Day Three recap

Worship reflections ... Singing hymns in Spanish from their hymnal, with a keyboard accompaniest was inspirational. El Senor Es mi luz and A nadir amare como a Cristo were the two hymns which we sang with great gusto.  😀 The keyboard was new from last year. We were told that The Lutheran Hour is working to bring music to Luthersn worship services in Nicaragua by providing a keyboardist , Marco Antonio, to the LaJoya church and three others. Marco not only plays and leads worship on Sundays, but offers lessons to the children. We heard Giselle (Pastor Marvin's oldest daughter) play one of the songs after worship, and were duly impressed. The Nicaraguans are doing such a wonderful job in bringing glory to God through their love, service and generous spirit.

After worship we drove 20 miles to the Pacific coast for lunch and a dip in the ocean.

Now we prepare for Monday's work

Worship in LaJoya was very meaningful, with the texts being:
Eccl. 1:2 & 2:18-26
Col. 3:1-11
Luke 12:13-21 (read in Spanish by Pastor Marvin and in English by Pastor Sarrault)

We sang with the 75-person congregation out of their blue Spanish hymnal

More later.

Day Three Begins

After our hotel breakfast of Gallo Pinto (spotted rooster, which is actually rice and beans) and eggs & ham with dry toast, Alysia led us in devotions before we drive out to LaJoya for church with our sisters and brothers in Christ at the little green church at the end of the dirt road.

The text for our devo was Luke 22:42. Not my will but Yours be done.

Whether we run into minor or major problems, whether we feel like we are taking a leap in the dark, whether it appears we are doing little of significance ... We can (and should) trust God to work out His will in our work for Him. We may not see the fruit of our labor in LaJoya but God knew beforehand why we came and we can rest assured that God will use it for His will. Alysia expressed some frustrations with seeing things not as she had expected and took comfort in God's Word, and the meditation she read in "Walking with God."

Morning and evening devotions led by each of our team members is so meaningful here in Nicaragua. Beyond the work and relationships, it is faith-strengthening for the team. Thank you, Senders (and Prayers) for your partnership in this ministry.

"Buen Provecho" - said after a meal to the one who provided it.

Team meeting on Day One in Managua. 

John points out Lajoya on his map. 

If you look clergy, you'll see the location of Lajoya at about 1/3 up in the middle of this map. 

Day Two

What a delight to return to Lajoya today.  It's the rainy season, so things look different than last October; more vegetation and more trash in the streets. Tom, a teen, noticed some of the fence posts were sprouting. 🤔  We spent a few hours in the  200-person village at the base of Volcan Cristobol this afternoon, assembling the baptismal font, repairing a wTer filtration at deaconess Myra's home and being warmly greeted by the women and children and Pastor Marvin.  Aubrey, our other teen, made friends with Jaylin and Elizabeth and a few other girls who held her hands as they walked around. Smiles replaced words as the language barrier didn't prevent friendships from developing.

We returned to the hotel in Chinandega and Mary led a devotion on eagles wings, with some lovely singing. We retired early to be ready for Sunday worship in Lajoya.

Prayers are appreciated, that we are effective workers in Gods kingdom, that forecasted rain would not prevent our work and that we'd have safety as we travel back and forth.

July 30, 2016 

I apologize for not posting more photos to the blog. It seems to be hit or miss with the ability to do this, so if you have access to Facebook please check the posts by Jamie Anderson, Alysia Masters, Joel Sarrault or John Scobie for photos. 

