Nicaragua Spring 2010-Final Day

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

Today was our final day on the field. Time for one more shovel-full of dirt, one more shovel-full of tears, of prayers, salvation stories, of love, of hope, of faith, of joy though sadly also a shovel-full of good byes.

After an early morning breakfast we made our way to that field we have grown to love, the field where trenches and bare rebar columns mark the spot where soon His word will be preached. We worked for a few hours. Some were sent again to the streets and houses to bring His word to the houses in this neighborhood of Esteli, Nicaragua called Los Angeles. Salvations, healings, restorations and rebirths were witnessed by the team as the clock slowly ticked counting our final hours.

We shared lunch with Pastor Gabriel and his family at his humble church located in the front room of his house. Then we made our way back to the field where we shared communion with members of his congregation, construction workers and the many others who came. This would be the first communion served there. The Pastor gave a message that from his church many will be sent to preach the gospel. This was a prophesy also given by Lon to the Pastor days earlier.

After a long good bye filled with many tears we all went inside the space to be occupied by the church. Each of our team members took the spot where a corner or a wall is soon to be and we prayed. Soon Pastor Gabriel's clear voice and those of other church members rose to heaven...... the Lord smiled.

By the time you read this we will be either on our way home or have returned to our home church. We have thousands of memories to share with you, thousands of your prayers to be thankful as you supported us. We ask however to please, please keep on praying. Many times the most difficult part of a mission trip comes after the missionaries have returned home and we feel the void left at not seeing our newly found brothers and sisters and the impact we have made on not just others, but our own lives.

The story continues...... be part of it!!! Go, Give, Pray.

d3

Nicaragua Spring 2010-Construction Site

God blessed us today with many workers in the field, preparing for what will surely be a tremendous harvest for His kingdom. One of the day’s highlights was the feeding of over 50. Lunch was taken on the church construction site, thanks to Chief Chef Jacquie, who prepared PBJs (peanut butter and jelly sandwiches) and provided bags of potato chips for the team, local construction crew and neighborhood boys who always show up to help. Chuck gave the devotional on site, explaining how our team always takes time before each and every meal of the day to feast on the Word of God and nourish our soul as well as our bodies.

After lunch, Tom and Michael broke away from construction to organize a soccer game for 24 kids in a nearby field. Following the game, the children combed the field picking up trash and filling three large yellow lawn and leaf bags. The message conveyed during this activity is that the church property is Holy Ground and that we, children included, should help keep it clean.

Juan stepped up the evangelism today as well, sending two teams of two each along with a translator into the local neighborhood to reach out to the lost with the love of Jesus and pray for the needs of the saved. One team prayed over a 4-year-old boy crippled by cerebral palsy and who had recently developed pneumonia. The family had no money for medicine much less the help of a doctor, so the mother was relying solely on God to provide healing.

Another mother and her family didn’t attend church and hadn’t in many years. She wasn’t ready to commit her life to the Lord but readily welcomed us in to her dirt-floor home and was open to hearing the Good News. The team prayed over her, her grandmother and children that the Holy Spirit would move in their hearts and lead them to Christ. We knew He was already working on the family or we wouldn’t have been directed there.

Leaving the site in the late afternoon brought a few tears, as tomorrow will be our last day on the mission field here in Esteli. We have seen many come to the Lord. We have seen many moved to tears by His mercy. We have seen many realize that he is indeed our Lord of Lords and King of Kings. The tears shed were indeed tears of joy.

You have made known to US the path of life; You fill US with joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand. Psalm 16:11

The evening ended as always with prayers. We ask that you step up to the same. A few members of our team are feeling the inevitable aches and pains of hard labor. We ask that you pray for continued physical strength and health for all team members as tomorrow we step for one final time during this trip onto that Holy Ground.

To be continued...

d3

Nicaragua Spring 2010-Sunday.... day of rest or....

Praise the Lord, today is Sunday. No shovels, no dirt, no pushing wheelbarrows, no....., only kidding. It has been a real joy to work with these great people, but it is a even more of a joy to worship with them. Their faith is so simple yet so powerful.

