Sunrise with Church

The sun coming up over the Christian Mission Church in San Pedro. The congregation has decided to expand the size of the building, so the red brick wall will eventually be the new front wall of the church. The old facade is visible through the archway. This church has a name in addition to a number -- "Camino Aemaus" or "The Road to Emmaus."

Book Recommendations

When people ask us for book recommendations about Nicaragua, we usually point to Blood of Brothers, by Stephen Kinzer and The Country Under My Skin, by Gioconda Belli. (Click the links to read my review on goodreads.) Let me add a third, a book of photography and testimonies called Nicaragua: Surviving the Legacy of U.S. Policy, by Paul Dix and Pamela Fitzpatrick. The photography in the book is stunning, but it makes for a much more intense reading experience that might not be for everyone. Here's my brief review:

Lots of books are described as labors of love, but Paul Dix and Pamela Fitzpatrick's somber, moving photo essay certainly qualifies. During the Contra War of the 1980s, Dix was a Witness for Peace photographer documenting the consequences of war for rural Nicaraguans living in the war zones. Decades later the authors returned to Nicaragua with a stack of 100 photos and criss-crossed the country in buses trying to track down the (usually unnamed) faces found there. Some people were found in the very same village, others had migrated across the country. The result is a beautiful but harrowing portrait of a nation in recovery.

To be honest, the book is fairly grim in places. The contras targeted civilians, especially those with ties to the Sandinistas - literacy volunteers, farm-coop members and the like. And so we meet orphaned children, widows and widowers, grieving parents and an overwhelming number of people who lost limbs to landmines or ambushes. Almost to a person the interviewees say they cannot forget or erase the moment in which violence changed their lives, and even those whose bodies remain whole carry scars. But miraculously, there is a lot of forgiveness found here too. Turning a shoulder to the past is a necessity, in part because contras and Sandinistas come from the same families, still live together in the same villages, and still congregate at the same churches.

By and large, the economic situation for the people had not changed much in the follow-up interviews and the neo-liberal governments that followed the 1990 elections had rolled back many of the Sandinista reforms regarding access to education and health care. The subtext of the book (as well as the subtitle) is the consequences of U.S. policy, and the authors often pose the question, "What would you say to the people of the United States?" More than one person connects U.S. involvement in Nicaragua in the '80s to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan today. (Many of the follow-up interviews were conducted in 2002 during the run-up to the Iraq war.)

The U.S. is seemingly constantly at war, but we always arrange to conduct those wars in somebody else's backyard. This book is a reminder of the terrible costs that war exacts on the locals. These sorts of books are typically published years after the war in question is finished, but they still carry important truths that we should keep in mind for the next one.

Sandino Vive

The Sandinista revolution of 1979 brought with it a flood of murals and street art celebrating the revolution. In Managua, many of these were painted over when the neo-liberals returned to power in 1990. However in the city of León (which is a little like the Berkeley of Nicaragua) many of the murals have been preserved and maintained. This colorful silhouette of Augusto César Sandino (with his boot on Uncle Sam's head) is one of the more famous ones and is located just a block from León's central square.

Mural Muro

Here are a few faces peering out from the walls in our neighborhood.

Evangelical Musical Sampler, Vol. 3

It's been awhile since I've posted about the music we hear in church. So here are a few more pentecostal tunes to start your week.

Our first song is one of the biggest crowd-pleasers in the repertoire -- "Alaba a Dios" ("Praise God") by Danny Berrios. It's got a great build to a dramatic chorus and it does that ascending key change thing at the end. The church often busts it out when they want to bring their "A" game. Church services typically open with an hour of music and this is often the capstone just before the preacher starts.

There are really only a handful of songs that were familiar to us from the U.S. When we have groups visiting, "We Are Walking in the Light of God" is popular since the Spanish version, "Caminando en la Luz de Dios" is well-known. (I keep pushing to get people to sing the Siyahamba verses too.) Occasionally we hear songs that meld church-y lyrics to popular tunes like "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" or this one (listen and let me know if you recognize the melody).

But one popular song that does earn that shock of recognition for us is "Abre Mis Ojos, o Cristo", a translation of "Open the Eyes of My Heart." Thankfully, the Spanish avoids the mixed metaphor of the English version. I could never help picturing a Valentine heart with animated eyeballs when singing this song.

The next song -- "Este corito es" ("This Choir is...") by Doris Machin -- is super-pentecostal in its theme (lots of Holy Spirit) and is one of Laura Jean's favorites because it has fun participatory dance moves. Now everyone spin around!

One more for a closer: here's "Te doy gloria" ("I give you glory") by Luz y Salvación. Mosh pit!

Teaching

People often ask what a typical week looks like for us, and the answer, truthfully, is that there are no typical weeks. Our schedule sloshes around depending on the events of the week, although one constant for both of us has been teaching.

Both Laura Jean and I spend a fair amount of time teaching classes, both at CIEETS and in the churches -- which is to say working with both formal and popular educational models. Laura Jean has already posted about the theological education project, and I've been helping organize a writing and research workshop at CIEETS for students writing their senior thesis, as well as a series of talks in the Mission Churches on environmental science, ecology, climate change and the like.

Laura Jean with some of her students from the Northern region.

