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Though the roof isn’t completely finished before we leave, the progress made is fantastic! As we told you yesterday, the guys finished painting the room inside and out and today we were all pleasantly surprised to see that Pastor German and his family made finishing touches by painting a contrasting boarder around the entire room – it looked great! The roof work should be completed by the contractors within the next week. Pastor German, his wife Silvia and family are ecstatic with everything that has been accomplished this week, not only with the completion of the Sunday school roof and his house, but with the deep bonds we’ve formed within their community in such a short period of time. God paved the way.

We are sitting here now trying to process and express all that has taken place and all the deep emotions we feel. Following the church service, Pastor German had each of the Pequea team plus Sugey come forward to be presented with a token of appreciation from their church. It was a beautiful gesture on their part. The evening then took a lighter turn when they brought out a piñata and handed Lynn a tree branch to begin the honors! Everyone was yelling and laughing and each team member took a turn hitting the piñata. It was hand made piñata and surprisingly sturdy. It took quite a number of hits before it broke and all the kids dove for the candy.

Following the festivities, it was time to say our goodbyes. This was a time filled with emotion. It’s just hard to believe that our lives could be so touched by these wonderful people in such a short time.

Here’s another exciting piece of news for everyone that has been praying for the twins. During the afternoon, the entire team took turns in groups of three to make one final visit to see how the twins were doing. How exciting it was for us to see both babies awake and moving their little arms in the air!! We even heard the smaller of the two babies cry for the first time. Mom said that each baby is now taking an ounce of formula at each feeding. Thank you for all of your prayers!

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Now we want to share with everyone at home what a beautiful blessing we ladies experienced this morning. We walked to the home of the baby twin boys and were thrilled that they appear to have improved significantly from our visit 2 evenings ago when we last saw them. Praise God for His Grace!

Mom told us that the babies are “eating a lot.” The color of both boys has improved and both seemed to be breathing a bit easier. Neither child is out of the woods but we were all so happy to see some improvement! At least we know that they are receiving nourishment now that the mom has a dropper to feed them with. The little cup that mom had been given from the hospital was totally inadequate; the babies were not receiving any nourishment.

We were also very happy to see that other mothers and friends were stopping by to see the mom and hold the babies. It was a relief to each of us to see that a support system seems to exist with in this community among women. Often, men are not in the picture. Some husbands have gone off to Costa Rica or Honduras for work; some have found other women and many that are still married, do not attend the church. We’ve learned of this through our women’s ministry.

Lunch was served for all at Pastor German’s house. Again, huge portions of rice and beans and chicken; really good! Unfortunately, with the extreme heat, we’re constantly thirsty and not all that hungry. The guys were especially thirsty, having spent the entire morning painting in the brutal heat. After lunch, the guys continued the painting and completed it by about 4 pm. It looks great! While the guys were painting, the Nicaraguan contractors welded and set the main channel for the roof and have started welding the purlins to complete the rest of the roof. We’re not sure whether or not they will be able to complete the roof before we leave but we’re hopeful.

At some point in time today, Tony, now affectionately known as ‘Antonio’ by some of the Nicaraguans, decided to attempt to play ball with a few of the young boys. Unfortunately, ‘Antonio’ either underestimated their passion for baseball or overestimated his level of skill in throwing or catching the ball. To say it was humiliating…well, let’s just leave it at that. Of course ‘Antonio’ trying to save face blamed it on the size of the ball, saying it was too small. Yea, right ‘Antonio’!

Just face the fact that your game play today was less than stellar, but don’t loose any sleep over it, after all, there were no baseball scouts in the area. Just kidding, you’re an OK guy ‘Antonio’.

All kidding aside, at the close of the day, we enjoyed some great fellowship and another wonderful dinner at the Paridisio Restaurant. It’s hard to believe that this is Day 7 already! The time is just flying. Tomorrow evening will be a farewell party for our team at Pastor German’s house. We know this will be an emotional and tearful time for us all. The people we’ve met and the memories we’ve made these past few days will be etched in our hearts forever. It’s so difficult to put the many experiences and feelings we’ve shared into words but we hope that we have conveyed the essence of our experiences during this past week so that you too will be as blessed as we’ve been.

Blessings from Chinandega!

