decided to follow God and become one of his children and believe in Him. So the baptism is basically a symbol that shows to others what you believe in and how you are going to live your life from now on."

And that is why I wanted to get baptized. 

 

Rebekah Davis

Maybe now you can understand my rekindled enthusiasm and this determined desire to keep pressing on and trying my best to make a little mark in the life of some fellow traveler along the way.   So as I sit here and write propped back in my easy chair I am watching the snowflakes trickle down from the heavens, as a little squirrel romps playfully through this carpet of winter wonderland.  This helps me to really understand what life is all about, and the real meaning of Christmas.  It takes my breath away, leaving me nothing left to say except... to all of you our family, friends and supporters.  We wish you a very merry Christ centered Christmas and a wonderful and prosperous New Year.  

A PART OF GOD'S STORY

Thoughts from Norma Caton from the field

Part of God’s Story in Nicaragua

Nicaraguan churches in general have far more problems than those directly stemming from low pastor salaries. Few local churches have any contact with their communities outside of evangelistic crusades, and seventy percent of pastors have no theological training. In many churches, women make up well over two-thirds of those who attend. The average church has about 130, though some have only a couple dozen. 

The lack of integral evangelism is a huge concern. Some churches may practice what they consider to be evangelism, but not integral evangelism. “Integral evangelism has two big themes: proclamation and demonstration,” said Henry Cruz, director of Nehemiah Center’s Healthy Church program. Henry also sees a multitude of other problems: a weak understanding of the mission, no strategic plan, no access to training, an authoritarian rather than a servant leadership model, no healthy growth. The list goes on. Pastors’ marriages have to be healed and transformed before pastors can effectively launch programs for their community. The churches themselves need to be healthy before they can effectively launch programs for their communities. Just as a pastor who did not view his wife as an equal partner in the Lord could not be a servant leader in his church, so a church that is not healthy cannot transform its community. Church health is an essential building block for effective and sustainable community transformation.*

The Nehemiah Center’s Healthy Church program is one building block of several that has led Pastor Jorge Reyes, wife Monica and 11 Pochocuape church leaders to self-diagnose and develop more effective church growth principles. The church leadership team recently finished the eight-month curriculum and proudly received certificates of completion. Each gave testimony that the course has enlightened them as to how they are each responsible as individuals to carry out their part in supporting the outreach of the Big Family Church of Pochocuape. We anticipate hearing reports in the months to come about healthy church growth in Pochocuape because of their willingness to serve their church, community and God in a more intentional and integral way. 

__________________

*On Mended Wings – Transforming Lives and Communities in Nicaragua, Carol Van Klompenburg 2011.

ON MISSION NICARAGUA...From Ashes to Beauty (a taste of Maria's story)

New Jerusalem Church, Guadalupe

Pastora: Maria Magdalena Herrera Zeas

Maria was born in the northern rural area of Matagalpa, Nicaragua, to a farming family of 11 children. She moved to Managua where her husband abandoned the family when their two children were toddlers. As a child, Maria lived through village military raids and murders of extended family members and neighbors. She taught herself to read from a Gideon New Testament someone had passed along to her. Nearly 17 years later, she and her two grown children, Cesia and Jose and granddaughter Cesia Maria live in the village of Las Brisas, which borders the Managua city dumpsite, La Chureca.  Maria has maintained a faithful ministry in La Chureca 16 years.  Her ministry vision began there when she was watching a news cast on local TV. She was heartbroken to see the pictures and reports of the dozens of people who lived in the garbage.

                                          La Chureca, Managua City dump prior to 2010.

New Jerusalem Church

 At that time, she felt God revealing a long-range vision for ministry to these people. She faithfully and humbly followed the leading of the Lord by bringing soup from her kitchen and feeding the sick and starving children and telling them of God’s love for them. Shortly after, she began teaching the same message to the youth and adults.  This quickly led into the fledgling Iglesia Nueva Jersusalen (New Jerusalem Church) and eventually to the beginning of the Fe y Esperanza (Faith and Hope) elementary school.


 It has always been Maria’s passion to teach about God’s love and to educate children toward a better life. Ginger Creek discovered her ministry in 2008 and came alongside her to assist in the development of the church and school. The 47 acres of open garbage was documented as one of the largest in the world. In 2010, the government of Spain took notice and donated millions of dollars in humanitarian relief to raze the site, build a modern recycling plant and construct hundreds of new houses adjacent to the site for the 258 families from the dump plus hundreds of refugees from recent floods. Ginger Creek began assisting in a building program while La Chureca was still an open garbage site. In February 2012, the New Jerusalem Church and Fe y Esperanza II school were completed.

