Fun in the sun!

Wow! The trip is almost over. The time has flown by way too fast. :( We said goodbye to Micheal and Lisa Perkins, our incredible hosts at Quinta, Beth-El. They're hospitality and kindness were enegizing to our tired bodies and souls everyday. We will miss them very much. But Tuesday we were in celebration mode. It was time to enjoy this beautiful country and the company of our new friends.

We spent most of the day at a dormant volcano that was filled with mineral water. Wow! It was like having our own little mountain resort all to ourselves. We took most of the staff of the Managua church with us as a way of saying thank you for all that they do here in serving the lord. The bus was packed. Most of the journey to the volcano was spent playing "Peter, Peter, Pow, Pow". It's a very loud game that the teens from Managua taught us last year and  the team loves playing it!

We were treated to an incredible, authentic Nicaraguan meal prepared by a really nice lady. She bent over backwards to make us feel at home. We were a family of 54 people that day! In between eating and talking we took turns jumping off the 15 foot tall platform into the lake. Some of the team got very creative. Did you know that eight people can stay connected in a 15 foot freefall into the water? It was a pretty big splash when they hit! Some of us (Bill) became experts at face plants! While others threw themselves into the water with wild abandon (one guess who that may have been).

After the lake we stopped by La Caterina, a market overlooking the lake from the rim of the crater. What an incredible view! It was worth the stop just for the view. The team had a blast haggling with the merchants to purchase just the right gifts for their loved ones back home. And most of us had the chance to sample some of the homemade sweets from the vendors. Coconut roasted in sugar...uummmmmm, uumm!

But ultimately, it was time to say goodbye to our friends. It's amazing how close we grew to our Nica friends in such a short time. They truly are family! A part of us stays with them.

Finally, we checked into the hotel, had a wonderful meal and spent the rest of the evening in a breakout session with Brian. Every one of the team members shared their hearts with each other on how God worked in their lives this past week. Most agreed that we are to be content with what God provides and to never look down on anyone because of circumstances or cultural differences. Jesus said that "as we have done to the least of these, we have done to Him." He changed lives this week and he used the weak and the poor to do it...just like His word says.

Our challenge to the team for the future? How will you apply this change in your life? Will it truly change you or will you ride the spiritual high for a while just to fall into our old ways of doing things? It doesn't take a missions trip to let Christ work through us. It takes a simple choice to let Him rule our lives...always.

On a personal note: Parents, you have incredible kids! I have only praise for this future generation. We were in close quarters all week, sweating everywhere, working hard and praising God through it all. Please engage your son or daughter in a meaningful conversation when they return as to how this trip changed them or what it meant to them. I think you'll agree that it will be time well spent.

Wednesday we head back home. I'm sure the plane ride will be somewhat more subdued than our flight out as all of us are very tired...but in a good way. Thanks for following along with our adventure!

In Him,
Clif

Volleyballs and Mini-Malls

Taking a break between games

Today we left the mountains with a sense of happiness for serving God in such a tangible way. We have new friends from La Esmeralda and look forward to seeing them again sometime in the future. Our hopes and prayers are with the doctor and nurse in the clinic, that they might be able to minister to the village people by providing them with outstanding healthcare where there was none before.

I had some of the team post some of their own thoughts but we lost the information for some reason before we posted. We'll try again tomorrow.

Second place team

The temperature difference from the mountains to Manaugua was easily 25 degrees. As soon as we got back to sea level, everyone started sweating. Some were happy to have heat again. Others were missing the rain of the jungle.

We stopped by the mall to eat at the food court and to give the students from Managua a chance to finish school before we started the volleyball game. Last year, the team made great inroads with the Nicas by playing alongside each other. This year was no different! We had three gringos and three Nicas on each team and worked our way through a single elimination tournemant to finally crown the champions! Scott, Rene' and David were members of the winning team. But they had lots of help from their Nica counterparts.

And now, tomorrow, we'll have more oportunities to grow friendships by travelling to a dormant volcano together and swimming in the crater! Many of the staff members from the church have never been so it should prove to be exciting for all of us. The team has been challenged to learn something new about each Nica during our time together. We'll let you know how it turns out when we return to our hotel.

It's getting late and the team is running down. God's hands are clearly orchestrating our every move. We look forward to serving Him again tomorrow!

In Him,
Clif

The Clinic is Open for Business!

Praise God! We now have an operable clinic in La Esmeralda!!! The number of lives that will be changed by the medical attention dispensed from this one clinic will be incredible!

