2010 FAQ

2010 Frequently Asked Questions—The Don and Jacque Show

The following is an FAQ about us and our time in Nicaragua. We hope you enjoy learning more about what God has been doing in our lives and there! The entire Q&A is from Jacque’s point of view, but we promise to let Don talk in the future. We love you all and hope you enjoy the extra look into the lives of Don and Jacque.

How did you find out about the opportunity to go to Nicaragua?
Kari spoke at the Peak (college ministry) in 2006 and semi-struck my interest, although I never considered leaving the country or even desired pursuing international travel, whether for missions or not. Kari tried to talk me into going with her in December 2006, but the plans and requirements fell through, and I didn’t go. I’m charting that one up to God’s timing=). I didn’t really have a huge desire to go, but I knew for some reason that God wanted me to. I went on my very first missions trip over Spring Break in 2007, right after missing the Nica trip in December, and even though it wasn’t the best trip, I found that my love for service could be driven by God and not just by community service and Non-profit work. God had only been a bigger part of my life for a year or so at that point, so I was just getting to actually know Him. Because I had already started the process of going to Nicaragua in December 2006, I decided for sure that I would go in October 2007, the next scheduled Str8way Ministries trip to a children’s home in Masaya, Nicaragua.

As the day to leave neared, Kari was really excited and kept asking if I was, but I wasn’t really. I just knew I was supposed to go. God moved through the 12-day trip, drawing me to certain kids that would bring me back and drawing me to the people on the trip through His work in their lives. I remember every person on that trip because it was our time as The Twelve, doing devotions together, playing around, talking at dinner, and having these brand new experiences that sunk in deep. Every person had their part in drawing me to God and back into Nicaragua. God knew that my heart would break for and love those in need and those who need a mother, someone to love and nurture them. He had my kids in mind—Luis, Carlito, Carlos, and Grace—kids who grasped my heart and made it impossible to turn around and forget what He’d done there. He’s opened my heart, broken it for them, and drawn me back each time we’ve gone.

I returned again the following June 2008, and then both Don and I went in December 2008 after getting married. That is when we felt God’s leading to return for the entire summer in 2009 for 2 ½ months.

When you went to Nicaragua last summer, what were your responsibilities? What were you involved in? What was your favorite aspect of your time there?
We began the summer seeking to do nothing that God hadn’t called us to do. We spent the first 2 weeks in prayer over God’s plans for us and found that all of our ideas were already in place, so we dug deeper. He laid out opportunities to interact with our kids at the Quinta ( the home where some of the kids from the Masaya children’s home now live), to serve in the community of Dolores just a short drive from the Quinta, and to coordinate the American missions teams who were coming to do work in the area.

In Dolores, we worked in the Children’s ministry, reading stories and doing dramas from the New Beginner’s Bible in Spanish. Jimmy Dittmar took over this ministry after he and I began working with our kids to present dramas and then discuss the stories afterward—both for the spiritual and educational aspect of understanding the stories. Don and I began the youth group in Dolores through leading 3 key Nicaraguans in putting on a couple youth events, as well as beginning a discipleship program, Project Philipe, with a group of 8 teenage girls and an adult group. We spent most of the time guiding the 3 Nicaraguan leaders and building relationships with the teens in Dolores with hopes of it continuing after we left. I am sad to say that I don’t think we had enough time to build a sustainable program, but we are hoping to reconnect with the teens and children we began to build relationships with there.

We also did quite a bit of coordinating the American teams that came to do ministry throughout the summer. Eventually Don was driving teams to ministry sites, and I was coordinating their trips, trying to help out Glenn and Lynne, the missionaries serving in Jinotepe. We connected teams to their heart’s desires for ministry and built relationships with them as they joined us in the field. We especially enjoyed the World Race team that joined us for a month. With their help, we hosted a couple girl’s and guy’s ministry nights, discussing the tough issues of growing up and instilling God’s heart for them. We were blessed with 3 separate nights to talk about self-esteem and beauty, which a member of the World Race actually went on to share again, later in the “Race” with women in Romania. God’s hand in all of our work was amazing to witness and share as He moved throughout the summer. We did a lot of connecting with other missionaries throughout western Nicaragua, which is how we became connected to Charles and Sarah in Granada where we will be going in October.