We visited a local church this morning. Even though most of us did not understand the words they sang we were very familiar with the presence of the Holy Spirit that we felt. It was so refreshing and overwhelming.

Chuck and Mike both shared their testimonies and did an outstanding job. So much they touched with their words of conversion, salvation, faith and love that it prompted many other members of their church to share theirs. What awesome faith the Nicaraguans have!!!

After service, we stopped at a city center restaurant and enjoyed an outstanding Nicaraguan meal. Tonight we will be attending services at another church. This church is located in the home of Pastor Gabriel for whom we are working to raise a new House of the Lord. Butch will be bringing his message tonight. We are looking forward to another tremendous time of worship with the loving faith of Nicaragua.

Stay tuned not just for the next message but for Our Lord's voice when he says........ "GO".

Nicaragua Spring 2010-Saturday Construction

Day 2, Saturday, was another marvelous sunny day in Esteli, Nicaragua as we arrived at the church construction site around 7:30 in the morning. Immediately the neighbors came out to greet use and the children flocked around.

Jacquie Wheeler got an early start with the kids making salvation bracelets… a huge hit with the children as the Holy Spirit led 11 of them today to place their trust in Jesus Christ and accept Him as their Lord and Savior. As the men continued to dig the foundation of the church, Jacquie’s group of neighborhood kids removed another seven or eight plastic lawn and leaf bags full of trash from the church property and surrounding area.

Much progress was made again today as Grace Covenant team and local construction crew continue to manually prep the foundation, filling the footers with rock, sand and gravel. On the four corners, concrete (mixed by hand, of course) was poured and smoothed and the rebar columns were set in place.

Despite afternoon temperatures probably in the low to mid 90s, at least it felt like it, Al managed, with the help of many smiling and happy local teens manning wheelbarrows, to move mountains of solid black dirt as hard as concrete away from what will be the inside side of the church to the perimeter of the field to be hauled away later in dump trucks.

,Despite a heavy day of construction work, a couple of Grace folks and a translator, managed to get out in the neighborhood mid-morning for some house visitation. In addition, that afternoon Jacquie and Michael Astorino organized a game of baseball for some two dozen children who were more than happy to show off their fielding and batting abilities. By the way, Jacquie pitched and Michael was behind the plate. Many runs were scored.

All in all, another beautiful day that God made, and so wonderful to be doing His will for His Kingdom, His people and His purpose.

Nicaragua Spring 2010-Saturday Men's Conference

Perhaps Friday’s Convention blog was a bit wordy, but there are not enough words to express how the Holy Spirit has shown up at the Men’s Conference. It is Saturday afternoon and the men’s event has just ended. The men are headed home with more of God with them. This was expressed to us several times over that the men are leaving full of God’s word and new revelations.

After an early breakfast we moved into a worship service that truly shook the ground. Worthy of praise was the worship team made up of youth on fire for God.

Vic Jones opened the day’s teaching with a message that challenged every man with having servant’s hearts and hands. He opened their eyes on how to treat their wives with love and respect. The men responded very well to Vic’s message.

We moved the to session 3, developing the habits of a servant leader. This session went overtime as Butch led it; the men responded to the call to holiness as all,, over 100 men, came forward for prayer – prayer for change in their lives.

At lunch, we were joined by Juan and Chuck who dropped by to verify we were doing what were sent to do.

Finally we closed the conference encouraging the men not to allow the enemy to steral their new life. We passed out all the books on “Leading like Jesus” to an overwhelming outpour of their gratitude.

Nicaragua Spring 2010-Beginning Mens Conference

The Men's Conference

Today we began the first day of the Men's Conference "Lead Like Jesus". We met the morning of the conference with Pastor Ruben who seemed a little cautious about the three men who were to offer instruction to his Pastors and church leaders. We each gave him an overview of our presentations and by the time he left a little later he was feeling confident about us, still praying mind you but more confident.

At 4:00 PM, 3 hours before the scheduled we met at the Conference Center. Amazing, there were men already waiting for it to begin. We soon discovered how hungry the men of Nicaragua are for discipleship.