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We gathered together in the front of her house under the shade of beautiful plants and palm trees plus two chickens, a dog and a baby pig. She then shared with as a poignant faith story. While we sat with her, she recommitted her life to Christ with the help of Sugey and one of the church women who spoke to her in Spanish.

Our next visit was to an elderly neighbor lady who lived down the dirt lane who had requested prayer. This lady had her arm in a make-shift sling because she had recently fallen and broken it. We had a wonderful time with God while praying for this lady. When we departed, she blessed each of us all with a freshly picked avocado.

For the evening our group boarded an old school bus and then headed a half mile up the road to pick up the members of the Chinandega BIC to go to the BIC church in Leon. On the way there we were entertained by a radio broadcast of a Nicaraguan baseball game. Sugey thought one of the teams was from Chinandega. As enthusiastic as radio announcers are in the US the announcers here are at least ten times more passionate about their baseball. Also, it’s not very often that when you are on a bus ride you have the opportunity to see a smoking volcano at close range and a beautiful sunset all at the same time.

During the service in Leon, an 8 year old girl from their church got up to sing and gave a short message. Unfortunately, we weren’t exactly sure what she said but she was very poised and just precious. People in these services tend to be extremely expressive and show a great deal of emotion and passion. During their services, people will go to the front and take the microphone and either sing a song or pray or give a testimony. It’s interesting to see that they are so uninhibited. During prayer time, everyone prays out loud at the same time rather than just one person leading prayer as we know it. As a side note, our ears were very thankful tonight for the lack of amplified musical instruments….

We ended the day with devotions, prayer and reading the comments sent to us as a team. Your responses are uplifting and an encouragement to us all – thank you!

Blessings to all!

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The mother is a member of Pastor German’s church. She explained to us that when the babies were in the hospital, she thought it was too brutal that they drew blood each day from their tiny hands so she decided to take them home from the hospital. The doctors tried to explain that without medical care; these babies would die in her home. She said to the doctor, “I’ll trust in God”. The mother was sent home from the hospital with a can of Enfamil Premium Premature formula powder and a 30 cc plastic medicine cup for her to use to feed the babies with. Due to their prematurity, these babies have not yet developed the ability to suck. We decided then and there that we would put together a care package of additional cans of Enfamil formula with droppers and bottled water as well as blankets and some clothing.

This household is very, very poor; though they need things desperately, her only concern had been for us to come and pray for her babies. She asked for nothing. We promised that our Pequea Church family will pray for the following:

• That God’s will be done.
• That the children will thrive.
• That the father of these babies be converted from drugs and alcoholism.
• That our men can effectively evaluate and get necessary supplies while here to make their home safer and protected against the elements.
• To pray for nourishment of the mother who appears malnourished.

We don’t know what God’s outcome will be but we do know that we connected with God as we cried out to Him on behalf of this family. What a privilege it was to participate in the life of this family.

After praying with the mother and babies, we were asked to go across the street to the home of the paternal grandmother, who had baked pastels (small dough pastries filled with meat). She is not a believer, but we prayed for her and her home and invited her to our ladies ministry scheduled for later in the afternoon. After yesterday’s women’s ministry, we felt the power of God’s spirit in this community and have faith that just as the Lord brought new non-believers to our ministry yesterday, He will continue to bless us with the women that we are to meet.

On our way back to the church, we met the guys on our team just in time for a mid-morning refreshment of 6 different fresh fruits provided by Lisette, a member of the church who sells fruit. The table was beautifully presented under the shade of tropical plants and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Lizette and Melvin are newlyweds. They hosted this special hospitality in the yard of their home which was a 12 foot shed with no windows. God blessed us with this special gift just at the moment that our spirits needed a special lift.

Oh, by the way, the men were also busy too! They finished painting the steel for the Sunday school classroom roofs and the roof is 90% finished.

Woo-Hoo! The Internet just came back!!

News Update: On our way to dinner, we delivered the care package for the babies. The appearance of the babies was so improved; it was way beyond our expectations. It was amazing to see’s God’s grace in action! We celebrate His favor tonight! Dottie and Kate were able to feed the babies with the droppers and educate the mother on feeding with a dropper. We plan to drop in tomorrow. Please continue to pray for the survival and growth of these babies.

