Not surprisingly, our first month here has been awesome. We’ve endured a lot over the past few weeks, but it truly feels like the Lord has been with us all the way, giving us no more than we can handle.

It’s hard to believe I just typed that, because to be completely honest, the past few days have felt like more than I could handle, but looking back, it wasn’t so bad. Our power went out during Saturday evening service on the 16th, and only returned for a short 1/2 day on the 23rd, just long enough to get us excited! We’ve talked about, as a team, how we know people are around the world without power everyday, that haven’t ever lived a day with that kind of luxury. Unfortunately, everything about our operation is centered around actually having electricity. That’s a little different than knowing you’re headed somewhere a little more indigenous. Our walls are made of concrete, roofs of tin, no insulation or protection from the heat.

We’ve been running a generator, which with gas at over $1 per metric liter, a little less than $4 per gallon, it has been costly. The story is, a transformer blew that runs our section of the village while someone was trying to illegally connect to it. The energy company is now saying they will not fix the problem until 80% of what their owed in unpaid electricity consumption is paid. That could take an eternity, or quite frankly, never even happened, so we’ve been working on other options. We’d really like to have solar power here, because it is sunny almost all the time and would help us be less dependent on the undependable system here. We’ve been in contact with a few people in the field, but don’t have any promising leads just yet. The problem with solar is that it is very expensive, not only to capture energy from the sun, but also to store it for when the sun isn’t shining (in batteries). This means costs (in the US) of about $10 per watt for the system. For a system equivalent to the power of our small generator, which produces 2400 watts, we would spend $24,000 in equipment. Our entire mission operates on just a few thousand dollars per month, so that would be nearly impossible, without someone wanting to use us as a test community for research (which we would GLADLY participate in!).

So, with all that said, our current plan is to commission the energy company, Enitel, to run our own private line to the church property, ensuring we have ample and stable power to our facility. This could be a long and costly process. Not only will it cost us up front for the equipment, but if this happens, our property will be metered (which it is not currently) meaning we’ll pay for every milliwatt of energy we use. Prices are ridiculous here, mainly because so few people actually pay for their power. We currently only pay the monthly minimum to the energy company because in over 6 years they’ve yet to put a meter on our property.

Electricity, to be honest, hasn’t hurt us that bad. For me, its made me really realize how dependent I am on it. I really wish I didn’t care. I wish I could sleep comfortably in 85 degrees, but I am just not programmed that way. Even the people in the village wonder how we sleep, which I guess is some bit of reassurance that I’m not completely nuts.

We’ve had much more happening. We’ve seen a lot of progress in our youth over the past few weeks. We’ve had a lot of issues with respect, which through God’s awesome power, most of which have been resolved. Jacob and I taught the youth bible study this Wednesday and I took my portion from a book I just finished called Who Stole My Church. The book is about a church going through the pains many churches, including mine back home, are enduring with trying to appeal to the generation of the 21st century. It says nothing about any third world country such as Nicaragua, but it was amazing how some of the same concepts apply. I taught on how, as a group, we have a choice about what kind of group we are. We can be the way God wants, or the way the enemy wants. We really felt like the kids connected, and though our service was help outside, in the dark, lit only by a Makita worklight, we thought it was a great sucess.

Just before our power went out, God sent us a man named Don. Don is from Oregon, and attended a church who’s pastor now lives here in Nicaragua, and he came down here to work with him. Don is a water purification expert, and it is amazing how God sent him to help us. After finishing with his planned projects, he came out to our property and installed the leftover filtration systems he had on all of our drinking water sources in the house and clinic. Now we don’t have to go buy water! We can actually drink straight from the tap! Something you take for granted, I know. Here we spend hundreds of dollars a year on purified water for drinking, but no longer!

Kelly and I have done especially well so far, together, on this trip. We’re in an environment pretty different from what we’re accustomed to, and with each other almost every waking hour. This could have been a death sentence for our relationship, but we really have grown closer and thrived more than ever. I am especially thankful for that. It’s a great feeling knowing we’ve made it a month, not only without killing each other, but enjoying one another, and thriving in our relationship and mission field together. It is great to feel more and more everyday that God truly has called us here for a purpose, both individually, and together, and that we’re both ready and willing to fulfill it. Life as missionaries will be a part of our future, and I am so glad we’ve been able to have this experience to know that we are cool with that, and excited about it! Throughout our time here we’ve both talked seriously about doing this more long term someday, and without this experience, we may never have known that or been open to it.

