Thursday, January 7, 2010
Prayer Requests
There are some prayer requests needed right now, I want to ask all of you to pray for us as individuals, Satan is attacking, as always, but even stronger now, and I will just leave it at that. But we need dire prayer, and I want you guys to pray for each and everyone of our hearts, to prepare them for our journey back to the States on Sunday and that God will reveal to us what we need to do and how we need to change our lives, and give more to Him. I especially want prayer for me (Luke) in these next three days for an unspoken. Please also pray for the families of the town of De Lores, we will be passing out beans to 23 families in the morning and this is an area where they are trying to reach them and plant a church in here. I don't know guys, I thank God for each and every one of you and thank you for praying, but if we have ever needed it, we need it now. I also want to pray for Manuel's familiy, they were completely out of food, and God pressed all of our hearts to give him rice and beans, and he was almost in tears because he desparately needed it. I wish each and everyone of you could be here to see God working, and to meet these people that love God so much. En de nombre de Jesus, Amen.
Now, as I was saying...
After the professor left that night we went and bagged up more rice and beans, then went to bed. What an awesome day in the presence of the holy one!
Yesterday, Wednesday was a really neat day. We saw some beautiful sites we had never seen before. We started the day by going to Doloris to deliver the rice and beans. The families we very grateful for just a small portion of food. Then we came back to the hotel and met Harold. He took us first to a volcano. Our intention first was to take a bus ride to the top of the volcano, however, once we found out it was very expensive and included a four hour hiking trip. We decided the view from the bottom was perfect! After the volcano we went to Grenada and went on a boat tour through the swamps of Lake Managua. Which by the way is a hugeeeee lake that takes up a very large part of the county. Its so big it has waves. On the boat ride we pasted many islands. One island had these banana-looking flowers. They looked like a banana on the outside then when you peeled it there were beautiful long pedals. The little boys on the boat gave one to me and one to tiffany. Then the next island was monkey island. When we pulled up to the island there were a TON of monkeys. One hopped right on out boat only five seconds after we got there. We tried to give him some food when he got on. We gave him a cheez-it and he picked it up, looked at it, and threw it on the ground. Guess it wasnt extravegent enough for his liking. He hung out on our boat for a while and decided about five minutes into his stay that his seat was on my lap. So here i am, with a wild monkey sitting on my lap throwing cheez-its on the ground. When the boat ride ended we went to another volcano site. It was a volcano that had blew its top many years ago. It now was a huge lagoon in the middle of a ton of mountains. It was just breathtaking. We ate at a resturant that overlooked the lagoon while mariachi bands surrounded us. It was so neat. We ended our adventures with a shopping trip to the marcado in Masaya. After a long day we came back to the hotel to meet Edgar, Ruth, and Pastor Manuel. We had an amazing prayer time and goodbye time for Ginny and William. Keep them in your prayers as they travel back to the states! Dios le bendiga!
Psalm 19:1
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
After the professor left that night we went and bagged up more rice and beans, then went to bed. What an awesome day in the presence of the holy one!
Yesterday, Wednesday was a really neat day. We saw some beautiful sites we had never seen before. We started the day by going to Doloris to deliver the rice and beans. The families we very grateful for just a small portion of food. Then we came back to the hotel and met Harold. He took us first to a volcano. Our intention first was to take a bus ride to the top of the volcano, however, once we found out it was very expensive and included a four hour hiking trip. We decided the view from the bottom was perfect! After the volcano we went to Grenada and went on a boat tour through the swamps of Lake Managua. Which by the way is a hugeeeee lake that takes up a very large part of the county. Its so big it has waves. On the boat ride we pasted many islands. One island had these banana-looking flowers. They looked like a banana on the outside then when you peeled it there were beautiful long pedals. The little boys on the boat gave one to me and one to tiffany. Then the next island was monkey island. When we pulled up to the island there were a TON of monkeys. One hopped right on out boat only five seconds after we got there. We tried to give him some food when he got on. We gave him a cheez-it and he picked it up, looked at it, and threw it on the ground. Guess it wasnt extravegent enough for his liking. He hung out on our boat for a while and decided about five minutes into his stay that his seat was on my lap. So here i am, with a wild monkey sitting on my lap throwing cheez-its on the ground. When the boat ride ended we went to another volcano site. It was a volcano that had blew its top many years ago. It now was a huge lagoon in the middle of a ton of mountains. It was just breathtaking. We ate at a resturant that overlooked the lagoon while mariachi bands surrounded us. It was so neat. We ended our adventures with a shopping trip to the marcado in Masaya. After a long day we came back to the hotel to meet Edgar, Ruth, and Pastor Manuel. We had an amazing prayer time and goodbye time for Ginny and William. Keep them in your prayers as they travel back to the states! Dios le bendiga!