Class in New jerusalem elementary

The school officially opened with four grades and 215 students, the maximum number of students she could handle in the new building.  The New Jerusalem church and school are located in new village of Villa Guadalupe at the boundary of the dumpsite.

Villa Guadalupe replacing La Chureca

To her credit, Maria helped local pastors found four other churches--Barrio Pantanal begun in 2008; Barrio Carlos Tellez 2009; Barrio Carlos Nuñez; and Barrio Villa Carmen in 2010, which is 47 kilometers from Managua on the highway to Leon. Also, the pastor of a nearby church in Acahualinca which was destroyed in the Lake Managua flood of 2010 has become the Pastor of Evangelism at New Jerusalem.

Having a passion for education, Maria also began theological training in her modest home. It quickly grew to become the New Jerusalem seminary and moved to a borrowed neighboring church facility until the New Jerusalem church building was completed.  She graduated the first three-year group of seminarians from this school in April 2012.

First graduation of New Jerusalem seminary 2012

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favorand the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who morn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion, to bestow on them a crown of beuty instead of ashes. 

The last four pictures represent  beauty that replaced the ash heap.

 

What in the world are we doing in Nicaragua

What in the world are we doing in Nicaragua? Sometimes I ask myself, is it just something that we chose to do on the spur of the moment and then packed up and moved on a whim?  After leaving the field of Spain years ago, Norma and I both felt that God would someday place us back in cross-cultural mission work, somewhere, sometime.  We waited upon Him and asked for His leadership.  Now, fast-forwarding several years, we find ourselves walking alongside Nicaraguan church leadership in the Kingdom work that He began with them many years ago here in Nicaragua. Being a part of this God-story is both humbling and a privilege for us.  We are working within a plan and a vision that God previously set in motion in the hearts of the Nicaraguan pastors.  The following are a few things that give insight to the bigger picture--one that is much bigger than we are.

The most important part of this is building relationships to facilitate maximum ministry effectiveness.  Building relationships takes the down-to-earth, day-by-day walking, living, laughing, crying, planning, praying and enjoying God’s people and His creation. Maybe we can be a little more specific with the part we play in this walk.  First, we have to commit on a daily basis to not just be doing "busy" work.  This is a challenge because there's so much to do and we as North Americans are mentalisized to be busy and accomplish things. We often end up becoming paternalistic over nationals.  Our job really is to prayerfully discover where God is working and join in with Him, aligning ourselves with His will.  There is no better place to be than to be partnered with God and His people. We must be servants, not lords over another people. His desire is to send us out on His behalf.  We are fellow strugglers on a joint mission.  We must join His mission, which is much bigger than our own agenda.  We must pray for vision and wisdom to execute God's plan, not our own.   It must be that way so all will know it is God who has done the work, not us.  We must stop involving ourselves with mediocre projects and instead, ask Him where He is working and then join in with Him.  Too often we are fighting battles that have already been won. We must go where God is gathering like-minded, willing servants.  That is what we are attempting to do. We believe God is at work in Nicaragua far greater than we can imagine.  The magnitude of the work and need can sometimes become overwhelming, but we believe this is the place where He has called us to be at this time.  Our prayer is that we will not remain in our comfort zone, but instead join Him in what we believe He is already doing.




Henry Cruz, top left

Director of the Nehemiah Center, Daniel Boniche and Henry Cruz are both on the Ezra Team. They hammered out some leadership training programs with estimated costs for Maria, four pastors in her constituency and 30 of their church leaders.  Henry actually lives in Acahualinca, a village bordering Maria's neighborhood, Villa Guadalupe.  Henry also just finished an eight-month course to eleven Pochocuape church leaders.  Roberto Armas from the Ezra Team Community Development program went with us to Pochocuape to meet Pastor Jorge and Monica a few weeks ago.  He is putting together a proposal of what they might be able to do to help the ministry and community there. Director Boniche recently met with Maria and Josefina Brecenos, the new director of the New Jerusalem elementary school.  The discussion was about ACECEN, the Association of Christian Schools of Nicaragua, in hopes that a partnership can be fleshed out for equipping and training the teachers.  Josefina was raised in La Chureca city dump. She came to faith and has spent the last several years working with Maria's ministry.  This year Maria appointed her as the full-time director of the school. 




