Thursday Morning

Our last morning here started with men gathering around the four corners of the church praying that God would draw men to be the pillars of this church.  We have pastors and men here from three churches today, which is a big help...our team more than doubled in size.

32 holes 4 feet by 4 feet dug by the beautiful bulldozer ---now  trying to get as many filled as possible before we leave.  

After hearing Pastor Ruben's testimony of how God spared his life when he was about to be executed by guerrillas and how The Lord has allowed him to plant 30 churches in Northern Nicaragua, Don blessed him with one of the hats given to one of the Jimmy Johnson championship teams.  We all agree, Pastor Ruben is a Winner in the Kingdom!

Wednesday - Working at Construction Site

Pouring concrete into the first corner...exciting moment.

How many miles of wire have we cut?

Teamwork gets the job done

Update on Harrison

If you followed the missions blog this past summer, you will remember a story about a young boy named Harrison.  We met Harrison on the street in Matagalpa.  He was on crack and running drugs, yet all of us who met him could see there was something special about him.  He accepted Jesus into his heart, and he captured our hearts.  We prayed hard for his healing and for freedom from the evil men who were using him.   On Tuesday morning as we arrived to the site, we were once again greeted by a band of boys.  There was a new boy in the mix and when I said hello to him, I thought, "I know this boy."  Once he smiled, I said, "Harrison, are you Harrison."  With a big grin he said, "yes, I heard the pastor was building a church and I want to help."  Gone was the scratching from the crack.  Gone are drug dealers, Gone is the confused look in his eyes.

Tuesday Morning Update

Pastors from two other towns joined us at the construction site this morning.  Fortunately, we were able to rent a Bobcat for the morning to dig out the perimeter of the church, probably saving us a couple of days of hand digging.  Never seen people so excited to be greeted by a big yellow machine.

So what have we been doing the last couple of days?  Making about 40 of these towers. 

Only have another 30 to go.

Carol has a new skill...master brace maker.  We figure in the last 2 days she has joyfully made 555 of these.  Yesterday after standing at this bench and bending wire for about 5 hours, she said, "I'm so happy. Everyone of these represents some who will come to this Church and meet Jesus."  That's what I call working with a Kingdom perspective.

Monday-Construction Site

Team Errol working hard together 

Monday-Pastor Allen & Sylvia

Before going to the construction site this morning, Pastor Allen and Sylvia shared with the team their testimony and their journey of becoming the church planters in Matagalpa.  pastor Allen shared that he once was a solider trained to kill people, but now He has been trained by the Holy Spirit to kill the works of darkness.

Upon coming to Matagalpa they knew no one.  They felt like Abraham who had been called to leave everyone he knew and all the comforts of familiarity.  To date, they have visited over 1500 homes in Matagalpa (most have more than one family living in it.) They have shared the message of Christ and given each family a New Testament.  Many people they have ministered to once followed Christ, but leafy the Church because they felt no one truly cared about them.  after visiting with them, many have returned to Church.  even though they are disappointed the people have not chosen to attend the church they are planting, they rejoice they are returning to their walk with Christ and are confident The Lord will add to their numbers as they focus on advancing the Kingdom in this City.

Because the Jehovah Witnesses's have a disciplined evangelistic strategy active in the city, the team prayed for The Holy Spirit to give Pastor Allen and Sylvia the divine ability to break through the confusion in people's minds about Christ and His Grace.  

Off we go to build the church ...which the gates of hell will not prevail against.

Sunday

While the men were ministering at the Matagalpa church, 75 women from four surrounding towns met in the hotel for a special worship service.  The lady on the far left, Sdelma shared at the end of the message that she had walked away from The Lord many years ago.  A neighbor who attends the Matagalpa church invited her to attend this morning's special service.  She shred that  during one point of the teaching, she felt like God was talking just to her, that He wasn't mad at her, but want her to get to know Him fresh.  Then she asked an important question, "what if my neighbor hadn't invited me? I would have missed hearing God today." she ended by encouraging all the women to have the courage to invite their friends to church.  someone who had drifted reminded us to "make disciples."

It meant a lot to the children to have the men ministering to them today.

In between morning and evening worship services the team prayer walked around City Hall, praying for the newly elected mayor and other government representatives that just took office last week.  we pray the Matagalpa church will have favor in recieving all their permit approvals and that the Church will be a blessing to these newly elected leaders.

During the evening service in Sebaco, we invited the churches to join Grace Covenant in 2013 to encourage people to answer the call to "Be One, Make One,For One."   Presenting new church banner to Pastor Pedro, one of our Bible Institute graduates and pastor of one of the Foursquare churches in Sebaco.  