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After lunch the men returned to painting while the women of our team met with a number of women

from the church community. Dottie shared her faith story of personal healing, with Sugey acting as interpreter. This inspired sharing of personal needs for Christian strength, physical healing and healing of relationships along with a request for the ladies to meet at a home tomorrow morning to pray for 2 premature baby boy twins. Another lady (whose business is selling fruit) invited the entire team to come to her house for a mid morning snack of fruit tomorrow.

We were unsure of how many women would attend; if any at all and were surprised by the number; at least 20. There were three women who were there for the first time and one lady from the church asked for prayer that they would come back. It was awesome to see the way God worked in this group. Language was not a barrier and our time ended with lots of hugs and tears.

We finished our day with a church service in which our own Jim preached with Marshall as his interpreter. He gave his faith story and then preached on the book of Jude about the warnings of false teachers. He also talked about the encouragement of hope that the Bible offers. Following the service, everyone gathered together for a time of greeting, fellowship and hugs before everyone said goodnight.

Weather Update: Fortunately the forecast for snow in Nicaragua didn’t materialize due to a slight miscalculation by a less than Super Doppler radar system. To everyone’s relief, the snow storm veered north missing us by a mere 2,006 miles, however, the shortage of snow shovels and ice scrapers in Managua did not create the widespread panic as reported.

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We gathered at 7:15 for a leisurely breakfast and were off to the church by 8:30 eager to begin our first day of work. The first 40 minutes or so were spent pacing while we waited for the steel roof channels to be laid out in preparation of first being cleansed with gasoline to remove the oil and then to have 2 coats of paint.

Two teams worked together to form very efficient production lines, thus began the work of painting the channels. Under the protective shade of the church overhang, we were somewhat shielded from the 90 degree heat and humidity, during our next 6 hours of painting.

After a late lunch hosted by Pastor German and his family, our band of travelers drove to El Viejo to visit Pastor Marvin and his family. We were warmly received by Marvin’s wife and mother-in-law, Ramona, the family matriarch. While there they provided us with a demonstration of their family business making rope. The simplicity of the equipment had no bearing on the fact that a 30 foot length of rope could be made within a minute. The rope was then presented to Pastor Dale as a gift.

But how do we convey to you, our Pequea family, what our senses experienced as we attempt to assimilate and process what seems profoundly unreal and contradictory. That Nicaragua is a beautiful country is without question. There are volcanic ranges and sweeping mountain vistas that will leave you in awe of their majestic beauty. Then you are assaulted and overwhelmed by the stark reality of the extreme poverty that no words can fully describe. The impact between the beauty of the country and the poverty of the people will leave an everlasting impression for us all.

After our visit, we returned to the hotel to share in fellowship and devotions. Our final destination was to the Buenos Aires Restaurante in Chinandega where we enjoyed an authentic Nicaraguan dinner.

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On our way to Chinandega we made a stop at Masaya Volcano National Park. The trek up 179 stairs was our exercise for the day, but the view was so worth it! Most of us had never seen an active volcano before. At times the smoke cleared and allowed us to see down to the bottom but the sulfur fumes were sometimes very strong. From the volcano we made our way to the Tip Top Restaurant (similar to KFC) for lunch and then it was on to Chinandega, a 3 hour ride. It was interesting to see cattle leisurely strolling along the road as well as horses, and not to mention chickens narrowly escaping getting hit by cars and trucks (hence, we’ve solved  the age old question: Why did the chicken cross the road)?

After arriving in Chinandega, we checked into the San Jose Hotel and had about an hour to settle in before we met with Pastor German at Iglesia Evangelica Hermanos en Cristo for a welcome service. We had our first glimpse of the beautiful ceramic tile floor, which was just completed last week. About 95% of the Sunday school walls are already up, so tomorrow we will begin painting the tin roofs and support trusses. Pastor Dale preached the message with Marshall Poe interpreting. The team members who have never participated in a Nicaraguan worship service were surprised by the volume of music and the enthusiasm of the congregation.

We ended our day back at the hotel for a time of devotion and fellowship. Pastor Dale surprised us by giving each team member a letter of encouragement written by a member of our Pequea family.

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