Harvest
by Thomas Keogh
Year end. The rice is in, school is done. On the Wangki River, it is time to set our burdens down, to give thanks, to celebrate, and to reflect.
We are thankful that God blessed the people with a bountiful harvest. Danilo won the sweepstakes this year; his field produced 7 tons of hulled grain. Almost everyone did well. Kites made from colorful plastic bags with coconut fronds for ribs are aloft in the blue, declaring a joyful spirit in the cooler November air.
Christmas will soon be here, and food will be plentiful. Tingki Dawan. We have reason to rejoice over our labors also. We have consolidated our system of record keeping for our schools. Each student has been accounted for; the teachers know that we care and are keeping track. They have believed that this project will be blessed according to its fruit, rather than in response to some natural disaster. They have shown us a teachable spirit.
We bought a bale of bed sheets and had it sent from Managua. Painstakingly, Nutie divided them into 55 individual bundles and gift wrapped them with poster board and colored ribbon. We each pared down our wardrobes and toiletries in order to include something personal in as many gifts as we could. We placed them in plastic tubs and took them downriver in a driving rain which dripped through holes in our plastic tarp and somehow managed to penetrate the tubs, soaking those on the bottom. Once in Sawa, Nutie carefully dried them out and rewrapped them. Again this year, we bought a hog, prepared it, and shared a feast with our teachers in the little church beside the school. We worshipped, sang Christmas songs, taught God’s word, and prayed over them. Afterward, they in turn gathered around us and prayed over us, thanking God for our help and asking Him to return us to them next year. It was simple, heartfelt, and very touching.
It was so good for us to savor the sweetness of our celebration, since my natural tendency is to focus on the great need before us. There is still so much to be done. Even the blessing of bountiful harvest had its downside: seasonal truancy spiked as every spare hand was needed in the field. The drop in the children’s grades toward the end of the second semester served as a sharp reminder that these are a vulnerable people, wholly dependent upon their subsistence lifestyle even as they strive to learn and to gain access to the global economy. We dodged another bullet this year as torrential rains on the Pacific side of the country caused a great surging flood to wash over our villages just as the people were bringing in the last of their rice. So many horse carcasses floated by that the whole river stank for several days, but these were “Spanish” horses, not Miskito ones. We heard radio reports of more than sixty people killed and countless missing elsewhere in Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador, but not here. We were very fortunate this year.
We lost some students. In Sawa, 35 children dropped out of school this past year. Many of them will be back in 2012, but some, at the tender age of 12 or 13, have already begun their life as adults in the community. Sodelma Colomer, for instance, whose date of birth is listed as July 2, 1999, left 3rd grade to start a family. Even so, it is not necessarily the end of the world for her, contrary to what our culture would suggest. The truth is that most of these school children will live out their lives as mothers, fathers, and subsistence farmers in their native villages. The important thing is that they know how much they matter to God, and that their relationship to God matters to them. Hopefully, they develop this understanding during the years they do spend in a Seek The Lamb school, however many they may be. Tom
Lamb Bleatings
By Laura Bagby
(Photo: The opening day of the Rio Coco Cafe Vero Beach: L to R Mikaela, Lukas, Arielle, Nutie, Tom, Pastor Buddy, Laura, & Moselle)
“Balance…focus….hit (5th position).”, I reminded Moselle as she executed a pirouette beginning in 4th position and ending in 5th. She has been dancing around the house for a while now and presently has the opportunity to be involved in a ballet class and perhaps even a dance troupe at Christi’s Fitness. She is now letting me know that this is an “exclusive invitation only” kind of thing and we should feel blessed just to be asked. There is very little that doesn’t excite her or float her boat in gratefulness and enthusiasm. Michael said, “She ain’t gonna be the caboose of THIS train, now is she?!” “Nope, not of any train I don’t think.”
God uses this little spunky life to show us many things about prioritizing and balancing out the important things of life….the art of loving life and people and being able to relate in such a way that she hits the right “position” very frequently with joy and passion. I am pleased with her balance, focus, and sense of rhythm in her “dance of life”. She inspires us.