Another large part of our ministry there was to return to Masaya where I had first served in Nicaragua and found my heart for those specific kids God used to bring me back each trip. We went to visit Grace, who has become a precious friend to me and a girl that has a bright future as God is at work in her. While in Masaya at the market, I was pleased and surprised to find Luis, the boy from my first trip who had been my reason to return. He was begging in the market and even tried to tell me he wasn’t Luis, but I knew it was him. I finally was able to talk with him and let him know we were there until August and that Kari, whom he also knew, was coming for a whole year and a half. He was still stand-offish, as he and his brothers and friends had been part of the falling apart of the children’s home we’d worked in, but it only fueled my heart more to pray for him and seek him out. We returned to see Grace more throughout the summer, always keeping our eyes open for Luis. One trip, we were there just to see those boys, and we found not only Luis but also his little brother Carlito. I barely caught a glimpse of Carlito as he ran by, but I knew it had to be him, so I called out his name. When he came back to me, I asked if he remembered who I was, and he said “yes, Jacque.” I couldn’t believe that after almost 2 full years, this five-year-old remembered who I was, and even by name! God sent joy and love through my heart as he reminded me of His love for this little one. Carlito hung out with us all day as we gathered gifts for our return home and looked for items for the Quinta. At one point, God allowed me to see His love and work in Carlito as an elderly woman came up to us and stuck out her hand to him, requesting him to share on of the little candies he’d pulled from his pocket. I watched to see what he would do, and as he contemplated and finally settled on giving away one of his special candies, I knew that God is Good and at work always, even when despair and poverty have affected one of His children’s lives. His love is still over all. Also, on my list since the beginning of the summer was to buy Luis and Carlito a pair of good sandals to replace the warn out, flimsy slide-ons that Luis’s feet had been falling out of in June when we found him. We found a good vendor with great, closed-toed sandals, and bought a pair for Carlito and Luis, and David, Carlito’s other brother (at Carlito’s request). We bought bread and grapes and a big bottle of water and set out to find Luis to share the gifts and remind him of God’s eyes on him and His provision, and the return of Kari just 2 months from then. We finally found Luis and shared the gifts with him and the rather large group of friends that had gathered around them. We told them that God loved them very much and reminded them of Jesus’ sacrifice for them. I couldn’t stand that we were leaving only a few days later and being forced to wait another year before seeing them and Grace, but they are God’s and He reminded me that HE loves them and HE provides for them. I am simply the messenger and His servant.

What was a way that you were moved or changed while there?
Because we went with the knowledge that God called us there in the first place, we set down every notion that we would be the ones to “make change” and handed our time there completely over to God. We set aside every morning from 6:30-10:30 to be with Him, to study His Word and worship Him in prayer and song. Don and I got into the habit of spending the first hour in prayer together, beginning the day with a dedication of ourselves to God. This was the most impactful time as I finally gave my time over to God and realized my absolute love for studying His Word and for being in prayer, communing with Him and drawing near to Him. He truly became my King over the summer. As I became more in love with Him, God took that time to begin revealing His true self to me. Actually spending time with the One True God over the summer in Nicaragua is what led me into a more pure understanding of who God really is, and I have been able to grow and be with Him and be truly led by Him since then. I could finally see Him for who He really is and really grow in my relationship with Him as a result.

How and why did you originally decide to go to Nicaragua last summer? Was there a particular experience or event that influenced your decision?
Around November 2008, we felt God was telling us to keep our next summer open, not seeking jobs or making plans but being open to go where He called. We began praying over a trip to Africa, looking into a Bible college in Kenya. I have never really felt called to Africa, but Don has had an interest since he was younger, as Africa is such an intriguing place. I was already tied to Nicaragua from my time spent there, but I was willing to go wherever God led us. He’d made it clear to me almost a year earlier that I had a heart for women and children and could go anywhere, and Don was to discern the place, whatever our future held. However, as we went on our trip to Nicaragua, Don’s first missions trip, and he met the kids I’d loved for the last year and began relationships with them, his heart also felt pulled to return. We were confirmed of this desire at World Mandate, a missions conference, as we both continued to pray over the decision and seek to serve God wherever He had planned for this open summer to be.

