Here I Go Again

It's time again to update this blog since I am about to start traveling again. It seems that I can only write on here when I am out of the country.

I am about to leave this Tuesday (Sept. 7th) for my 4th visit to the great land called Nicaragua. This trip will be a little different from the others before since I will not be staying with New Hope, the organization that runs the orphanage and school and opened my eyes to the beautiful people of the country. This time I plan to work mainly with another Nicaraguan friend of mine as we explore the possibility of starting some sort of camp ministry.

This friend, Cesar, whom you read about in a previous blog about driving around in his little VW Bug, says that no such ministry exists in his country. The first time we met he spoke of wanting to start a camp even before he knew my heart and passion for the same ministry. It seems that from the beginning God was leading us to work together. At the beginning of this summer, before I left for K-Wet, he emailed me saying that he had found 36 acres of land and wanted me to come check it out. So, this trip is just that. I am going to check out what might happen and pray and see what God might be doing. I am a little anxious since I don't really know what to expect, but I do know that while I am searching I plan to live in a little town called San Marcos. There is a university on the outskirts, and I want to start working with the college students immediately: leading bible studies and starting worship nights. I am also really excited about working on my Spanish, and hopefully I will become a lot more conversational in the 10 weeks I will be there.

Garth Brooks Should've Written Another Song Called "Answered Prayers!"

I don't think I have mentioned that I am staying with a guy named Pan. He really lives up to his name, because he has a worse "Peter Pan" syndrome than I do. (Never grow up!) He is in his early 40s, I think, but he looks to be in his late 20s. On the third night I was here in Culebra, after a long day of surfing, we were sitting in the common area, and he was sharing some of his opinions and thoughts about life. And boy does he have some strong opinions. All you can really do is just sit there and listen. At one point he stopped and asked me, "Before I bash Christians, I should probably ask if you are one."
My response was a little more lengthy, but it basically was something like this, "The term 'Christian' has so many negative stereotypes, so I just like to say that I love Jesus."
Pan went on to share his views, and I was able to get a few thoughts in myself when I could, but once again that is not the main point of this blog. Since that night I have been hoping a praying for another opportunity to share more deeply what I believe. But I knew from the things that he had shared that "Christians" in the past had rubbed him the wrong way, and I wanted to be a different example. One that was loving like Christ and not condemning.
Today is Tuesday, and yesterday Pan and I spent 4 hours digging and planting trees with two other guys on the island (which helps pay my rent). The night before I had prayed again that God would give me a chance to share more with Pan. After much digging and sweating over our 4th hole in rocky soil, Pan started talking about the Earth and the Apocalypse. He asked me, "Well, you read the Bible, what do you think?"
Wow, this is perfect, I thought. I didn't share too much about my thoughts on the book of Revelation, because it's not much, and then led the conversation to the fact that Jesus was coming back for His people, people who love and follow Him.

(Side note: In my first conversation with Pan, he said something about Jesus, and then added, "Well...if He really existed." This time I was able to share that most other religions acknowledge Jesus as a great man or prophet, but there are really only 3 options for Him: a lunatic, a liar, or our Lord and Savior. I choose option 3!)

That eventually led to Pan saying, "If you are good and take care of the Creation" (he is a very earthy kind of guy), "then I'm sure this God will let you in to His heaven."
"Well, what do you think is the standard for good?" I asked.
To keep this blog short, because our conversation lasted probably 30 minutes, I was able to share the complete gospel message that we can't get to Heaven on our own works, but that Jesus had to come and be that perfect sacrifice for our mess-ups. I was so thrilled to have been given this opportunity, and it was a wonderfully-easy conversation (not dispute or debate) filled with love and not condemnation just like John 3:17, which I was able to quote to them. Plus, the other two guys who were helping dig overheard the entire gospel message as well!

Praise God for answered prayers! I don't know why He is so good to me, but I am glad to be used for Him.

By the way, in the picture above my two friends from Pan's Camp (that's what we call it) and I are standing beside Pan's van as we wait to leave the beach.

Angel in One Pocket; Demon in the Other

I am currently on the island of Culebra, P.R., and it is gorgeous. I have met some really cool people at the place I am staying, and I have done a ton of surfing. The guy who runs the establishment likes to have a surfing buddy, so I am more than happy to oblige. The picture is our little surf shack where we keep our stuff when we hit the waves.
However, once again I am not writing to share about these things but to share an experience I had on the way to the island.