Josefina with her staff

Maria, Josefina and the staff of teachers are working hard to advance the school program in every way possible.  Because of the number of secondary schools already available to children after graduating grade  school, Maria has committed to having only six grades at the New Jerusalem school.  She currently has five grades and will add one more class level, beginning next year. She is hoping to have the last stage of the school building completed in time to begin next school year.

New class rooms under construction

With no outside help, she and her church have managed to begin construction on the next phase of the school expansion. When the construction is complete, the older children will no longer have to wait until the afternoon to attend class.  They will begin in the morning along with the other children.  When we arrived in June, there were a few poles, with a tin roof.  As of August 31, the building had walls half way up. Maria says construction will stop temporarily now until their tithes and offerings build up enough to buy more materials to finish the construction. She firmly believes the walls will be up in time to start the new year.

On Tuesday, August 6, Freddy Menedez, Nehemiah Center Ezra Team member and director of Businesses for the Kingdom program, met with us about possibilities of micro-business training in the two ministry areas.  Luz Largaespadas, Ezra Team marriage counselor, hopes to offer a couples workshop for pastoral and church leadership couples in the New Jerusalem and Pochocuape churches.

First grade English class

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I am teaching English at the New Jerusalem school and on Saturdays, I teach Biblical Worldview in the Bible Institute.  Norma began a Level IV Spanish course and is still working part-time with Big Idea/VeggieTales Customer Service while also translating materials into Spanish for the churches to host movie outreach events to the community. She continues to enjoy lending emotional and spiritual support to the women leaders of the churches. We feel these are ways that we can come alongside the pastors and leadership, joining them in the Kingdom walk and fulfilling our roles as willing servants.

Satan daily tosses out his fiery darts and tries to trip up God's soldiers. Please pray with us for protection, safety, health, guidance and wisdom. 
Would you prayerfully consider a donation for the support of these ministries?  If God is speaking to you about partnering financially, you may do so by sending a check to:

Partners in Christ International

PO Box 237

Tempe, Arizona 85280-0237

(Attach a note to your check with the following text:  Nicaragua account - Caton expenses.)         

UPDATE---On Mission, Nicaragua

There has been a lot of news since our last visit with you, but time has been limited because we have been on the move so much.  God has moved in the most wondrous ways.  Time and space will not permit us to share all the good things, but maybe just a few highlights are in order.  Perhaps the most touching was a wonderful service at New Jerusalem with Maria two weeks ago.  Not only were the messages great, but they closed out the service by communion and feet-washing. I had the honor of washing the feet of one of the pastors of the four churches in the New Jerusalem association.

Pastor Vicente at far right

Vicente is his name and he bears a long and painful story.  Approximately three years ago, the church where he pastored was flooded by torrential rains that caused Lake Managua to overflow and destroy the property. That was but the beginning of problems. Two years ago his son was tragically murdered.  Then only last year Pastor Vincent's 16-year old grandson was murdered when someone stole his cell phone. Only God in his infinite wisdom could understand such things.  But this man continued faithful and is now working with Maria at New Jerusalem as an elder and pastor of evangelism.

Years ago, when Maria told us of her awesome dream, she spoke of how she envisioned new life and new spirit some day in La Chureca, the Managua city dump where 100's of families lived.  She said that in that vision there were flowers and gardens springing up, where once there was nothing but garbage and filth and hopeless, helpless people.  She envisioned it similar to the Israelites who were in bondage in Egypt, but in time they would see deliverance.  Today we witness this new life in the new community of Guadalupe.  One can find fresh fruit and vegetables growing in what was once a slimy garbage pit.  Also, a new phenomena is that in the new village of Guadalupe one can see little storefronts and shops being created in the homes.  We witnessed one such shop which was begun six months ago by three sisters from Maria's church.  Only three years previous, they were still suffering the smoke and filth of the city dump and trying to make a living in any way possible.  Today, they go to large open-air markets and retail stores and buy clothing cheaply to resell at a profit.  

Real progress has been made in the church. And because of changes in city boundaries, we now must stop saying the church in La Chureca and begin calling it the New Jerusalem Church in  Carlos Tellez.  The church is actually located in the village of Carlos Tellez, immediately across the street from the newly planted housing village of Guadalupe.  The only thing remaining in La Chureca is the new recycling plant which was built by the Spanish government as they cleaned up the dumpsite.  What a testimony of faith and a witness of the power of God as we have watched this place blossom over the years (in Maria's terminology) from a trash heap to a thriving little city. The church doors open toward the new houses at the city entrance, welcoming all to enter.  