 

Our day began with another adventurous bus ride to the village but this time, instead of work, we were able to share in worshiping God together. Dennis Fuentes, a recent graduate of the seminary run by the mother church in Managua, presented a wonderful message on the power of working together under God's direction. The church was packed to the limits!

 

After service, we all walked down the hill and then back up another hill to the clinic (our Sunday best soon became our Sunday so-so clothes...the road was very muddy). We were amazed at the number of people that appeared from this sleepy little hamlet. After a few words from Pastor Guy, he, Don Hugo, the pastor of the church, his wife Velma, and the nurse, Carla, cut the ribbon officially opening the clinic! That's when the controlled chaos began. :)

 

We provided the manpower while some of the village women provided the food for the very hungry crowd. Then we proceeded with the activities. Picture a placid pool of water in a tropical clearing, birds chirping, the wind gently blowing through the leaves...this was nothing like that! We brought out a huge garbage bag filled with balloon animals and the placid pool became the site of a feeding frenzy. :) It was all very crazy but fun at the same time. The bags were eventually emptied (two...maybe three seconds later) and then the ladies would ask for the garbage bag so they could take it home with them. Everything was used and very appreciated.

 

Nick, Mundo, and Aaron started an impromptu soccer game which was a big success. Erika grabbed a kickball and started hitting it to all the kids. Kelly, Kelsey, and Jessie passed out hacky sacks. Luke, Hannah and Bill started face painting. Yami and Laura helped kids make foam visors and eveyone else was busy blowing up balloons or preparing even more food for the hungry workers. It was a lot of fun but when all was said and done, everywhere and everyone was coverd in mud! Good times. It's great to be used by God in such a rewarding way!

 

Tomorrow we head back to Managua for our sports competition with the teens from that church. More opportunities to forge lasting relationships in Christ!

 

We serve an Awesome God!

 

Clif

Nicaraguan living!

Here are some great images for your viewing pleasure.

It's a hot bus life for us...

Markets full of freshness.

The teens off to work... finally.

Doing what pastors do.

Doing what teens do.

Break time!

Only a teen leader would understand...

That's all for now folks.

Ants in the Pants

Hello again friends.

Have you ever been woken up by a strange sound and wondered what in the world it was? Try waking up to Howler Monkeys? :) The sound like something out of a horror movie. But once you go outside your room, you're instantly reminded that the jungle is full of wonderful variety and crazy different animals. As the day progressed, we were introduced to a few million of them.

Luis, the "Bus Ninja" performed his magic act again and miraculously delivered us to La Esmeralda, despite the rainy season. The road to the village is one lane (at best) and very steep. The bus seats 72 people and has a rather low door which makes maneuvering through potholes a bit of a chore. We only had to get out of the bus once to provide a little extra clearance.

The team was introduced to Don Hugo (the pastor in La Esmeralda) who then explained the days events to us. He has been such a blessing to the village and the team as a whole, pouring time, energy and finances into the clinic and the church for his community. He demonstrated the proper way to plant the fruit trees and then it was our turn. We split into two teams and started planting 350 fruit trees! For the most part, the work was simple but it often turned into more of a challenge when you added the locals to the equation. The locals, of course, being the millions upon millions of ants that inhabit the mountains of Nicaragua. Did I mention that the ants don't like being disturbed? Well, we disturbed them almost 350 times! Kelsey discovered that some of the more enterprising of ants wait until just the right moment to bite...traveling from one end of the body to the other before fighting back. She's still holding her armpit! Others were doing the "Ants in the Pants" dance.

But God is good and he showed His goodness today in the interactions with our new friends from La Esmeralda, and in waiting until the last tree was planted before opening the sky and watering everything for us. We were then treated to a meal of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and mangos...fresh mangos...really fresh mangos...not like the store bought mangos in Wisconsin...really, really fresh mangos. Pastor Guy made sure everyone got their fill of mangos by passing them throughout the group. He was very fair in his distribution, of course..."One for you...one for me...Two for you...one, two for me...Three for you...one, two, three for me..." and so on and so on. :)

Once the work and meal were complete, we were treated to a trip to the local waterfall. Everyone had a blast and almost everyone got soaked! Good thing. We were covered in mud. The only bad deal was that everyone was cold and wet for the bus ride to Selva Negra. No worries. We had Luis, the "Bus Ninja". He tackled the very muddy roads with ease once again. Praise God for his expertise and willingness to serve a bunch of folks from Wisconsin!

Tomorrow, the clinic officially opens!!!!!! And we will have a full time doctor and a nurse!!!! God is awesome!!