Psalm 19:1
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Buenos dias familia y amigas. Sorry for the "scare" of not talking to everyone yesterday. I suppose we are all on Nicaragua time. After about three parents called this morning worried, I figured we should probably give an update! Again, we apologize for not keeping in contact yesterday and not blogging for the past two days. So lets travel back to Tuesday, shall we....
So we went to La Quinta Wednesday morning. We painted the rooms that were just build for Juanita, the lady who looks after the kids. It was a beautiful melon color. We had a great lunch and got to fellowship with the kids that just came back from their New Years weekend. After we got the rooms painted we came back to meet two translators that Luke worked with and befriended over the summer. They were great guys. Keep them in your prayers. Their names are Harold and Giovanni. We all went and got ice cream with them and hung out. It was so much fun! We got back to the hotel just in time for the sunset, which if I might say, was the most amazing sunset I've ever seen. Shades of orange, blue, purple, and pink stretched across the sky over the village. We brought the guitar up to the roof and we began singing praise and worship to God. It was such an incredible moment! After it got dark we went and met Professor Smith in a classroom in the hotel. He's a man we met at La Quinta a few days ago who offered to give us a few Spanish classes. It was just like school. He used a white board and we all sat in a classroom-like setting. He taught us for an hour about vocabulary and grammar. We gave him a few dollars and he was so grateful. He said he could use it to feed his family for the next day. He said he didn't have any money for food prior to our donation. We also gave him a bag of rice and beans.
And now we have to go to La Quinta for today.
To be continued...
CMM
So we went to La Quinta Wednesday morning. We painted the rooms that were just build for Juanita, the lady who looks after the kids. It was a beautiful melon color. We had a great lunch and got to fellowship with the kids that just came back from their New Years weekend. After we got the rooms painted we came back to meet two translators that Luke worked with and befriended over the summer. They were great guys. Keep them in your prayers. Their names are Harold and Giovanni. We all went and got ice cream with them and hung out. It was so much fun! We got back to the hotel just in time for the sunset, which if I might say, was the most amazing sunset I've ever seen. Shades of orange, blue, purple, and pink stretched across the sky over the village. We brought the guitar up to the roof and we began singing praise and worship to God. It was such an incredible moment! After it got dark we went and met Professor Smith in a classroom in the hotel. He's a man we met at La Quinta a few days ago who offered to give us a few Spanish classes. It was just like school. He used a white board and we all sat in a classroom-like setting. He taught us for an hour about vocabulary and grammar. We gave him a few dollars and he was so grateful. He said he could use it to feed his family for the next day. He said he didn't have any money for food prior to our donation. We also gave him a bag of rice and beans.
And now we have to go to La Quinta for today.
To be continued...
CMM
Monday, January 4, 2010
Lunes en Nicaragua
Dios le bediga todos. Por que escrivo, es te amo todos. We are all working on our spanish, and loving it. Today we got to hand out the rice and beans (arroz y frijoles) to Pastor Manuel's church, and there were about 20 families there. It's hard knowing that most of them don't know where there next meal will be coming from. Pray for those 20 families. It's been a productive week though, we got a lot of the dorms painted, and tomorrow we will get as close to done as we can. Also, today we met a few kids about 7 or 8 years old while we were waiting for pizza who were selling things. They made little grasshoppers, hearts, and such from a coconut leaf. It was pretty cool. They sell these things because they usually don't have a father to support them, or their parents are alcoholics and make them bring money in, or they use the money to sniff glue because they are so hungry and dont have enough for food, but they don't want to be hungry. It's sad.