“Mommy, do you think that is good for them?”, Arielle often asks this question in observation of those around her doing, reading, or listening to certain things. I love discussing life with her in this way as she figures out what is BEST. She is developing her skills, discipline and attitudes that guide her and focus her in the right direction. She is impressive and we are all inspired by her being and her sense of personal and familial responsibility. She has been developing into our personal administrator, taking messages and helping us to balance out our time with people and all that is going on right now. She is sensitive to the needs of the moment and is able to hit the right position and hold her ground with a whole lot of balance. She continues to develop her sense of rhythm in life & focus...keeping the main thing the main thing. She is also our most conscientious house cleaner and is learning the art of doing many things at once. Mikaela has passed on many of her cleaning and organizing traits to Arielle. Love it. She most shines in her ability to care for others. It’s a beautiful thing. She has been making herself indispensable in many ways within our family unit especially since she makes the meanest Rio Coco Latte’ ever and developing well at home, school, business, ministry, karate (soon a black belt), dance, physical & spiritual disciplines. A wise, mature soul.
Lukas began discussing with Michael and I a testimony of one of his friends that really had an impact upon him. We have been talking through many of the issues of life that bind up people and cause them to “stall out” and eventually fall. I let him know that I felt like the Lord has been telling me how each person MUST get their own revelation in life. His eyes got real big and he asked me to repeat myself so I did. He told me that the Lord told him the exact same thing. I asked, “What did God say to you?”
“He said that I need to get my own revelation from Him and I couldn’t ride on the coat tails of my parents.” I nodded in thanksgiving.
We, as a family have been going through a transition and growth spurt in our lives together as an entity. We are encouraging, pushing and inspiring Mik and Luk’s journey into adulthood. They are learning to take their respective responsible positions in the family, in our ministry and in the business. All three aspects are woven together by God in a brilliant manner.
They have been a part of the ride in Honduras & Nicaragua with our Miskito friends who we are still actively serving via all of our fund raising efforts (Make a Disciple, Rio Coco Coffee, jewelry, etc) Our children have become our best volunteers and missionaries on many counts and we are thankful. Before God and man, I believe this is very good. Together we will make an impact upon this community as well as in others.
We opened up our Rio Coco Café’ ministry here in Vero Beach and it has been a joy to see each one of them take their part. Mikaela sets a high standard for each one of them in her work ethic and attitude of being a part of a team…grateful for her opportunity to work with us and have the blessings of that but not all the responsibilities. She has lightened our load substantially and brings a bunch of delight to the table.
We continue to thank the Lord for our beautiful faithful right hand, Lanie Bishop. She has been caring for our accounting & administrative hassles for the last 15 years. We celebrate her life with us more and more each year. Thank you Lanie. You inspire us with your grit and faithful obedience unto the Lord. We do all things for no other reason than to please our Lord and Savior. He has led us right for all these years...from one act of obedience to the next..... Each step being deliberated before Him and then the actual leap of faith which feels always so boundless and out of control. Invigorating, yet if I don’t keep my focus and balance ever before Him, my skin literally begins to crawl with stress. I choose faith. Thank you to all who are living it out with us. Laura
Unlikely Faces & Places
by Michael Bagby
Christmas is here, and once again our culture is reminded of God’s coming to Earth in the form of a baby. Most of us know the story. It’s an incredible one really, and the essence of this story is expressed as much in the characters as well as the location of all the action.
(Photo: Dr. Randy Smith teaching us about the Christmas story from a cave home in Nazareth below the Church.)
An angel tells a young girl named Mary from Nazareth that she is going to get impregnated by the Holy Spirit, and her child will be the Messiah. Her husband Joseph has a hard time believing the story, but an angel tells him in a dream that it is true. They travel to his hometown in Bethlehem where she gives birth to the child in a cave home, and the angels appear to shepherds in the field that night to announce the arrival of the Savior of the World.
They come to the cave home, followed a few weeks later by astrologers from Persia who have seen the stars aligning in a certain way, and follow them to the cave home. They stop to tell King Herod that they are looking for the new born king, and Herod waits a few weeks and sends soldiers to Bethlehem to kill every baby under the age of two.
