The process of adjustment has not been easy, but it has been fulfilling in ways I never would have dreamed of. If you’ve read my updates, you know what I am talking about. There is a level of intimacy and trust with The Lord that never would have been there if I had not answered His Call on my life. When I prayed for an adventure, it was not my choice where, but His. He knows where the best fit is.

He is using all of my skills, abilities, gifts, talents, resources, training and everything else that is part of me here. There were many times I wanted to stop and let fear have its way. I can’t tell you how many times I have had to go back to The Scriptures God gave me and stand on them. God’s Word is true and amen.

Where am I now? I have more spiritual children than I can count. There are so many beautiful Nicaraguan children. And some who really are “hijos espiritual,” spiritual children planted so deep in my heart they will never leave. And many American youth who travel here on teams and by themselves. God wants me to be a “mother” to all of them. God keeps His Promises. I have truly begun to live out His Life here. My widowhood is not a reproach any longer, but something God uses with the many widows here. I understand how they feel, and they know it. My Maker truly is my husband.

It’s the rainy season here in Nicaragua. I never knew what that meant before. It means that it rains every single day, sometimes all day, sometimes so hard you can’t see out your windows. Torrents. Floods in the streets. Water that is up to our knees sometimes. Thus the story of the moat.

Due to the deep water around my house, it leaked in. So, to drain off the water, they dug deep trenches around my house. Now I have a moat. Diego says he’s going to put an alligator in it, and I will have a true moat. Since there is a man here with an alligator for sale, I am tempted to believe him.

All kidding aside (I think) the rainy season does make huge changes here. The streets become muddy rivers and people can’t walk in them. The river rises from a small creek to an out of control flood and people can’t cross from one side to another. Clothes get muddy, but finding time to dry them is hard. Kids play soccer in the rain and mud, or they don’t play at all. Church attendance declines, because people can’t get here or home in the dark. Electricity and water go out frequently. Whatever plans we make are subject to change due to the weather. It is a slower time, time to reflect, pray, get to know each other better, spend more time with The Lord. However, there is such an abundance of God’s Creation during this time. The grass is greener, the trees are lush, flowers are incredible, and the birds are so beautiful. Hummingbirds are the the size of small bananas. And to me, a special sign from God that I am where I am supposed to be: numerous yellow butterflies.

I have been here in Nicaragua almost eight months now, and I feel like I am just getting started. God led me to start a “Portrait of Biblical Womanhood” Bible Study with our other female missionaries, Lisa and our newest, Whitney. It is a Nancy Leigh DeMoss study that goes into Scriptural depth about the true role of a woman as defined in The Bible. We have had some amazingly deep discussions. Dennis’ Mom, who is an unbeliever but truly sees the change in his life, asked me to teach her The Bible, which I started last week. She has a hunger to know. We continue to go to Nuevo Amanaser weekly to preach The Gospel. Emerson, my other spiritual son, wrote me a letter (in Spanish, of course, but I did understand it) telling me how happy he is that I am here and thanking me for being his “second Mom” and that God has a grand purpose for me being here. He still has nightmares about trying to rescue Anthony and needs much prayer and encouragement.

I got the privilege of taking my two “spiritual sons” Dennis and Emerson out for pizza a couple of weeks ago. We had a wonderful time. It is an amazing thing to realize that God can put love in my heart for children who are not mine. Except they are. Because they are His. And they are beautiful and funny and dramatic and emotional. Just like me.
 

We are building our team here at Newsongmission now. We have four full time missionaries: Diego, Lisa, Whitney and myself. Each week we have a team meeting, in which we can learn to love and work together. In this new season at Newsongmission, God is truly being glorified in the people and teams He continues to send here. It is a vital and exciting time.

If I were to be completely honest, I would say that I have not been this happy for many years. Sometimes I sit here with so much joy filling my heart and laughter coming out of my mouth, that I can’t believe it’s me. In spite of the difficulties and challenges of living in a foreign country, learning a new language and culture, and living in community, there is a vitality to this life that I have never experienced before. I feel fully alive in a way that I never have before. I have made many new friends from the teams and people who continue to come here on a weekly or monthly basis, who add to my life in special ways, and then go out into the world. Facebook has never been more valuable.

My newest responsibility here is to completely work with the teams that come here, including logistics. That includes our Calvary Chapel teams. A few weeks ago, Calvary Chapel Boca Raton sent a youth team here under the leadership of Michael and Judith Rust. The youth were 14-17 years old. They made such a huge impact on our lives and the lives of the youth here. Our youth here were so excited that an American youth team loved them enough to come here instead of anything else they could do this summer. One of the special things the youth team did was to purchase, pack and deliver baskets of food, staples and household items to widows. One of the widows actually told them that she had no more food, and was praying to God for help, and they arrived. It made quite an impact on the youth and the community. I pray for more like them.

