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Newsletters
Jun 2010 |
Newsletters - May 2006Alongside Ministries en Nicaragua Dear Friends, It has been several months since we’ve written and up-dated you on the happenings here in Nicaragua. While we haven’t been in touch with you all through a newsletter we have appreciated the messages and letters from you all that have reminded us that we are still in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you so much. Since we last wrote we have been quite busy. Mid-February brought a team from our home state of Washington. They were a group of 9 from Twisp, Washington under the leadership of Pastor John Smith. John visited us over a year ago with another friend of his and left with a vision to bring a group back for a short term mission. God blessed his vision and he returned with a mixed group of youth and adults, father and daughter, husband and wife which represented 2 or 3 different churches from his area. They were involved in a variety of activities and projects which blessed the Nicaraguan children and their families and which blessed us here in our on-going sports center and ministry center projects.
It seems we’re always looking for more storage and with our steady stream of teams we have been in great need of a storage area for all of our sheets, towels, blankets and pillows. This great group of gringos transformed a corner of our dorm into a dust free, walk-in storage closet providing ample room for our bedding supplies and more. Truly a blessing!
We were sad to see these wonderful workers from Woodinville leave but are excited that they will return to Woodinville to share what they’ve seen and done and to continue to strengthen our ties with our home church family. Following the Woodinville group we welcomed a group of 16 from Kingsway Christian School in Indiana. This Mennonite affiliated school sent down the senior class for their annual international ministry project. This group was busy from sun up to sun down with work projects and evangelism activities. We got power to the ranchon just in time for this group to use it for VBS and some evening out-reach evangelism, For 3 days they sponsored a VBS program for the children of the immediate neighborhood and each of those evenings reached out to the older youth and adults with activities that included a speaker, Mario Aviles, giving his testimony and message and a couple of movies which provided an evangelistic message. Each time we sponsor an evening activity in the ranchon we see a greater and greater response and are so thankful for this group’s contribution in this area.
Two weeks after the Kingsway team it was D-Day….. the deadline for completing our new dorm!! The last time we wrote we mentioned the financial gift that enabled us to build a second dorm and that we were hoping to finish it before the rains started in May. Well, we turned the burners on high and worked to get the dorm finished a month early to be ready to house our first annual (!?!) family team from First Presbyterian Church in Bellevue, Washington. Just an hour before their flight was due to touch down we were still cleaning floors and hanging curtains and praying that at least one toilet would flush without leaking. Praise the Lord – no leaks!!!
The entrance and courtyard of our new dorm.
While the ministry and projects continue to grow and expand at the sports center just a mile and a half down the road our ministry center continues to thrive. Kathy and Lori are teaching preschool and the program just continues to develop and improve. They love their group of children this year and are enjoying watching them grow and learn. There is no greater blessing than to hear our Bible words (memory verse) flow from the mouth of one of our students, “Te alabo, O Señor, porque soy una creación admirable.” I praise you, O Lord, because I am wonderfully made! Probably one of the easiest parts of ministry is loving our preschoolers in the name of the Lord! Well, I think we’ve got you caught up on our lives and ministry in Nicaragua. It’s been a wild ride but we just keep hanging on and trusting God. He has never failed us and we know He never will! As far as our family life goes we’ve got another important announcement! Just about a month ago son #2, Britton, announced his engagement to his girlfriend of 2 years, Chelsea Guier. For the last 3 years they have been attending school together at Northwest University and it has been fun to watch and hear about their growing relationship and love for one another. They are planning a May 2007 wedding following their graduations from the university. Wow!! What a year it has been!! If you are reading this last paragraph, thank you for sticking with us to the end! We appreciate all of you so much for your interest in our ministry and lives. We give thanks for you always, for your support, your prayers and your friendship. Please continue to pray for us in all ways. When you don’t know what to pray for specifically please just lift us up to the Lord. He is so gracious and we live in His grace every day! Serving Together, Thank you for supporting our ministry in Nicaragua. Eastside Development |
Hot on the tail of the Twisp team came a team of men from our home church in Woodinville, Washington. Five men, Jim Jobes, Howie Schwend, Brad Maynard, Jim Clark and Jeff Porter (who was joined a week later by his wife Vivian) came down to bless our socks off and that’s just what they did! They were willing to tackle any job, big or small, from tightening a hinge to straighten a cupboard door, to sanding and fixing sticky doors, to building cabinets, counters and storage closets… they would do anything we dreamed up for them to do. They exemplified a “dream team” if ever there was one. Thanks to these marvelous men we have new counters and cabinets at the ministry center and beautiful new storage cabinets, lovingly stained by Vivian, for our preschool. Here’s Howie laying down on the job – literally!
