Saturday, November 13 (submitted by Dennis Tino)
Hello family and friends,
The Guardian contingent arrived safely home last night around midnite from our wonderful and eye opening trip to Nicaragua. The N. Dakota and Wisconsin folks also arrived home safely, although later.
Twenty-five home installations were completed during the week we were there; near to our goal of 30. In addition to the provision of clean drinking water, the filter installations allowed the Team to share the Living Water of salvation provided ALL people through the grace and mercy of God through their service of love.
What blessings we experienced by working for and with those remarkable people of La Joya. These people are as completly poor as one could only imagine. They have no shoes; no electrical appliances; no autos or motorized means of conveyance; no windows; no running water; and, for that matter, any convenience you can think of, they are without. And yet, they smile, they laugh, they are joyful in their daily living! What a lesson for me on the idea of living for the day and not being anxious about anything! (Phillipians 4:4-7)
So many experiences to remember. One of my favorite was when the 10 year old horse drawn cart driver invited me to hop up on the cart beside him while returning from an installation. A short time later, as I sat next to him, he turned to me and, with a big smile said "Mi amigo."
I hugged him around his waist and said ,"Si, Mi amigo"! I had met him earlier in the day and found that his name in Deniston, my namesake.
The Travel Team is so grateful to all of our prayer partners. We surely felt the presence of your prayers. Five of the 18 were afflicted by various feelings of sickness during the latter part of the week. Some probably due to too much sun, or not enough hydration; others too much rich dinner food; others not used to such heavy work. But, God was with us and there was no serious illness. And, even those who felt the discomforts of diahrea, were glad that they had the opportunity to serve these needy people. As was said, if only one person will be saved by the clean water and hygiene training, it will certainly be worth the trip and all the hard work.
A presentation will be made to Guardian Congregation by the Team, hopefully in early December. For those far away, the presentation will also be available via internet.
Wednesday, November 10 (submitted by Dennis Tino)
A blessed day again! A total of 17 filters have been installed thru today. We hope to do 10 more tommorrow. Had opp to share Gospel with Security guard here at hotel while waiting for the bus this AM. Tonite, he came looking for me and gave me a big hug and wanted to talk, but our interpreter had left and I had to tell him we can talk in the AM. Praise God!
We all worked hard washing sand and gravel and repairing leaking assys. and installing in homes. I witnessed one installation and have great pictures of the family. People here like to have their pics taken so they can see them on the camera.
Pres Louis (Nic LC) stopped by briefly this AM and I talked to him about getting young men motivated to come to church for things they would be interested in order to break thru the cultural barrier in which boys are raised to think that church is only for females. He was interested and wants to talk about it more. Any ideas Jim?
The people have really accepted the health and hygiene pitches and crafts and Bible studies. The people are very friendly in general and I have stopped to " talk¨" with people and they are very willing to talk. The kids at church are very grateful for our presence and often come up and give me hugs. the mother of 7 wonderful kids told me today that she would welcome us back "with open arms" when we return.
Tomorrow is our last work day! Closing ceremony by Pastor Marvens and I have bo bons ( suckers) for all the children. I gave out a bunch the other day and told them there would be more tommorrow.
Your prayers are being felt by EVERYONE on the team!
Tuesday, November 9 (submitted by Dennis Tino)
Another beautiful day in the 80s. Washed sand all morning and after our brought-in lunch , four of us went to the radio station to go on the air with the President of Luth Ch- Nicaragua. It went well. Turned out this was a different radio Christian station than he had us on Sunday. It was also blogged to a web site, so when I get the site I´ll let you know.
Coming back, the van got stuck due to the right rear wheel being 6 inches off the ground. The interpreter and I finally got us going again by pushing the van backward.
The President then showed up at our work site with a group of 11 people from LC Canada who came to build a church somewhere near here. They will be staying at our hotel, so we will find out more about what they will be doing.
I got a chance to play a little soccer with some boys late in the day. The kids really like us there. One guy came up to me earlier and said "mon". Turns out this means "play". So I grabbed him and he started trying to tickle me. He hung around me for some time. Love these people!
The VBS went well today again. Lot's of ninos. Also, the team installed 6 filters in homes. We are getting GREAT pictures of this beautiful country and these beautiful and loving people!
Got to go and let the next person use the keyboard.
Thanks for all the prayers! We can feel them.
Monday, November 8 (submitted by Dennis Tino):
Greetings to all!
We had another beautiful day in the tropics with temps in mid 80´s and a nice breeeze in the am. We cleaned as much sand as we had water to do it.. Cleaning the sand is a slow task in that we use wash basins to swirl sand aound four times with ou hands, dumping out the dirty water each time. Water delivery is only available in the am, so we had to stop after about 2:00 pm. We attempted to install two filter assys in homes. But the time ran out and the installations will be done tomorrow.
The first children´s VBS was very successful with lots of kids from the neighborhood. They did art and story telling and singing. The kids really get into singing.
There are always horses and carts around for hauling water and other stuff, even in the cities. A boy had come to VBS riding a horse. I casually asked Pastor Martens, thru an interpreter, if he was a horse back rider. He was and asked me if I rode horses. I said yes, and the next thing I knew, he had gotten permission for me to ride the horse. Well, it was just at the time when a group of people were headed out to install the two water filters, so I rode along behind the horse drawn cart carrying the water filters. Well, when we got there, Debby discovered that they needed a few parts left behind. I offered to go back to get them, a distance of about half a mile. As one might expect, I got lost. The "roads" , no more than uneven dirt trails with incredible bumps and divots, are not labeled. BUT, the church is so well known in the community that I was able to ask people along the way "Informacion, Iglacia Lutherano" and found my way back to the church, albeit coming in from the opposite direction. By the time I got back to the installation site, the team had decided that it was time to quit for the day. But it was fun!
Lots of blessings being experienced by all. We are truly a team and everyone keeps pitching in, in any way needed to get the work done. Praise God
We have devos each morning and evening. Everyone feels the power of your prayers.
God bless you all.
_____________________
On Friday, November 5th, a mission team comprised of ten individuals from Guardian will depart for La Joya, Nicaragua where they will spend 9 days constructing BioSand water filtration units for the village. While there, they will also educate the villagers in good health and hygiene practices, all the while sharing the Good News of Jesus, our Living Water.
The following link will allow you to stay in touch with the team via blog posts and photos. To view blog posts, click on "Comments". To view photos, click on "Nicaragua 1026" under Albums.
We ask that you keep the members of the mission team, Most Ministries, and the people of La Joya in your prayers and also encourage the members of Guardian to make use of the special devotional booklet created by Diane Kaye.
Guardian Team 1026 (and their helpers) - Bonnie Thiesen, Mary Dubensky, Bill Jenkins, Joy Schultz, Ron Schultz, David Smith, Dennis Tino, Larry Kent, Jim Doran, Sandy Kratt, Janet Dickhudt, Bob Dickhudt and Lance Moquin
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