We had a good day yesterday.  Rod, Richard, Michael, and Alex worked on the basketball court and backboards.  Eliud, Robin, and I went to Managua to do the shopping for the next couple of weeks.  The rains came in early afternoon and put the soccer field and a portion of the BB court under water.  We are going to see if there is a way that we can turn the flow of water so that the water flows into the river bed instead of across the field.  We were amazed at the amount of run off water created by such a short rain shower.  Hopefully we will find that the natural run off has been damed up with debris that we can move easily.  Often times  our lives too can be cluttered with debris that dam up the Holy Spirit as he attempts to guide us.  Pray that we will use this week to clear out some of the debris that is causing our live to run out of sync with what God has for us. Hebrews 12:1-3, James 1:21
        Today Ramone will come and start the new goal supports.  We are anticipating a good day of work and fellowship.  Pray that the Lord will provide an opportunity for us to hear Ramone's story   and that we will be able to share Jesus's story with him.
     
       "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."

June 25, 2012

After a non-eventful flight from Atlanta we arrived in Managua and made the drive up to Jinotega.  Our first day on site was much more productive than we thought in might be.  We were able to get the grass cut on the soccer field.  I wish we had a picture that showed the amount of weeds and grass growing through the basketball court but of all the pictures Eliud took we some how failed to get that shot.  Imagine the shot of Richard being 50% of the court and you can get a feel for what we found.
Along with all the grass in the cracks there was a lot of old concrete stuck to the surface in places where cement had been mixed for other projects. All of us where amazed that we where able to get the court ready for the patch work.  As usual our team worked together to accomplish our task for the day.

                                                                           

We meet with Ramone, the steel fabricator, what a hoot!  He fell right in with all of us picking and having fun.  We offered two lunches for all the materials and labor and he negotiated us up to four lunches.  Per day!

We had a great day with no rain until now (6:00 pm ).  The forecast for the week is 30% rain each day, if the rain will hold off until evening each day things will be fine.  Pray for our week of preparation ahead of the youth who arrive on Saturday.  We are excited to be here and to be serving in the role God has for us.  The lives of children and teenagers will be impacted through the efforts of our youth next week in the sports camp and school ministry projects.

So long for now

 

June 20, 2012

Things have been busy since I last posted.  The building at Celebration is almost finished! Yea!  Jeff and Brad Lurie with iMAC group have been great to work with and I am thankful that the Lord sent them our way.  We had hoped to have everything done before our busy summer schedule began and only a few small items remain.

Sunday June 24th is the beginning of 4 weeks of ministry in Nicaragua.  The 24-30th we will be doing a small construction project at the orphanage in Jinotega to prepare for the Celebration Youth sports camp June 30 -July 7.  The theme for the youth week this year is PATH FINDERS 2012  I am excited about the opportunity our youth will have to help guide some of the children and teens in Jinotega along their paths in life.  Pray that God will use our youth to influence the decisions of the youth of Jinotega.  What an opportunity to share Christ and His love and the hope that is found in knowing that Christ has a plan for all of our lives and desires to know each and every one of us.  Pray that God will light the way and guide our steps as we lead the way for PATH FINDERS 2012.

July 8-12, Mike and I will be surveying villages in Mira Flor making plans for future ministry in 2013 and beyond.  I am excited to see what God has in store for us as we seek to follow Him in establishing ministry partnerships in Nicaragua.  During this week we will be meeting again with the community leaders in Puerta Azules.  We are looking to install a solar pump and storage tank that will provide water to each home in the village.   The pump and storage tank will cost between $10,000 and $12,000 dollars with additional cost for pipe and fittings to run water to each house.  We are grateful to Amigos for Christ for sharing their expertise and research with us and saving us untold amounts of time and effort.  The villagers will run the water lines to the individual homes as well as form a water committee that will collect a small fees that will be held in an account for maintenance and repairs to the water system.  Please pray for God's leadership and provision for this project.

