On Mended Wings
The information on this web page is excerpted from On Mended Wings, with permission from the publisher, The Write Place (www.thewriteplace.biz). The Nehemiah Center at a Glance  Rodrigo Starts With a Basketball “Roberto, Carl, and Hultner brought me the light of knowledge,” he said, seated on his father’s front porch and topping his long and lanky frame with a Stetson. “They said, ‘You want to evangelize? You need to relate to people where they are—playing baseball and basketball on the street corners.’ “So I took a basketball with me. They told me I played like Michael Jordan and asked me how to do that. I taught them, learned their names and pasts, went to their parties. One day I came with a basketball in my left hand and a Bible in my right. They said, ‘You are a Christian? We behaved badly at those parties!’ I said, ‘No problem.’ Day by day I told them Christ loves them, and I remained a good friend to them.” Before his training, Rodrigo said he went out with just a Bible and criticized people on the streets, telling them they were not Christians. . . “Now I want to feel their pain, to cry with them, and tell them there is a way out—Jesus Christ. . . " (from On Mended Wings, pages 133-134).  North Americans Surprised to be Sent “We were trying to figure out what we would do. Eric said then, ‘What if we give it all to God? What if he sends us to Africa and we have to live in Africa?’ “And I said, ‘He will never do that. Why would he send us?’” By March 1997, the couple was ready to be sent, not to Africa but to Central America. Shortly before Eric’s mission trip that month to Nicaragua, they told their church they believed that God was calling them to be missionaries. “I picked him up from airport, and I asked how was it? He said that is where we were supposed to go. I remember thinking I should be freaking out, but I had peace.” When the couple heard God’s call to Nicaragua in 1997 as missionaries, Marilyn and Eric Loftsgard thought they had been transformed. When they arrived in Nicaragua in August 1998, they found their transformation was only beginning. . . (from On Mended Wings, page 12).  Tale of Two Wedding Bands At fourteen, she had been attracted to her congregation’s new bachelor pastor. She flirted, he responded, and a year later when she completed fourth grade, they married. Within two years, they had two daughters . . . The four of them lived in a Sunday school room of Getsemaní church in León, with little space and less privacy. Members of the congregation pushed aside the doorway curtain and entered without knocking, sometimes while Lourdes was dressing for the day. With a low ceiling and little air circulation, it was usually stiflingly hot. Lourdes longed for a house for her family, but she had no idea how much Alejandro earned. She hadn’t completed high school, and she was unable to contribute to the family income. She did know that their income was meager. Each month they bought groceries and supplies on credit, and then paid as much of that bill as they were able on payday. . . . Although Lourdes was never physically abused by Alejandro, she didn’t count on his respect in her marriage, nor had she seen or experienced it. . . . In 2001, Lourdes and Alejandro heard about a marriage course the Nehemiah Center was offering to pastoral couples—a training that required the attendance of both the pastor and his wife. “I was excited when they said we had to attend together,” said Lourdes. The course was taught by a husband-wife psychologist team, Manuel Largaespada and Luz López. The ten-session course entitled “Manual for Marriage: Restoring the Original Model” included such topics as the original model and purpose for marriage and the role of both men and women in developing the world God created. With that foundation in place, the course covered practical application of this worldview in family finances, sex, rearing children, decision-making, communication, and more. The course concluded with an invitation to the pastors and their wives to multiply the blessing by sharing the model with others. . . . In time, the couple also began to think differently about Lourdes’ potential. Alejandro encouraged her to complete her high school education and pursue advanced degrees. . . By 2010, Lourdes had become a gracious and self-assured hostess. With the help of a sister and niece, she provided dinner for a twelve-member North American service-and-learning team and then told them about her life and work. Her hair was carefully tied back. She wore a pendant, earrings—and a gold wedding ring. She wears the gold ring at home and other safe places, she explained. When she travels alone on the bus to work in Managua, in case of theft, she wears a cheaper silver one. These wedding bands—both of them—were purchased by her husband. . . (from On Mended Wings, pages 79-84).  Gang Members Join Bible Study Group Several months ago, Nixon and a friend had offended members of La Tufalera, a Mateare-area gang, when they opted out of a planned fight. When the pair said no and started to walk away, the others chased them with machetes. Nixon outran them, but his friend was caught. When they started beating his friend, Nixon ran back to help, fought off the attackers, telling his friend to run. As he fought them back, the gang rained machete blows on him. His life was saved when a neighbor fired a gun into the air, scaring off the attackers. An infection later developed in the leg that had been nearly severed, forcing doctors to amputate it. . . The group took seats, removed their caps, and prayed together. The twelve around the circle ranged in age from sixteen to thirty. There was lots of joking and laughter, but when Nixon started talking about his week, silence fell and the men listened carefully, responded gently, sharing his pain. “Christian life is not just glory and hallelujah, but blessing also in the valleys,” said Carl. . . (from On Mended Wings, pages 125-126).  Helping That Hurts: From Carol’s Journal He tells me of his recent conversation with a resident of El Limonal, where he was taking photos of children as part of his work for Food for the Hungry. Seeing his camera, one mother began to dirty her son’s face and clothing, convinced that the worse he looked, the more likely he would be to attract a sponsor. “We fight a handout mentality,” Nathan says. And handouts sometimes backfire. He remembers a North American organization that picked a Nicaraguan location that needed latrines and built them, not consulting or building relationships with local people. When the team left, the residents used the latrines for grain storage instead. They were, after all, the best-built structures in the village. “It is easy for North Americans to gather statistics and numbers—and produce quick results,” he says. “They can have almost a God-complex.” As I keystroke notes in the back seat, my laptop screen propped against the seat in front to stabilize it as we bump along toward El Ojoche, I realize that heedless helping can indeed be hurtful—for both sides of a cross-cultural transaction (from On Mended Wings, page 120).
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