Economic Development in Central America

On Thursday May 3rd, we ventured back up the Escondido River to El Rama, then headed west to Grenada for our free time. We stayed at the Casa de Vivaldi - a wonderful spot with fine rooms, central location and a beautiful pool! On Friday, we headed towards Volcán Mombacho, not too far from Masaya. This volcano offered a totally different experience than Volcán Masaya. This volcano is dormant and the only activity we noticed were steam shafts on our walk around the perimeter of an older crater. The hike around Volcán Mombacho uncovered many species of animals and plant life - it was noted that one one tree alone, there were more species of plants than in the entire country of England! How awesome is our God anyway!?!?


After the team left Managua on Saturday, May 5th, I was asked to tag along with Rigo & Claudia, Mike & Lesly as well as two representatives from Missions to the Americas, Aaron Palmatier and Illdefonso Ramirez. We stayed in Managua for two nights but ventured to Ciudad Sandino just outside the city limits of Managua and Chinandega to visit existing churches that Main Street had worked on. On Monday, we headed south to Jinotepe and Masaya to investigate future church building sites and economic development opportunities. It was fascinating to see the vision that God placed on Rigo's heart!

En route to Chinandega, I was the only person who could not speak Spanish... occasionally, Rigo would stop and review in English with me what they were discussing in Spanish. This just made it very plain that I need to learn the language to go to the next level of effectiveness in Central America!




As we made our way to the Costa Rica Highway along the Pacific Coast, we stopped briefly at the carpentry shop currently under construction. Rigo envisions this as an avenue for young men normally caught up in gangs to learn a trade that can legitimately earn them money to support their families. This is one aspect of Rigo's ministry that continues to boggle my mind... he is always looking for opportunities to engage himself into the lives of those he meets. But paramount in all his discussions and projects is the underlying motivations... "to introduce more people to the Good News of Jesus Christ"... he has repeated that he does not wan to run the carpentry shop or micro-manage any of his proposed endeavors... he just wants to create as many opportunities for "divine intersections" so Jesus can make a difference in the lives of as many people as possible... it is awesome to be round Rigo - his passion is infectious!

Our next destination was a small farming community outside of Jinotepe... this is where Rigo revealed to us a much larger vision! The western coastal area in Nicaragua is higher in elevation and also is influenced by the prevailing winds off the Pacific, so the weather is actually very nice and temperate, which allows for longer growing seasons. We drove off the main road down into a valley... which led us to a parcel of land that was being sold. The parcel is actually made up of two pieces of land - one, a 100 acre dairy farm complete with barns, cows, goats, pigs and chickens. Across the street is another 120 acres that could be used for crops of all sorts - oranges, papaya, mango, all sorts of other fruits and vegetables. The topsoil was almost 2 feet deep and at one spot where they had piped water from across the street there was a deep dark black soil. Most farmers in the area are not farming now as they are waiting for "the next rain", but Rigo is convinced that with irrigation, their land would produce a myriad of crops. The Dole Agricultural Engineer emerged at this pint and he was in his element... pretty cool that a job that just about broke him will now give him the expertise to venture into an opportunity that could potentially sustain his ministries throughout Nicaragua!

Do I need to repeat about how our God is so awesome!?!?

The Church on a Hill Has a Roof!

As we ventured down the Escondido River, those of us who had returned sat there reminiscing about our February experiences... the anticipation was too much. We arrived at the Caribbean Dreams Hotel with the inviting front porch - it was like we never left! Once we ate breakfast and unpacked we headed out of town to the work site. We were welcomed by children at the top of the hill... their excitement was briefly interrupted after they examined the smaller group that emerged form the 15 passenger van... yes, they were excited, but some of their good friends from February were missing! The got over it quickly but the kids asked a lot of questions - our broken Spanish was good enough because they were so eager to re-engage with us regardless of who was missing!

Pinky (Dr. Dave... in the right photos on the right) & The Brain (Jim aka Grandpa by himself grinding away!) returned to the work site and they were truly a blessing because of the engineering challenges that faced us. Along with Pinky is the EverReady sidekick Josh (next to Dave) who would have no fear when it came to walking across beams and walls without a net or ropes - his cat-like abilities made some impossible tasks possible - that's Biblical, because it was only God that could have accomplished all that! In the right photo above, instead of the traditional "Cheese", Josh and Dave are saying the Spanish word, "Queso"... we found out that in order to get someone to smile in Nicaragua, you have them say "Whiskey"... OK, that's not Biblical, but it makes better pictures!

