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!

Coming Full Circle

Pastor Franlym, Myrna and Julia

Something amazing happened last week that I want to share with you. As the news spread among friends that we were robbed I felt an overwhelming amount of love and support from so many both here and in the States. By the time I got to the house after receiving the news of the break in there were already 5 friends at the house being supportive in whatever way they could.
Alcides was in Rivas when he heard the news and must have shared it with a Pastor I know and have worked with lots this year. Pastor Franlym is an amazing pastor that I have enjoyed working with. He is a dreamer and has lots of vision for his church and his community. God has graciously allowed us to partner with his church for two teams this year.
Franlym upon hearing about my situation sent me an email that same afternoon. His email was filled with encouragement and love. He gave several verses to remind me of God’s care for His children. While I didn’t actually read it until several days later God was saving it for a moment when I needed it most. The most amazing thing that I walk away with from all this is that God is so faithful. We have worked to build a relationship with Pastor Franlym and his church. We have provided training, brought supplies and all kinds of encouragement and discipleship tools to the church and now the relationship has moved to another level. The relationship is a recipricol one. In a moment of need Franlym stepped up and used his God-given gifts to bless the people and ministry of Christ for the City.
This is fruit of the seeds that God has planted through you, and me and many others. What a beautiful picture this is of God’s faithfulness played out in the growth, challenges and lives of His children.

Here is a link to pictures from the week that The Kirk was working with Pastor Franlym's church El Nazareno in Popoyoapa.

Where Does it Go?

We receive many teams each year here in Nicaragua and people often ask where does all of our money go? There are many ways that your money goes to work here in Nicaragua. First your money covers your food, housing and transportation while you are here. An offering is given to the families that you stay with as well as to the pastor and his family. The ministry also uses some of the money to help cover rent and utilities for our office here in Managua. An offering is also given to the church to help with whatever supplies/materials etc they need in order to continue the work that may have begun while you were here. These funds are used at the pastor's discretion and is always received with much gratitude.

Recently, Fabricio made it out to the church in Caimito to see what they have done with their offering. T bar M Camps brought a team out to work with them in March. A children's camp was held all week long and the kids had a blast. I think the team did too. :-)

From Caimito

The church in Caimito used their offering to build a kitchen so that they could start a feeding program for kids in the area. They receive food donations every week from another organization and give lunch to kids after school. The kitchen has been a huge blessing for the church and the community. They were also able to make some chairs for the kids to sit on too.

From Caimito

From Caimito

Click here to see a video of T bar M's week in Caimito

God of Details

So I know it has been a week since the Kirk of the Hills team left but I have had trouble accessing my blog so I am sorry this is later than I had hoped.

The week with the Kirk was great! God totally reminded me of His greatness and that no matter how hard I try I can't plan for everything and that is ok. Before the team even arrived there were details that I couldn't have expected. One of the adult team members was going to arrive 3 days after the team. I had made arrangements for him to stay with one of the families from the church. Later on he had to pull out of the trip all together. The same day I found out that he was no longer coming was the same day that the grandmother of the Nicaraguan family got really sick. It was a relief for the family to be able to focus on caring for their grandmother and not worry about a guest in their home. During the week that we were in Popoyoapa, Rivas the grandmother passed away. God knew the plans for that week and He took care of all the details before we even knew what was going to happen.

It was marvelous to see the youth from the team working together with the youth from the church during the week. We had the opportunity to clean up, paint and repair desks at a little two room school in the community. Everyone worked together joyfully. Even the kids from the school were out helping clean up their school. Thankfully not too much blue paint ended up in places that it shouldn't be. :-)

Take a moment to check out the pics from the week. I didn't post all of them but there are a few here. Hopefully I'll have the Kirk video linked up soon too.

Home Sweet Home

Yes, that's right. I am home (my house in Managua) now for at least a few weeks. Last night was the first night of many to sleep in my own bed and wake up and not have to dig through my backpack for my toothbrush. :-)

The summer has been downright BUSY! We just finished up with a Tsunami of teams for the summer. Praise the Lord we saw lots of amazing things happen during the past few weeks with three different teams all here at the same time. Grace Church sent a medical team and spent the week sleeping in hammocks and running a clinic in Villa del Carmen. Seacoast Youth spent the week in Madroñal working with the youth there and ended with a weekend retreat with youth leaders from around the area.
Kirk of the Hills youth spent the week in Popoyoapa working and playing with the youth of the community. Now there is one more team on the way this Friday.

As we take time to finish up with this last team and regroup after a busy time I'll write more with specific stories if how God is working and has worked through the summer.

TRUCK UPDATE
Still waiting on the final police report and court decision. They keep telling us to come back. Hopefully this week we'll know more. Meanwhile, the truck sits and waits for the mechanic to do an estimate of repairs. I still can't touch it until we get the final ruling.

Only on a Mission Trip

So in my line of work I see a lot of people come to Nicaragua for the first time. They are amazed at so many things and often times have lots of questions. They are faced with a language barrier, cultural differences and lots of new foods to try. Gumby is known as a pretty flexible guy right! So we have a Gumby Award that is given each day to team members who show flexibility.

Well with the Emmanuel Team a week and a half ago Gumby went on a little adventure. There was some pranking that went on during the week between the boys and the girls. Watch the video all the way through and you'll see who won. :-)