Shameless fundraising

This is a blog that is written as an accompaniment to a fund raising email that I have recently sent to a select few people who have shown interest in supporting me as I work in a rural community located in Nicaragua. If you did not receive this email; feel free to read on anyway.

As brief as I can be.....

In 1998, Hurricane Mitch blew up the unfortunate isthmus of Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and parts of Mexico. A few people from Western NC were dispatched down to help piece together the aftermath. As the wreckage began to subside; they were directed to a refugee village where hundreds of people were living in little shanties made of sticks and plastic. Many were without work, the children with no means of educations, and very few with hope. Vision Nicaragua has since built homes for everyone in the village; erected a school, and provided sponsorships for students, sick men, and widows. As problems are solved, the organization continues to take on new ones in a full-fledged attempt at developing this community.

Many of the men who do have work are employees of a massive Sugar Cane Plantation owned by the richest man in Nicaragua. These men are out among the cane fields all day with no source for water other than irrigation systems laced with contaminants. I've seen reports that the chemicals include Arsenic, DDT, and several other harmful substances. These men contract a disease known as Creatinina which attacks the kidneys. Many of these men die at a very young age. They are also monitored closely by the plantation and when the disease begins to weaken them; they are fired and sent home with a small sum of money. This is in exchange for years of service that ultimately amount to a death sentence.

As this story was unfolding, I am advancing in my life at a pace very acceptable to my peers. My stability is rising with every paycheck and every incremental rise of the insulated housing market of the Greater Triangle Area. This did not sit well with me however, as began to read the story of the Rich Young Ruler in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. I knew that I was him, and that Jesus was asking me a question. I also believed that in the most incredibly beautiful but weird way; this God had come to earth, found me in my shortcomings, and took my portion of this world's evil upon himself. He spoke into the deepest desires of my heart and He wanted to satisfy them. This led me to see that I'd already been given everything I really needed and a whole lot more. I wanted to pour something back out. I learned through scripture and logic that God cares deeply for the poor and oppressed peoples of this world and that He would want me to reach out to them if I could. I didn't really know what to do with these thoughts, but ultimately they led me here. Don't think that I am knocking on those of you who are steadily advancing your careers at home in US. If it weren't for you; I would have no reason to post this blog.

Vision Nicaragua has since begun efforts to create a small business park including a bakery/cafe, bike shop, welding shop, and block factory. This project serves as a way for the sick and dying men of Bethel, Nicaragua to work outside of the Sugar Cane Plantation. It also will allow the younger ones to avoid this disease that continues to claim their father's lives. This is where I enter the scene. For most of this year; I will have been and continue to be helping to make this business park a reality in the role of a Project Coordinator. If you would like to help me out financially. Please email me at awilser@gmail.com and I will graciously accept.

lots of love,
alan

What do you desire?

So often my faith that is popularly known as Christianity; is pegged as a social convention meant to conform it's followers into well behaved people. To make people "ACK RIGHT". If you know what I'm saying. This sits with me about like a bowl of tomato soup with cocoa puffs. I see a Jesus who is calling into my deepest desires. I see a world created as the most perfect and satisfying array of beauty that my eyes could ever behold. I see a wife so pure and beautiful that I could never doubt her and almost never take my eyes off. I feel the presence of a God sometimes who wants so badly to fulfill every desire of my heart. He speaks words of truth into my being and tells me that I'm made with his majestic qualities wrapped into every fiber. He says that I'm unique and complex and that my life holds great purpose. He wants to say this to every one of us, I believe. The flipside is that there is another power at work, and it is in full opposition to this one, yet it always looks so very appealing. I sit in a happy place today. A place where I know that I'm being redeemed and that I'm very very loved. I want to invite the world into this with me, but so often, I dont' know how.

light weight

So Josh came over to watch Monday Night Football tonight. I think the Skins are going to take care of the Eagles. Although, the Eagles are moving down the field pretty well late in the 4th quarter. Josh fell asleep at Halftime. What a weenie! Does anyone like IPAs? These beers are pretty intense. Very hoppy I think you would say. I set out tonight to write the most random blog of all time. LaDainian Tomlinson is a very hard name to spell........correctly.

