Newsletters - Jul 2003
Alongside Ministries en Nicaragua
Evangelism Through Relationships
Halle and Kathy August, Missionaries
amen@ibw.com.ni
www.alongsideministries.org
Jul 2003
Dear Friends,
We are settled and back into the swing of life down here in Nicaragua. Shortly after Kathy returned to Managua we started working with and assisting a good friend who is here from Washington hosting a team from her church in Maple Valley. We worked with her through the process of getting a container released and doing some minor preparations for the arrival of her team. She and her group are building a ministry center, very similar in vision to what we hope to have here in Managua, in a town called San Ramon which is about a 2 hour drive from here. They brought down everything from tools to toilets along with some great blessings for us as well. We have our new cement mixer thanks to the support of our wonderful church family and the direction of Jim Jobes. We will be able to put that to good use as it seems everything is built from concrete down here! We have also received a fresh supply of baseball equipment – balls, mitts, bats, shoes, shirts, pants… And just in time because Halle has two new teams he is starting up. We want to extend our warmest thanks to the Aldersgate United Methodist church family for this donation and for their interest and support of our ministry down here. We hope they will come down sometime and meet some of the children that are using their donations. One of the great things about baseball is that the language barrier is minimal as it seems the game speaks a universal language understood by all.
Speaking of baseball, Halle’s team is great with the tools of the game but they’re also great with some other tools as well. At this time of year the adult Nica baseball teams play each Sunday at all the local fields and by the end of the double header the area around the field is trashed – literally. It looks like a dumping ground for plastic pop bottles, plastic bags, empty liquor bottles and a lot of other junk. Halle arrived one afternoon, typically a practice afternoon, with shovels, rakes and lots of plastic bags. The boys were excited to clean up “their” field and they really went to work. They spent 3 ½ hours raking and shoveling dirt from here to there to even out the playing field and filling bag after bag with trash until the field and surrounding area looked really beautiful. They are proud of the work they accomplished and want to continue to keep it looking good. It will take some work after each Sunday adult game but we hope, in a small way, that we are beginning to instill some good habits in these youth that will make a difference in their community when they are adults.
In addition to helping the team from Maple Valley we are also preparing for a family team of 7 who arrive from Missouri this week. Dennis and Nancy Beldner along with their young adult children and a friend will be helping us in our feeding program neighborhood. We will be assisting Nancy, a registered nurse, and her friend to operate a 2-day medical clinic for the children and parents in the neighborhood while Halle and the guys complete the construction of a bathroom and begin digging the foundation for the ministry center.
The rains have come to Managua and it’s a pleasant change to the dry dusty weather of the dry season. We are getting rain just about daily – sometimes a lot, sometimes just a little but always enough to frustrate the laundry routine. The clothes just won’t dry in the rain!!! One of our favorite things to do at this time of year is to head to a nearby gas station that has a little fast food café called On The Run. We can sit there and enjoy a real cappuccino for only fifty cents in their very cool air conditioned café, look out at the clouds and rain and almost believe we’re sitting somewhere in the Seattle area. Then we remember, this can’t be Seattle, the cappuccino only cost fifty cents!!
The repairs on our truck continue to slowly progress (emphasis on slowly). What the shop owner originally said would take 4-5 weeks has stretched out to nearly 4 months with still several weeks to go. We are anxious to have the truck back to help us with airport runs, transporting baseball kids, and hauling building materials but in the meantime we’re learning patience. That can be a tough lesson!
The process of purchasing property doesn’t seem to be much faster but we are on the verge of signing on the purchase of 1 ½ manzanas (roughly 2 ½ acres) in the Chiquilistagua neighborhood. This property is within walking distance of a baseball field where Halle is working with a group of boys and two of the three preschools where Kathy is involved. We are certainly familiar to the folks in that area and hope we will be welcomed as their neighbors.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow… we do!
Serving Together,
Halle and Kathy August
AMEN
Alongside Ministries en Nicaragua
Thank you for supporting our ministry in Nicaragua.
Your gifts, sent to Eastside Development (formally The NEO Foundation),
will be used for our general ministry activities or wherever you designate.
Eastside Development
PO Box 301471
Portland, OR 97294 |