Mission to Nicaragua

In late June, members of the One Kingdom staff traveled with a group from the White’s Ferry Road Church College Ministry to León, Nicaragua. Our goal was to meet with One Kingdom Ambassador Esteban Valle-García, his church, his family, his co-workers, and his community.

Once there, Esteban directed us in serving by assisting in concrete floor work for needy families, as well as serving children and those in his community stricken by extreme poverty. It was a blessing to meet with the people of León and to take young people out into the world to serve with us.

This is the story of that mission trip.

I hadn’t traveled in four years. As travel can be expensive—and we strive to be good stewards with the financial support we have been blessed with—I don’t always get to go on every trip. Then there was Covid, which halted our missions for a while. Last year, I was scheduled to fly to the Dominican Republic, but got sick two days before departure.

Needless to say, I was looking forward to this particular mission. Additionally, I have known Esteban Valle-García for quite a while now, and I was eager to visit him in his own country and meet the people he worked with. Nicaragua has been somewhat of a regular destination for our organization, so now I would finally get to see what everyone else had spoken so fondly of. This trip was a little different for me, too, because we took a group of college students from WFR Church. I had never been on a ‘student’ type of trip before, but it all worked out very well. The kids we took were all good-hearted and eager to serve.

Upon arrival, I noticed immediately that Esteban was a consummate host. He worked hard to take care of every little detail and to make sure that everyone was accounted for. He is a great blessing to this ministry.

The first day our group split into two groups. One group would go to do concrete work, and the other group would go to buy, prepare, and deliver food to needy families. I went with the concrete group.

Our first stop that morning was at Rodrigo’s house. Rodrigo, a boy of eleven, would be getting a new concrete floor for his bedroom. Previously, he had a dirt floor, which is not so great for hygiene and keeping out bugs and bacteria.

Once we got out of the van, there was some explaining to do concerning the concrete, and then everyone got to work. That day, most of my time was spent documenting with photo/video and talking with Rodrigo’s family, but I could quickly tell that the concrete work was no easy task. It was extremely hot and humid, but—despite the labor and the weather—I’m proud to say that no one got dehydrated the entire trip.

The language barrier was a tough one. Even so, I was able to communicate a bit with the family using Google Translate. Rodrigo was a fun kid. I got to play soccer with him for a while, and he and his sister Brittani (whose photo is on the cover) were keen to have me look at their Pokémon collection. They were both very sweet, as was the rest of their family.

After lunch, we reunited with the rest of our team and met with a larger group of kids who are sponsored by CRF (Christian Relief Fund is an organization that Esteban works with). Some soccer balls had been purchased for them, and—surprise!—they wanted to play some soccer games with us only 10 minutes after eating lunch.

Now look, I love soccer. It was my sport growing up. But playing on the beach with a bunch of skilled teenage boys with a full stomach was a nightmare. Regardless, I sucked it up and did my best. I knew from experience to be flexible on mission trips, and despite my struggling, I was also happy to oblige them.

To be honest, we had a great time. There is something special about being able to bond with other people over a simple game that we might take for granted. Here, the language barrier didn’t matter. Culture didn’t matter. We were united in a special moment as image-bearers, and that is a day I won’t soon forget.

Afterward, we delivered a soccer ball to a very poor family. Our food delivery team had come across this family earlier in the day and discovered that the young boy loved soccer, but had no ball. Beverly was more than happy to deliver this to him, which he loved.

Reflecting upon the day later that night, I thought about the beauty I had seen so far. Nicaragua is a beautiful country, full of green and brightly-painted shops or houses. Many of the nicer homes and businesses we visited had open courtyards with gardens. I found art to be very common. Paintings seemed to be everywhere.

However, while not everyone was poor, poverty is still a major issue. Many people, both in cities and in rural areas, were living in destitute conditions. I hoped and prayed that what we offered them helped alleviate their burdens a bit. But in the future, I hope there may be a long-term solution we can help with.

The following morning, we went to Guadalupe Church for their Sunday service. The sanctuary was large, with many rows of pews and several rooms in the back for children’s classes. We were invited to sing a few songs, Simon (the WFR college minister) preached while Esteban translated, and Daniel (a college student) led communion. Everyone at the church was extremely nice, and many from the congregation came to greet us.