We are traveling from Managua as a team, accompanied by Francisco, a liaison from the Nicaraguan Lutheran church, and being driven by Hamilton in a 16-passenger van with all of our luggage loaded on the top and roped into place. It is 135 kilometers from the capital city of Managua to the city of Chinandega, the third largest city in Nicaragua. We have driven through Leon, the second largest city. If you looked at a map, you would see our route is northerly, roughly following the same direction as the Pacific Ocean, which is about 5-10 miles to the west. How long do you think a 135 kilometer drive should take on a lovely Saturday morning? As we dodged a gas semi driving in our lane, slowed for biblicists, motorcyclists, pedestrians, street vendors and the had a young man come out in the street to wash our clean van window,

we slowly made our way safely north in a bit over 3.5 hours. Oh, we did need a potty break so invaded a gas station convince store and bought a few different brands of plantain chips to do some taste testing. Cindy shared her peanuts and John his bag of "Chicharroner con Limon y Sal" pellets de Harina de Trigo (pork rinds.) Tom tried his first Nicaraguan candy bar.  Hamilton engaged in the local custom of flashing his lights at oncoming traffic if there had been a police car he'd passed. 

Haggai 2:7-11 was John's text for our morning devotions.

Why come on a mission trip to Nicaragua? The friendships, the work God has called us to here, going into all the world.  We need to care for the ministry at home as well as those around the world, including the little green church in Lajoya and their ministry to their impoverished neighbors.

Pray as we return and give/receive hugs ... to prepare the week of work in these neighborhoods.

Thank you to our prayer warriors from St. John's, including Tom and Linda yesterday, and Margie and John today.

Candi, Ella, Sandy, Nancy, randy  ... Thank you also for what you did to be Senders for us as Goers.

Francisco arrived as John led our devo time. What a delight to see a familiar amigo.

Buenos Dios, Amigos en Ustados Unidos.

Day two starts with a Nicaraguan breakfast (desayuno) at 7am here at the Best Western. We arrived at 9:30pm Friday night just as a team which had ministered in Leon, Nicaragua, was leaving the hotel for a midnight flight to Houston. That will be us next Friday night.

Today Francisco from Lutheran Church Nicaragua will meet us at 8am and we will travel via van to Chinandega and then to the village of Lajoya. Mary's very talented husband, Randy, constructed a Nicaraguan-style baptismal font that we will piece together today at the little green church at the base of a Volcano.

We have arrived in Managua!  Staying at motel across from airport. Head out to Chinandega Saturday morning for day two.

First airplane rides for our two teenage members. 

"This is fun," said Tom. 

"Where do I put this bag?" wonders Aubrey. 

Day one - flying

DTW United counter on Friday morning. Checked bags are full of water filters, tools, light bulbs, soccer balls & playground balls, a play parachute, health materials, coloring pages, reading books, Spanish Bibles and clothes for our 11person team.

United got us to Houston 20 minutes early.  Yeah.  We are finishing lunch and waiting for our 6pm flight.

The team is sitting at the Detroit airport waiting for our noon flight to Houston. We have a four hour layover before our light to Managua, Nicaragua ... Which is in the central time zone.

Joel led us in an airport devotion about encouragement, challenging us to think of ways to encourage each other and encourage our friends in Lajoya, even if we speak limited Spanish.

Colossians 2:2 & 6-7

Traveling to Nicaragua

All of our bags are packed.  The team leaves Friday morning from DTW.  Pray for us as we travel through Houston to Managua, Nicaragua on July 30.  We'll update the blog as we travel, work and rest.

Well, what a relief. The forecast calls for cooler temps while we are in Nicaragua, crawling on roofs to install simple skylights, teaching health/hygiene and Bible under the shade of a tree and walking the dusty streets of LaJoya to install  simple water filtration devices.  It is 100 there currently.  Only 95 and thunderstorms forecast when we begin our work on Monday.

Current weather forecast in Chinandega, Nicaragua.

 

Current weather forecast in Adrian, Michigan, USA.

Oral Rehydration Spoons (ORS)

Oral Rehydration Spoons (ORS) are simple but effective tools in restoring health.  The spoons have two different sized ends; one for sugar and one for salt.  When these amounts of sugar and salt are combined with clean water, a sustainable home-based solution is created for dehydration, a leader killer of children in the developing world.  ORS usage is one of the lessons our team will teach in Nicaragua in just two weeks, with spoons being given out to families who attend the Health Education classes. 

2016 Lajoya, Nicaragua Mission Team photos

Tom, Mary, Barb, Alysia, Aubrey, Dawn, Joel, John, Jamie