I love it when teams from my home Church come. It encourages me, and Calvary Chapel has a wonderful reputation here. The caliber of the teams are excellent. It has been two years since we first set foot on Newsongmission. Only God could have planned this.

Please keep praying for life here after Anthony’s Homegoing. Some of our kids still struggle with grief and guilt. And so do our missionaries.

I would add a more serious note for those of you who have asked. Our General Fund has dropped to a low level, and this is the nonexciting fund; the one that pays for electricity (about $800.00 per month, believe it or not), food, staples, and other basic necessary items needed for day to day operations here. If you want to donate, please email me or click "donate" to the left of this article.

I love you all and look forward to any of you visiting.

Barbara Coupe

June 2011

-- I have lived here at Newsongmission Nicaragua for over 6 months now. It’s hard to believe, but it’s true.   I have been thinking a lot about what the abundant life Jesus wants us to live really is. So-I will tell you what is going on here, and you decide for yourselves if I am living the abundant life or not.

God is moving here, in ways that I have never seen before. Anthony Cadena has been home with The Lord for over a month now, and while the kids and us alternate between grief and joy, we have the peace of knowing he is with Jesus.  I see new life being birthed in our kids, determination to live for Jesus, and the truth is beginning to dawn (as we teach it) that each one has been created especially by God with a unique purpose and passion to serve Him with. I have heard some of the youth state that they know that God is working in their hearts, and they want to live for Him.

It is an extremely dramatic and emotional culture (somehow I fit right in) and each one expresses their feelings uniquely. As my language skills have improved, I have had the privilege to hear them share personal things with me, and I have understood and been able to offer counsel and comfort in return. Sometimes the only thing I can offer is a shoulder for them to cry on or a hug to share love with them. They have to see Jesus in me, there is no one else that can help them.

I have been given the privilege of evangelizing in Nuevo Amanaser.  There is a passion in my heart for the young men of this village, who really have no hope, and join gangs because they want acceptance and love.  A few weeks ago, I walked into the midst of a soccer game in a field and asked the kids if I could talk with them for a few minutes.  They agreed, and I shared the Gospel with them. They listened politely. While no one received Jesus, seeds were planted.  A week earlier, a 16 year old boy did receive Jesus in that village.

What I do here varies from day to day and week to week. I share a devotion with a softball team that practices on the property once a week.  I have the joy of teaching the youth Bible studies on occasion. We have many teams of young people that come here to serve and I get to share with them my passion for living for Jesus Christ and telling them that there is nothing else in life worth living for, and to not buy into the vanishing American dream.  I have begun opening up my new casita for fellowship and snacks to the young and not so young people who want to come. I learn Spanish, they learn about Jesus’ love.

There are special young men here that God has truly planted in my heart. I love them as if they were my own sons. Only God can do that. Two of them are Dennis and Emerson. I have the joy of watching how God is working in each of their lives. Dennis shared with me that he knows that God has planted a passion in him for preaching the Word of God. He is only 20 and does come out of a gang background. Looking at him now, you would never believe it. The other night, he specifically told me that I should only trust in God. Emerson, the young man who was the last to touch Anthony, is having his struggles, but has said he knows that God has spared him because he has a very special plan for his life, and only God is worth living for.

I get the joy of working with team members Diego, Lisa and Whitney. I would never have met them if God had not moved my life in this direction.  I am totally awed by young people in their 20’s who give up their lives for Jesus.

In December I met a young man who was 27. He was saved during that trip.  I saw him again here a couple of weeks ago, and the change in him was really obvious.  We spent time together, and he shared with me what God had done in his life. As a gift, he gave me two beautiful native paintings for my wall.

Life here can be hard.  It is the rainy season, which means it rains every day. Sometimes all day and night. For six months.  The plagues of Egypt have nothing on me.  On my porch, there are frogs the size of dinner plates. Golden giant beetles that fly at me. Four inch palmetto bugs in my house.  Small black bugs that crawl through screens to get in. Ants of hundreds of descriptions. Mosquitos. In abundance. The roads are turning to mud. Water is everywhere. But everything is turning lush and green.  God’s handiwork is everywhere.

It is odd to be considered a mother, since I have never had children of my own.  However, that is what some of the kids call me, and for me, it is a fulfillment of the Scriptures that God gave me in 2006.  Isaiah 54:1-8. He promised to give me children, and I have many. They are beautiful, and funny, and emotional, and dramatic. And God truly loves them. That He uses me is a miracle, one I don’t take for granted.

