Nicaragua

In 1997, a small group of Honduran brothers travelled for the first time to the city of Esteli with an exercise to reach Nicaraguans with the gospel. To our knowledge, it was one of the first efforts of assembly gospel work in Nicaragua. Since those first steps of faith were taken, others have followed with the same desire to reach the Nicaraguan people for Christ. As of writing this report, there are now 13 assemblies planted for Gods glory and other small works beginning. Many of the assemblies are still in the early stages of growth and development, but we praise God for what He has done in Nicaragua.

18 years have quickly passed and the initial "newness" of assembly work has since faded away. The initial excitement of reaching a new country and seeing the very first assemblies planted has, in some ways, passed away. The focus of blazing new trails for the gospel has now turned to the development and growth of the established assemblies; a work that takes years of dedicated pastoral and shepherding work to see leadership raised up and assemblies functioning on their own.

As I think about the work in Nicaragua, I see how much assembly work has developed, grown and changed in 18 short years. I also see that the work in, general, seems to be in a different season as many of the young assemblies are still in the stage of maturity and growth. As the work continues to develop, we enter new seasons of focus and I am reminded of the words of Paul to the assembly in Corinth "I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase" 1 Corinthians 3:6-7

Allison and I have found ourselves focused primarily on the "watering" for the past five years. They have been five years of service in the province of Masaya in the small rural area of El Valle (the valley). Since seeing the assembly planted in 2007, we have laboured to see maturity among the Christians and leadership to guide and shepherd them. There have been many times of discouragement and disappointments and many times of victory and praise. The Lord has taught us many lessons over the past few years and drawn us to more fully depend on Him. As the years have gone by focused on the assembly in El Valle, our hearts have longed to be able to effectively reach other areas for the gospel. We have tried to develop and teach the assembly the importance of reaching our community through door-to-door work, seed-sowers, house meetings, community outreaches and other activities, but we have not been able to get a stronghold in other cities and so for the past few years we have prayed to see doors open so that we can move on with the gospel. There will always be the need for those to water and nourish, but our growing desire has been to get back to the "planting" stage of gospel work, to see new areas and new people reached with the Gospel. I believe this to be one of the great preserving features of the Lord's work in the country.

With this in mind, we value your prayers in regards to future gospel work in this country. As Allison and I laid our burdens before the Lord, He answered our prayers in sending a Honduran couple (Silfredo & Jocelyn) that have committed to helping in the assembly in El Valle. We value their desire to leave their homeland behind and dedicate their lives in total surrender to the Lord. We also rejoice in the fact that the door is opening for us to move into new areas with the gospel. We see the great needs around us, as millions of Nicaraguans have never heard the gospel and false beliefs run rampant throughout the country. We are now looking forward to where the Lord would have us begin preaching the gospel and focusing our attention on that.

Summer 2015

Written by Kyle & Allison Wilson - NICARAGUA