Playing the ecosystem game.
We teach in Spanish, which is difficult and a lot more work, but has also really helped us improve our grasp on the language.  It helps that our students are extremely patient with us and tolerant of our mistakes. You can usually tell by the puzzled looks when a phrase or explanation doesn't connect. It makes me empathize with (and respect) all those Russian and Chinese physics TA's I had in college! Teaching in Spanish has probably also made me a more organized and deliberate teacher, knowing that I can't just "wing it" with minimal preparation.

Last year, we also helped out by teaching English to the kids at the Marcelino Davila School at the Second Church of the Christian Mission. The school is an official K-6 private primary school serving the José Dolores Estrada neighborhood. We were asked by Doña Pilar, who is the pastor of the 2nd church to help out the directora of the school with English classes.

Now there are many people in this world for whom teaching children is their life work. They have studied and practiced their art and are extremely good at their jobs. Those people are Awesome. But I am not one of them. When I was in the moment actually teaching the class, I enjoyed the experience. But leading up to each class, I was a bundle of nerves. Put me in front of a room full of adults (or even high-schoolers) and I’ll happily blather on about most things, but 4th graders? Terrifying.

So teaching kids is not my gift in life, but once I got over my nerves, I do think that the teaching itself went pretty well. Plus it was wonderful to be part of the school community. This year I've been busy with other projects, and I find myself missing the students and the teachers, the sheer energy and noise of the playground, the group hugs from the littler kids (who shout “Teacher de Inglés!” when they see me, which either means I’m doing an excellent job or a terrible one).

Kids from the Marcelino Dávila school
It’s a pretty common experience for overseas volunteers to be asked to teach English, because it’s (1) a desired skill, and (2) one that you are actually qualified to do. Actually scratch #2, being able to speak English is entirely different than teaching it. The crazyness of one's native tongue is mostly invisible until forced to explain it in front of a group.

Last year I had a sudden revelation about how English (unlike Spanish) uses "do/does" as a helping verb to form questions or to emphasize responses ("Do you know what I mean?").  Unfortunately I had this revelation while standing in front of the white board, marker in hand, trying to answer a question. I literally had not thought about it before that moment. Goes to show that you usually learn more about a subject by teaching it than through any other method.

Ministerial Formation Turns One

Our daughter Maya turned 11 months old on Sunday, and I find it hard to believe that we're less than a month away from her first birthday!  We're getting close to our two-year anniversary of arriving in Nicaragua, and the second year has seemed to go by even faster than the first did.

I've also been congratulating students, facilitators, and organizers recently on another important anniversary.  On August 8th, 2011, one month before Maya's due date, we began teaching in the Ministerial Formation program.  This program is the reason La Misión Cristiana asked Global Ministries to send a missionary to Nicaragua to work with them.  The need for this program was the heart of the job description that was such a good fit for my gifts and interests that I began to sense God calling me to Nicaragua once I heard about it, and it is also the heart of what I spend my time, energy and effort on here.  (Not all jobs actually turn out that way... especially in the mission field.  I consider myself quite fortunate in that respect. :) )

I often say, half-jokingly, that the Ministerial Formation program is my "other baby."  So, perhaps you would like to know what Ministerial Formation is (i.e. what it is I'm doing here, anyway).

The need that the Junta Directiva (National Board) of La Misión Cristiana identified was theological training for its pastors and leaders, training that would be steeped in the particular identity of this Nicaraguan, Pentecostal denomination committed to social justice and service to the "least of these."  (See what I mean about the job description?  Theological education and social justice?  Be still my heart!)

The educational backgrounds of  La Misión pastors vary widely.  Some have college degrees in theology; others did not complete primary school.  Many pastors have years, even decades, of pastoral experience but no formal theological training.  Life in el campo (the countryside) is very different than life in Managua, the capital, and the more remote the location, the fewer opportunities there are for education.  The other reality is that lay people do a lot of teaching and preaching, and so also need formation in the beliefs and identity of the church.

Taking this context into account, the national Theology Department and the National Board approved a proposal prepared by Carlos Sediles (a Nicaraguan church member working on a doctorate in theology, like me, his official role is an advisor for the project), for a program of Ministerial Formation.  This program aims to:

1) be grounded in the identity of La Iglesia Misión Cristiana.
2) use popular education as its methodology, so it can:
    a. value the life experience students bring to their studies, and
    b. be accessible to students with a variety of formal educational backgrounds.
3) provide practical tools for ministry.
4) provide a solid foundation for further study of the Bible.
5) be comprehensive, giving at least a basic introduction to all the necessary areas.
6) be officially recognized; students who complete all the coursework will receive a diploma from the church, and we hope to have it recognized by CIEETS (the Protestant theological faculty where we also teach) as well.

We've designed it as a two-year program of study, and it has a different schedule in each of the 5 regions of the country.  We started weekly classes last August in the central region (Managua area), so the students in those groups are now halfway through.

We leave tomorrow in the early morning to give a 4-day intensive course in the Western region, at the end of which those students will also be halfway done.  By the end of 2012, they will have covered 3/4 of the curriculum.  The Northern region will be halfway done by the end of 2012.  The Southern and Eastern regions (both very small) will probably begin in 2013.

So, Happy Birthday to my "other baby"!  I'm amazed by the work that our team of organizers and facilitators has done, and the commitment of the students who dedicate this time to their formation so they can become better leaders of their church.