While keeping busy around our place they also kept an eye on the construction of a new home for Loyda, a friend and teacher/director of a small Christian school. The generous giving of the folks from Woodinville Community Church provided the funds for building this home and for blessing her as she, in turn, continues to work in and for her community, blessing them with the love of the Lord. Here are before and after shots of Loyda’s house and family.
We had a blast with the Bellevue family team! Five families were represented – 9 children between the ages of 5 and 12 and 7 adults. This team’s focus was on neighborhood evangelism and they planned and provided a wonderful 3-day vacation Bible school program for the children of Cedro Galan – our ministry center neighborhood. These children played and sang and made crafts and had fun and got wet!! We had lots of fun with the hundreds (or was it a thousand?) water balloons and ended up with just a good old fashioned water fight!! Ahhh… it feels good in the hot Nicaraguan sun. Along with the fun these children received a wonderful Easter week message about our risen Savior. Many of the children knew some of the “right answers” to the Easter story questions but they also heard the best answer of all for the problem of our sinful lives…YOU ARE FORGIVEN AND YOU ARE LOVED ALWAYS AND FOREVER! Jesus didn’t die on the cross just to forgive our sins so we could live contented lives here on earth. He died to forgive our sins so we can live victorious lives in heaven with HIM. It’s all about a relationship with Him and the Bellevue team taught and modeled the joy of a life with Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Thank you so much Julie and David, Katy and Lindsay, Cindy and Greg, Bridget and Grant, Cindy and Bill and JJ, Elizabeth, Brendan and Justin and Jane and Bill. You have left a blessing-shaped impression on our lives and ministry. We really hope to see some of you down here again in the future!
So, that brings you up-to-date on our team activity. But that’s not all!!! Just a week ago we had an opening night extravaganza kicking off a local youth group that will meet weekly at the sports center. Working with some fellow missionaries and friends, Adrian and Cheryl Mingo (he’s Argentinian and she’s from our home soil of Washington state!), we planned a great night of wild and crazy games, snacks and a salvation message. We were targeting youth from the age of 15 and up and were expecting 50 – 60 youth. Well, I should say Adrian was expecting that many. In the back of my mind I thought, “Lord, please let enough show up to at least play a game or two.” I really thought 50 was an unattainable expectation. And, of course, as usual, I was right - - - NOT!!
The numbers were very hard to count but we had at least 80 or so youth and another 50 or so on-lookers (adults and children). After 2 hours of games out on the basketball court we invited everyone into the ranchon. We sang a bit and Adrian shared a powerful message that ended with a decision. He reminded them that everyone was going to make a decision tonight – either a decision to accept Jesus Christ as Lord or a decision not to. It was a serious message and you could tell by the attentiveness of the group that they were listening seriously as well. Following the prayer a dozen or more indicated that they had made a decision for Christ that evening. It was an amazing and incredible evening. We’re meeting again tonight to plan tomorrow night’s meeting and message. Please keep us in your prayers that we would continually turn our plans and planning over to God that He would be glorified in all the success of our endeavors. Pray, too, for the youth and families of Chiquilistagua that the Holy Spirit would continue to work in their lives and hearts and lead them into a relationship with God that will be life-changing!