It was Saturday, and I was traveling from San Juan to Culebra with four friends. We were currently waiting at a bus stop when this middle-age man comes walking/stumbling down the sidewalk. He and I make eye contact, and I can tell he is thinking about sitting for a while. I say to myself, "Please just keep walking." But of course, he asks to sit next to me. He starts talking to me, and I can tell he is either a little hungover or drunk. We discuss that basics of "where are you from?" and "what do you do?" stuff. His name is Jason. He tells me he is a police chief at the airport and that his wife is there too. He said it was love at first sight when he saw her. I somehow got the impression that it was just love for him and that he hadn't told her yet that he wanted her to be his wife.
Then, for some reason, Jason wants to start sharing from his heart. I can't remember all the stuff he said because it really didn't make sense, but he did say that the people at the airport didn't like him because they thought he drank too much.
"Do you think you drink too much?" I asked.
He procedes to pull out a bottle of rum from his right pocket (it's 8:00 in the morning), and says, "Maybe so."
Then he get this deep-philosophical look and says that he "lives to die, and dies to live." I had no clue what that meant, but I responded by saying, "Why don't you live to live?"
Jason said, "Yea, that sounds cool." At this time my other friends say that a bus is coming and we have to leave soon.
In the short time left, I say that true living can only come from Jesus. Amazingly, Jason says, "Well, I have a Bible," and pulls a small Bible out of his left pocket! Unbelievable! Rum in one pocket and a Bible in the other.
I ask to share with him one of my favorite verses, and he hands me the Bible. I flip to John 14:6 and read it to him.
Now the bus has arrived, and as I am putting on my backpack I tell him to read John 10:10 also. He seemed a little confused how to find the verse. So I said it's just a few pages earlier in chapter 10, verse 10.
We say our goodbyes and I walk to the bus. I turn around to wave, and he is staring at me yet kind of looking through me with this very interesting look on his face. It was a mixture of astonishment and grief yet joyful, because he had a big, goofy smile on his face.

Once again, God blesses me with unforgetable encounters like these even when I am not at all looking for them. I hope this story touches or inspires you, because it sure did to me.

Two Roads Diverged...

So far I have done and experienced some pretty cool things during my time here in Puerto Rico. However, even though the beauty of the islands is surreal, my favorite experiences have come from interacting with the locals. Therefore, the highlight of my trip happened the other day when I ran across this old Puerto Rican man fishing.
I had just finished a nice swim to a secluded island and back (about 6 minutes one way, not too far) and was walking back to the little town nearby. That is when I saw the old man fishing at the end of this old, rundown pier. At first I thought I would just keep walking and not bother him, or go sit and meet these two girls that were sitting on another pier to make more connections. After a short debate, I decided to hang out with the old man. He was fishing through a hole in the pier with just a string and hook. He immediately greeted me, and I sat down to chat. Of course, it was all in Spanish, but that made it even better because I want to improve my bilingual skills. The man, whom I discovered his name to be Juan, was generous to speak slowly because he knew I was learning. We covered the basics of family, age, where we have lived and travel, other stuff, but then I asked what he thought of the tourists. At first he said that we are all the same because we all end up in the same place, the earth. Then he said that some foreigners are crazy because they don't realize the dangers of the island, especially the sharks and barracudas in the water.
"For example", he said, "I see many "gringos" swim from island to island, and that is crazy."
(I am sure he had just watched me doing that but did not realize it had been me. I found that a bit funny, but I didn't tell him that was probably me he was referring to.)
He then went on to say more about the fact that we all end up in the dirt. I then asked if he thought there was life after that. He said no, not really. I proceeded to say that I believed it is true that we end up in the dirt, but if we have Jesus living in us then we will live forever. We talked a little more about that subject, and I just loved that fact that God gave me the opportunity to talk about Him with this old Puerto Rican man named Juan.
I am not really sure, but I think our conversation lasted about 30 minutes. I am glad that I made the right choice to go sit with the man over my other options. It was such a rewarding experience.

A Look into My Journal

As a quick update, I hopped on a plane to Puerto Rico on a whim. The price was too good to pass up. I spent a week in Rincon, PR surfing with a friend named Will from Jacksonville, and I dropped him off at the airport in San Juan, PR this past Sunday. Since then I have been on my own, which has been a challenge and an adventure. I have lot I want to write, but first I want to share my most recent journal entry.