July 14-21 we will be hosting an intensive ESL English course in Matagalpa.  God has assembled an awesome team and I am looking forward to all God will do through us and in us that week.

In August we have some new ministry partners staying with us in our mission house.  Pray for God to pour out his blessings upon their efforts that week in and around the city of Jinotega.  Pray for wisdom and unity in spirit as we discuss ways to partner together in the future.

We have an exciting month of ministry planned and we are praying for God to guide and sustain us as we serve just a few of the men, women and children of Jinotega, Matagalpa, and Mira Flor.

Watch for updates each day as we work, serve, laugh and love the people God places in our path.

I spent the past week in two separate learning communities listening to learned men and women discuss some of the problems and, hopefully, some solutions for the "church" to better mobilize and organize itself to reach the peoples of our cultures for the gospel of Christ.  In all the hours of conversation that I sat through, participated in, and hashed over, I came away with these thoughts:

        

First, the church (you and I) must be passionate about Jesus and compassionate towards the people in the culture God has called us to reach.  After all, it is a people business. I listened to a gentleman from China who, along with his wife, served in Hong Kong as chaplains for many years.  He said during this time they were seeing 40 to 60 people a year come to know Christ as a result of their ministry.  Through prayer, God gave him a burden for some 20 million people living in three cities in China.  As he continued to pray, he was overwhelmed by the sheer number of people.  He prayed, “God how can I reach these people when my wife and I have only been reaching 40 to 60 people a year?  How can we reach 20 million?”  One of the first things he said he learned was that God wanted him to talk to everybody.  He said that before this he would look at someone and say to himself, “Oh, he looks like a nice fellow. I will talk to him.”  The gospel is for everyone. Not just those who look like us. 

Intentional mentoring

         Second, we are to make disciples, not converts.  A disciple is one who knows, emulates and imitates the life of Jesus.  Matthew 28:19-20 says to “go baptizing, making disciples and TEACHING them to obey everything I have commanded.”  When we go making disciples we are making disciple-makers. These new believers are discipled to become disciple-makers, and they disciple their spiritual children to become disciple-makers.  As one speaker said in reference to his children, “If you can walk, you can contribute."  As a new Christ-follower you have a story, a beautiful gospel story of God's redemptive work in and for the world.  He did it in you!  You have a mission field: your friends, family and co-workers.  “If you can walk, you can contribute.” And since we are the family of God, it's ok for your mentor to check up on you.  Who in your life sphere did you disciple this week?  With whom did you have a spiritual conversation? Remember, we are to go baptizing, making disciples.  Every believer is a disciple maker.

        

         Third, pray, pray, pray.  This same gentleman from China encourages the disciple-makers he is mentoring to spend two hours a day praying for the future disciple-makers they are journeying beside.  Two hours a day!  Is it any wonder the church in China is exploding?  By the way, this gentleman has seen 160,000 churches started out of his ministry over the past 10 years.  From 40 people a year to 160,000 house churches in 10 years.  Hallelujah to the God who is able to do immeasurably more than we could ever ask or dream!

Some random thoughts and questions…

There is tension in the “go” and “stay” of incarnational mission.  What does incarnational mission look like in suburban America?  Is God calling all of us to sell our homes and move to the inner city?  If so, what happens to suburbia?   How can we be both/and?  How can we be attractional so that we reach the suburban dwellers, yet missional to reach beyond our own small worlds?  

As a true Christ-disciple how do I live and move in the tensions of the strife of life and the mission of God?  How do I balance doing the things I must to participate in the culture in which I live and be on mission for Christ?

Though not all, these are just a few reflections and questions from the experiences of the past week, a week of exploration, exhilaration, frustration and hope.  We are the people of God, and God's plan to reach humanity with the redemptive message of the gospel is the church.  There is no “Plan B.”

          I am grateful for men and women who will engage in dialogue to encourage and motivate the church of Jesus Christ as we together pursue the great commandment and the great commission.

