What do you do when you’re in your 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s? You work… but now for the Kingdom of God!
I just came back from my trip to Nicaragua to visit my parents. After many years here in Minnesota, they moved back to Nicaragua and have been there for almost 20 years. My visit had three purposes: 1) Be with my parents; 2) Present my book “The Friendship Book” in Spanish “El Libro de la Amistad” in Managua; and 3) Go on a short mission trip with my parents as part of the nonprofit organization they founded two years ago.
At age 72, my mother found what I call her “Kingdom calling.” She’s always had a heart for the poor and had been involved in her church in Managua for many years serving the poor in that community. But now God is giving her the opportunity to realize her bigger dream, her heart’s desires – to bring help to the poorest of the poor and in a larger scale. She will be 75 this year and is busier than ever with the nonprofit association. They meet weekly in their home to prepare the packages for the missions trips.
My dad is now 91 years old and thanks to God, his body and mind are healthy—just older and fragile. As an attorney, he drafted and coordinated all the legal paperwork to start the organization. He specialized in family law during his career and now is offering to perform civil marriage services (for free) as part of what he can provide at his age. It is common for couples in these villages to live together and never marry due to lack of money so this is an amazing blessing in their lives. My mom takes him everywhere and their group of new friends watches over them and love on them as they all work together for the Kingdom.
On this trip, God gave me one of my dreams too which was to experience a trip to the poor villages in Nicaragua—with them. We had a blast! Nicaragua is mostly Catholic, so my mom coordinates with the priest at each village they go to and ensures the poorest families come to receive gifts. I have to clarify that even though I don’t agree with simply “giving away a handout” these families are farmers so when the rain doesn’t come or it comes too early, they lose their crops. They are left with nothing. There is no other work to be had in these areas so in these cases, they do need the help. There are other instances when the association provides funding to start their little businesses such as making tortillas or bread.
Trip to Cuapa, Chontales, Nicaragua
On Sunday, March 3, 2018, we got up at 4:45 a.m. to get ready to go on our trip to Cuapa, a municipality of the department of Chontales, about 2 ½ hours from the capital of Managua. We arrived in Cuapa at around 11 a.m. (after leaving at 6:30 a.m. and stopping once) to the parish where we picked up the priest to go to another little church where the families were waiting for us. My brother, Orlando Flores, joined me on this trip and stayed with our parents for a few days too. On the way there, we prayed together, we sang songs, and told jokes in Spanish!
We arrived at the church at 11:30 a.m. and were done distributing the gifts at 1 p.m. Most of you who know me know that I have the tendency to take charge and become the leader of whatever it is I’m involved with. This time, I simply let my mom lead everything and I became one of the “worker bees” for God! The joy I experienced while giving the things we brought to these families was beyond any blessing I’ve ever received.
There were 100 families that came to receive the help and every single person who went through the line told me, “God bless you.” I responded, “He already has—just by being here with you.” I received so many hugs of love and appreciation! The youth were singing songs and the little church was filled with the peace and love of God. I’m sure Jesus was smiling as I also observed my parents both crying tears of happiness seeing the work of God unfold right before their eyes. We attended church in Cuapa in the outdoors, had a picnic lunch, and returned home by 5 p.m. On the way back, we reflected on God’s goodness and the blessing it was for all of us to serve God by serving the poor.
Today I want to encourage you to get involved. Help someone in need—whether that’s your neighbor, your coworker, or in a distant land. Go! There is so much need and sorrow in the world. And even though you cannot help the entire world, you can help one person at a time or a small group at a time. If you would like to see photos of the trip, visit my Facebook page here.
I will also surprise my parents by telling them I’ll become a member of the nonprofit association by paying the small annual dues of $120. They use this money to pay for gas, pay for the bus drivers, and other small expenses to do their missions trips (they get the bus rental donated from a rental company). If you want to learn more about their organization, please let me know or visit their Facebook page here. Every time they come to the US they leave with four suitcases filled with our donated clothes, shoes, and whatever their six kids can help with. We know it will all end up in some little village in the country that God chose for us to be born—Nicaragua—a naturally beautiful country where the people have suffered so much with earthquakes, civil war, communism, hurricanes, and most of all, unending poverty.
As always, I love you all, my dear friends. May God bless you richly so you can help others in need. You are never too old to help others.