I spent a good bit of time hanging out with some of the kids in the back. I found a group of boys and talked soccer, music, and art with them using Google Translate. Finding those moments to connect with people, especially kids, is one of my favorite things to do on any mission trip. My hope was that they felt loved and cared for.

After the main service, the kids had a special program called Family Day that they performed for everyone. They sang, spoke, and read from the Bible. It seemed that they had been practicing in the weeks leading up to this day and that their hard work had paid off.

After church, we shared a meal with Esteban, his daughters, and his father. Esteban’s daughters were a hoot. Abby, eleven, is even-keeled and interested in languages. She spoke English well. Aurita, age eight, was bouncing off the walls and super funny. I loved both of them immediately.

During this time, I was able to have a conversation for the first time with Leonel, Esteban’s father. Esteban was happy to translate, and so we talked a while. He is very wise, and gave me several things to think about.

That evening, Esteban took us to see the coast. It was very striking, with dark, soft sand and large rocks. Again, I was amazed at the beauty of the place. The following day, we were back to concrete work.
This time, we went to the home of Daniel Amador, Jr. I stuck with the concrete group while Kyle (our videographer) went to film and interview Esteban’s parents at their house.

The work this day was more intense and took far longer. The Amadors had an outdoor kitchen with a dirt floor, so our job was to mix and pour concrete for the floor of a new indoor kitchen. It was grueling work, and on this day I helped where I could. Good thing we had all those energetic young people to do a lot of the work!

Halfway through the process, it started raining heavily, but luckily Daniel had set aside a portable covering to save the floor. After the rain let up, it was back to work. There was  a teenage boy there who liked soccer, so I kicked the ball with him awhile and talked with him a bit. The college students hung out and played games with the younger children who were there. Being able to connect with kids even when you can’t speak the same language is a special blessing. It was a good day.

The next day, Esteban took us around to see parts of León before heading back to the church to do another interview with Leonel. The church offers a daycare, so the college students played with the children who were there. I spent some time conversing as best I could with the adults there. Some of them worked with Esteban at CRF, and so I quickly learned that much of their time and energy was spent in the pursuit of helping others. They sacrificed much for the benefit of their community.

In fact, I think everyone I met in Nicaragua had an idea of what it meant to sacrifice. Their communities seemed tightly knit, and so helping each other any way they could was a daily part of life. Time, resources, and energy were all directed to help those who were on hard times. Esteban and his team sacrificed a lot to host us, to translate for us, to drive us around, and to look after everyone’s needs. They took good care of us, and that didn’t go unnoticed. Thank God for them.

When it came time to leave, I was sad to go. It was so great to finally visit Nicaragua and meet Esteban’s family, his community, and his co-workers. I hope and pray that we can continue to work in places like León, Nicaragua, as well as other Latin American countries. They are our close neighbors, and there are many people out there we can partner with to help establish God’s Kingdom in every corner of the world.

The trip proved fruitful for our college students. A couple of them had been to Nicaragua before, but—whether they had or not—what they experienced left them with glad hearts. I was proud of our group. Though still young, they were well-mannered and open to the calling to go out and serve others.

As you saw on the inside jacket of this newsletter, we recently lost our director. Although we’ve had to set aside time to regroup, I believe the future is bright. This ministry does not belong to me, or you, or anyone else. It belongs exclusively to God and to Him alone. It will continue to endure when we humans fail.

At the time of this writing, One Kingdom Sunday has just wrapped up, and we are gearing up to talk about what future missions may look like. I’m excited about this, as there are many open doors. Please join me in praying for this.

We recently made a short documentary about this trip that you can find on YouTube and on our website. In the video, I stated that I keep learning the exact same lesson with every mission; every time I embark on a trip, I keep thinking about how different we will probably be, but I always come back thinking about how much the same we all are.

Despite cultural or language differences, we’re all very much human beings. We are image-bearers of a Creator God who made us in His image. Each of us carry this unique divine spark along with a ton of untapped potential. How will we use it? For good? For evil? I pray that we all take the narrow path—the hard path—for in doing so we can usher in a world that shines light brightly against the forces of darkness.