pat loughery

It’s great to be home from Nicaragua again. I’m working on publlishing the photos we took (or many of them anyway) and also on a fuller trip report. But for now here are a few memories dancing in my head:

1. Seeing a young waitress come to Christ as she heard the La Vina Managua team describe their heart for the church. That was an overwhelming emotional moment, significant both for this woman and for the life of this young church plant.
2. I learned that cashew is a fruit, and that the meat of the fruit makes a very tasty juice.
3. I learned that it’s fun to be a chele riding in the back of a pickup.
4. I learned about the strong emotions attached to recent civil war and also how soon people who fought on opposite sides of a war can be reconciled, when the Holy Spirit is involved.
5. I learned how cigars are made – truly a process focus on craftsmanship.
6. Parrots are bilingual.
7. Live volcanoes are mindblowingly impressive. Burping sulfur is cool.
8. Climbing trails on volcanoes is a worthwhile activity, but it’s going to be much harder than you’re used to.
9. The power of Christ and of human love is able to transform abused children if carefully applied.
10. Cold showers are refreshing beyond description when you visit a swelteringly hot nation having unseasonably hot weather.

That’s good enough for now.