Nicaragua

After Guatemala, I headed down to Managua, Nicaragua where I stayed in the ministry house of Campus Crusade for Christ. Here I also did campus ministry going to a couple of the university campuses to share the gospel. I went with Junior, CCC staff and Antonieta, a student leader. We got to share with many, and even saw one student pray to receive Christ! I wish that I had more time to spend in Nicaragua to get to know other ministries in other cities, but I had to move on to make it to Costa Rica for Thanksgiving. But I did go to Pochomil on the coast with Angel and Rafa, to find a location for a christian leadership training camp coming up in December. I also went up to Matagalpa for the weekend with Oscar, another volunteer leader and worked with a church ministry up there for a couple days.

Here is one interesting story is about my roommate in Managua. I slept on a mattress on the floor of the ministry house, and when I woke up one morning, there on the floor beside me, was a giant Tarantula!!! And those of you that know me, know that I hate spiders!!! I took a couple pictures before smashing it with a shoe!







Political ciaos broke out in Managua while I was there. There was an election and the political party in power called the Sandonistas blatantly cheated the election process saying they won. They threw out votes, closed poles early, and kicked out the governing officials to count the votes in private. The Liberales, an opposing political group, planned a peace march on Tuesday afternoon to protest the election. The Sandonistas went out first into all the city plazas with masks and wielding bazooka-like weapons that are normally used for fireworks, but they would fill them with pieces of metal and shoot them at people. They also closed down all the main roads, blocking them off with busses. Their whole goal was to scare and threaten the Liberales from assembling and protesting. The police, who are under orders by the Sandonista government, didn't care about the fighting going on in the plazas, their only job was to keep the journalists out. The president didn't want the world to know what was going on in Nicaragua. I didn't dare venture into the plazas that day, but could hear the thunder of the bazooka weapons firing throughout the day and night. I did see some videos on local news channels that were sent from cell phones of reporters that had gotten in, but that's about all I saw of the fighting. I left the next day. Please pray for this situation in Nicaragua and that they can peacefully work out the election in a just manner without blood-shed.