(photo: inside the cave home where Jesus was born in Bethlehem- Arielle standing by the candels)
Before that happens, Joseph and Mary present their newborn to the priest at the Temple in Jerusalem where two of God’s people, Simeon and Anna, greet the child, and proclaim great things to his parents and all around. Joseph is then warned in a dream to flee with his family to Egypt, to save the life of the baby Jesus. After Herod dies, Joseph relocates his family back to his home in Nazareth, where Jesus grows up as a constructor.
I am often struck by the “not so obvious” of the Christmas story. For example, to whom did God tell about the arrival of His Son? There were many Old Testament prophecies about the coming Messiah, which included the location of his birth, which were common knowledge to the educated class. Yet God sent angels to an unlikely audience.
King Herod was the most important political figure in Israel. The second most important man in the nation was the High Priest. He and his council of Sanhedrin were the learned leaders of the nation. Yet God sent his messengers not to the educated, wealthy, and powerful, but rather to the smelly, uncouth, under-educated men who cared for animals and slept with them at night in the fields- shepherds. These guys would never be invited into the king’s chambers, yet God made sure they knew how important they were to Him, by personally inviting them to see the newborn Savior.
There were others in a far away land who had knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures, who were very interested in what God was doing. When they discovered a message in the stars announcing the arrival of God’s chosen instrument to save the world, Himself in a human body, they traveled many days to bring gifts to honor this special baby. Only seven miles away from the Bethlehem cave home were hundreds of priests and temple workers who had dedicated their lives to God, and following His commands to the minutest detail, serving at the Temple. Yet these “godly men” were so concentrated on obedience to the rules that they failed to see what God was doing in their own backyard. While the foreigners were attending the Baby, God’s own people were oblivious to the incredible event that was changing human history forever.
(Photo: The location of the Temple from a hill on the road to Bethlehem)
In accordance with the law, Joseph and Mary presented their child to the priests at the Temple, and could only afford two small doves as their “Shalom Offering”. While the priest went through the motions of accepting God’s own Son into the nation, totally ignorant of who they were dedicating to Yaweh, two older saints, who heard the voice of God, were suddenly made aware of the Baby’s identity. They were faithful people who had followed the voice of the Lord for many years. God made sure that those who had been listening with faith to Him were made aware of this great event.
I am also struck by the geographical setting of this birth. King Herod had a palace only a few miles away from Bethlehem called the Herodian. It was quite deluxe for the time.
The Temple which Herod had built for the nation was slightly further north, and was a grandiose structure, in the style of most of Herod’s projects.
(photos: The man-made hill of the Heriodoan with the remains of the palace at the top of the hill.)
In those times that I have sat on the steps of the Temple, on the walls of the Herodian, and inside the cave home in Bethlehem, I have always been astounded at God’s choice of the location of The Event. Very few people could have gone to Herod’s palace- security was heavy, and you had to be “somebody” to get inside. Only Jews who had all their body parts could enter the Temple courts- no non-Jews were never allowed, and if you had for any reason lost a finger, arm, eye, or ear due to an accident or you were just born that way, you were not allowed in either.
Yet God chose a cave home in a village away from the hustle of the royalty and religious elite where anyone, foreigners included, could come to worship the true King- even Ethiopian eunuchs, and others who were not considered “whole and acceptable” by polite society.
Christmas is for everyone! It is meant to be celebrated not just in the Holy Places, but in the obscure corners of our cities and nation. Although most of the power elite of our world know about Jesus, most have closed their hearts to Him- they are content with their own resources. Yet there are so many who God is inviting to share in some intimate moments this Christmas Season. He will use you and me to extend the invitation. He will use us to tell the real story of Christmas. Michael
The Bagby Bunch Corner
“Man plans his way but God directs his steps” Prov. 16:9
We live by this principle. God is the one who knows what we are to be doing with His time! For many years it has been evident to us that part of our mission has been fundraising for Project Ezra in Nicaragua, and you are reading our principle fundraising tool– this newsletter. Another element of the Bagby Family ministry has been to reach out to whatever community we find ourselves. A family functioning along God’s principles is a powerful witness. It happens when we are working in Hawaii with our church Hope Chapel; it happens in Nicaragua with our extended community along the Rio Coco; And it happens as we travel along the way. Once a Lufthansa fight attendant stopped us on a flight back from Israel and asked us if the four kids sitting in front of us were ours. “Yes, we confess they are” not knowing why she asked. “Well, they are the
most well behaved children I have ever had onboard. They treat me with such courtesy and respect.” I told her why...it had to do with our Lord and His ways. We have had many such opportunities with our family over the years. God wants visible witnesses for Him and his ways, to the world around us. Many of you have families as well who are these witnesses, through your actions, relationships, as well as your words. We think this is a most effective manner to proclaim the blessings of a relationship with Jesus! The world longs to see Christianity that actually does work!
Amazingly, our fundraising for the school project and family evangelism efforts have combined into something we would have never expected a few years ago: a ministry disguised as a coffee business. The Lord has allowed us to open two Rio Coco Cafés this year. Both are paying their expenses, and we will start 2012 with contributions from the Rio Coco Cafés being added to the child sponsorship money, and other contributions to Project Ezra. In this rather exciting economy, the Lord has given us another source of teacher salary and school ma terial money. But He has given us more! So many who come into the café in Utila Honduras, and are beginning to come to RCC Vero, are one who would never enter a church. I had a conversation with one this morning as he sipped on a cup of Nicaraguan Dark. I asked if he was a Christian, and he said that he was not sure. That was an open door to an encouraging word to investigate during this Christmas Season. There will be many more in the days ahead.
Our family and Kate & Dustin Insley are working the cafés as volunteers right now, which is why we can begin to make contributions to the school project so soon. We want the Lord to use our hands to provide for our students, as He uses our caring words to communicate His Love to those who come to us. It is a bril liant strategy really, one that has been used by many missionaries since Paul was making tents in Corinth to support his ministry.
Thanks for being with us in this new adventure! We need your prayers, and your continued help in making it all happen. Our time in these next months will be focused on a restructure and new strategy of our school project in Nicaragua, as well as training new volunteer missionaries to work the crowd at the cafés in Utila and here in Vero. Let us know if you have a desire to serve on our Seek The Lamb team in 2012. We have need of engaging and passionate followers of Jesus who want to be stretched in their faith and fruit.
We are blessed to have a faithful team in Nicaragua who carry on the day to day work with over 1200 children. Tom & Nutie, Danilo, Truman, Onofre, and Augusto are a quality crew who know how to cultivate the spiritual fruit that the Lord desires. Our Project Ezra teachers are making a difference in the lives of their students! Together with you who are providing the prayer support, financial aid, and volunteering your time to help, God has a very effective tool to change lives and eternal destinies. That is what this Christmas Season is all about, and we are very happy, content, and excited to be involved with you in an eternal work.
Merry Christmas From all of us in Seek The Lamb!
May the New Year bring us many more opportunities to work Together, Making Disciples !
Make a Significant Donation to Seek The Lamb!
We are in the month where we pay the “13th” month salary to our teachers as required by Nicaraguan Labor Law. All gifts this month are very significant to us. Please Click on this link to get to our secure Pay Pal donation page, where you can contribute to our school project, or support the missionaries of Seek The Lamb. Our outreach in on the Rio Coco in Nicaragua, on the island of Utila in Honduras, and our teaching ministry in the U.S. is bearing much fruit, due to your prayers and support, and most importantly the Lord’s leading and provision.
We appreciate you who stand with us in this work. We will all stand together one day before the Lord where we who gave will receive the most cherished words we can possibily hear from our King: “Well done my servant, enter into your reward.”
Make A Donation to Seek The Lamb
Tags:
Seek The Lamb, Rio Coco, Thomas Keogh, Nutie Keogh, Dustin Insley, Kate Insley, Michael Bagby, Laura Bagby, Rio Coco Bean Coffee, Rio Coco Cafe, Nicaragua, Miskito Indians
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