Jetlag, lack of sleep and an overwhelming sense of culture shock meant that, from the very start of the International Scripture Blitz, I was relying on God’s strength. Our Blitz was covering Nicaragua’s capital city of Managua with the goal of distributing 90,000 Bibles. Nicaragua is the poorest country in Central America and is ruled by an overbearing communist government. Nevertheless, the Lord protected us and, through Him, we overcame many challenges. To His glory, over 95,000 Bibles were handed out!
The very first place I visited with my team of local Gideons was the Venezuelan School. We took our boxes into the schoolyard and gave Spanish New Testaments to some students who received them with joy and excitement. Gradually the crowd of children became denser and rowdier, eventually becoming a mob who were desperately reaching out to us to try and get a Bible. I’ve been to a few rock concerts with some wild crowds but not even that was able to fully prepare me for this assault!
Fortunately, for the rest of the week, we were able to visit each classroom individually. We shared about the Bible, the helps section and the Gospel in every classroom and many students signed their names in both the front and the back.
“Nevertheless, the Lord protected us and, through Him, we overcame many challenges. To His glory, over 95,000 Bibles were handed out!”
Our Blitz leader Allen even visited a school where the principal ordered all of the teachers to use their new Gideon Bible as a “textbook” and have the students read a Psalm every morning.
I was encouraged to see a very well-used Gideon Bible sitting on a backpack as we were leaving a Catholic school that turned us away. Somehow this Bible had made its way into the hands of a student there some time ago.
We had an almost 100% take-up rate distributing outside universities, even though the military shut down a university we were planning to visit just a day before we planned to go! When witnessing to students who were studying English, I would give them an “English exam” by having them read the back page of my own English Testament. Miguel, who I met at the Universidad Del Valle, is an English teacher and he said that he would be using the Gideon Bible as a textbook!
Our theme verse for this Blitz was Habakkuk 2:14, “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord…”. Through this Blitz, I was able to visit a place on the other side of the earth where I would never have dreamed of going to share the Gospel! Despite the great adversity it faces, there is hope for the people of Nicaragua. The youth of Managua are now equipped with the Word of God so we watch eagerly for our Lord to do even more wondrous things than we could imagine.
“For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord…” – Habakkuk 2:14
