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Newsletters
Jun 2010 |
Newsletters - Nov 2003Alongside Ministries en Nicaragua Dear Friends, This month has brought some ups and downs – as life always seems to do, but we continue to work, pray and grow through each and every experience. For the past 9 weeks or so the pastor of one of the churches we attend, International Christian Fellowship, an English speaking church, has been challenging our thinking in regards to our faith – what it means to live a life of faith, a life free of doubt regarding God and His Word not only mentally and emotionally but physically, too. It’s one thing to say we believe and another to put our belief into action. A simple example of this idea is with a chair. We believe the chair will support us and we put our belief into action when we sit down in the chair. In this same way, if we say we believe God’s Word to be true but don’t live in such a manner that demonstrates our belief what does that say about our faith? This has been a great challenge for our day to day living and has been an encouragement for us to grow in our faith by making it something we do and not just something we say or believe. We firmly believe that God has called us to live here as missionaries and yes, we have certainly acted on that belief but there are many times when it seems Satan would like to make us doubt and have second thoughts. As we hear about family and close friends back up in Washington that are struggling with various issues – many of which are very serious, we are tempted to think that if we were still up there maybe things would be different or perhaps we’d be able to help. We must confess, that the question, “What are we doing down here???” has wandered through our minds more than once. However, when we stop and remember to give it up to the Lord, seeking His response to that question we know we are in the right place and He gives us such a clear answer. What are we doing down here? We’re living with, teaching, learning from and loving our neighbors and the children of the community in the name of Jesus (a.k.a. Alongside Ministries). What a privilege!
We continue to wait for water and power meters at the ministry center as well. We could hold the feeding program at the ministry center without power but we really need water for cooking and cleaning, so until that time we continue to meet on the porch of Juana’s home. However, step by step the ministry center is looking more and more complete. This past month the junior high youth group from church came out to offer themselves in a service project to the ministry center and the children of the neighborhood. After spending a couple of hours painting the interior of the ministry center they prepared a sandwich lunch for about thirty five 7-12 year olds. When the children arrived we sang together and the junior high group presented a little drama of The Good Samaritan. After serving lunch the children heard a short message and then were on their way home. It was short but fun and we are excited to see the ministry center being used even in this small way. It was fun to partner with the junior high youth group leaders in this project and we’re hoping it might become a quarterly event which provides an opportunity for some youth, both Nica and American, to give to the needy who live just around the corner from them. We are just about to take another step (or is it a leap?) of faith which we alluded to in our last newsletter. We have become very close (really like family) with a 25 year old missionary from California. Her name is Amanda and she works here in Managua with a ministry called Christ For The City. She has been our neighbor since we’ve been living here in the apartment. Her vision of ministry coincides well with our own as we share a heart for the youth of this country. Over the past months we’ve started talking about the idea of developing a Christian sports center to serve not only the youth in the community but also the youth and congregations of various churches in Managua. Just exactly what this sports center will look like is still in the ‘vision’ stage but we have recently taken the first step in acquiring the property which, coincidently enough, adjoins our own property in Chiquilistagua and includes the baseball field where Halle and “his boys” often play. We have prayerfully decided to use most of the funds from the sale of our home in Woodinville which was intended for the construction of our home here to purchase this land, about 6 acres, and trust that God will raise the money to replenish that account. As the paperwork goes through and after everything is finalized, we will be sending out more specific information on what our plans are and detailing how you can be directly involved. The property is beautiful, with some open land as well as shaded areas with mango trees and other fruit trees. We believe it has great potential to be another garden in God’s kingdom here in Nicaragua. We already have a work team that is interested in helping with the refurbishing of the stadium next summer. Now we can invest in this project without the concern that it could be sold out from under us. Please include this endeavor in your prayers. We all desire God’s will to be done, not ours, so please pray that we remain open and in tune to Him. Thank you all for your continuing support. We hope you know that our home is your home and that we would love to host you, your family or perhaps a team that would like to experience Nicaragua. Join us in coming alongside these wonderful people. It will be an experience that will leave an impact on hearts and lives here but will also leave an impact on your heart as well! Serving Together, Thank you for supporting our ministry in Nicaragua. Eastside Development |
As many of you know we have become true community members in one of our ministry areas called Chiquilistagua (pronounced ‘cheeky-lee-stog-wah’). We have bought property with a small, uncompleted house which we have been remodeling and finishing. We are very excited about this project but it hasn’t been without its “what are we doing??” kind of doubts. Again, when we lay it before the Lord we receive a sense of peace about this project but construction frustrations can often lead to doubt. Right now we are still waiting for our power and water meters to be hooked up. It seems we’ve jumped through all the right hoops and, short of paying bribes, we now just have to wait. Without power we’re unable to proceed with the roof which must be completed before any more finish work can be done. One thing leads to another. So, we wait . . . and trust.