Little Bit of This and That

In the midst of a busy summer my family has decided it is the year to get married. :-) In May it was my little brother and in June it was my Mom.

I traveled to Colorado for a quick week to see my family and take part in my mom's wedding to Mike. It was a themed wedding that took place in the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs with a beautiful view of Pikes Peak behind them. While it was wonderful to share in this special time with my Mom it was hard to say good-bye to my siblings again. While there are so many wonderful things about living and serving in Nicaragua I would have to say the one of the hardest is being far away from family.

Carylla, Don, Mom, Bethany and Marnie

Father's day was also special for me too this year because I got to spend it with my Dad. This was the first time in maybe 8 years that we were in the same country and state. We had a big BBQ with the family and it was wonderful.

Now I'm off to work with another team here in Nicaragua. I'll be back on the 7th. Please pray for safety, connections with Nicaraguans, energy and a meaningful time for all.

Laughter does a Heart Good

From Seacoast 20 somethings 2009

Now the Seacoast 20 Somethings team has come and gone! They were a lively group of 11. We loaded up the bus and headed out to work with Iglesia Estrella de Belen in Villa El Carmen. The team stayed with wonderful host families. The evenings were filled with lots of broken Spanish, English and lots of laughter. Many team members brought down games like Jenga and UNO to play with their families at night. This was a hoot! Our house was up late laughing many nights as we tried not to wake the baby while building the Jenga tower.

The team was involved in lots of different ministry during the week. Soccer games in the community, VBS program, house visits, church services, youth games, soccer tournaments etc. As we went through the schedule laid out for the week I was reminded that laughter is a universal language! Infants, adults, youth and the elderly all love to laugh. We all do it in differnt ways but there is something so freeing about a good hearty laugh. Laughter is a bond that can unite people across lanugage barriers, economic differences, cultural differences and disabilities.

From Seacoast 20 somethings 2009

Allison is a sweet little 4 year old who has Downs Syndrome. While one might think that there is not a lot that could bring laughter to such a difficult situation as her quite the contrary is actually true. She lives life in its simplist form. She jumps with glee at the sight of bubbles being blown into the air and water balloons.

From Seacoast 20 somethings 2009

From Seacoast 20 somethings 2009

Loose Screws

New Things Learned!
Car trouble inevitably follows me wherever I go and whatever vehicle I seem to be driving. Thankfully I seem to learn a lot about cars in the process and get to see God work in incredible ways.

On Tuesday I took my truck to Jason, a missionary mechanic to replace the clutch that was going out. There was a little bit of a time crunch because the truck is needed Friday to go out to the boonies for a medical outreach. Jason assured me that he could get the truck done no problem by Friday at noon. Wednesday night I was babysitting Jason's two kids and he told me that he was having a lot of trouble getting some bolts loose. He spent 4 hours working on them and in the process broke a few tools. He assured me that they had a plan and that he was still going to get it done in time and not to worry. I wasn't worried but did submit the need to the Lord in prayer.

I shared the situation with the staff at Christ for the City and we all prayed about it on Thursday. Jason told me today that he went in on Thursday morning and was able to get the bolts loose in about 20 minutes. God loosened the screws and allowed Jason to get the job done. It is impressive to see the details that our God attends to in each of our lives. Jason told me that he was worried that things were not going to go back together very easily. Today as I picked up the truck Jason shared that everything went back together really easily. Praise the Lord for His mighty hand over the screws, mechanics, tools and people in His service.

A little side note. The tools that broke were under warranty in Canada and will be replaced too!

Please pray for the medical outreach this weekend and for the Seacoast 20's team that is coming in on Sunday. Nathan and I will be gone with them all week. It's going to be a fun and adventurous week.

From blog photos

Here are some of our summer interns loading up the truck for the medical outreach

From blog photos

The coming Tsunami

In our office we jokingly refer to the summer flurry of teams as the summer Tsunami. Well it is almost upon us and has already sucked a few of us into a rapid pace.

First of all I give thanks to God for a very productive and relatively peaceful few weeks of work in the office. It could only be the hand of God as many of you who have been here know how quickly and crazy things get. I have been able to get lots of things organized for the Short Term Missions department as well as make lots of plans for the upcoming teams that I will be working with.

On Sunday the first team arrives. Nathan and I will be working with the Seacoast 20 somethings team for a week in Villa El Carmen. It will be a week full of sports, sun and making new friends.

Please pray for the following:

• New relationships to be formed between the church members and new believers in the community

• Safety in planes, buses and cars

• Health (we'll be staying with families at the church Estrella de Belen)
• Energy
• A teacher training that I will be leading right after the team leaves
• Financial support- may the Lord continue to provide all that is needed
  

Thanks for following along with me on this journey!