Heading to Managua in about an hour to be with my family again, Lord willing. My trip up to our village was very good. It was nothing less then humbling to see how they responded when they found out that I was there. Because I went on the slow boat I got there late, and only a few people found out that night. But the next morning about 5:30 a few people came to see me. A few minutes later someone told me that people are waiting for me below the house, so I went down and found about 50 to 60 people there waiting to see me and hug me.
It was hard to see grown ups in this culture that doesn’t show emotions, cry as they told me how they prayed for me to be freed, and even after they heard that I was free, they thought we would never come back. So they were completely overjoyed to see me back there, because that showed them that our love for them was real. All my time that day was taken up by almost all 500 people from our village coming by to see me and thanking me for coming back.
I learned that when they found out that I was locked up, they called a meeting about it and almost all the people showed up, where they got on their knees and prayed and wept and prayed for God to somehow get me out. They talked about all going to the prison, but knew that wasn’t reality. So they decided to send the leaders to talk to the police, to see if that might make a difference. But they couldn’t figure out where they could get the money to send them, because no one was around to buy rice. They have cows, but no one to buy them, so they decided to go to another village where some people had money and sell 2 or 3 cows, and use that money to come down to see if they could help me. But just as the meeting was ending, our friend Emel got there and told them that I was released that day, which settled things down a bit.
When I left, as I was going to the boat, the path was lined with people who wanted to give me a good bye hug and tell me that they will be waiting for us to come back. It still makes me cry to think about it. God is so good, and I am so grateful to be able to be a part of His glorious plan for they dear people.
Eli