The greetings and smiles on their faces soon caused the barrier of language differences to be broken. These men were making a genuine effort to come to each of us with a greeting of "hello and God bless you for coming". What a beginning when Pastor Raul Davila shared his testimon with me. He was a Captain in the Sandinista Army. He had traveled in several socialists who worked very hard at making him a communist. But, God had different plans. Once home he lost everything to the Contras, but soon found Jesus. Since that moment he knew he was called to pastor and has become so. I spoke to him about how much commitment I saw in him and was moved by his statement "he paid a high price" but found Jesus through it. I congratulated him for choosing the One who had paid the price. Wow!!! You would have thought he won the Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes. He hug me and told me how encouraging that was to him.

Service began with the most vibrant & exciting praise & worship group I've ever witnessed led by Luis, a local Pastor.

When we finally took a count of the men at the conference we found 105 men plus Pastor Ruben and others for a total of 115 people. All close together in a non air conditioned room. You may think as you want, but the Holy Spirit came and refreshed the spirit of every man.

I opened the conference with words of encouragement and thanks for allowing the team from Grace Covenant Church to come to Esteli, Nicaragua and be a part of this. I challenged the men to listen intently and take something away from the convention that would change him for the Glory of God.

Tom gave the men encouragement to develop their hearts to become servant leaders. Pastor Ruben closed the night by challenging the men to expose their weaknesses and prepare to experience victory over them. The response of the men was awesome. Saturday morning we begin at 7:00 AM. Pray for miracles..... Blessings, Butch

Nicaragua Spring 2010-First Day

Whewwww.... Temperature a little over 90, but as high as the temperature was, our spirits were higher. Last night our first evening ended with a Consecration Service led by Juan. Setting apart holy from unholy. Cleansing and dedicating our hands to the Lord's work. We prayed and anointed each other that the Lord would just use our hands, our minds, hearts and all we are to His purpose.

Today was our first day in construction. As always we are impressed by how much they do with what little they have. The church is situated in the middle of beautiful field, surrounded with vistas of mountains. What an excellent setting for shovels, picks, trowels and other tools being used to build a house for the Lord.

Pastor Gabriel who will be heading that church joined us along with about a dozen other local men in starting the foundation. Rebar was bent, holes for the columns were dug and cement was poured. Impressive work by Lon, Al and David who at that age when they should be resting were working hard and sometimes harder than the young. Praise the Lord for their strength.

The Mens conference team is at the first evening session that is to start later. We already know that dozens of men had already arrived from near and far to hear and be blessed by the messages. we are anxious to know all that happened and we will inform you on that tomorrow.

We are tired but we are filled with Joy that a God who has already has bestowed so many blessings on us would send us here to receive more.

Please continue with your prayers, they lift us up.

What a mighty, wonderful God we serve...

ddd

Nicaragua Spring 2010-Arrival

Llegamos!!! Spanish for “we have arrived. After a very early 4AM start at the airport and making the connections Praise The Lord, we arrived in Managua a little late but anxious, eager and joyful.

A very important part of what we do is to encourage, support and teach each other. A very effective tool we use for this purpose are regular devotions. The first of these was delivered by Butch Blackmon at the Miami airport. His topic was John 13 1:17, Jesus washes His Disciples’ Feet. Butch showed us that it was not just about Jesus being a servant but about Jesus unconditional love in an act of humility, unconditional love in responding to a need, unconditional love forgiving and restoring, unconditional love that repeats itself and unconditional love that brings blessings.

Everyone is in high spirits as we travel to the hotel eager to receive and most important share the Lord’s blessings with our brothers and sisters in this beautiful country. The team of nine men and one woman is bonding with one common purpose, to serve Him, to share His word, to spread His love. As we travel up the roads of Nicaragua I am reminded of Isaiah 52:7. How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who say to Zion, Your God reigns.

Tomorrow we will wake up early to start our work. Men will be given confidence in the Lord at the Men’s Conference and the foundation for a new church where His word will be preached will begin. Please continue to support us with your prayers.

Stay tuned!!!!

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