In John 10:10 Jesus says “I have come that they may have life and have it more abundantly.” In America, we think that means more stuff, the biggest, the best, the next, the most and the newest. As I am learning, it has nothing to do with stuff at all. It is the life of surrender that God calls us to, one in which we sacrifice our lives for His and what He will do in and through us. From my perspective, l have less time in front of me than behind me. Is what I am living for the abundant life or not?

Is what you are living for the abundant life? I challenge you to search your hearts, decide if this is true or not, then take the steps necessary to be obedient to His Call on your lives. 

Nothing else is worth it.

Love you all.

Barbara

Hola all from Newsongmission Nicaragua,

As I write this update, I have asked The Lord to help me communicate what is in my heart at this point.

First, I want to truly thank all of you who have been so generous to contribute toward my "casita" and I hope you can come and see for yourselves what God is doing here. You will be amazed. I know I am blown away by the goodness of God and His People.

I am blown away by the joy I feel as I continue to live here. There are amazing times of ministry and personal one on one times that are wonderful. As well as surprised God brings into my life. Such as throwing out the first softball of the game season and giving the team devotions once a week. Where would I have ever come up with that? Or evangelizing in a village of gang members. I am on the most incredible adventure with Jesus anyone could have. In a place I would have never chosen but He did.

As I approach the 4 month mark, I realize I am learning how to live here, not just visit. That means that some of the things that I thought were so unusual, are now becoming familiar and would be strange if not here.

It is perfectly normal to have 8 people in a taxi. Three in the back, three on their laps, and two in the seat up front. Maybe even a couple in the trunk. We actually fit 14 people in one.

It is perfectly normal to have 200 people on a bus, as well as bicycles, chickens, backpacks, tires, tin, etc. If there are not at least 3 people in each seat, with the aisles crammed, it is not normal.

It is perfectly normal to always have people around. Not necessarily comfortable yet. Community means no privacy, hardly any alone time, unless you plan for it. It also means that people here do not understand loneliness. I have talked to them, they really don't have that concept. One young man told me he felt most alone in The United States, because there were no people around to talk to. No one sitting outside. Here, there are always friends, relatives and people in the streets to talk to. Family lives together for many generations.

It is becoming normal to walk in the streets like I really belong here. At any moment, I can walk up to anyone's house, call "buenos" and have them invite me in. They will give me their best chair, provide something to drink, and just sit and talk to me. When one woman asked me if I wanted "coke" and I said yes, she sent someone to the store to get it. She offered what she did not have, to make her guest feel at home.

It is also normal to be stared at all the time and called "La Gringa." I am white. That is unusual here. Despite all the teams visiting, living here is still seen as strange. After all, why would anyone leave the United States for here? Therein is a huge witness about the Power of Jesus and what He can do in a life and how valuable they are in His Sight. No one can argue with my testimony. They see it for themselves.

It is normal to look out my door and see the cow and the bull in my garden, the pig tied up near my door, the volcano spewing smoke, kids playing soccer, softball and basketball in the same field. Along with the goats.

There are the most incredible sunsets and the most stars in the sky that I have ever seen. I hope this always amazes me about God and His Creativity, and does not become normal. There are also the most beautiful yellow butterflies I have ever seen. As well as incredible pink shells. Signs from God for me here now.

It is normal to hear Spanish most of the time. What is not normal is me learning it. It is hard, but until I can communicate well, I cannot have the conversations and relationships I want to. I make myself do many things and participate in many activities where only Spanish is spoken, so I can learn in context. I am getting used to living in a fog, but it is slowly getting better. Please pray for language skills. Truly will be an act of The Spirit of God in my life.

I am learning that worshipping God has very little to do with with outside accompaniments (excellent musicians, incredible band, large comfortable church, many classes, gifted speakers, etc) and everything to do with the attitudes of the heart of the individual people. I have seen people who cannot sing (truly) fulfill the scripture that says "make a joyful noise unto The Lord" They sing and worship with their hearts and from their need. How many of us can say that? Yet, most of them know the Scriptures enough that when the speaker had the wrong address, all the congregation knew it and told him.

I went to a funeral the other day. We walked for miles in the heat of the day following the truck with the coffin through villages, then to the cemetery. The whole town where the person lived followed the truck. I went because we have been ministering to the woman and her family, and it was her grandmother. She appreciated the fact I went, even though I was the only white person in the entire group of hundreds.

We continue to have Baptisms here. Signs of a healthy congregation.

I will be home March 22-April 11. If you have not already told me, please let me know as soon as possible if you want to get together. My calendar is filling up. And I would love to see as many of you as possible.

I will close now, with love and gratitude, especially to Jesus, for this opportunity to serve Him.

Barbara
--
"Go into all the world and preach The Gospel to every creature"

Mark 16:15