The Holy Spirit is also at work in the small but thriving church on Pochocuape mountain. What a blessing to see the excitement of the "Big Family Church" congregation as they come together to worship.  Pastor Jorge and wife Monica have been faithful to work the fields of crops. They will potentially have a 200-pound crop of frijoles (red beans).  This is tiring and tedious work. The fields must be hoed and cared for on a regular basis to keep them alive.  The two of them toil on with help from the church working in rotating teams. Their goal is to provide food for the village and some income off selling part of the crop.  They have been praying for more rain because so far, this has been one of the driest seasons they have had in a few years.  They also hope to have tomatoes and peppers soon, and in the near future a crop of bananas from the 900 plants they planted one year ago.  

Last year when Norma and I were here, we introduced them to Henry Cruz, a member of the Ezra Team from the Nehemiah Center.  Unbeknownst to us, Jorge invited Henry up to his church to teach an 8-month program on healthy church growth, "Iglesias Saludables." We see progress in the area of spiritual formation.  Jorge got a group of Pochocuape leaders together and Henry Cruz led the study.  Monday, July 29, is the last session of the eight-month curriculum.  How awesome is that?

Henry Cruz, bottom row left, with Pastor Jorge to his left

On Friday night of July 12 and again on July 26 the church hosted a movie night showing VeggieTales movies that Norma had brought to share with children and parents of the whole community.  This has really been a big hit to the children as well as adults on the mountain.  About 100 children and teens plus 30 adults attended.  We were all encouraged at the large turnout.  The church will make a presence in the community by offering three more VeggieTales movie nights (with follow-up discussions about the spiritual significance of each story).  

I have started teaching English on Tuesdays and Thursdays to three different grades in the New Jerusalem elementary school in Maria’s church as well as a course on biblical worldview in the Bible Institute to adult church leaders.  I was honored that Maria invited me to teach those classes.

Our trip to Costa Rica was profitable and encouraging. We gathered information on affordable theological education materials for the churches here.  We hope our ministry partners will review the materials soon and decide if they can be used in their churches for more spiritual formation.  We visited the San Jose S.E.A.N. offices (Seminario por Extension A Las Naciones) where we were introduced to the concepts of these materials and curricula in a two-hour seminar.  We were invited to visit a church to see the program and the material in action.  After a quick dinner, we were off again to watch first-hand how this material was being taught. 

When we arrived at the church, we were excited with what we saw and heard.  The church was in a poverty-stricken area and we had been told previously that this was the most dangerous place in San Jose -- an area with a high crime rate.  

As we walked inside, a small group of eight sat around the table in the back of the church.  We went on in and saw another small group of eight or ten in the front of the church.  Going through the side door, we saw yet another group and another and another.  Small groups were everywhere -- about 7 or 8 of them.  The last one we saw in a side room had 19 people in their group.  This particular group had been studying together for five years.  We sat in and listened as they were doing an intense and profound study of the book of Jeremiah.  I was interested in this group, as it reminded me of our group of men at Ginger Creek who have been together for over five years in the kingdom walk.

After we were dismissed, we were standing around discussing their philosophy of missions. I discovered a major difference in their philosophy that I really loved. Keeping in mind, this church is in a poverty-stricken area I remembered that during their meeting, they spoke about giving and reaching out to the ends of the earth.  I asked them about this and here was their  response.  Every year, we pray and select a country that God puts on our hearts.  We pray for that country for a whole year, and then we collect funds.  At the end of the year, we send a delegation of two to five people to visit a Church in that country, and give them the money we have raised for them with God’s help.  He went on to say, we have been to Nicaragua, Cuba, Peru, Spain and Haiti, and we hope to go to Kenya next year. Something tells me they are going to do it.  I asked them how they could raise enough money to do this since they were in a poor neighborhood.   The response was, "God is the one that does it.  We have no idea how, we just try to remain faithful to anything he gives us."  

What a beautiful testimony to what God is doing in many areas of the world.  I hope and pray God will bring a revival upon America so that we could see such a moving in our nation too.   

Please continue to pray for us for God's care and protection.  If you would like to help in this continuing ministry you may do so by sending a check to:

Partners in Christ International

PO Box 237

Tempe, Arizona 85280-0237

(Attach a note to your check with the following text:  “Nicaragua Account, for Caton expenses.")