Frog with Laryngitis (is that how you spell laryngitis?)

Yes, I sound, as Roberto says, like a jovencito en desarrollo - a developing youngster. I have a bit of a cold. It hit really fast, and I have the same symptoms as my sister Marlen, and now my voice sounds weird! I can't talk loudly without squeaking!

But it's not keeping me down, gracias a Dios! Saturday I hung out with Hannah Ponstein, and we had a good chat. Sunday our group of Dordt students went to Roberto's church and house. It was a great experience! Iglesia Los Cocos is quite a bit different from my host family's church. For one, it was huge. Instead of 40 people, it was more like 400. The music was not spontaneous; they invited predetermined people to come sing at certain times.

The message was about witchcraft. October 31 is a day of witchcraft in Nicaragua. Halloween in the United States is a festival, a day for dressing up and getting candy - primarily. Here, on the other hand, it is primarily a day of the occult and devil worship. So the message pointed out how our God is victorious over the evil powers of the world. I thought that it was very good for me to be in church hearing that message because in North America, we often ignore the spiritual realm except in theory. Here, people lose their lives because of witchery (human sacrifices were mentioned). Hearing a message about the evil influences of the world was a heart-opening experience. And it was empowering to pray that God would protect people and open the witches' eyes that what they are doing is wrong. God can save witches, as the pastor proclaimed.

We also took the Lord's Supper with the church. I have missed it, and it was great to be reminded about the body and blood of Christ through partaking of the bread and wine. It was one of the first days that I could put aside my critiquing and cultural analysis to worship God.

After church, we walked to Roberto's house. He is from the country - the outskirts of León. It's a simple block house with lots of trees. We enjoyed eating with him and hanging out, even though I got a lot of mosquito bites. Everyone from the group went except for Evan (who wanted to spend time with his host family), and we enjoyed the campo.

In the afternoon, I went with Roberto to a church. I listened to him present about the youth program that the Nehemiah Center has. One of the church members completed a course at the Nehemiah Center, and they are going to present the same course at the church. It was a challenge to the church to get involved with the youth in the community because youth are the most at-risk group in Nicaragua. It was good to hear the statistics about youth, hear the hope for change - and see Roberto working. :)

The work at the Nehemiah Center really inspires me. I like going to their workshops and presentations. They have good vision for the future, and their ministries are bearing fruit. Moreover, they are working with the local churches, and people are being transformed. Their lives are changing because God is changing their hearts. Glory to God!