A Story with Flavor

Hultner Estrada with Bethany Beachum

Grab your favorite fruit and put it on Lesbia’s hands and she will make a delicious jelly. Papaya, guava, melon, pineapple – it doesn’t matter what kind of fruit it is.  The imagination is the limit for this woman, known for her extraordinary palate and her gift for teaching.

Trained in chemistry and specialized in fruit and vegetable preserves, Lesbia Cárcamo has worked for several different organizations training other women in western Nicaragua so that they can make the most of the plants on their land.

Nevertheless, with all of the knowledge and training she has, Lesbia has still not been able to overcome many of her own personal limitations.  “It wasn’t until just recently that I asked myself, ‘How is it that I have not been able to escape from poverty?  Why haven’t I started my own business?’” she shares with us.

“I had received all kinds of trainings, from those related to my career to other courses on topics such as health and women’s issues.  I taught others to work hard and improve their lives, but I myself was not practicing what I preached.  My family was in total poverty, subsisting on what I made from the workshops I was giving.”

Lesbia explains that what she had was a worldview problem.  She was getting in the way of herself and her ability to move ahead in life.  “I couldn’t defeat the negativity I had nor had I improved my own self-esteem.  I lived with the mentality that I was always going to be poor.  I wouldn’t consider opening my own business because I was sure that it would go badly”, she thinks aloud.

But one day, Lesbia came upon a realization, “Whenever I hear teachings on Biblical worldview and I read that God lifts us out of the misery of poverty, I am encouraged to empower myself spiritually by reading the Bible.  As I read, I am more and more amazed by it and grow in my belief in it,” she emphasizes.

“I always thought that the Bible was full of good stories – but stories from the past, from other times that didn’t apply to the reality that we are living today.  But when this blindfold was removed from my eyes, I realized that those good things that happened in the past were also possible in the present.”

The change in perspective and the faith she recovered in those workshops restored Lesbia’s optimism to write a business plan and design a budget.  “I began to knock on doors, here, there, at the town hall and other places.  And yes, some doors were closed, but I knew that God was with me and that another, better door was going to open,” she expresses with enthusiasm.

Today, Preservas Cárcamo is Lesbia and her family’s company’s name.  They have been able to convert a room in their house into a workshop with basic equipment for creating and jarring the delicious jams that she learned to make 20 years ago.

Lesbia is thankful to her pastor, Francisca Rayo, to the fellowship of the other women entrepreneurs who are known as the “Deborah League,” and to the Nehemiah Center, for making it possible to give the trainings on “Kingdom Businesses” in her community.

At the center of difficulty

Hultner Estrada & Dave Stienstra

What kind of father sends his son off to be tortured? Such a father, could easily be considered inhuman. A God such as, could certainly not be the God of the universe.

These lines illustrate the Greek mindset that antagonized the message of Paul in the first century. Jews demand signs and gentiles argue through reason. “Our gospel of Christ crucified is hard for Jews to accept, and everyone else thinks our message is foolish”, we hear the aposlte reveal in his report. "But there are those God has chosen, both Jews and others. To them Christ [crucified] is God’s power and God’s wisdom" (1 Corinthians 1).

Oddly enough, the ancient Greek mentality still powerfully affects the way we see God, the scriptures, and the world today. In a post-modern era in which feelings and individual comfort have taken the lead, people prefer to hear from a friendly God, guarantor of security and happiness, rather than a Master who invites us to take up a cross every day.

Indeed, the Bible says God is love, that He defines himself as an advocate, provider, and Savior, but it also warns us that we live in a dangerous world and that we are likely to face tribulation (John 16:33)

Trusting in a God who is good but doesn’t necessarily conform to the current standards of "security" is not easy. It takes conviction. It takes a humble faith to embrace those moments of pain and suffering as our participation in the suffering of Christ --the fullest expression of the wisdom and power of God.

The Greeks could not accept the sacrifice of the Son of God was the vehicle used by the Father to bring salvation and restoration to all creation. Likewise today, many people still struggle with the idea that a loving God will allow pain and suffering affect the lives of His children.

As those who have decided to believe, we accept the risk of walking the path of difficulty, but with the confidence that the power and wisdom of God will be manifested, and God will act through those painful moments and everything will work for the good of His Kingdom.

Through this brief post, The Nehemiah Center would like to send a word of encouragement and solidarity to several brothers, transformational leaders, who are going through very difficult circumstances. We are remembering and praying for many members of our community who are suffering the loss of loved ones, health complications, and other troubles and attacks.

The courage and resilience of each of these friends, as Paul would say, to quench the fury of the flames, to draw strength from weakness and to stay strong in the battle, encourages us to continue trusting in the sovereignty and care of the Lord even when we are in the center of the difficulty.

"If truth is that God will allow their children

pass through the fire,

is also true that he will be with them

amid the flames. "

For Those On The Outside

There are people who, by their own will, would never set foot in a church.  Meet Manuel, who is one of those people.  Although his mother is a Christian and he acknowledges the truth of the Gospel, it has been many years since Manuel has entered a church... nor does he have any desire to in the near future.

Five years ago, Manuel was right in the middle of a tragedy.  While carrying out a special mission with the military in a remote region of the country, he witnessed the brutal assassination of his best friend at the hands of another good friend.  The three men were soldiers trained in marine watch and rescue and other capacities.  But one night, an argument erupted between the two friends and in the heat of drunkenness, it tragically ended in spilled blood.

The crime not only took the life of his friend, but it also robbed Manuel of his career in the military.  Following a complicated judicial process, he was forbidden from re-entering the military as a soldier.  For Manuel, this was the vocation and sacrifice he had dreamed of since he was a young boy.  “The military was my life, my family, my future.  I moved up very high in the ranks, and I couldn’t understand why they would throw me out after I had invested so much,” expressed Manuel, visibly pained.

Ever since that weekend in 2007, Manuel has been able to think of little else.  The trauma is too great, and there are too many images and daily events that trigger his memory of that terrible night when his story changed forever.  “The psychologist that was assigned to me did nothing more than say a few nice words and tell me to think about something else... that’s crazy,” says this boy who comes off as a much older man.

For many years now, Manuel has been drinking daily.  He always goes about with “some” alcohol in his system because it is the only way he feels he can survive the loss of five years ago.  I met Manuel on the outskirts of a soccer field in Sutiava, where he was watching the game by himself from a distance and with a sad look on his face.

“These are the kinds of youth we want to gather,” said the Lieutenant Tiberio, who along with Pastor Denis Cienfuego and Belén Church, have begun an initiative to rescue at-risk youth through doing creative activities in the streets.

Manuel is just one of the many people who do not enter the church.  There are some who don’t come simply because they cannot be in places packed with people.  Others don’t because they have problems with hearing and they cannot withstand the high volume that is common in many church services.  And others frankly are not capable because they are not in good health, are chronically injured, struggle with depression, or are incapable of moving about on their own.

We would like to commend Belén Church, Pastor Denis, Lieutenant Tiberio, and the police of Sutiava for their passion for youth, especially those who struggle with addictions, loneliness, or misconduct.  Thanks be to God for these leaders who are spending time with the marginalized of our society and who have hope that people like these may one day set foot in the church.  Thanks be to God that they are being Christ in the streets and in their neighborhood.

“So let us go out to him, outside the camp, bearing the disgrace He bore.”

Hebreos 13:13 (NLT)