Still More Pictures

Chris on one of the farmers horses.

We couldn't handle all of the beans in the truck so the farmers brought them down on horseback.

Joey again was a big hit as he taught many of the youngsters to play the harmonica.

Ronnie welding the first beam for the main section of the center into place.

Luis welcoming the little children on Friday afternoon.

Alice and Luis telling the children a bible story.

Jesica & Victoria passing out materials for the children to use to color their bible story pictures.

The children really loved doing the activities.

Bill & Chris helping to paint Pastor Elesio's church.

Just as the activities ended on Friday afternoon the rain began to pour down.

Thursday & Friday, August 18th & 19th

  We have been so busy that there was not enough time to update our blog.  Plus with the heat and long days we have all been pretty tired at the end of the day. So I am simply posting several pictures from the last two days and will put one sentence comments.  We promise that we will have plenty of details and lots more pictures to show when we get back.





A better view of the road.

This looks more like an old riverbed than a road and feels like it too!!

The relly bad part of the road up to the center.

Loading bags of beans raised in the area.

Tuesday & Wednesday, August 16th & 17th

These past two days have been very very busy.  While the men continued to work on the construction of the roof for the retreat/youth center the women cleaned up around the grounds in the morning.  And in the afternoon we again held a childrens' ministry for the church nearby.  On Tuesday we had about 45 children plus their mothers who attended.  .  Francis lead a wonderful session for the mothers while Luis translated.We sang songs and read and studied the bible story of David & Jonathan.  The children colored pictures to take home with them. Then we distributed gifts of toiletries plus bags of rice and beans to the women and a small bag of candy to each child.
Wednesday morning found the men again working on the construction site while the women visited a nearby community and did a prayer walk.  The preacher from the church walked with us as we visited with the people and prayed for them and their families.  It was a wonderful opportunity to meet many of the local people and invite them to come to the church in the afternoon for fellowship.  Everyone we met opened their homes to us and greeted us with such enthusiasm.  Again we had a church full of children and mothers plus several fathers. Joey was an instant hit with the harmonicas he has brought to distribute to the young folks.  It was a joy to see them all so excited to learn how to play a simple tune on it.  Barbara lead the childrens' class later in the day and led them through the salvation story using the Evangecube.    By the end of the day today we  were all pretty exhausted but exhilarated by the mighty work we see the Lord doing each day here in Nicaragua.

Monday

August 15, 2011

What an adventurous day it was just going into the mountainous neighborhood of Terrero by four wheel drive!  Construction work consisted of coating trusses with paint primer, assembly of rebar for columns, and welding by Ronnie.  For lunch we made sandwiches on the tailgate of one of our rental vehicles.  Most of the ladies commented it gave a whole new meaning to the term “tailgating.”   After lunch some forty children along with their mothers and grandmothers sang songs after God’s love through Christ was taught from the scriptures.  Thankfully we had some wonderful translation handled by Karen Chavarria.  Outside of the church Luis Chavarria translated as Joey began teaching Pastor Candido and five other adult males how to play the harmonica.  Ten of Pastor Candido’s siblings live in this neighborhood and they all attended today’s activities. 

Submitted by Joey Blackmon

Sunday, August 14th

We arrived safely in Nicaragua yesterday after an uneventful flight.  And thankfully all of our bags made it here in one piece too.  God is so good and is faithful to handle even small details like luggage. 
 Today we drove from Managua for about 45 minutes to an hour to attend church services at Iglesia Emanuel El Madrono.  The service was sometimes hard to follow as the music is very loud and even with Karen our interpreter telling us what was being said or sung we often could not hear her.  But one thing was very clear and that is that these folks in Nicaragua love the Lord and love to worship Him and praise Him.  After the service we were hugged and greeted by almost every person in the congregation.  These Nicaraguan Christians are very happy and giving people.

When we left the church we then drove just a short distance to the site of the mission farm here in Nicaragua.  We had to drive our four wheel drive trucks up a very , very rough road.  No one in the group had to do any exercise after that ride because we got vibrated and tossed around enough in the truck.  That  road is like nothing we have ever seen or driven on before.  The kind people from another church here had cooked us lunch.  We were treated like long lost friends and the food was very good.  Then the pastor took us on a tour of the farm where they have planted corn, beans, banannas, and passion fruit just to name a few of the crops.  Once we finished lunch we returned to the hotel here in Managua and began going through our ministry bags and making preparations for the work we will do here for the rest of the week.  Tomorrow we will head up to the retreat/youth center location where the men will be doing construction work in the building and the women will do childrens' ministry.  So tune in again tomorrow for further updates.  Here are a few pictures from today.

3 Days Until We Leave

Today is Wednesday, August 10.  This past Saturday we held our team packing party at the church.  We now have all our supplies and ministry materials packed and ready to go.  We leave from the church early Saturday morning to get everyone and everything to the airport in time for our 10:10AM flight to Managua, Nicaragua.  Please pray for good flying weather and of course safe travels.  Also pray that all of our bags arrive and our rental vehicles are ready and waiting for us. 
Once we arrive and get settled at our hotel in Managua we will try to update everyone back home via this blog.  So stay tuned. 

Nicaragua Mission Trip - August 2011

This is the first post to our blog.  We hope many of our trip supporters will view this blog periodically for updates on  how our trip planning is progressing.  Here is some information about our team and the trip planning.  There are 12 members of our team who will be going to Nicaragua.  Pictured above standing L- R are: Joey Blackmon, Francis Kung'u, Chris Taylor, Jessica Gray, Luis Chavarria, Bill Luck and Ronnie Parault.  Seated L-R are Barbara Lamb, Victoria Glover, Karen Chavarria, Sharon Luck, and Alice Parault. We will be leaving for Managua, Nicaragua on Saturday, August 13th.  Our trip will last for 8 days and we will return to Atlanta on Sunday, August 21st.  For now we need continued prayer that the Lord will lead us as we work together to raise funds and prepare to minister to the folks in Nicaragua.  As we get closer to the date for our trip we will be posting  information to tell you more about our team and what we will be doing in Nicaragua.