“Lord, hear our cries as we, face down in prayer, plead your mercy and grace and seek your guidance as we strive to reach the nations for your glory.”

Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit that we, reaching out our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you, for the honor of your Name.  Amen.

                                Book of Common Prayer

Construction team 01/2012

Construction team 01/2012, a set on Flickr.

January 8-14 Construction Trip

Hola from Jinotega, Nicaragua Sunday, January 8

Today we started with our own worship in the house about the same time you were all worshiping. Then a couple of us drove around the market area this cold rainy morning. The rain does not stop the people of Jinotega from getting out to market and catching the buses north or south for work. 

We also drove up to the dump to get rid of our trash. What and experience, as we started up the hill we were greeted by two little girls who want to climb into the back of the truck and pulled the bags out. That was their take for the morning. They immediately started going through the bags looking for food or anything they could use. As we continued up the hill we saw a few more kids, adults, dogs and vultures looking for the something to eat. The trash is always burning and smells awful, these people live up there. Hard to imagine for us who live in Hoschton, Braselton, Buford and Flowery Branch and our world in Georgia.

 

Several of us went to the orphanage this afternoon, Jeremy wanted to check on the pregnant pigs and goat. He trimmed the hooves on one of the goats and gave the two dogs some medicine.  Joy who runs the orphanage is taking care of a baby that was dropped off and now the mother/aunt cannot be found. This is a lady who has adopted 3 kids and trying to adopt another, and running the orphanage. 

 

 

We finished the day worshipping at  Igelesia Shalom Bautista where we were treated and loved on like celebrities after the service. Dan met with an professor from one of the local universities who teach theology and English. He is planning on sending his 35 students to the english school later in the month.  Looking forward to a good day tomorrow.

 

More to come this week.

 Monday, January 9

After a day of rain on Sunday, we woke this morning to clearing skies. I think every one on the team was ready to get started on the project so the improvement in the weather had everyone excited and iching to do some work. A stop in Matagalpa for materials, then on to Santa Emilia. Each member of the team found plenty that they could do and some of us even found more than we wanted at the time. Joyce and Linda showed their prowess with a set of post hole diggers, digging two of the four pier footings for our columns. We began with hopes of at least getting the base slab poured. The rain held off until we got about half of the base poured. In a slow drizzle we were able to complete the base slab. The finish on the surface will not be the prettiest you have seen, but for our purposes it will be fine.

Tomorrow Linda, Joyce, and Heilym will be going out to Las Lomas Del Nance to distribute tickets for the medical clinic next week. The guys will be heading back out to Santa Emilia in hopes of getting the columns formed and poured. If we have a short day we are going to raise the storage tank up on the platform for the orphanage near Jinotega.

In our time together Sunday morning, we looked at the question Jesus asked the people gathered near Galilee where John the Baptist sent his disciples to inquire if Jesus was the Messiah. After John's disciples left Jesus asked those there "what did you come to the desert to see? Pray with us as we ask ourselves, What did we come to Nicaragua to see?? Lord what do you have for us this week as we minister to the poor in Santa Emilia? While we work to provide the water that gives physical life, may we also share the "Living water" of life in Christ as well.

I am so thankful to be able to lead such an awesome group of selfless Christ follwers!!

Tuesday, January 10

What is the first and last rule of mission work? Be flexible, right? 

As we began to prepare for the day, immediately our plan changed.  I realized that to reach our goal of getting the columns poured today we could not send Linda and Heilym out to Los Lomas del Nance first thing in the morning.  We needed to haul our form lumber, pick up a meter of sand, and a meter of gravel.  With one truck on "Nica Time "? That  would have taken all day.  SO, we had Linda's truck haul the lumber out to Santa Emilia and sent Eliud, Joyce, Rod and Jeremy ahead to get the sand and meet us at the site.  Linda, Bill, Richard and myself loaded the lumber strapped it down and eased over the mountain to Santa Emilia.  All went well and we said adios to Linda, Joyce, and Eduado who headed back to Jinotega to pick up Heilym and set out to Las Lomas del Nance.