How was your interaction with native Nicaraguans? Were you able to connect and build relationships? What was that like?
Praise the Lord for my husband’s character! He may have been the palest person in Nicaragua, but he was by far the most dearly loved. He loved the adventure and the joy of learning a new language and experiencing the culture, even down to the food from the street vendors. We connected, as we are apt to do, with so many people, and we knew we had arrived when we were walking down the street in July and ran into 2 or 3 people we knew, just as if we’d been part of the community for a while. We sought out opportunities to get to know people better, going on double dates with Sam and Jocabed, going to the beach with Jose, visiting a local church with Luis, and spending special afternoons and nights at the Quinta for dinner, Bible study, special events, soccer games, sewing and English lessons. We grew to love our community around us and developed a network of missionaries throughout the country and among those who were there for a short trip throughout the summer. We took every opportunity available to get to know the kids we worked with, to be part of their lives and welcome them into ours. I especially nurtured relationships with the girls: Perla, Patricia, Flor, Raquel, and Grace, as well as the little kids who came to play on Tuesdays—we had a ball. They are so fun to know and to share life with, even as they are trying to grow up in the midst of what God has brought them through. They had a special love for us and were an amazing blessing to be around. I don’t know how to explain our relationship with them, other than how our love for them grew over the summer and we continued to think about them and pray for them as we returned to Alamosa. Once you build those relationships in God’s work, it is very hard to forget the ones you met and how they impacted you.

How did your experience last summer lead to your decision to return?
Our decision to return was completely through prayer that was intended to decide which Masters program we would be attending after graduating from ASC. In the first evenings, we took our spare time to search the internet to find a school but found quickly that there are SO many to choose from, and all of them look quite good. Thus, we decided to spend 2 weeks praying over the state God had in mind for our future school’s location, then we wouldn’t be spending all of our time in Nicaragua focusing on the future. We wanted to be right where God had us at the time, so we spent the next 2 weeks praying and quit looking up schools online. Then, in the third week, we began to listen as we prayed, preparing for God’s answer. By Saturday, the last day of the 3rd week, we thought maybe California was God’s state of choice but really had no clear answer. Then God stopped me dead in my prayers as we were praying and began showing all the work He had been doing in us and how he had made us networkers and given us a heart for connecting people to their callings and their hearts for ministry. He laid out the option of not going into a Masters program at all but returning to Nicaragua for a longer period of time. We asked that He’d confirm it through the missionaries we were working with and then left it at that without saying anything to the missionaries about it. We waited and trusted that God would provide an answer for our request, and the day before we left, one of the missionaries started speaking of all the things God had laid on our hearts before, answering our request for confirmation of God’s purpose for us in Nicaragua. We thought that we were to return to the same place and do the same work we had been doing, but as we have continued to seek God’s purpose in returning us to Nicaragua, we have been led to serve under the direction of Charles and Sarah in Granada. We struggled with this thought once Greg mentioned it, but through prayer and seeking God’s heart for us, we have decided to return to Granada and be taught and discipled as God works through us and leads us into His purpose for our lives and marriage.

What are some of your plans for your reentry to Nicaragua? Certain ministry involvement?
Right now we have a list of opportunities from Charles and Sarah and from Greg, the director of Str8way ministries, which includes continuing some of the work we began last summer. We will approach our return as we approached our trip last summer: taking as much time as needed to simply serve wherever but to seek God intentionally for His specific purpose for us. Our first month or two will be devoted to building relationships, getting acclimated, and reinforcing our Spanish. We are praying now over the opportunities we have there: leading short-term missions teams; working with Sarah to create and distribute items to support their Young Life Chapter; working with their Young Life leaders in discipling teens; working with Sarah in building a program for women facing unplanned pregnancy, rape, and sex trafficking; being part of a life group for discipleship; or working with the men out in communities that are not as receptive to the gospel. This is a list of opportunities with no requirements of us to fill all of the positions. We are praying over God’s will for our hands, mouths, and minds, and waiting upon Him to lead us in the right direction. We already feel pulled toward leading American teams, as this was the work that God clearly laid out for us back in July 2009, but beyond that, we are stepping out, knowing God reveals His plans as we seek Him and desire to work in His Kingdom.