Wednesday....

In Chinandega we are staying at a comfortable hotel, that is under construction. The second floor team members step out of their room adjacent to this view.

We toured Bayardo Arce with Nehemiah Center staff--and people from Chinandega churches who are considering holding arts camps for this community. It felt like the start of a partnership as we walked together through the streets.

Plantain tree and bicycle taxi in Bayardo Arce

Another form of Bayarde transportation. These men saw my camera and stopped so that I could take a photo.

This 11-year old showed us her art from last year's arts camp.

 This girl's mother wasn't home, so she was very shy, but she demonstrated the tamborine rhythm she learened, as we sang Alabare.

In the afternoon we toured a church which has just started hosting a Compassion program. We didn't want to take many photos because we didn't want to be more of a distraction than we already were.

This morning we will meet as a team to think of what a partnership with Chinandega churches in these ministries might look like. Then at 11:30 we meet to have conversations with Chinandega pastors. Please pray that we will be open to God's light and leading as we talk.

Tuesday in Pictures

 Morning visit to San Matilde church. San Matilde is a semi-rural area of re-settled Hurricane Mitch refugees

The San Matilde pastor has a vision for restoring the community. He smiled and said some of the residents call him that "crazy pastor" because of his vision for the future, which includes a market and a pharmacy in the community. Church vision, which appears behind the pastoral couple is, Jehovah is my protector.

Afternoon visit to a Chinandega church with a dynamic youth ministry.

Mural on wall of the Chinandega church

An outreach ministry of the Chinandega church occurs in this thatched-roof building and the neighboring streets. Church members set up games for children, talk with the residents, host worship, and go house-to-house praying with and for the people of this poorer neighborhood.

A few neighborhood children look at Pastor Gary's photos of Iowa. Snow was a mystery to them.

Carol with an area resident whose house we visited and with whom we prayed.

Kathie journaling in the hotel at the end of the day.

Tuesday Night Quick Post

The team had a full day, and I'm too tired to download and post photos or videos tonight.
Here's the short version:

• After breakfast Palmer and Larry started working on fix-it projects around the Nehemiah Center. Sandy headed for Tesoros De Dios with Angie De Waard, who has the day off at Nicaragua Christian Academy.
• The other 7 members of the team headed toward Chinandega, with a stop en route at San Matilde, a village resettled with refugees from Hurricane Mitch. We met with the pastors of a San Matilde church--Jakarelys and Jairo, an amazing couple, filled with grace. They demonstrate such complete commitment to God in their choices and such trust in him and dependence on him, that we are humbled to be in their presence. They do this in conditions of personal poverty and sacrifice that leave us in awe.
• We spent the afternoon--and into the evening with a Chinandega youth pastor and members of his youth team who are building relationships with the least, the last, and the lost among the young--street youth, drug addicts, and alcoholics. And some have become members of the church--and in turn their congregation is being challenged and growing. Then we walked with them through a poor district on the edge of town, calling on several people in the neighborhood and praying with them.
• We seven are now in a Chinandega Hotel, the same hotel a Faith Church team stayed in 18 months ago. 

And I am heading for bed. Good night!
CVK for the team.

Monday Afternoon

We visited a church teaching and feeding center, where Pastor Gary spent time with Caroray, the seven-year old Nicaraguan girl the Hansen family has been sponsoring for four years as part of a Compassion program.

Saying hello.

A parting blessing

Six or so classrooms fill the large open space with lots of noise.

 The church is undergoing remodeling.

The day concluded with dinner at Joel and Jeanie Huyser's home, 

followed by conversation, 

a sampling of Nicaraguan fruit  

and a few friendly games of pool.

Tomorrow the team parts ways for three days. Tomorrow morning seven of us head for Chinandega to meet with churches and their leaders, and three of remain in Managua for work projects.

Thanks for your comments and messages!

Monday Morning

Breakfast in the Ranchero

Followed by 9:00 a.m. Chapel

Chapel concluded with an impromptu duet, while people exchanged greetings.

We learned about training youth leaders to reach at-risk Nicaraguan youth.

It was an interactive class: One assignment--try to read the number on your opponents back before he reads yours! (Turn your head or your screen 90 degrees!)

An intellectual challenge from Carl Most, New Zealand Missionary.

Connect the dots with four straight lines, not lifting your pencil from the paper.

(If you solve it--let us know!)

In Memory

An Opportunity to Pause for a Moment in Memory of Judy Zylstra

A Greeting to Start This Day...

Happy Valentine's Day to Margo, Karen, and Jessica!