God's timeing is perfect.  A Beautiful day with beautiful people. 

We began our journey towards Las Lomas Del Nance around noon. Picked up Heilym and headed out.  At first on a paved road, then gravel,  forded a river, and finally a one lane path. (the roughest road you can imagine times 10).  We succeeded in arriving one piece.  We enjoyed our time in Las Lomas, distributing tickets for the medical clinic and meeting several families in the community.  

On the way back to Jinotega we attempted to herd some cows out of the way by honking the horn. They just stopped and looked at us like we were crazy!  Maybe we are but we had a good day ministering to folks along the way.  Also on the path back we worked with a bus or maybe they worked with us to allow us to pass, because we could not backup on the rocky road. It was to steep for us, so they backed up.  

We picked up several hitchhikers along the way looking for rides down the mountain

Some we carried all the way into town.   It felt good to help people with what we take for granted, a vehicle. After Linda, Joyce and Eduardo left we all got to work.  Eliud did what he does best,  went to town for supplies.  We laid out the columns, built our scaffold and poured the columns just like we drew it up on the envelope.  We had a fun day of work, fellowship, and ministry with the kids that live close to the church site.    Bill shared with us after dinner from Nehemiah about building and rebuilding.  He illustrated that to rebuild some times it is necessary to turn down old before you begin again.  This is often true in our spiritual lives as well, sometimes we need to examine our lives and see where we need to take away to add what will help us move forward in our journey in becoming disciples of Christ.   We are looking forward to tomorrow.  We will complete the tower tomorrow so that Thursday and Friday we can install the water system.  Eliud, Joyce and Bill will be doing prep work for the medical team in Puerta Azulas.  Continue to pray for us as we work here in Nicaragua.

 Wednesday, January 11

Today is a first for us in Nicaragua.  We are actually on schedule!  At 7:00 am Eliud, Bill and Joyce headed out to Esteli and Puerta Azules to give out tickets for the medical clinic next Wednesday and Thursday.  The rest of us went back to Santa Emilia to pour the cap for our water tower and to set the sump tank.   After one rather long visit at the supply store and short visit at the hardware supply we finally made it to the work site.  

Our planning the day before really paid dividends as we were able to set the cap form in place and pour the concrete in a relatively short amount of time.  we had hoped to finish by 11:00 and we finished at 1:00pm.  

After lunch we went out to the orphanage to tackle an additional project.  Jeremy has taken it on as a personal goal to get the storage tank onto the tower.  It is a really big tank and the tower is really high!  He has fully engineered the lifting process on a sheet of copy paper.  We have much fear and trepidation heading into tomorrow's project.  Stay tuned for  more updates as they become available.

Bill, Eliud and I headed up to Miraflor and the surrounding area to deliver tickets for the medical mission scheduled next week.  We visited a total of 8 villages, toured the clinic and stopped off in Puerta Azules where Bill inspected the village's only well.  This well, which was lacking both its discharge spout and its 60 meter rope, has remained inoperative for over 10 years.  Please pray that Bill and the team have success in its repair next week.  The village's closest water source is not useable due to parasites so they have to walk miles now to obtain water.

On our last stop before returning to Jinotega, the doctor who accompanied us encountered a young woman who was very sick.  We took her with us on the long ride down the mountain to the hospital in Esteli.   I cannot begin to explain how difficult it is for the people to obtain any healthcare.  Please pray for Haizel Gonsalez.  The first picture you see is of the health clinic where our team will be seeing patients.  The second is of the well and the last is of some of the beautiful village children we had the blessing of meeting.

