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Newsletters
Jun 2010 |
Newsletters - June 2010Alongside Ministries en Nicaragua Dear Friends, The rains have arrived in Nicaragua again and everything is lush and green and fresh. It’s a good picture of life. During the dry season it seems at times that things can’t get much drier or dustier or more uncomfortable but the rains always come. Sometimes they are more abundant than other times, as is the case this year, but they always come with their life giving waters and refreshing cool. When we go through dry times in our lives it often feels like we’ve reached our limit as to what we can manage. We often get uncomfortable and wonder whether God is watching or listening or even understands our situation. But for those who are living according to His will, He is with us. At times He may be silent but He is working out things as He wills and as we live through the trials He always eventually provides the refreshing rain of blessings that encourage and sustain us. Since our last letter in April we have experienced some of God’s refreshing blessings and have been encouraged. Our sons and their families are all doing well each in their own new endeavors. Our oldest, Brandon and Misty, have taken over their new business and bought a home in Pasco, Washington, and are enjoying their new “mansion” (compared to their previous apartments). Britton and Chelsea are the proud parents (and we the proud grandparents) of a new daughter, born June 10th. If you’d like to meet little Payton Taylor August you can check out this website to see a beautiful video put together by Jason Porter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D4y5sSqo2M . Brookes, our youngest, had a great graduation day from Northwest University and is now working at a Christian camp for the summer before starting full time with Youth For Christ. Thank you, Lord, for your abundant and refreshing rain of blessings! The blessings have continued here in our ministry as well. As many of you know, Manna Project International is a non-profit organization that has worked with us in various endeavors over the past 5½ years. Each summer they have a summer volunteer program that brings students from different universities in the states down to serve for a month. This year one volunteer in particular really blessed us with her hard work and perseverance. Audrey Bafford spent 3-4 weeks working like a one-woman army and accomplished so much for the sports center. Her joyful and willing spirit made her a delight to have around and even the rain didn’t stop her. One of the jobs that she did was to do the base coat of paint on the interior of the new library addition in preparation for a team who would be doing a final coat with murals and stencils. She painted, raked, pruned bushes, and cleaned… truly amazing! Thanks so much Audrey! Hope to see you down here again sometime! (Are you interested to know more about Manna Project International? Check out their website. They are looking for more volunteers for the 2010-2011 year and will consider 6 month internships if the usual 13 months doesn’t in fit your plans. See the attachment.) In June, a high school group from Maranatha Prep Academy in Pasadena, California arrived to finish what Audrey had started. This group came down prepared to paint some pizzazz on the street side wall that runs along the baseball field and also in our old library and new library addition. What they accomplished was nothing short of amazing. You have to see the pictures to believe it. On the exterior wall they painted our new El Salero logo which is a product of an assignment in the graphic design class at their high school. They incorporated the colors of the Nicaraguan flag, a salt shaker, and the words: Dando Sabor a la Vida (Giving Flavor to Life). (Picture below) This logo is accompanied with the scripture from Matthew 5: 13-15 in Spanish. It is awesome! They also printed up over 75 t-shirts with our logo of us to use here at El Salero for our employees. Now we’re looking really official! For the walls of the library they chose a more juvenile theme (picture below) for our existing library and a contemporary theme (picture below) for the library addition which will house more of the older youth and adult selections of our collection. As if that wasn’t enough this crew also worked to clean up the stadium seating areas, (picture below) dug a trench for future underground wiring and dug up and then replanted 11 fruit trees. They also hosted 2 youth nights that were very well attended by the youth of our neighborhood, a clothing sale which provided a real boost to our sports center fund to pay for electricity, water and guards, and still found time to play basketball and soccer with the local youth in their extra time. What an amazing group and what a great blessing they were to us here at El Salero! Thank you Maranatha!!
With less than 2 weeks left in June we are quickly arriving at the time when we say good-bye to our houseguests, Nick and Megan Vinther and their children, Drew and Abbey. Where has the 4 months gone since they arrived the 1st of March? This has been a time when they have experienced firsthand what life in a third-world country is really like. They have invested themselves in our ministry – helping out around the grounds of El Salero and at the feeding program at El Farito, helping with team preparation and involving themselves with the teams when they are here – and have also given of themselves in the life and friendships at our church, International Christian Fellowship, through worship and music lessons. They’ve weathered some frustrating times as well as enjoyed some of the beauty and fun that Nicaragua offers. They certainly return home with a greater understanding of living on the mission field with its trials, triumphs, joys and frustrations. Thank you Nick and Megan for sharing your lives with us. We pray God’s guidance for your future as you continue to seek to live for Him. How you can pray for us and the ministry:
Thank you all for reading all the way to the bottom of this newsletter and for your support of this ministry. We appreciate your friendships, your prayers and your financial support. Serving Together, Thank you for supporting our ministry in Nicaragua. Eastside Development |
