Welcome to the Van Zoest family blog: Nica Update: 3 Stories

3 Stories

Dear Family and Friends,

It is my pleasure to again sit down with you to share about some amazing ways that God has been moving in our lives and in the lives of those around us. I sometimes think about how it is such a gift that we live our lives so accountable and alongside others back in the U.S. through our updates and through sharing face to face while we are in the U.S. It requires that we keep "remembering" what God has done and then "proclaiming" the works of the Lord to others. In this update, I will share 3 short stories, 3 praise reports, and 3 prayer requests with you. Following the written update, we will share some pictures that correspond with the stories. (Lots more than 3!)

Story 1: The first story is about a tire and how God reminded us of His protective Hand throughout the summer.   One of the prayer requests we asked you to pray for us this past summer was for travel safety from IA to MI. We gave you the dates that we would be traveling and let you know that our van has close to 200,000 miles on it. We also knew that our van had bad tires before we left for MI. However, we struggled with buying new tires because our van is only used a few weeks out of the year. We also thought we could make it just fine to MI and back. And we did.  The night after we arrived back to IA, I drove 45 minutes by myself to meet some girlfriends for dinner in a city that was a halfway point for them and for me.  I then drove home around 10/10:30 PM at night. The next day, Dan and I were driving to a nearby city and heard this loud noise all of a sudden and the van felt to me like it was jumping up and down – all of which scared me a great deal! But, Dan handled the car very well and got us off on the next exit which was 500 feet or so ahead of us. It was actually the exit we were planning to get off on and there just "happened" to be a repair shop immediately off the exit. The repairman at the shop told us that he would change the tire (the tire had lost its tread and was completely bald) for us and rotate the tires so that the spare would be in the back instead of on the front which would be safer for us to drive. The perfect timing of our tire incident speaks to God's protection during all the traveling we did in that van all summer. There are so many times when it would have been pretty bad timing for our tire to loose it's tread like that – in the midst of Chicago traffic going 70 miles an hour, late at night when I was driving home alone after seeing my friends, on the way to a church where we would be speaking, etc. So, thank you once again for your prayers for us! We continually see God responding to meet us in our need!

Story 2: The day after we arrived in Nicaragua, we drove to the city of Granada (which is about an hour from our home) to attend a very special wedding. Jackie Loftsgard and Gerson Miranda were married that day and theirs is a story that Dan and I feel that we are a part of in a small way. Both Jackie and Gerson are former NCA students. Jackie's parents are missionaries and good friends of Dan and mine and we love Jackie and their other 5 kids too. Gerson is Nicaraguan and is known to be a great leader and an inspiring spiritual mentor to other NCA students. Five years ago when we first arrived in Nicaragua, these two students caught our eye as they lived out their faith on campus, on the sports field, and in class in a way that was real and engaging. We even used their pictures and their stories in the presentations we gave at churches the following summer. We believed in Gerson so much that we became a part of a team of financial supporters who assisted Gerson and his family with tuition costs at Calvin College where he attended college and then graduated.  Jackie attended Calvin too and it was not until their Junior year that they began to date. Their plans as a married couple are now to learn more about ecotourism in New Zeeland through an internship that they will be doing together. They then, desire to return to Nicaragua to serve together in whatever way God would lead them to serve. Jackie and Gerson are a beautiful picture of the mission of NCA: To provide a quality education for missionary and Nicaraguan children and to train up future Christian leaders for the country of Nicaragua.

Story 3: While we were in the U.S. over the summer, we heard from friends in Nicaragua that three children who we were visiting at the orphanage were being adopted. These three children are 5, 7, and 8 years old (biological siblings) and they have been at the orphanage the whole time we have been visiting over the past two years. And so it was bitter sweet news for us to hear that they would be leaving the country with their new family. Bitter in the sense that we will miss them very much. But, very sweet and exciting to know that they now have a family that loves them. It has been an inspiring thing to watch once again as I see these children change and transform in the midst of a family. The family has come to our home a couple of times and it has been fun for us to show the kids where we live and for them to be in our home. They had often asked while they were at the orphanage what our house looked like and where we lived. The family was in the country for a little over 2 months and left this past weekend to begin their new lives in the U.S. We are thankful once again for the privilege of being a part of these kids' lives and watching how God works in the lives of so many people through the process of adoption – in the kids themselves; their siblings; the parents; and in those that the family's life touches.

