The Wesley/Lighthouse Mission Team at Masaya Volcano in Nicaragua: Jacobi Crowley, Dottie Cummins, Rev. Jolennda Cole, Jo Eike, Zach Maxwell, Raylee Woodward, Dee Ann Tasler, Jessica Kretzschmar, Toni Highnight, Beverly Riley, and translator/guide Ariana Sirker.
MANAGUA, Nicaragua – Summer is mission trip season.
Churches all over the world are sending mission teams, well, all over the world. The bulk are from America and include a mix of new missionaries and seasoned travelers.
Durant is no different. People compare their destinations. We went to Nicaragua; others talk of fresh arrivals from Venezuela or Guatemala, or upcoming plans for work in Mexico.
Each trip is unique. This trip – our trip – was a small group of 10, and half of them were first-time missionaries. It was also the first time that the Wesley Center at Southeastern had stepped out on an international mission.
Our group was actually a mix of current and former SE students, one student from Panhandle State’s Wesley organization, and five members of Lighthouse Methodist Church in Kingston.
We were led by Rev. Jolennda Cole, the past director of the Wesley Center in Durant and now an English teacher at Durant High School.
She is the reason our group chose Nicaragua. Cole built relationships there on a mission trip of her own in 2010, with a conglomeration of groups under the umbrella of the “Fundacion Samaritano.”
This group operates two Managua-area schools and is in the midst of expanding a medical and mission compound in the west Managua neighborhood of Nejapa. They are also affiliated with a medical mission called Amos.
This was our base of operations, a bunkhouse for traveling missionaries behind a small medical clinic. There is no hot water, but with average temperatures at a very tropical 90, the cool showers were a welcome relief for some of us.
Some of us kept a daily journal of our experiences. For me, a practicing journalist of 20 years, it was a force of habit. The mission lasted two weeks, and this article will offer a snapshot of some of the more emotional experiences of those days, gleaned from my daily journal in the second-poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere.
Wednesday, June 26 – To reach Central America, our crew of 10 drove from various parts of Oklahoma to Will Rogers Airport for a double flight from Oklahoma City to Houston, then Houston direct to Managua. The most striking part of our flight (the first trip abroad for many in our group) was seeing streaks and puddles of brown in the blue Gulf of Mexico below us. Later research was inconclusive as to the source of these widespread patches of apparent contamination, but they surely must be tied to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Thursday, June 27 – Our first impressions of Nicaragua were mixed, with many of us marveling at the roadway chaos. Vendors and street beggars lined the major highways which took us from the airport across this sprawling city of 2 million to Nejapa. Pink and yellow government banners hang across the traffic roundabouts, testifying to this nation’s mixed history of faith and socialism. We visited the Sirker School for the first time, which included the grave of mission co-founder Caroline Sirker. She passed away just weeks before our arrival from a long battle with ovarian cancer. We learned that some of our mission tasks were her ideas, and the thought of fulfilling this remarkable woman’s vision, even in a small way, was a very moving tribute.
Friday, June 28 – We began work in earnest on landscaping and sidewalk construction at the school. The children were present today, offering friendly smiles and greetings and giving us a bearing for the reason we are here. Many of these children can barely afford uniforms, or they are paid for through donations (the Wesley Center made donations to two students to cover such expenses). So, a paved walkway where once was often muddy ground is a big step forward for these kids.
We have also experienced three days of local cuisine, which is heavy on locally-grown tropical fruits this time of year. The main staple is “Gallo Pinto,” or black beans and rice, but we have also sampled fried plantains and a corn meal-based dish called “Indio Viejo” (Old Indian).
Saturday, June 29 – More cultural experiences awaited us as we visited Huembes Market (Managua) and historical sites in Leon (about an hour’s drive northwest of the capital). We were privileged to tour a Revolutionary Museum in Leon, which claims to be the birthplace of the overthrow of a dictator 34 years ago. The town’s power went out while we toured, but here, when the lights go out, life goes on.
Sunday, June 30 – At St. Mark’s Methodist Church, we came face to face with the power of forgiveness. Pastor Eduardo’s message was heartfelt; now a preacher, he was once a fighter in the revolution. This man who once drew blood and despised America for their involvement in his nation’s politics had now come full circle, and went around the room shaking hands and praying over us “norteamericanos.”
Monday, July 1 – Dr. Noor Sirker visited our group this evening. He is a native Nicaraguan of east Indian descent, and met his American wife in New York while studying medicine. After the revolution, they moved to Florida but eventually returned to Central America and started their ministry in 1996. The idea was to serve the poor through medical services. This was Dr. Sirker’s first time to meet with a missionary team since losing his wife in late May. Someone later said we were helping him to heal, but I think Dr. Sirker was helping us learn to serve each other no matter what challenges obstruct that path.
Tuesday, July 2 – This was easily our toughest day. We had brought a quantity of “health kits” for our mission, just simple stuff with soap and towels and toothbrushes, etc. Things we take for granted which are hard to come by for this country’s ill and poor. We came face to face with that today, visiting a children’s hospital and another housing breast and ovarian cancer victims. The conditions in these hospitals were shocking to us, as we are so accustomed to high-quality, high-cost American health care. In one room were a pair of infants with swollen heads – encephalitis, we were told. This would be ICU-level trouble here in the States; in Managua, they were simply in the ward with the rest of the children, cradled in their mother’s arms.
Wednesday, July 3 – The Wesley students were finally able to meet one of the two students whom we have been sponsoring for two years. Her name is Yubelquis, but this stumped even the Spanish-friendly among us, so she gave us her milder middle name, “Naomi.” She was a soft-spoken girl in the fourth-grade, very shy but of a keen intelligence. It was heart-warming to see first-hand the results of our sponsorship, to know that we were making a difference in at least one child’s life.
Thursday, July 4 – Our group spent this day with the children and staff at Sirker School, as they engaged in an end-of-term celebration. We organized ball games and brought the children some soccer and volleyballs, as well as performing some light playground maintenance. The festivities included a presentation from the teachers to the students of a bounty of fruit (plentiful here this time of year). Some of the fruit, such as the gelatinous “mamon” and the fuzzy “wawa,” were new to our eyes and palates.
Friday, July 5 – We joined a missionary team from Florida on a trip to the National Zoo with 40 children from Santa Rosa School. The interaction with these children was a cherished moment for all of us. As a novice Spanish speaker, I thoroughly enjoyed having a conversation with one little boy about our favorite animals. (His was “Mariposas,” the butterflies.)
Saturday, July 6 – As our mission work concluded, we were treated to some cultural highlights of this proud nation. We peered into the steaming, sulfuric maw of Masaya Volcano; saw the hands-on work of pottery artisans; took a harrowing boat tour of Lake Nicaragua as a blue-black tropical tempest blew in from offshore.
Sunday, July 7 – Our journey was punctuated in prayer as we attended a special anniversary service for Prince of Peace Church. This congregation meets in the open-air plaza at Sirker School, so we were able to see some familiar faces and gaze one last time on the good works we did there.
The best parts of this experience were leaving something good behind, showing care for the hospital patients, and building relationships with the children, teachers, and other missionaries. Hopefully, the Wesley Center is starting a legacy with its international missions; there is already talk of building on this momentum with future trips.
A great number of people and churches in the Durant area helped us accomplish this journey. Plans are in the works for an Aug. 11 appreciation dinner at the Wesley Center, to say “thank you” and share more details of this life-changing experience.
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