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Newsletters
Jun 2010 |
Newsletters - February 2010Alongside Ministries en Nicaragua Dear Friends, My how time flies when you’re …. busy!!! But before we get into the ins and outs (ups and downs) of life down here we want to just drift back and remember our month of vacation with family and friends during December. It was absolutely wonderful and we want to thank so many of you for adding to our joy with your friendship and support. Shortly after we arrived in Washington in December we hosted Nica Night at our church and were blessed with an opportunity to see many of you and to visit and catch up a bit. In addition to seeing good friends and sharing a bit of our ministry, our Nica Night nibble, market and dessert auction is also a fundraising event to support our preschool and scholarship programs. We want to thank you all for supporting us through this event. We raised about $1300. That will pay for over 6 months of preschool teacher salaries, cover the tuition and supplies of almost 3 students at Covanic for a year or provide food for more than 6 months at the feeding program. Wherever those funds are applied they will touch the lives, minds or tummies of some of the children and adults in our ministry community and allow us to continue to be in relationship and minister to those around us. Thank you again to those of you who joined us at our Nica Night and Dessert Auction and a special thanks to our friends from Maple Valley Presbyterian Church who provided those incredible desserts for the auction. Thank you Janis and Steve Foss and friends! December seemed to fly by but not so fast that we didn’t have time to make new and wonderful memories. We spent Christmas Eve day and Christmas day surrounded by our parents, sons, their wives and our 2 granddaughters. Those were days full of laughter, good food, warm hugs and love. Precious memories that we continue to treasure. We returned to Nicaragua January 7th and hit the road running … but it’s a good race! Just 2 days after arriving we were joined by our good friends Bob and Bonnie Johnson from St. Paul United Methodist Church in State College, PA. This is their 3rd year to join us for an extended stay and their help with our ministry and their friendship are both special gifts to us. A week after they arrived we welcomed a 15 member team from their church for a 2 week mission. This team always brings a variety of skills, talents and gifts along with a lot of enthusiasm and we always seems to accomplish a lot while they are here. This year was no different. One goal of this team was to assist with the construction of the library expansion project. Not only did they bring muscle and know-how but they contributed financially to this project as well. This project was a “united” effort of the Woodinville United Methodist Church and the St. Paul United Methodist Church and it couldn’t have been done without both of you!
This team has always had a special passion for education and they come just 2 weeks before the start of school to help us launch the new year. They are very supportive of Amanda’s back-to-school backpack program and lend a hand organizing backpacks and supplies to help Amanda hand out over 500 backpacks to students.
They have also provided support to a small Christian school just a couple of miles from our home called Dios Con Nosotros (God with us). In the past they have built interior walls and painted the school facility so that each grade level could have a room of their own. This year they concentrated on the preschool room and gave it a dramatic face lift. Take a look at the before and after pictures below and you’ll see what I mean. Mary Ellen, her daughter Jess and Jan, members of the St. Paul team, blessed the school with their artistic abilities and made a preschool room any little child would be delighted to play in. Another donation provided new tables and chairs so the Dios Con Nosotros preschool is off to a great new year.
Now, almost at the close of February, we’ve got everything up and running. El Farito preschool is off to a smooth start, the scholarship students at Covanic (graduates from our preschool) are settled in and doing well, the feeding program is serving lunch to a hungry crowd and it feels like we never took a break at all. Through all of our activities we continue to pray that God would use us to minister to the children, youth and families of our community through our relationships and friendships. Now, also at the close of February, we’ll be saying goodbye to Bob and Bonnie (leaving on the 26th) and, on the 1st of March, welcoming Nick and Megan Vinther and their 2 children, Drew and Abbey, who will be staying with us until the first part of July. Feeling that nudge from the Holy Spirit to explore ministry beyond their comfort zone, Nick and Megan are taking advantage of a break in their careers to join us in alongside ministry (literally, since their bedroom is right alongside ours) and to see what life is really like here in Nicaragua. Please be in prayer for them as they are finalizing those last few details, packing and preparing their hearts and minds for travel and moving into the unknown for several months. Other prayer requests: Please pray that God would continue to be the focus of our lives and ministry. Please pray for the children involved in our programs whether at the sports center, preschool or feeding program, that we would have the opportunity to touch them with the love of Jesus. Please pray for the future, that God would lead and that we would continue to respond with obedience. Thank you so much for your friendship and partnership with us in ministry. Serving Together, Thank you for supporting our ministry in Nicaragua. Eastside Development |