Vieques, Puerto Rico - I am on a tiny island off the east coast of Puerto Rico. I arrived by ferry yesterday afternoon. (Because of circumstances I didn't have a place to stay that night unless I went to the other side of the island to meet a guy I had met, but that is not the story I wish to share). Therefore, I hiked around, swam in the Caribbean, caught a ride to another beach area with a friendly gentleman, checked out the "bio" bay, and then slept in a "life-guard hut" on Sun Bay Beach. It was extremely windy so I used my backpack to block the wind and the hip support as a pillow. When your roughing it you have to make due with what you have. However, the wind might have been a blessing to keep the pesty bugs away because this morning they were biting me all over.

Last night I tried to really focus on hearing from the Lord and talking to Him. But I kept hearing the boards annoyingly knocking together because of the wind. I then tried to change that noise to be music in my mind as I worshipped. It was a pretty cool experience, and I wish I could remember my words I was singing. I would have written them down, but I was afraid to turn on a light to expose my location to others.

(Not that I was in a dangerous location, Mom.)

This experience of traveling alone is very eye opening, and I feel like I am learning a ton about myself.

I will write more soon when I have more time on the internet.

I love you all.

This time the container really is here.

This past Thursday, after 3 weeks of waiting for the container to get through customs and other "legal" stuff (I put legal is quotation marks because I wouldn't really call it legal - some might call it bribery), we finally unloaded the container at MQV. There were over 900 boxes of food, more than 100 computers, and many boxes of clothes and toys. We had a lot of people come and help us unload. I am very grateful for their help, because it took us all a little over 2 hours. And I have to admit that my arms were a little sore the next day. However, I think it is kind of cool that a Jones was on both ends of the shipping process. Dad was there in Birmingham to load, and I was here in El Crucero to unload. But I bet it took Dad a lot longer, because I don't think he had as much help as we did. Thanks for all the hard work Dad.
I am writing this on my last day here in Nicaragua. It has been a good 5 weeks, but it is always difficult to leave this place. I never feel that I have completely finished all that I can do here, and I will miss all my Nica friends. Though, one cool and interesting fact is that I will be flying to Ft. Lauderdale with Moises (my first Nica friend) and Sarah (his new American wife). We didn't plan it but came to discover that we had scheduled the same flight out of Managua. So, I won't completely leave Nicaragua until we part ways in the States. It's funny, but Moises is very nervous about his trip to the States. He doesn't speak much English and will be completely out of his comfort zone, especially in Kansas where he will see his first snow. But I think he will do just fine. He is very easy-going and fun to be around.

Hasta pronto! See you all soon!

A few things

A few things have happened in the last week that I want to write about. The first was Graduation. The students, parents, and teachers worked for almost a week getting the gym ready for the big day. The night before I stayed up working with a group of them until about midnight, and then I found out the next day that some stayed past 2 o’clock. The funny thing is that the majority of the stuff I was helping with was not even used in the ceremony. Oh well. Nonetheless, I was very impressed with all the decorations. Everything was beautiful, and the students came all dressed up. It was a very important day for them. We had two graduations: one in the morning for primary and one in the afternoon for secondary.
It seemed to me that there were more people for the primary graduation (6th grade) than the secondary (11th grade). I was told that graduating from 6th grade was a very big deal, and that most drop out afterward and never make it to 11th.


Saturday and Sunday, I took a trip to San Juan del Sur with 3 of my Nica friends. Now that school was over and the graduation had passed, we were free to travel a bit. We stayed the first day and night in the city of San Juan del Sur. We played in the waves, and I tried to teach them how to body-surf. They never really caught on, but I think it would have helped if they could swim. That night I taught them how to play “Cornhole” at a restaurant on the beach. I think we played for 3 hours. The place we stayed was only $7 per person. I wish it was that cheap in the States. The next day we met up with Harald and he took us to a more secluded beach about 10 miles south of San Juan. This beach was gorgeous. I almost felt like I was one of the first explorers to find this place, and my ship was anchored in the cove. Unfortunately, I never got the opportunity to surf, but there is always next time. I would have felt bad if I was surfing and my friends were sitting on the beach by themselves.