It was amazing how much work was accomplished by the Nicaraguans since we left in February... and from what we have heard, after we left, many Nicaraguans stayed to help finish thing up! On our last day, we had completed the full foundation for that wall. As of last Monday, the wall closest to you in the picture below was halfway completed - we finished pouring the last foundation the day we left! The shots above show the progress we made with the roof - by the time we left, all of the rafters and purlons (cross pieces to which the roofing material was screwed to)were in place and one section of the galvanized roof material was installed. A slight engineering call was made and agreed upon... the roof rafters were joined together at the same place - this gave the roof more stability and also lessened the airfoil tendency of the split roof design.

Thanks to the diplomatic engineering discussions that took place! We can't wait to see the finished product! We should hear a progress report from Rigo soon as he is in Bluefields this week! Stay tuned!

The "Bluefields 8" Returns!

This sums it all up but it will take me a few days to get it all down in writing... needless to say, our team was welcomed with open arms by our brothers and sisters in Bluefields... it was like we left and came back after a long weekend... no formalities like our first visit - back to business and back to cultivating our relationships - it was awesome.

Stay tuned for more to come, including a report from my "economic development" tour after our project - WOW, God is and continues to be up to something in Nicaragua!

And We're Off!

Hard to believe that is has been almost 2 months since we returned from Bluefields... and it is now our departure day! This trip will be unique from our recent trip in February - instead of 44 members which was combination of teens and adults, we now have 7 members - with only one young adult! There will be more Nicaraguans there than North Americans... this is a good thing as the building project is not ours... it belongs to God and the people of Bluefields!

We departed from Main Street Baptist in Oneonta at 3:15 AM to catch a 6:00 AM flight to Atlanta where we will meet up with Greg from Tulsa... we then will fly to Managua, here we will be have a 9 hour layover before we board a bus to El Rama, then have three hours to wait for our Escondido river journey to Bluefields, where we will arrive sometime Friday morning.

Our February Nicaragua trip's retrospective service Sunday night was well attended and I believe our stories and photo and video presentations were a blessing to many who attended. I pray that God continues to move in all our hearts to to encourage us to step outside our comfort zones as we examine how God can use what is left of our lives. From young children to teens to senior citizens, He has a plan... we just have to tap into it!

SAVE THE DATE - April 22, 2007

SAVE THE DATE - April 22, 2007

We have a special presentation scheduled for this coming weekend - Back to Bluefields, a Retrospective on Sunday April 22nd at The Crossing worship service at Main Street Baptist Church, 333 Main Street, Oneonta, NY from 6-8:00 PM. There will be videos and stories from team members as well as a praise and worship service. Invite your friends and family to share our experiences!

Speaking of heading back... we are going...

GREAT NEWS!!

We now have a total of 7 folks - with 5 "veterans" from the February trip! Final travel arrangements are complete so now we can focus on bonding as a team. We will use email and maybe even Skype to conference all of us together to share our pre-trip experiences. The outpouring of love and support from those who previously went in February and are unable to make this return trip has been amazing. Our February trip's reunion meeting on March 30th at the Z's home in Oneonta just re-ignited our passion for the people in Bluefields - but we were also challenged to be the light in our own towns and villages where we live!

Six of us will leave from Albany, NY on April 26th and we will meet up with Greg from Tulsa in Atlanta. Cherith will be postponing her horse camp ministry until she gets home, so she will not travel from Bend, Oregon! Once we arrive in Managua, we will head east through Nicaragua - first by bus to El Rama, then by boat down the Escondido River to Bluefields.


We will meet up with 5-6 American volunteers from other parts of Central America and as many as 10-15 Nicaraguans to forge ahead with the project we started in February. The latest report from Mike Najjar is that e will finish the part of the building where Pastor William will live as well as maybe finish the roof on the Sanctuary - awesome!


The trip will last until Saturday May 5th... we look forward to our return to Bluefields and seeing the villagers we left just over 2 months ago!






To glorify God, of course!

Farewell to Johnny Hart

We were saddened by the news of the passing of Johnny Hart... this is from MSNBC.com...

For millions of comic strip readers, the prehistoric era was a hoot: Cavemen played baseball, ants went to school, birds rode on the back of turtles and snakes made quips. All of it was thanks to cartoonist Johnny Hart, who died Saturday at age 76 while working at his home in the nearby hamlet of Nineveh. “He had a stroke,” his wife, Bobby, said Sunday. “He died at his storyboard.”

Hart’s “B.C.” strip was launched in 1958 and eventually appeared in more than 1,300 newspapers with an audience of 100 million, according to Creators Syndicate Inc., which distributes it.