Go Team!

Sean Pratt inspired,
alan

as quiet as He needs to be

I've been wondering about God's silence lately and I'm rediscovering his gentle voice in my life. I'm beginning to wonder if God becomes more and more silent as our lives come into pace with his and louder and louder the further off we are. I'm not so sure that this is the rule for all humans and actually I'm quite sure that it's not as Jesus rarely did anything the same way twice and never abdicated formulas for anything. (maybe prayer but that's arguable) So I've just read an article about Mother Teresa and her struggles with doubt. The premise of her experience is that she heard from God all the time. She heard a specific call to go to Calcutta and as we all know, she went. MT tells us that God has hardly spoken since she arrived in Calcutta some 50 years ago. This has understandably led to some considerable doubt in her spiritual life. I find a great deal of comfort in knowing that even the Great Momma T has experienced this. I know what she's feeling and it's so whack that God operates the way He does.....(or maybe it's me thats whack), but the point is that guys like John Eldredge always talk about these little things that they know are God, like finding a huge elk skull in the brush as He walks through the woods. You can also note my dolphin experience the other day. Things that most men would consider luck or coincidence. I ponder the validity of these things and I hold my very own experiences in suspicion while reveling in the beauty of their truth. I don't know why I feel entitled to celebrate the truth of the miraculous in my life while harboring some doubt as to whether or not God is directly behind it, but I do. All this to say that God has been ever real in my life this past week and yet I've been so terribly unfaithful to Him of late. I actually worked this past week which is due in part to the fact that I'm about to raise some support and I felt like I needed to be a part of that. On the other hand I just enjoy manual labor to some degree and how cool is it to be paid for hanging out with your boys , building stuff, and getting paid for it. Anyway, I held an incredible amount of guilt for my poor discipline in a few areas and yet I knew this guilt was from something beyond me. It has to be God. The things that I'm dealing with have absolutely zero to do with my relationships with other people on this earth and yet I'm feeling so horrible about myself. I suppose that is some sort of evidence to my faith and if there so exists this faith then why is my affection towards Jesus so very well forgotten these past few weeks. We are currently discussing movement beyond emotion at Visio Dei. So what does that mean. I suppose it means that as long as we're doing GOOD THINGS in our community and our world b/c we feel moved by some video with a kid crying over his dead brother or some song on Sunday morning that really felt good to sing; our efforts will not endure. They will exist only somewhere within our convenience. There must be something much deeper at the core of our movement. There must be a deep conviction that something must be done and you are the one to do it. What will move us to point? It must be a living God that has literally blown you away with his love for you. We may be the type of people that just want to help, but where does a long lasting conviction really stem from? I'm going to argue that it stems from a love that we've already been given. I don't know how someone continues to stay true despite 50 years of silence from the God that drives her. I don't get it but I certainly have to applaud it.

and God surfaced

I went surfing at Emerald Isle this morning which isn't the greatest surf spot ever but, there is a decent ground swell coming in from a tropical system out in the Atlantic. I paddled out around 8:30 or so and I was all alone in the water except for a few other surfers a few hundred yards to the south. The lines were coming in very clean and the wind was slightly off-shore so things were setting up quite nicely, at least for an NC beach. Everything was closing out rather quickly, but it was definitely worth it just to be out. The sun was climbing up the horizon and things couldn't have been much more beautiful. I had turned to face the beach for just a brief second and then heard something behind me. I turned to realize that a dolphin was surfacing only 10 ft away from me. The 8 foot long mammal shot air and water through it's blowhole and I simply couldn't believe it. As long as I've been swimming and surfing in the ocean I've wanted to get close to a dolphin. It was an incredibly special moment for me.....almost as if God just wanted to me to have it. It was like He said, "Alan, watch this. You're going to love this........and then what, a dolphin right there. "God, I think you just talked to me. In any case, I hope we can do this again some time, perhaps next Tuesday. Yes, more dolphins next Tuesday. Great, I'll see ya there."