Holy is the LORD

Greetings! We hope you are able to know the joy the of the LORD, even in the midst of such turmoil around the world. Turmoil has certainly surrounded us this summer. We’ve experienced difficulty in seemingly every aspect of life. Yet through it all, the LORD has reminded us in each situation that if we simply surrender to Him, He will hold us in His Hands.

The children took their exams and finished the first semester in the middle of June. They then had nearly 4 weeks of vacation between semesters, so they went home to be with their families and Victoria and Angela (house moms) got a needed break. Unfortunately for Angela, she came down with Covid symptoms immediately upon her return home. She did her best to take care of herself, even though she developed pneumonia. We praise God for His Hand upon her, as even the doctor she eventually went to see told her he was amazed she had recovered without going to the hospital. She spent the rest of her vacation time recovering from the sickness, and had to take an extra week at home before returning to work with us. Jessenia worked extra hard to help cover for Angela’s absence. Victoria also had to step up as the only full-time caregiver in the home during that time. She has dealt with high blood pressure for several years now, and apparently she had a mild spike in her blood pressure that caused extra stress for her in an already stressful situation. One day she felt dizzy and had to sit down; her blood pressure had gone up to 160. We gathered the children around the table to pray for her, and her blood pressure immediately came back down! She hasn’t felt dizzy again since. Praise God! I highlight these stories because I want to make sure we all see and recognize the sacrifice that these women continue to make to join in God’s ministry to these children and their families. We are so thankful for them and all they do.

As the children returned from vacation, Angela was recovering from Covid, Victoria was working extra hard, and Jessenia was filling in for Angela, we had three visitors. It was a small team from our home church, North Way Christian Communty, that included my brother-in-law Devin, one of the pastors, Vince, and another member named Danny. They really came to simply encourage and uplift us. It was a very welcome visit, perhaps especially in the midst of all that was going on. The children always love having visitors, and Jeruahel was especially excited about Uncle Devin being here! Perhaps above them all, I benefitted from the fellowship, encouragement, and opportunity to get away with them for a few days of retreat. And what a blessing it was, as the LORD knew exactly what was lying ahead for us. The day they left, July 20, Jessenia’s cousin, 35 years old, suddenly died. She had been pregnant and diagnosed with preeclampsia. Doctors did an emergency C-section to save her life, and the baby unexpectedly survived and was in an incubator. Ten days passed and we thought we were in the clear, but then we believe she had a sudden episode of eclampsia and died. The baby survived in the incubator a total of 28 days and 3 operations before his heart gave out. The loss is still setting in for the whole family, and it will be a process.

When the second semester of classes began on July 13, we decided to keep the children at home in a virtual classroom. We are 95% sure that Angela got Covid from the children. There had been a confirmed case in Vanessa’s classroom. Vanessa and Jeremy had both complained about headaches and feeling off for about 36 hours. They didn’t have a fever or any other symptoms, so we actually had sent them to school during that time to take their tests. Since Angela never left the house, and no one else got sick, Vanessa bringing it from school is all that makes sense. So as everyone was returning from vacation, we decided to keep them at home. This meant the burden of teaching the children fell on Elisa (tutor), Jessenia and I. The children did one month virtually before returning to the classroom. They simply weren’t learning as much since the school was not officially offering online instruction–they were just sending homework for students to do. Being locked in the house was also proving to be challenging to everyone’s mental health as well. We had a serious incident with Bianca, who made a dramatic call for attention. I’ll elaborate a bit more on that in a minute.

This week the school officially switched to online instruction. The Covid cases in Nicaragua are higher than I believe they have ever been (we’ve never had official numbers), and we know lots of people who have had it in the last month or two. I didn’t know anyone who died in relation to the virus in the first waves, and very few people who had the virus. This summer has seen several people I know pass away from Covid complications. Aside from being sad, I truly don’t know how I should feel about the virus and its effects. Every time I think about it, I just come back to leaving it in the LORD’s Hands and repenting for our (personal, family, community, country, world) sins. Daily I place the Blood of the Lamb on the spiritual doorposts of our house and the children’s home, crying out to Him Who saves us from death and disease. I seek to surrender to Him and abide in His Presence.

Bianca’s cry for attention came the second week of August. I’m mentally struggling with how to protect her while also share enough to invite you into prayer. At the spiritual root of it all, the enemy lies to Bianca and tells her she is unloved and unwanted. She feels rejection and abandon from her parents. While she knows she is loved and accepted by all in EdificaSion, she also knows that she is not our daughter. And so she struggles with where she even wants to be, torn between her desire to be home with her mom or dad, and the reality of what that implies. She’s torn between the reality of life with us, and her hearts deepest desire to be loved and wanted by her parents. If this all sounds familiar, that means you’ve been reading these posts for awhile. It is nearly identical to the struggle that eventually pulled Jan away from EdificaSion last year, and was a big factor in Tatiana leaving the ministry in 2018. We pray for each of them, Bianca, Margine, Jeremy & Vanessa, to know their True identity as God’s beloved children, under the covering of the Temple and Tabernacle of God’s Presence.

A quick update on construction: we’ve put it on hold. Right now is the heart of the rainy season, so it’s not a great time to build. Instead of breaking ground, we decided to take these couple months to re-evaluate some things and seek the LORD’s confirmation before moving forward. We have funds to begin, so we are not looking to raise more right now. We have come to the LORD’s feet to put it all before Him again, and we wait to see if He affirms our vision or realigns it to His.

I did start teaching Algebra 1 on August 16th. It has been just over a month and I am enjoying it. I find being in front of the class and teaching through our curriculum to be very natural. I am learning from activities that don’t go well and trying to adjust to how I see the students respond to different classwork. It has been good so far, not disastrous, so that’s encouraging.

Prayer requests and thankfulness:

• Our requests from last post were almost immediately answered!
  • Jeruahel’s eye infection healed up right away
  • Victoria has been pain free in her knee since I wrote the last post!
  • Jeremy’s ribs healed quickly and he remains pain free
  • Stress is a big trigger for Jessenia’s digestive pain, but despite all that I mentioned above, she has only dealt with pain 2 or 3 days in the last 3 months!
• We continue to pray the Blood of the Lamb over us, as I mentioned above.
• We seek His confirmation as we make plans to move forward
• Please join me in praying the Holy Spirit gives me the strength and courage to surrender to Him in all I do. So often I find myself battling my “old man”, that selfish man that only seeks my comfort. I sense the LORD’s strong leading to a new level of surrender, and I am fighting to let go of things that hold me back. Yet I believe the LORD wants to take me to a new place so that He can use me for His Eternal Purposes.