 Thursday, January 12

The Water Tower at the Orphanage is up!  Yesterday, we went to take a few more measurements and it was apparent that we were going to have a hard but doable job getting the storage tank up on the tower.  We decided we needed to head back into town to look for a boom truck that we had seen earlier in the week.  As we were driving into town we passed a very large crane truck and stopped and talk to the driver.  The driver told us to call the owner and he gave us his contact information.  A phone call was placed and the owner told us to meet him at 8:00 in the morning.  Eliud went and met with him and for 65 dollars we had a crane and 3 men coming to get the tank on the tower.  As Eliud was meeting with the crane owner, we started our day.  We were expecting to tie up a few odds and ends, then go to the orphanage to tackle the water tower.   First the men took off on foot through the streets of Jinotega looking for materials for the water tower in Santa Emilia and pistons for a water pump in Puerta Azules.  Next a couple of us tackled making a puppet show curtain and movie screen while the others hung banners for the English school that is coming up.  The ladies went to have flyers made that will be handed out later this week and next week.  We all ate lunch together and headed to the orphanage.  It was amazing to see the crane back down the very narrow, tree lined driveway.  The three men had the tank hooked up to the crane and rising in about 20 minutes and after 30 minutes they had the tank in place.  After they had the tank in place they asked us how we were going to do the plumbing.  We asked if we could go up the boom and were told quickly no.  One of the men went up the boom and attached both of the pipes that would allow us to work on them from the ground.  We planned so much for the raising of the tank and, in the end, God provided us with the easiest and safest way to get the job done.  What we thought would take all afternoon and a huge amount of man power only took a couple of hours and the equipment God gave us!


It has been amazing to see how our week has paralleled Nehemiah's story.  Before the trip I sent an email to the team and asked them to read Nehemiah in preparation for our trip since we would be doing construction work.  As we look back on the events that led to our being used by God to set the orphanage's water tank we see the story similar to Nehemiah's.
Nehemiah had a surrendered heart and a concern for the people of God.  Upon hearing of his brothers return from Jerusalem,  Nehemiah inquired about the condition of the remnant of Israel that had returned.  When he heard about the poor condition of the walls and the struggles of the people he wept.  He prayed and fasted.  He then decided that something must be done about the situation.   Nehemiah asked God for favor with the king, because Nehemiah was cup bearer to the king. When King Artaxerxes asked Nehemiah why his countenance was so low he told the king his concern and asked to go and help.  We know the story of how The king sent Nehemiah to Jerusalem with letters of safe passage and a letter to the keeper of the kings forrest to provide lumber for the building of the gates.

God used the rain on Sunday to sent His Plan in motion..  Late in the day we needed to get out of the house, since we had time, the team went to the orphanage so that Jeremy could worm all of their animals.  While there Jeremy asked about the storage tank.  Joy relaid the story of the several failed attempts to raise the tower and that she really didn't know how or when the tank could be set.  Just like Nehemiah, Jeremy had compassion for the children at the orphanage, he also had a surrendered heart.  He determined that something should be done.  So for three days and nights he and the engineering staff thought through the process of getting the tank on the tower with the resources we could muster.  God continued to massage his heart and he began to share his ideas with the others and after a second look we realized that our resources might not be enough.  Rod had seen a boom truck in town so we set out to find it.  While driving to where he remembered seeing the boom truck we spotted the crane at another site.  We turned around and went to see.  As we were pulling up it was pulling off so we chased after it.  We talked to one of the men and were given the number to call and after calling we made an appointment to see the owner at 8 am.  We all begin to pray individually for God to give us favor with the owner.  God did just that!

" Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to HIS power that is at work in us." Ephesians 3:20

God is Good

Friday, January 13 

We have had an incredible week!  Beginning with a compassionate heart for the people of Nicaragua, leading this group of Christ followers to set aside time and resources to come and serve.  God has blessed beyond anything we could have hoped or imagined.  What a mighty God we serve!

 

Pray for the team's safe return and begin to pray for the medical team on their way to Nicaragua.  We have prepared and we are praying expecting great things.  We received our final approval from Silias in Managua today for the medical clinics,  right in time again.  Pray that we will continue to be surrendered to the plans  that God has for us.  

Thanks to all of you at home who have been praying and encouraging us.                                          

                                                                                                                

 

 

Joy and baby Linda