In Him,

Clif

I once was lost but now I'm found

Greetings!

The team is having a blast with the devos that Tracy Mingo made for us. The creative artwork is amazing. The whole idea is to wreck the book and I've seen some pretty wild things happening to these books. One student even tried burning the cover (closely supervised, of course). :) 

We piled our team of 30 into the bus and then picked up Rachel and her kids and then we added Kelly, a staff member and daughter of the pastor in Managua, to the bus. Oh...I forgot to mention that we had all our bags and the bags of supplies for La Esmeralda on board as well! Good thing the bus ride was only THREE hours long. And did I mention that we were all very sweaty. Phew!

We stopped to eat at the students favorite place...TIP TOP Chicken! This is the same place that many blamed for they're being dubbed "The Vomiteers" from last year. But happily, nobody got sick this year. We were joined by Pastor Guy, Denise, Jessie Velasco and Mark and Brenda Lambrecht. I'm not sure the restaurant workers knew what hit them when nearly 40 people piled into their lobby!

Luis, our bus driver, safely delivered us to Selva Negra (Black Forest) resort in the mountains of Nicaragua around 2:30 this afternoon. Everyone was eager to hit the trails in the rainforest but they were told they couldn't go without at least a group of three. We hit the trails at 3:00 and most of us returned before dark...most of us. Caleb, Dave, Luke and Amanda decided to take the scenic route through the neighboring countryside and see if they could navigate the muddy mountain trails in the dark. Luckily they had a camera with them so they would take a picture of the path in front of them and move forward to where the picture ended. :) Good thinking. As it turned out, they made it back just minutes after dinner started but only after we had decided to send out a local to look for them. All's well that ends well. We video taped the intrepid explorers after their adventure so their exploits can be shared with future missions teams. The bottom line...if the trail ends...turn around...don't cross the barbed wire fence thinking it's a shortcut! :)

Dinner, was of course, wonderful. You're not supposed to gain weight on a missions trip but we seem to be doing just that. Oh well. We're not going to turn down a blessing from God!

Off to work in La Esmeralda tomorrow. Pray for dry roads. We have a big bus and lots of people who would love to get there. Good thing we have Luis, the Bus Ninja!

Blessings!

Clif

Working through the sweat!

Today, very simply, was a work day! It started early with a great breakfast and team rundown and then we were off to the races! Some of the team painted the inside and outside of the new girls dormitory. (You could recognize them because they were covered in white paint). Some of the team painted the food storage trailer. (They were the ones covered in red. ) And some renewed the steps and gardens surrounding the main auditorioum in the church. (They were the ones covered in dirt.) But one thing we all had in common...sweat...lots of sweat. You didn't even have to do much (I should know...I was in charge of feeding this hoarde so was responsible for securing sustenance) to sweat.

Brian and I bought food for lunches for the scheduled workdays ahead. Part of that process involved buying fresh fruit from a roadside vendor. Hear me when I say (or more correctly, write) this...oranges and apples just don't have the same appeal anymore! Fresh mangos, papayas, bananas, melons...you name it and they had it. The team devoured the fruit like a bunch of wolves hungry for a meal.

We worked hard until it was time to go back to the hostel to change for the Thursday night church service. The worship leader was great. But it got really good when he lead us in the spanish version of "From the Inside Out". Wow! What a blast to be able to worship in an entirely different language. And here's the really cool part...our skit team, which has been practicing for weeks in preparation for this mission trip, was using the EXACT song as part of their skit! It was wonderful and well received by the Nica's.

The rest of the team was able to serve the little ones in the attached feeding center during the skit. Mundo and Aaron started a little game of "Thumb War" with a couple of the children and then all kinds of  fun ensued. It ended, of course, with Daniel at the bottom of a pack of Nicaraguan kids, all giggling and laughing.

On a side note, Brian received an e-mail from Don Rudolfo, the pastor with whom we passed out fliers, that the newest of the four churches in Leon had a record turnout the day after we helped to get the word out! God is wonderful!!

Tomorrow we're off to Selva Negra in the mountains. The kids are realy looking forward to "Tip Top Chicken" too. (Not really...most still blame Tip Top for getting sick last year. :) ) It's also a prep day before our big work day in La Esmeralda. Saturday we plant 350 fruit trees! Plus we will help clean the clinic, which, by the way, should now have a doctor for our clinic now, pending the outcome of a final interview! Again...God is awesome!

I hope to update the blog from the mountains as long as we have decent connections there! Thanks for your prayers!

Clif