Our Journey into Missions (Pt.5) Taking the Plunge.
When we arrived at the orphanage for our permanent mission, the first thing we noticed was our house. It was not finished. It was supposed to be finished but it was not. It was missing a lot of things. Doors, windows, a floor, and a ceiling. Over the next 6 months Julie and I completed the house that should have been completed before our arrival. We were disappointed but at the same time we were happy to be near the children. We moved into a small office space as a temporary sleeping quarters until I could get the house far enough along to move in. We also helped to facilitate some mission teams that came because of our permanent roles there.
It didn’t take long before we began to realize that although the children loved having us there, many of the staff were suspicious of us. We started to feel tension. Maybe it was cultural, but over a very short period we found ourselves on the outside of staff meetings and ministry discussions. We were never sure why, but noticed that there were discussion we were included on and others we were not. It wasn’t all that important except that decisions were made that required our participation but we were not informed. Later we found ourselves in the middle of a controversy where the director of the farm (orphanage and team houses) was skimming funds from team donations. One year after our arrival we were asked to leave the orphanage because we were not “or the same spirit” as the director. We guessed that our disapproval of stealing funds put us at odds with the director and therefore we needed to go. Almost a year to the day we were leaving the house we built (with our own funds) and looking for another ministry to serve at in Nicaragua. Interestingly, shortly after our exit, the director was removed of his position.
Our pastor suggested we look into an orphanage in Managua that had connections with our church movement, the Vineyard. We made a number of visits and liked what we saw. So we moved our belongings and began our journey with the second orphanage. It should be said that returning to the United States never entered our minds. We were hurt and dejected after our experiences of our first year in Nicaragua, but we didn’t sense that we had made a mistake by moving to Nicaragua. And though we didn’t see the hand of God in our experiences yet, we did feel that we needed to stay in country.
The truth is that before ever moving to Nicaragua we met with a missions counselor. She told us a few things about missions. One thing she told us was that a large percentage of long missionaries last about 3.5 years and most move back to their original homes with their tail between their legs, hurt and confused. Many walk away from the faith for a time wondering why God would call them into the mission field and then let them go through such difficult time. For Julie and I the difficult times continued to mount. But before we move to Nicaragua in the first place we had decided to commit to 5 years. That would put us past the 3.5 year mark and hopefully we would be past that detrimental moment. The truth was that at about 5 years we are working together very well, but on totally different tracks of ministry and as a couple we were not getting along very well. Our time at orphanage #2 was very productive, but at the same time we were struggling to settle in to our roles. There were problems at the level of director that we could not control which affected us. We could not seem to catch a break from the organization.
In the mean time, our little non-profit was investing heavily into their program. We had helped them relocate their orphanage site to a new parcel of land. We had purchased a number of properties to help them with their organization, and we built a campus for their children. We had a business model designed around a sustainable approach to child sponsorships and team visits and plans to develop training programs for the children as they matured. We had an angel donor who was investing though our non-profit which was making this all possible. But at the same time, because of our participation in the growth of the ministry we found ourselves at odds with the director, who felt he was being overshadowed by our work. It was never our intent to minimize his leadership or authority, but he was threatened by us. After over five years of investing and building with that organization, we resigned from orphanage #2. The struggles we were going trough at that time put extreme stress on our marriage. My wife said numerous time that she would pray to God for a sign, any sign, that would call us back home to the states. The sign never came.
Instead, we found another orphanage to volunteer at. Before committing to orphanage #3, we negotiated a deal with them to allow us to start a halfway house for young people aging out of orphanages. At Orphan #2 one of the problems was that the young adults who were aging out were not prepared for independence. They did not have sufficient life skills to live independently without outside support. So my wife and I decided that we should work towards that goal. Orphanage #3 wanted us to help oversee their operations not as directors, but as assessors. They need someone to show up regularly who could provide a second opinion and keep an eye out for mismanagement. We agreed to do so as long as we could start our program under their organization. They agreed and we started our first student home, Casa Juan Marcos.
It didn’t take long before we began to realize that although the children loved having us there, many of the staff were suspicious of us. We started to feel tension. Maybe it was cultural, but over a very short period we found ourselves on the outside of staff meetings and ministry discussions. We were never sure why, but noticed that there were discussion we were included on and others we were not. It wasn’t all that important except that decisions were made that required our participation but we were not informed. Later we found ourselves in the middle of a controversy where the director of the farm (orphanage and team houses) was skimming funds from team donations. One year after our arrival we were asked to leave the orphanage because we were not “or the same spirit” as the director. We guessed that our disapproval of stealing funds put us at odds with the director and therefore we needed to go. Almost a year to the day we were leaving the house we built (with our own funds) and looking for another ministry to serve at in Nicaragua. Interestingly, shortly after our exit, the director was removed of his position.
Our pastor suggested we look into an orphanage in Managua that had connections with our church movement, the Vineyard. We made a number of visits and liked what we saw. So we moved our belongings and began our journey with the second orphanage. It should be said that returning to the United States never entered our minds. We were hurt and dejected after our experiences of our first year in Nicaragua, but we didn’t sense that we had made a mistake by moving to Nicaragua. And though we didn’t see the hand of God in our experiences yet, we did feel that we needed to stay in country.
The truth is that before ever moving to Nicaragua we met with a missions counselor. She told us a few things about missions. One thing she told us was that a large percentage of long missionaries last about 3.5 years and most move back to their original homes with their tail between their legs, hurt and confused. Many walk away from the faith for a time wondering why God would call them into the mission field and then let them go through such difficult time. For Julie and I the difficult times continued to mount. But before we move to Nicaragua in the first place we had decided to commit to 5 years. That would put us past the 3.5 year mark and hopefully we would be past that detrimental moment. The truth was that at about 5 years we are working together very well, but on totally different tracks of ministry and as a couple we were not getting along very well. Our time at orphanage #2 was very productive, but at the same time we were struggling to settle in to our roles. There were problems at the level of director that we could not control which affected us. We could not seem to catch a break from the organization.
In the mean time, our little non-profit was investing heavily into their program. We had helped them relocate their orphanage site to a new parcel of land. We had purchased a number of properties to help them with their organization, and we built a campus for their children. We had a business model designed around a sustainable approach to child sponsorships and team visits and plans to develop training programs for the children as they matured. We had an angel donor who was investing though our non-profit which was making this all possible. But at the same time, because of our participation in the growth of the ministry we found ourselves at odds with the director, who felt he was being overshadowed by our work. It was never our intent to minimize his leadership or authority, but he was threatened by us. After over five years of investing and building with that organization, we resigned from orphanage #2. The struggles we were going trough at that time put extreme stress on our marriage. My wife said numerous time that she would pray to God for a sign, any sign, that would call us back home to the states. The sign never came.
Instead, we found another orphanage to volunteer at. Before committing to orphanage #3, we negotiated a deal with them to allow us to start a halfway house for young people aging out of orphanages. At Orphan #2 one of the problems was that the young adults who were aging out were not prepared for independence. They did not have sufficient life skills to live independently without outside support. So my wife and I decided that we should work towards that goal. Orphanage #3 wanted us to help oversee their operations not as directors, but as assessors. They need someone to show up regularly who could provide a second opinion and keep an eye out for mismanagement. We agreed to do so as long as we could start our program under their organization. They agreed and we started our first student home, Casa Juan Marcos.
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