Thank you once again for being a part of these stories through your prayers, encouragement, and financial support. We are so thankful to have your company on this journey.

Peace and love to you,

Lisa (Dan, Rebekah, and Will) Van Zoest

3 Praise Reports:

1) For safe travel on airplanes and in cars over the course of the summer. And for very good health all summer.

2) A wonderful time with family and friends over the summer. Dan and I have commented too that our trip in and out of the U.S. this year was probably the smoothest transition we have ever experienced as a family in the 5 years we have been in Nicaragua. We are learning more and more about ourselves and others through this process and know a lot more about how to keep ourselves mentally and emotionally healthier through the transition.

3) Prior to the summer, Dan and I talked about how we really needed to work on raising more support. Many of our expenses (including health insurance, utilities, and travel costs) have increased over the time we have lived in Nicaragua. We have also lost some individual supporters over the past two years which is something that we are learning is normal the longer we stay on the field. And yet, we were both exhausted at the end of last school year and felt that the healthiest thing for us as a family was to be with family and friends as much as possible over the summer. Then, we planned for Dan to make a separate support raising trip later in the year. But, once again, God was working ahead of us. The very last week of our time in the U.S., the pastor from one of our supporting churches called to ask how we were doing financially. Dan met with him and shared about the reality of our situation. And then, God provided through this church to meet much of our financial need. Our immeasurably more God once again provided above and beyond what we could imagine . . . and He did it while we were resting.

3 Prayer Requests:

1) A few weeks ago, the orphanage that we visit was robbed by 10 armed men. The workers were tied up and the men stole several thousand dollars. It was a very traumatic event for the workers. I was told that the children were sleeping as the robbery happened in the middle of the night. We ask you to pray for healing for the workers who were involved in this robbery and for the leadership of the orphanage to best determine how to increase security.

2) Please pray for Dan as he transitions out of managing the child sponsorship program and into a role of coordinating an ACSI re- accreditation process with the administration and with the teachers. This morning as I write this, Dan is meeting with the teachers for the first time. Please pray that God would give him the eyes to see all of the details that need to be attended to. Pray too that the teachers would understand what is required of them.

3) Would you also please continue to pray for God to empower me as I home school and disciple our teenager/almost teenager. Our year has begun well and I have a very good plan for the year which will challenge our kids to be independent learners. There are also so many opportunities for them to serve the Nicaraguan community and I so love what these opportunities bring out in them. They are also involved in Jr High/High School activities at NCA. Both kids are playing soccer on NCA teams and attend youth group - both of which have been very positive social activities for them. I've also been working now for 2 years to organize a home school group here but it has been difficult due to people being in and out of country. However, this year God has provided 2 home schooling families who are very excited to meet monthly for field trips and learning. We visited a farm this past weekend - inspiring story of a missionary couple who has developed a very successful farm and are teaching their Nicaraguan neighbors how to grow gardens and develop their own farms. Today Rebekah and Will are at another Christian School a half hour from our home helping the director of this school (who is our neighbor and has kids close to our kids' ages) with different jobs that he has planned for them. So, lots of great things happening. But, they are teenagers and require a lot of mental and emotional energy! So, thank you for praying!

Here is a picture of our tire after the tread came off.

Jackie and her Dad about to walk down the aisle at graduation.

Gerson pictured with the director of NCA. These are the pictures that appeared in our church presentations during the summer of 2009.

Jackie and her Dad walking down another aisle . . .

Will, Isidro, and Tati getting crazy.

Isidro reading with Maribel.

This was the Christmas that Rebekah had sewn blankets for all of the kids. Isidro giving Will a hug. Maribel sits on the other side of Will.

Tati and Isidro loved to be read to and didn't even mind my less than perfect Spanish.

Here is Isidro and Will pictured at our home.

The parents wrote a list of names they liked for each of the kids to choose as their middle names. They did this before they had even met us or knew about our visits to the orphanage. On Maribel's list, it just so happened that the name, "Rebekah", was on the list. Guess which name Maribel chose to be her middle name?