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Newsletters
Feb 2013 |
Newsletters - Aug 2004Alongside Ministries en Nicaragua Dear Friends, Everyone knows what happens when you toss a pebble into a pond . . . the ripples begin, one after another, working their way outward and eventually touching the entire pond. We have discovered that Alongside Ministry works in a similar fashion and our recent experiences down here allowed us to feel and be a part of those ripples. Sometimes the initial pebble may seem small and insignificant but it produces an effect just the same. The initial “pebble” in Alongside Ministry comes from you – our friends, fellow believers and prayer partners. Through prayer, God moves in the hearts of others who are prompted to give and support monetarily. That’s the next little ripple. We have received support from people we’ve never met as well as ‘over and above’ support from our faithful friends which has allowed us to begin construction on the sports center fence, soccer field and baseball stadium. Then the ripples continue. We’ve been incredibly blessed by the folks who have given of their time and energy to come down and work alongside of us. The three Beldner brothers, Brian, Tim and Daniel, have been the backbone of our work teams down here. Their five week stay, dotted by visits from 4 of their close friends, has gone by so quickly but they leave with a promise to return again soon! Another returning visitor arrived shortly after the Beldner team. Brian DeHaan, who spent a month with us last summer, and one of his high school baseball players, Jimmy, arrived for a month of work and play. They worked hard along side the other visiting teams and helped Halle with baseball practices and games. Their knowledge, expertise and love of baseball provided Halle with some long awaited support, which he truly appreciated. A small team of high school graduates, Ambassadors through Christ for the City Ministries, joined us for a week of hard work and a little ‘clowning around’ with our feeding center kids. They dug footing trenches, cut out stumps and hauled brush into burn piles. They took a break from the hard labor and donned their clown suits to entertain and share the gospel message with the children at the feeding program, too. The Ambassadors were followed by a team from Menlo Park Presbyterian Church who continued where the others had left off. They dug more trenches, hauled foundation stones, and painted the steel for the fence and stadium projects. During their week here they were joined for two days by a work team from a church here in Managua. In the afternoons the two groups put down their construction equipment and took up some sports equipment and had some rousing games of soccer and La Crosse. Yes, I said La Crosse. One of the Menlo Park members plays on the Stanford La Crosse team and brought down equipment to donate to the sports center. What fun! The Menlo Park team visited with the children at the ministry center, as well, and helped pass out shoe box gifts from children and families in Germany and donated to us by Kids for the Kingdom. Two days after the Menlo Park team left we greeted a home church friend, Bri Durham, as she returned to Nicaragua for a week. Currently a Bible college student majoring in youth ministry, Bri has been to Nicaragua several times on various mission trips – the last one being the one with our family in July 2000, and she still has a heart for missions and especially Nicaragua. She used this week as a time to refresh her memories, to visit former Nica friends and places, and to pray about her future involvement in missions. We were blessed to have her in our home for this short time. Thank you to everyone – those pictured below and those behind-the-scenes supporters that made this past summer such a blessing to everyone! Serving Together, Thank you for supporting our ministry in Nicaragua. Eastside Development
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