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Newsletters
Feb 2013 |
Newsletters - Sep 2004Alongside Ministries en Nicaragua Dear Friends, The last lazy days of summer (here it’s ‘winter’) are winding down and we’ve just recently said good bye to the last of our summer guests. All of our guests helped and encouraged us greatly and we will never be the same because of their visits but our last two visitors were special in a different way. The last week of July brought a good friend of Kathy’s from the Woodinville, Washington area. Kathy and Joan Beck formed a strong friendship during the years when Kathy had Joan’s 2 sons in her classrooms. It really seems like one of those “meant to be” friendships. Since Kathy’s departure for Nicaragua Joan started taking Spanish classes in anticipation of visiting Nicaragua and she really did it! Joan came loaded with gifts from Kathy’s former colleagues in the Northshore area. Packing light for herself, Joan brought down 2 large duffle bags full of new and used school supplies collected at the end of the year at a couple different schools. Crayons, markers, glue sticks, paper, and pencils literally bulged from the duffle bags which were also packed with toys – cardboard blocks, hot wheels, legos, a “sit and spin” and much more. Several of these toys were given by Joan’s two boys themselves. What a blessing to receive these supplies and to envision passing them on to be used in some preschool and elementary schools down here. Thank you to everyone who contributed and helped with the collection process. Joan’s time, energy and determination to collect and pack all these things is a gift in and of itself. Later in August we welcomed our good friends Andy and Norma Sharpe, a farmer and Spanish language teacher from Eastern Washington. Our friendship with Andy and Norma extends all the way back to our college days at Central Washington University. While it is not unusual for a lot of time to pass between seeing one another, when we get together it is like we’ve hardly been apart. Our week with them went way too fast but it was a sweet time of fellowship and sharing, laughter and fun. With both of these visitors, Joan Beck and Andy and Norma, we managed to visit some tourist sights and do some fun activities while still managing our ministry obligations. The most special part of each of these visits was that they are personal friends who felt strongly enough about our friendship and about what we’re doing down here to invest their time and money to vacation in Nicaragua. Last spring was dotted with a similar visit from Steve Fish, Halle’s good friend from high school. Thank you dear friends! You blessed us so much with your interest and enthusiasm, your willingness to be alongside of us for a short time, and with your presence! (No, not presents, although we liked those, too!) With our summer teams winding up so are some of our summer projects. We are excited about the progress that has been made at the sports center. We now have a perimeter fence almost all the way around the property (excluding the baseball stadium) so we are just about ready to level out and plant grass on the soccer field. The baseball stadium has new walls, a new roof and new cyclone fencing. We’re pretty excited about the improvement and we think the community is pleased as well. We hope as we continue to make improvements that the community will learn from our modeling how to care for this facility and keep it clean and in repair. Already we’ve noticed that a small “snack shack” at the corner of the stadium has put out a trash bag. It was even pretty full of trash! That’s a huge step in the right direction! One of our privileges as we live down here is our opportunity to attend and be a part of an English speaking group of believers at International Christian Fellowship, an interdenominational church that meets just down the street on the Nicaragua Christian Academy campus. We’ve been attending for over a year now and really feel like it is our church home away from home. Last June our pastor felt called to leave Nicaragua to pursue ministry/teaching in the states. We just recently welcomed an interim pastor who will be with us until October. We are in the active process of pursuing a new pastor for our congregation. If you or anyone you know might be qualified and interested in this type of position please let us know and we can put you in touch with the pastor seeking committee. Please pray for us and for the person that God is preparing to take this position. We’ve grown to understand how vitally important it is to be fed God’s word and to fellowship with others in English and with others who share our own cultural interests. We’re excited to meet the person/people that God will bring so please pray that they respond to God’s call with enthusiasm and haste! Thank you again to everyone for your prayers and continual support through your friendship. Serving Together, Thank you for supporting our ministry in Nicaragua. Eastside Development A before and after shot of “Estadio El Salero”
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