Hello again my friends!
This afternoon I was disappointed to find that none of the other martial arts teachers could accompany me to teach self defense at the House of Hope(check out their website at http://houseofhopenicaragua.com/) . It is a refuge for girls and women who either worked in or were forced into prostitution. Due to the nature of the work there, I cannot teach classes without another person there to help out with the class. This left me with some free time. So I went to get my pictures taken for a new passport. Two good things on a side note: 1) the pictures only cost $1.50 for six 2) my passport photo will no longer look like a murder suspect.
Afterwards, I still had a free evening so I went to run with two of my buddies. The sun was an imense, vermillion disc setting beyond the highway's horizon. We ran a 10K, walked home (another kilometer), and trained for another hour and a half. I felt astonished that I could do so much without falling over and dying. That was not the highlight of the evening though. We ran twenty-five laps around a massive traffic circle, La Rotonda La Virgen which contains a park inside. There were a lot of people walking around, and the more we ran, the more the walkers began to run as well. The funniest was a couple that started running while still holding hands. Eventually we saw one Nicarguan man who started to race us. We were in our final lap of the 25 around the four hundred-meter traffic circle, and he slowed to a walking pace. After we finished, we started walking to cool down. The young man joined us.
He explained that he was a private in the air force, and that he was training for an exam to be promoted to the rank of sergeant. He explained the exam to us, and it sounded pretty grueling. We talked more, and he told us about the different parts of Nicaragua he had visited, the psychology of training, martial arts, police corruption, anti-corruption tactics in the military, and finally about God. I found out that he lived near the church where I preach. I also found out that he doesn't believe in God.
"I am trained to kill, and due to the nature of my job, I don't believe that I can follow God," he said, but in Spanish.
"There are a lot of warriors in the Bible," I answered, still in Spanish.
"I know, but my senior ranking officers beat me to keep me disciplined. I have to obey them," he rebutted.
"There is a being who outranks all men on this Earth, and you have to obey his commands with a disciplined spirit," I told him.
He seemed a lot more interested. I invited him to the Sunday service at the church. He agreed to go! I am praying that I will see him there and that God will move in his life. After all, we can run as many miles as we want, but we can never run away from God's presence.
"Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast." Psalm 139:7-10
Gott segne dich!
Seth
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