The churches there combined for the evening service and we worshipped outside under the stars on a beautiful night.

Saturday Night

After a long day of creating wire frames, twisting wire and preparing for column footings...nothing like sitting down for a good cup of Nicaraguan coffee.  Tomorrow the fellows will be leading Sunday School acting out David and Goliath.  It ought to be memorable.  

Saturday-Working at Site

Some young workers were on site to help us get started this morning.

Saturday-Church Building Permit

The church received the building permit two days before we arrived, so we are "the launch team" for construction of the church.  it is a beautiful property, surrounded by homes.  For the team who was here in the summer of 2012, the property is walking distance of the park with the " the tree of life."

Saturday Worship

Before our construction efforts began on this first morning, We had the privilege of being the first people to worship The Lord on the land The Lord has provided for His Church.

Nicaragua Construction Team Has Arrived

The team landed safely in Nicaragua at 1:37 PM.  After going through customs and having lunch, they will leave the airport for the 3-hour drive to Matagalpa through the mountains.  May God's grace abound as they enter into His assignment.

Last Day of Women's Conference

     

     Sunday was the second day of our women's conference.  The women just loved the flower pens!  The entire center was filled with the Holy Spirit before we were even finished with praise and worship.  Powerful words on the tongue and surrender were received eagerly by the women.  One of our Nicaraguan sisters shared with us today that during Saturday's service her arm that has been limp from a stroke many years ago was healed.

     We shared an amazing lunch with all the women and closed with a special ceremony honoring Pastora.  God worked mightily in many women's lives in ways we and they did not expect.

     On Sunday evening, the team split into two teams and went to two different churches where Cammie and Marie taught.  God has been so present, faithful and powerful!

     The team will be heading home on Monday.  More pictures to come...

Preparing Bead Kits

Preparing kits for teaching beads!

Women's Conference Missions Team Has Arrived in Nicaragua

Yesterday, we arrived in Esteli with all members of the team and all of our luggage.  God graced us with a great flight and easy connections.  Pastora visited with us tonight and you can see that Cory is talking with Pastora in true Nic style...hands flying!  God is good and we are all so excited about what He is going to do through us.

Blessings,
Women's Conference Missions Team

Linefork Mission Trip- Saturday

The team made it home safely! We had a great weekend serving Ms. Mary at the Sonshine Center! Thanks for keeping us in your prayers. Please keep praying for other mission teams, Ms. Mary, and her children.

"We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.” ~ 2 Corinthians 5:20

Linefork Mission Trip- Friday

   Today was another fantastic day at the Sonshine Center! We had quite a few things to do today! We unloaded a truck full of boxes, sorted clothes, stained decks, trimmed more bushes, and threw a fall party for the kids. God blessed us with an amazing group that was equipped with the skills to get all this done. 

Unloading boxes.

Lots of boxes to unload!

All done!

Clearing out some wood.

Organizing the many boxes, with a smile!

Decorating for the Fall party.

Decorating!

   

Staining the deck!

Clearing briers and brush from the creek.

After finishing the projects, the team took a prayer walk on  trail that one of Ms. Mary's sons had cleared out. It was incredibly powerful, we stopped at the cross her son had made and prayed over our team members who needed it. It was a great moment. I'm so thankful for our team and for all the things God has done for us.

The cross at the top of the prayer walk.

We came back from our prayer walk and threw a fall party for all the children. It's great to see them and enjoy the time together.

                                                 

The team was blessed to hear Ms. Mary's testimony after the party. She's so incredible! We are very thankful to be able to serve her and her family this weekend. 

   

The team is heading home tomorrow morning. Please keep us in your prayers for safe travels!

"Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, me servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me." ~ John 12:26

Linefork Mission Trip- Thursday

The Linefork team has made it safely to Kentucky! We had such a beautiful ride up here, Fall has made everything so pretty. God kept us safe in our travels and also showed off His art skills.

Leaving bright and early!

God's artwork.

The team!

Greeting Ms. Mary, she's an amazing woman of God!

Once we got to the Sonshine Center we did some yard work for Ms. Mary. Sawing trees for firewood, trimming bushes, and re-planting flowers. Ms. Mary had a lot for us to do! Everything except let us trim the butterfly bush, she's pretty proud of how it's grown from the last time we were here! 

While some of the team was working on yard work, a couple of our team was cooking dinner with Mrs. Edith who comes to help Ms. Mary on occasion. She is definitely blessed with the gift of cooking! It was a great experience to learn and share with her and the rest of the team while serving the Lord. 

It was a great day! Thank you for all the prayers for the team! We can't wait to see what God's plan is for us tomorrow. 

  "Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than  people."Colossians 3:23