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