June 2013 Newsletter Hola from Granada, Nicaragua We hope this Newsletter finds each of you happy and healthy and that you enjoyed Memorial Day weekend. We can’t believe it is June already. As the month of May arrived we began to anticipate the beginning of the rainy season which the Nicaraguans call ‘winter’. The rain is welcomed after six months of no rain and the very hot months of March and April. It usually begins with a heavy rain and then settles into cloudy days and afternoon and evening showers. However, as the days passed we only had a few little showers here and there. Well, that all changed on Wednesday, May 29th. The storm began around 5:30 pm with the heaviest rain we have ever experienced. The wind was blowing and the rain was coming down so hard and so fast that our gutters couldn’t handle it and for the first time ever the water came very close to overflowing and flooding the house. We had leaks everywhere in the house. We had buckets sitting everywhere and we were sweeping and mopping water constantly. We received around 5 inches of rain in just a couple of hours. As we were battling the water in our house, our thoughts and prayers went out to the many people who live in small inadequate houses in the barrios. When we saw Marta and her family at Thursday’s bible study she told us the rain was so heavy they had standing water in their small house and of course with a dirt floor that means the floor was all mud. It is a sad heartbreaking reality for so many people. The location of our Back Yard Bible Club on Thursday’s is Rosa’s small yard. Rosa is so generous to allow us to bring 40 plus children to her yard each week. When Rosa expressed the desire to cover more of her yard to keep the children out of the sun and the rain, we agreed. Darrell and Jesse delivered 15 sheets of tin to her house a couple of weeks ago. She and her husband were excited and very grateful. This donation for Rosa was made possible because of the generous contributions of our faithful partners, Rosa and the children thank you. We began a new Discipleship Class at church this month and it has been well attended. We had 22 in attendance this past Friday. We began our Discipleship Classes in May of last year and many of our church members have completed three books totaling 39 sessions. Some attendees have now started discipleship classes in their homes with family or neighbors. Praise the Lord, that’s what it’s all about. Darrell’s main translator, Jesse, was working with a team this past week and he shared with Darrell how exciting it has been for him while evangelizing with the team to be able to witness and answer questions, some difficult questions. He attributes his gained knowledge to the discipleship class material and also from translating when Darrell delivers the Sunday message. Jesse is such a blessing and we thank God for his faithfulness to serve. May 12th was Mother’s Day in the US while May 30th is Nicaraguan Mother’s Day and the Nicaraguans are all about honoring the mothers. There were red and white balloons decorating the restaurants and stores and florist shops had an abundance of red roses. It was a sight to see young men leaving the florist shops one after another on their bicycles delivering vases of flowers. Linda took Mother’s Day as an opportunity to treat some of the very poor, but special mothers in Pantanal Barrio. A big thank you goes out to many of you ladies who donated soap, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, toothbrushes, makeup, perfume, candles, hair clips, bandanas, tote bags, cosmetic bags, etc. etc. Because of your generosity a lot of special ladies received a tote bag filled with these items. Needless to say we had a lot of happy mothers on Thursday. You ladies also shined this week by providing some of the goodies for a gift bag for five young barrio girls, ages 14 and 15 from Pantanal. Addys and Linda treated the young ladies to a special ‘girls day out’ which included a first ever trip to the beauty shop for haircuts, lunch at TelePizza and a visit to the ice cream shop. The ice cream shop has a beautiful courtyard area where we took lots of pictures. The girls truly enjoyed the day and the cute gift bags with lots of goodies. God truly answered our prayers by giving us a special time together to bond with these girls. We are so very blessed to be here serving our Lord with the Nicaraguan people. Please be in prayer for Darrell as he will be spending a lot of study time in June preparing for two Sunday services and at least one Wednesday morning bible study. He has also been ask to deliver a message at Maricela and Jeffrey’s church in June as well as leading two discipleship classes each week. We keep asking ourselves how it is possible that the days go by so fast, but that’s what happens when you are staying so busy and we love it. We thank you for your continued prayers and support and we invite you to come and work alongside us. We welcome your emails and questions about our ministry and what you might do to further the work of the Lord here in Nicaragua.
Posted on: Fri, 07 Jun 2013 00:51:35 +0000
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