The Kids and The Partners
Pastor Dennis and his wife Karin
Don Hugo: as a coffee farm owner he pastored the church for many years and prayed for God to provide the clinic. He is a Godly community leader and our friend! (yes, he does like to have fun!)
Donna Woodson is one of our missionaries to Nicaragua and the organizer of our trips. Louis is our bus driver and always considered one of our team. Driving that bus up and down the mountain is hard work. A few years ago the teens nicknamed him the "bus ninja."
Nicaragua - My Story
One of the things the team did to help them build relationships and share their God story was to create a My Story booklet with pictures of their life. They have already been able to use them to share their story with new friends in Nicaragua. The church in La Esmeralda has a strong team of young leaders who are connecting with our team of young leaders to encourage and challenge each other. The Nicaragua team surprised our group by creating their own My Story books to share and had them translated into English.
Life for the Nicaragua Team
The church people built stairs leading to the Morena House to make it easier for the team to haul supplies up the hill.
Meals are prepared in the clinic kitchen and served in the pavilion on the clinic grounds. Even eating is an adventure!
Preparing for activities:
The bus ride up the mountain and to neighboring communities for outreach events is always an adventure!
La Esmerald is in a cloud forest for the team is learning to live with the jungle creatures.
Thankful for the doc when we need to have something checked out!
Nicaragua - Outdoor Fun
Journey home
Michelle and I are boarding for our first flight to Addis Ababa. I heard from the team and they were leaving Istanbul about 45 minutes past scheduled departure time.
Team arrived in Istanbul
The medical team has completed their first leg of the trip home, arriving safely in Istanbul. Michelle and I leave in a few hours for the Mombasa airport, flying out at 4:30pm.
Safari
The medical team took some much needed rest and recoup while on safari Monday and returned today. It was a nice opportunity to reflect, process and enjoy the beautiful Tsavo national park. During our closing meeting last night, everyone shared their thankfulness and spiritual growth that has taken place over the past week and a half. It was an encouraging time, and I hope that you will take the opportunity to ask them about their personal journeys.
I am so grateful for these hardworking dedicated people who said yes to God and came to serve in Kenya on this medical trip. I am grateful for all of their time and effort, I know it has been a long and difficult week. Thanks for your service, thanks for your teamwork, and thanks for the love that you have freely given this week.
Nicaragua - Day 2
The first night on the mountain went well for the team. Today began with a water shortage, but that was soon remedied by our beloved friend Don Hugo. The morning activity was a VBS at the grade school near the church in La Esmeralda. They brought the children to the church for the activities. There were 75-100 children from age 4 to grade 5. The event went well and was a good first run at what will be repeated in several other schools in the area over the next few days. They have prepared a Bible lesson, a craft and outside activities for the children.
After lunch the group prepared for field games in the late afternoon. There is a field about a 10 minute walk from the clinic that is used for the sports program that Fox River supports in the community. On Mondays they play field games before the soccer teams practice. The team planned the games for today.
The rain fell as they walked to the field. They pushed through during periods of rain and had great fun with the students that came. When it was time for the soccer teams to practice the girls returned to the Morena House to shower while the guys stayed to play with the teams. All in all, they enjoyed the time!
The Morena House is a large house next to the clinic that is leased by the government to be used from time to time when officials are working in the community. They have agreed to allow us to use it to house our teams. It has large rooms to form a girls dorm and a guys dorm. Meals are eaten under the pavilion at the clinic because the meals are all prepared in the kitchen at the clinic.
Just one was a bit under the weather today, but seems to be doing fine after an afternoon nap. The report is that the team is doing great! They are working well together and enjoying serving together.
I hope to have pictures to share with you tomorrow. Thank you for praying!!
Denise
Nicaragua Team in La Esmeralda
I received a message from the team. They made it safely up the mountain in time for the morning service. In the afternoon they were preparing for the week's activities and then back to church for another service this evening. Tomorrow they begin with their first vacation bible school program in the public schools in the area.
Communication from the mountain is very hard, but we plan to find a way to connect each day. I will post what I hear and share pictures if someone can get to a place with wifi to send them.
Thank you for praying for this team of young adults as they grow the relationship between Fox River and La Esmeralda. Please pray for health, safety, good weather, good spirits and the ability to overcome the language barrier in order to share the love of God.