Tommy is back from the states, and Jim Bob, along with 2 other girls who will be serving with us long term, fly in tomorrow, weather permitting. We’re excited to have our whole FAMILY together.

We’ve met so many awesome people and been through so much this month we can do nothing but truly thank God.

Thank you for reading along, and I hope to share more with you again soon.

Evan “Oso” Dixon
Missionary to…wherever I am!
His will. His way. All for His kingdom.
evan@evandixon.com
704.765.1956 - office/international

The past two days have changed my life…

Linda brought back a team of 5 Americans from the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry in Redding, California, who helped put on the conference Linda attended in Granada. They got there just i time for dinner - i’d cooked chicken Parmesan. We sat there at dinner introducing ourselves and kidding around a bit, and honestly I thought they were just what I would call “normal” Christians. They all seemed like people we would hang out with back home. After dinner, we started our weekly youth event, which they had planned to head up. That’s when things changed.

When I heard them say they were from a school of “Supernatural Ministry”, I have to admit, it did make me think a little bit, but I didn’t give it much thought because they all seemed so cool. As it turns out, they were a group that had been trained for 2 years on prophecy and healing. If you’re reading this from back home, maybe a member of my church, you know those are a few things we don’t discuss or practice too often. So they hit the ground running in our youth service, wasting no time. They started taking turns prophesying over individuals in the group, having each one stand up as they had “words” for them

I had gotten a taste of this sort of thing twice before.

First, back this summer, when I was here living in Nicaragua, and the World Race team was here. We did an activity where we drew names from a hat, and asked God to give us somethiing for that person (without looking at the name), which we were to draw on a peice of paper. It could be anything. I had my doubts. For some reason I felt like i needed to draw a rainbow, which I know sounds kinda queer, but nevertheless, I drew it. I remember giving it to Warren, one of the guys on the team, and finding out it was significant to him, because he had an obsession with skittles (which if you don’t know, use the slogan,”Skittles: taste the rainbow”).

The second time was with the Living Water group that just came from Boone, NC. They continually discussed having “prophetic words” for people, but not to the point where it made me feel wierd. They all just seemed really in tune with the Holy Spirit.

So this was only the third time i’d encountered this sort of thing. These guys were radicals. To be completely honest, at first, I had serious doubts. Things they were saying seemed to be really strange and ambiguous. Then, their “words” started getting more detailed and direct. Then, something happened. A member of their team, Jason, was giving a word to one of the youth. I was paying about 50% attention at this point. I remember the girl had a yellow shirt. I was holding Kelly’s hand, and I looked down at it. Jason started to talk about this form of horseback riding where the rider shows almost no motion to the crowd as he has the horse perform very specific and intricate movements. He said the way it worked was the rider was giving very minute instructions to the horse through light amounts of pressure in his legs. He was that close and familiar with this horse that he could control it so subtly. and this was how he saw her relationship with God being. Sounds pretty weird, huh? Well, in that same moment, Kelly gasps, and says,”Look!!!”

She shows me the ring she’s wearing on her hand, which I was sitting there holding and looking at. It was a horse ring.

This was a sign from God for both of us that he wanted us to pay attention.

We continued listening, much more intently, as the service progressed. Jason ending up giving us a word later on, telling us, as a couple, that he felt like God was saying we make a great team, and that each of our gifts combined made us wonderful for each other. Later, Kelly mentioned she felt led to give the ring to the girl, which after a little encouragement, she did, and it was amazing to see her and her friends reaction.

The service lasted long into the night, past 11 o’clock, which is normally unheard of because kids just don’t stay out that late in our village. I drove several people home and got home pretty late, going to bed not too long afterward.

The following day, the group started the morning off holding another service to minister to the pastors. I wasn’t able to participate for long because we were out of water and didn’t have enough food for lunch for the 18 people that were to eat lunch that day.