“He was generally regarded as one of the best cartoonists we’ve ever had,” Hart’s friend Mell Lazarus, creator of the “Momma” and “Miss Peach” comic strips, said from his California home. “He was totally original. ’B.C’ broke ground and led the way for a number of imitators, none of which ever came close.” Hart, who also co-created “The Wizard of Id,” won numerous awards for his work, including the National Cartoonist Society’s prestigious Reuben Award for Cartoonist of the Year and an award from the International Congress of Comics. Richard Newcombe, founder and president of Creators Syndicate said “B.C.” and “Wizard of Id” would continue. Family members have been helping produce the strips for years, and they have an extensive computer archive of Hart’s drawings to work with, he said.

After his discharge from the military in 1954, Hart worked in the art department at General Electric while selling cartoons on the side. He began reading Charles Schulz’s “Peanuts” and was inspired to start his own strip. “Caveman gags, for reasons which I still cannot explain, were an obsession in those days,” Hart told Creators. “One day, a friend jokingly suggested I create a strip revolving around prehistoric times.”

Later in his career, some of Hart’s cartoons had religious themes, a reflection of his own Christian faith. That sometimes led to controversy. A strip published on Easter in 2001 drew protests from Jewish groups and led several newspapers to drop the strip. The cartoon depicted a menorah transforming into a cross, with accompanying text quoting some of Jesus Christ’s dying words. Critics said it implied that Christianity supersedes Judaism. Hart said he intended the strip as a tribute to both faiths. “He had such an emphasis on kindness, generosity, and patience,” Newcombe said.

“B.C.” was filled with puns and sly digs at modern society. One recent strip showed an ant teacher asking her class, “Who can tell me what secondhand smoke is?” One pupil raised his hand with an answer: “A political speech made by a vice presidential candidate.”

After he graduated from Union-Endicott High School, Hart met Brant Parker, a young cartoonist who became a prime influence and eventual co-creator with Hart of “The Wizard of Id” in 1964. Hart enlisted in the Air Force and began producing cartoons for Pacific Stars and Stripes. He sold his first freelance cartoon to the Saturday Evening Post after his discharge from the military in 1954.

Many of Hart’s characters were patterned after his friends. “He was a free spirit who loved everybody, and everything,” Jack Caprio, a childhood friend and model for “Clumsy Carp” in the “B.C.” strip, told the Press & Sun-Bulletin of Binghamton. “He was never embarrassed by doing silly things.”

Besides his wife, Hart is survived by two daughters, Patti and Perri. He was a native of Endicott, about 135 miles northwest of New York City, and drew his comic strip at a studio in his home there until the day he died.

To read about others' thoughts on this awesome comic creator... http://boards.msn.com/MSNBCboards/thread.aspx?BoardID=507&ThreadID=251237&BoardsParam=HIPDelay%3d1

Good Friday and Easter - The Real Deal

We learn a lot about how Jesus affected and influenced the disciples and onlookers who followed Him during his life and time of teaching. As described in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and in the book of Acts, His life and ministry on earth changed history forever!

Jesus can relate to the despair in our lives... the night before he as crucified, he spent a lot of time praying in the Garden Of Gethsemane. He realized his fate was in the God's hands and that He must suffer the next day. In the book of Luke, chapter 22, verse 44 the Bible says he sweat blood because of his anguish. He took on all the wrath and sin for all and because of that we can experience eternal life with him, if we believe He did this for us.

The day Jesus was brutally beaten and crucified was a dark day for sure. If He was truly the Son of God, why couldn't He save Himself? Why did He have to suffer in such a way? I imagine that the disciples, especially, who spent many days with Jesus, watching Him teach and preach boldly, heal the sick and crippled and brought some back from the dead, were in such deep despair. The following couple days must have been so hard and unexplainable - they hid themselves not knowing how to proceed.

But, just as Jesus predicted, He was triumphant over death and was resurrected on the Third Day and now sits again in glory with God. When He appeared to Mary Magdalene and Mary, then the 11 disciples, he assured them to not be afraid and began with some of his most important teachings as told in Matthew 28: 18-20...

Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Regardless of where you are in your spiritual journey - think about this... Jesus came down from the highest of high places to live on Earth to live a perfect example for us, then suffered and died on all of our behalf in order for us to receive this gift... to give an chance to have eternal life with God. It is up to us to accept this gift... take some time to consider where you stand.

John 3:16 is one of the most widely used and read passages, but continue on to verse 17 and as Paul Harvey says, is the rest of the story...

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."