July 12, 2003

     Dear Friends of Verbo,

     "Christian Ministry"’ tends to be becoming more diverse as the Lord continues to reveal the nature of His Kingdom.  I realize I can allow myself to get to spread out, but at the same time He does at times lay a Jordan river before us that, unlike the Red Sea, one must get at least ankle deep before the water begins to part.  Both the flow and the land on the far shore might seem a little daunting, but judging by ‘things’ that are happening across the globe,  the Lord might take us into some totally new areas.

     A week ago we were honored, at the orphanage, by a visit by the Duchess of Luxembourg.  At the initial  protocol meeting with the government representatives, I was taken aback when the 15 min stop over grew to an hour plus.   I was waiting to see where my place to stand for photo op's would be, when suddenly it was clear that I was to be in charge of designing the Verbo visit.  

     Two years ago, being the wealthiest, per capita, nation of Europe, Luxembourg helped us remodel Casa Bernabe.  Now, between all the other stopovers at government institutions and welcoming banquets, Verbo was somehow jammed into the schedule.  The new remodeled facility is quite a bit nicer, but doesn't help put the 240 daily meals on the tables.  But I didn't want our strains to be misinterpreted as a lack of gratitude.  So, ‘On with the show.’

     Doing a little homework we found out that the Duchess, Maria Teresa was actually born in Cuba, she’d left at three years old, raised at first in the US, then in Switzerland and met the Duke at the university of Geneva.  She is 46 yrs old, the same age as another woman I've grown increasingly fond of over the years.  Stopping by on Big Wednesday the 5th  of February was the same day as Colin Powell's Iraq address, and Aimee's departure as a missionary to Mexico w/husband Mark

     But now with the 'deal' on my lap, I thought "We're going Latin, and with the kids front stage and center".  At the next protocol meeting I’d worked out a minute by minute break down of her visit to us.  I startled them, they weren’t expecting anything quite so complete.  Fortunately the head lady of the protocol set picked up our proper interest in the occasion and such a visit's historical importance for Nicaragua.  She and the Duke were the first head of state, outside of Central America, to visit the current Nicaraguan government of Pres. Enrique Bolanos.  The Nicaraguan First Lady, Lila Bolanos, would be at my side receiving Maria Teresa.

     When the Black sedans finally pulled up on Wed morning, besides all the kids of the Verbo school aligned and waving along the entrance route to the orphanage, and all of our children of the Home on the front porch, waving and clapping, & me with a last minute cordless mike, the gobs of visitors began to whirl.   The Duchess jumped out of her car, first on the scene, went right to the first lady, flash bulbs going off everywhere, me, just wondering "how, oh how do I bring this deal into some kind of order?"  I finally nudged up and did do a formal greeting, offering to her our understanding of the honor of hers and the first lady's presence, and our desire to express our gratefulness for the Luxembourg donation.  Then two of the littlest kids brought over nice flower bouquets for both (Myra's fabulous choice).  Then I introduced the head of the Dept. of Social Welfare (Mi Familia) of the country, affording her the opportunity to pin a small medal on the Duchess.  From then on the Duchess and I strolled around on the little tour I’d designed.  She would get down on her knees to color with the little girls in their dorms then sign the pieces, addressed the particular girls.  We'd put together a 3 min video of 'life' at the orphanage, visited our plant nursery, the livestock (pigs, chickens, goats, ducks) our bakery was producing (she seemed to like her sample), sewing center was up and going, a piñata was strung up and attacked at the very end, and our church band had some choreographed dance numbers for the kids, and was playing some salsa licks in the background.

     It was a very pleasant visit, going far beyond simply the photo ops.  Her 15 piece followers (Luxembourg press & high up government and military officials) all seemed to enjoy our efforts.  A lot of it was simply her and I interacting as we walked through the nearest areas (the entire farm is over 40 acres).  Her wonderful attraction towards the kids themselves won over all the Nica hearts. She's a mother of 5 herself, and her Latin charm blended perfectly with a European elegance.  Accompanying her was the head of the Luxembourg Dept. of Treasury and Economics, he had adopted 3 children himself, two from Romania, one from Lux, he  obviously understood at a deeper level the nature of our work.

     We'd printed up special 'thank you' brochures (which accompanies this letter), and gave hundreds away to the visitors, we gave her a copy of 5'x5' sign displaying photos of before and after Casa Bernabe with a huge “Gracias Luxembourgo” in the center (she said she would like to show it to people of her country).  We presented the Luxembourg representatives and some of the Nicaraguan government officials with a pound of ‘Bernabe Coffee’ and a copy of the current Verbo Nicaragua magazine of our works here.  We also passed out 300 very well done full color Bible tracts on the life and ministry of Jesus. 

     A pastor of a 2nd Verbo church in Managua made a fabulous 3' x 5' map of Verbo's locations around the western hemisphere, to let folks know we're not simply an orphanage hidden on the outskirts of Managua.  Many had never been with us before and were quite surprised.

     Afterwards, a little exhausted, I took Myra and Michael out for a late breakfast.  God is good and certainly helped what could have been a confusing mess.  I think He does want to properly raise the Christian profile, but the strains financially, emotionally, logistically, psychologically, and so on, seem to be becoming more intense.   The ‘stakes in the game’ are going up world wide.  The opportunity we’d been provided with, to share our perspectives in one swoop with so many government officials, may cause interesting results. Let’s none of us lose any chances to raise His banner before the eyes of a dying world.

If you'd like to become more involved with the ministries down here, donations can be sent to:

                Verbo Ministries - Nicaragua
                P.O. Box
                Kenner LA  70063