Young Christian Leaders' Alliance

By R. Josiah Magnuson, YCLA President

This past month, thanks to the prayers and support of many of you, and the skill and devotion

of the many trip organizers, I was able to spend ten days in Nicaragua on a senior class mission

trip through Kingsway Christian School. My group ministered to numerous children and

families in this Central American country. We were able to work with a team from King’s Castle

Ministries, a Latin American organization which trains kids, teens, and college students in

evangelism and missions.

When we first arrived in Nicaragua, I thought I knew what to expect, and in many ways I did. I

know what poverty means and have seen endless pictures of foreign countries. But nothing

could have prepared me for the actual experience. There are simply some things which can

never be done justice in a photograph. These things included, for me, such lessons as the

humanity and value of every person, true joy in Christ, and the power of relationships.

First, God impressed me with the fact that every person is a real human being with the same

needs and desires as everyone else. The Nicaraguans have a desire for food, for dignity, for

improvement, for love, just like anyone in the United States. They have so much less than us,

but they are no different. I already knew this fact with my mind. It’s a lot different to absorb it

into one’s soul.

Second, God gave me back a true joy in Him on this trip. Even though I’ve had a lot of

disappointments in my life, I realized that my heart can sing to Him no matter what is going on

around me. The kids in Nicaragua are a prime example of this joy. Many of them (and

especially the Christian kids) are enthused and energized people, showing huge smiles at the

slightest act of friendship, even amid constant stench, hunger, sickness, and political

uncertainty. We can learn much from the way the people of Nicaragua find satisfaction and

beauty in little things.

Third, I learned that relationships truly are more important than material “stuff.” Friendship is

indeed based on the intrinsic value of others. And, ministry can be built around friendship,

rather than around money. In America, it tends to be the case that ministry cannot happen

without material things. We wait to go on God’s vision until we have amassed a vast stockpile

of resources. But in Nicaragua, we learned that God can use anything He wants to. Whether

through a simple soccer game, or playing nose flutes, or praying for a sick mother, or doing

dramas with a gospel message, God brought light to people’s lives. We went into numerous

schools, a jail, a hospital, and an orphanage. In each place, we saw terrible and sometimes

unspeakable conditions. But in each place, Christ seemed to shine through us to work in the

hearts of those we ministered to. And thus, our group drew closer not only to the Nicaraguans,

but to each other as friends.

I had not expected to experience a country so modern and yet so unmaintained. I had not

expected to experience a city with streets where the smell of trash and smoke could not be

escaped. I had not expected to see such a low level of poverty on such a grand scale. But the

thing I may have least expected in Nicaragua was the lesson that joy is possible, in the middle of

it all. God can work in any place at any time, to fulfill the lives of those who trust Him.