That afternoon, we had a chance to meet with the team, right before they left. They were supposed to leave at 4:00pm to head in to Leon, and wanted some question and answer time with us. They shared stories of prophecy and healing that God had done through each of them. I got the courage to share what was on my heart with the team. I explained my background, that in the past I’d always gone to church, believed in Jesus, done the right thing, but that last summer here in Nica I realized I had gotten really good at just going through the motions. I told them I was frustrated with my life and the kind of church we have in America - not our specific church, IHBC, but the “church” as a whole. I explained how recently I felt like God had laid on my heart that he wanted me out of my comfort zone, and wanted to show me that he isn’t the weak, powerless, useless God our American church teaches. We all go to church, and try to do the right thing, but why? I told them about my small experience with prophecy and that my first reaction to their group was a little bit of fear, doubt, and intrigue. Maggie, one of the team members, told me she was right where I was just two years ago. She had a desire to learn more about the real God, and decided to go to this school, where she’d been taught so much about prophecy and healing, and that now, more than ever she truly experiences God and love him more everyday. She did tell me she still experiences doubt, but far less than before. I god prophetic words from Maggie and Sid. I left the meeting feeling understood, unjudged, and relieved. I drove us to Leon and continued to discuss with Maggie the whole way. Her and Ruth commented on what a great attitude I have about everything because I am open to new ideas, but I don’t just accept them

During this same afternoon, Linda went out and healed Paula, a lady of the church, who had been very sick from a serious spider bite. She could hardly move before, and she was up standing on her own by the time she left.

God was doing awesome stuff.

Kelly and I set out for a date night in Leon after dropping the team off in Leon. We went to dinner, and had some time to kill before our movie started around 9:30pm. We decided to get ice cream. We came really close to trying another place, because it was packed, but we decided to go ahead. We sat outside facing the intersection near the park, and as we sat there, we saw Brad, a member of the team!

We walked over and said hello. Their team was doing what they call a “treasure hunt”, where they take 2-3 mins to hear from God who he wants them to go pray for, asking for clues like what they are wearing, names, conditons, and then they seek them out. Right there in front of us, Maggie had found her treasure. She showed us her paper. She had written “Red flowered shirt” and “Maria”, and sure enough, there sat the woman with her husband, named Maria, wearing a red shirt with flowers on it. Her and her husband both got saved just before we walked over. Another person heard God say there would be a couple that was sad because they couldn’t have children, and that the man would be wearing a blue shirt. They found them, literally, no further than 15 feet from where Maggie found Maria.

Kelly and I were astounded. I truly believe God works through what we think are simple coincidences, but this was just too much…the ring, their prophetic words for us, then THIS! It was so eye opening!

Hello Everyone,

This time two weeks ago we were going through airport security in Atlanta to board our flight. It is hard to believe it has only been 2 weeks!

We have been so blessed to be here and witness the Lord do so much. The first part of our trip we worked with a group of about 15-20 college students from Appalachian State that all go to a church called Living Water that Tommy and Linda originally started. This group was full of amazingly gifted and talented individuals - artists, photographers, dancers, actors, singers, instrumentalists, etc. It was amazing to be around such a spirit filled and talented group. Everywhere we went they were on the prow for Christ. It was a great start to our trip. You can see there team reports and pictures at www.harvestequipers.net

We also had the pleasure of spending some time with a small team from our home church, Independence Hill, while they worked in a nearby village, Santa Matilde. They were able to build two swingsets (with 4 swings on each), 4 picnic tables, and 8 benches. This was awesome to see and I am so happy to know that kids will be attracted to come play on our church property there. At the end of their trip, Kelly and I were able to go with them to Granada for a day off. We stayed at a bed and breakfast right on the Lagoon (a lake inside the mouth of a volcano), visited Granada, Monkey Island, and Catarina. Mike, the owner of where we stayed, was on our flight from Fort Lauderdale to Managua two weeks ago, and we sat and talked with him for several hours while we waited on our flight. I thought it was great to reconnect with him and spend some time with the team before they left.

We are currently helping lead a team from Concordia St. Paul in Minnesota who are here to serve as a service team. They have been wonderful to have around, and have done quite a lot. This is the first group i’ve ever had the chance to help lead without Diego here, so that has been interesting. They did a field day with lots of relay races one afternoon, and did a tye-dye event for the youth.

Things are going good, but it is stressful at times trying to make sure everything is taken care of with the finances. In Jim Bob’s absence, Brittany and I are in charge of handling the money, which sounds simple, but because of the nature of New Song as a non profit, we have to be very thorough with records, get reciepts for every penny spent, and be very careful to keep track of everything.

Linda is away this week at a conference in Managua, so it really is our time to shine as a team. Please keep us all in your prayers!

Evan “Oso” Dixon
Missionary to Nicaragua
His will. His way. All for His kingdom.
evan@evandixon.com
704.765.1956 - office/international

PS: Here’s a short slideshow of a few of my photos so far. Click to enlarge: