Alleluia!...

I’m sitting here waiting for Jim and Susanna to return with gasoline for our car…yep, we ran out of gas. Since returning from the States, our gas gauge has acted funny, like it was sticking, and finally, it got to the point it would only register up to ½ tank of gas, even after filling it. When we had it at the mechanic’s we asked him to fix it but he said it would take 2-3 months to get the part and we would have to pay for it in advance. We decided to see if Susanna could find it for us when she goes home in September.

This morning, as we were preparing to leave to go meet with Miguel for his English lessons, Jim pulled out the little notebook we started with our last fill-up…seems the gauge has decided it likes the ½ way mark and has settled there, so we weren’t sure exactly where we were on gas. Well, we are NOW, but we weren’t 45 minutes ago. 44 minutes ago, we were enlightened to the critical need for “gasolina” when the car chugged, sputtered, and protested so violently trying to make it up the hill on the road in front of our house, that we knew better than to try to even make it to the gas station down the street. We did not want to be broken down on the Pan American Highway. Jim put it in neutral and we coasted back to our gate and he managed to back it up the drive to the front of the house. So, thankfully, it’s here and not on the street.

We made one of our, (what at times seems to be too many), 9-1-1 calls to Susanna and once again, God’s taken care of us in that she was on her way up to the Children’s Center which is close to our house. So, she came by and now they are off on a hunt for a gas can and then on the gas station. Hopefully, that’s the problem ‘cause that’s an easy fix, and a relatively painless one…a bit foolish but still not horrible.

The more serious down side is we are not with Miguel at this moment. He is probably one of the very few Nicaraguans who do not own a cell phone…even the very poor often have a cell phone. I have not yet understood why that, of all things, would be a priority over health care, food, clothing or better living conditions. I’ve never been a huge fan of cell phones. I generally see them as intrusive and many owners as inconsiderate in their use, but I have to say I have gained a new appreciation for them here in Nicaragua from a personal point of view. Ours provides me a sense of security that if we were away from the house, we would be able to get hold of someone in case of an emergency…someone I can understand and who understands me. Anyway, as far as we know, the church doesn’t have a phone either. I’m sure Miguel is wondering what has happened to his American friends.

The reason this is such a big deal to us is that the Nicaraguans are used to well-intentioned Americans making promises and then not following through with them. That is the number one caution to visiting teams…don’t make ANY promises to ANYONE because you never know what may keep you from fulfilling them. And every broken promise is just another affirmation to the stereotype we Americans carry here…lots of blow with little show. In other words, sadly, there have been enough broken promises from the gringos up north that it has actually become a stereotypical characterization… everything from “I will come back to see you”, “I will send you clothes (money, gifts, etc.)”, “I want to bring you to America”, “I will get you help”, and so on. We don’t want to contribute to that belief by not honoring our commitment to Miguel. So, missing our appointment this morning is more than missing an English lesson…to all of us.

Well, it’s now 8:30 in the evening. Jim and Susanna got enough gas for the car we managed to make it to the station and get filled up. Today’s experience taught us to go ahead and fill up every week until we get our gauge fixed so that we ensure we always have enough gas for the day’s agenda. And even though we were late in meeting with Miguel, we decided to go ahead and go over to the church and meet with him for a short while and explain our earlier absence.

Our own language class is just about 10 minutes away from Miguel so we took our books with us and stopped at the Metro Centro Mall to eat a quick lunch in the food court. There is a McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Burger King, Subway, Quiznos, 2 Chinese food places and maybe 10 other local food establishments. Fast food is a misnomer here and since we knew it would take as long to get something from McDonald’s as it would from one of the other places, we chose Rosti Pollos (roasted chicken)…one of my favorite places to go when we eat out. Rosti Pollos has several nice sit-down restaurants in Managua but at this mall, it’s just like any other food court place with the exception of the quality of the food…it’s outstanding!

I may have already told you about it as it is so-o-o good and is a treat to eat there. The chicken is roasted on a rotisserie over an open wood fire and it is amazingly tender and flavorful. We usually get the fajita plate which consists of 2 corn flour tortillas (soft and thick) filled with fajita chicken, sautéed onions and peppers, ensalada (which is a vinegar-based cole slaw with tiny diced tomatoes) and frijoles (a very creamy and flavorful refried bean “paste” with 4 small tostados set on top). It is a big lunch and Jim and I can each order the fajita plate and get a soft drink for a little less than $8.85…a reasonable lunch for Americans but out of the price range for most Nicaraguans.

While we were eating, we began discussing how Miguel would never have an opportunity to eat at Rosti Pollos and it wasn’t a far leap to the next step of us ordering a fajita plate to go. We were both excited as we drove to the church to bring Miguel his unexpected lunch. When we pulled up in front, we saw Miguel sitting outside on a bench under a covered area...his notebook and workbook were beside him on the bench. It was 2 hours past time for us to be there and he was sitting there, patiently waiting for us to arrive.

As soon as Jim got out of the car, Miguel came to him and greeted him with a hug. We told him what had happened that morning and he said he wondered why we weren’t there. He said he kept looking and looking for us because we said we would come and so he believed us. To see him sitting on the bench, just waiting, reinforced even more how important it is we are people of our word and people of the Word. And, it was a perfect picture of how we should be in our waiting for the return of Christ...with anticipation and confident assurance of His coming back for us. We believe He will, He keeps His promises. And as followers of Jesus Christ, we need to keep ours.

We only had about 45 minutes to spend with Miguel – too brief to have much of a lesson but too long for him to have to wait to eat his surprise lunch. And what a surprise it was! Miguel’s favorite expression of gratitude is “Alleluia!” with his eyes and his hands lifted up towards heaven! I love to see him so open with his expression of praise and thanksgiving. He was more than pleased that we would bring him something to eat and he loved it, wiping up every last bit of food with his tortillas. His foam carry out container was spotless…you couldn’t even tell it that it held food just minutes prior. When I asked him if it was good, his smile answered long before the words of assent came out of his mouth. He told us, “No frijoles hoy!” - “No beans today!” Once again, I was struck by the fact that would have been all he would have had for lunch without us providing an impromptu “feast”.

On our way home from our language school tonight, Jim and I were talking about what we were going to have for dinner. We had leftover chicken in the fridge and I told Jim we could have that. He said okay but I knew it was a less-than-enthusiastic response. I asked him if he gets tired of us eating so much chicken and he said sometimes. But just a few seconds later, he said, “It could be worse, at least we have chicken. God didn’t bring us here to complain about our food.” We both were quiet for a second and then I said, “Yeah, we could just have beans and rice.” And then I thought about Miguel…we could just have beans.

I don’t know how it is that Miguel is supposed to be our student but he always ends up being our teacher. Alleluia.