It's been a busy week and it's been really good. It's always good to be serving here in Nicaragua!
Tuesday, we held 2 Fiestas in the morning and there were 72 professions of faith. (did I mention the 93 on Monday?) God is working on the hearts of the Nica people and the churches in the area do a good job of working in the neighborhoods before we get there. They also do a good job of following up on the names of those professing faith in Christ at the Fiestas. We are just the tools for God to use in the big picture. I love the way it's a team effort between VOH, the mission teams and the local churches.
We went to a local church, Cristo Viene, here in Poneloya/Las Peñitas. It only took 5 minutes to drive there, and since Danilo had taken someone into town in the big van, we all rode in Chin Chin, our little VOH van, and Sherry drove! Fun! Church was good. Saturnino (our guard), Aracelys (our cleaning lady) and Pilar (our cook) all go to Cristo Viene church. It's fun to see them and their families there. John did a song, Haley shared her and we had a great message from the team. I love that church. It's always so welcoming. The pastor reminds me of a cowboy for some reason. He's always nice. We gave out lots of candy after the service. Then we came home. It was a good night.
Wednesday, we went to a neighborhood called Hamburgo and did 2 Fiestas in that community. There were 38 professions of faith. We went to church there last night and another 5 people came forward. The music was great last night. It was another good day.
Today, we did a 2 hour VBS at the Las Quimeras community. Haley (our intern from El Dorado AR) was the leader and did a fine job. The team all pitched in to help with acting out the story, crafts, songs, snacks, games and the drama. A few of the team members went out street witnessing. We had about twice as many kids as we thought would be there. The school let the kids out mid-morning to attend. That was a nice surprise! We scrambled to share everything that we had brought. The Pastor was very pleased with everything. He is doing a great job growing that church. The team went back there tonight for a special Father's Day service (today is Father's Day in Nica).
The team will be leaving in the morning for their Fun Day in Masaya and Managua. They are going to get rooms at the hotel across from the airport in Managua and spend the night. That way they only have to get up at 4am to go to the airport, instead of driving back here tomorrow night and then leaving here at 2:30am Saturday morning. They have been a great team.
Ralph is on the Board of Directors of VOH and this is his 6th trip. His wife and son came last year and this year. A dad and daughter joined them on this trip. It's been fun with them.
We will use the team-free time tomorrow to get the house ready for the LA team that flies in at noon on Saturday. It will be a busy day of laundry, bed making, grocery buying, etc. I can't wait to see Ric and the team on Saturday. I'll ride into Managua to help with greeting them. I met Ric when I led teams to NYC before I moved there to serve fulltime for 2 years. I actually took Ric's place as the missions 'person' with that church plant, when he moved to LA. He brought a team back up to NYC while I was serving there. It will be nice to see him. I think their team will be a lot of fun!
I've got computer stuff to work on and Bible reading to catch up on. Better take advantage of this free time this evening.
God is so good. The time is going by too quickly! I'm truly blessed to be here! Thank You Lord.
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