But keep praying for us and our strength, to keep carrying on, and also more opportunities to share the love of Christ. As always, we haven't got to share with enough, nor will I think we will ever reach enough. Because until the whole world hears, then we will have reached enough.
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of a him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
But keep praying for us and our strength, to keep carrying on, and also more opportunities to share the love of Christ. As always, we haven't got to share with enough, nor will I think we will ever reach enough. Because until the whole world hears, then we will have reached enough.
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of a him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Nicaragua, Day 6
Today we went to Pastor Manuel's church. After a long bumpy ride(think Motocross), we joined many children and their mothers. there were no men except Pastor Manuel, Luke, and William. the sanctuary was a bare,dirt lot surrounded by palm trees. the children were so loving....they came around and welcomed each of us by name.There is no way to describe how special the simple service was. How marvelous that God can be so close and so real, and that even though you can't understand all the language, His spirit is there in abundance.
The song service was led by the pastor's daughter who is such a spiritual person,so precious. She told me that she prayed for each of us and for our families back home many times a day;that we were her forever brothers and sisters in Christ. Even though I could only understand an occasional word, I immediately recognized a song I learned as a child, Standing In The Need Of Prayer".All the songs were sung with great enthusiasm, and it was very evident that this was a service meant to glorify God with a "joyful noise unto the Lord".
After the preaching service (no sleeping during THIS message!),the children including our group played soccer and Duck, Duck, Goose. Courtney and Tiffany are pretty good runners!t While they were playing, I walked under the palm trees, still praising God for the service. His love is manifested in SO many ways and many times"a little child shall lead them". To see those children who have so little, yet are so happy, is awesome. To have those little arms around your neck and here "I love you"...if that wouldn't touch your heart, it would have to be made of stone!
This afternoon we packaged one hundred pounds each of rice and beans to give to the church families. Pastor Manuel said each portion would feed a family of five for two or three days.
Our continued prayer request is that we are able to make a difference in the lives of the children and that their memories of us will be as precious to them as theirs to us. I know you are already praying for a church building for Pastor Manuel and his people. Please continue to pray to that end, and if God lays it on your heart to help, well,Praise the Lord! And if you are blessed with the opportunity to join us, I assure you,you will never be the same. Blessed beyond measure..Linda Gentry
'
The song service was led by the pastor's daughter who is such a spiritual person,so precious. She told me that she prayed for each of us and for our families back home many times a day;that we were her forever brothers and sisters in Christ. Even though I could only understand an occasional word, I immediately recognized a song I learned as a child, Standing In The Need Of Prayer".All the songs were sung with great enthusiasm, and it was very evident that this was a service meant to glorify God with a "joyful noise unto the Lord".
After the preaching service (no sleeping during THIS message!),the children including our group played soccer and Duck, Duck, Goose. Courtney and Tiffany are pretty good runners!t While they were playing, I walked under the palm trees, still praising God for the service. His love is manifested in SO many ways and many times"a little child shall lead them". To see those children who have so little, yet are so happy, is awesome. To have those little arms around your neck and here "I love you"...if that wouldn't touch your heart, it would have to be made of stone!
This afternoon we packaged one hundred pounds each of rice and beans to give to the church families. Pastor Manuel said each portion would feed a family of five for two or three days.
Our continued prayer request is that we are able to make a difference in the lives of the children and that their memories of us will be as precious to them as theirs to us. I know you are already praying for a church building for Pastor Manuel and his people. Please continue to pray to that end, and if God lays it on your heart to help, well,Praise the Lord! And if you are blessed with the opportunity to join us, I assure you,you will never be the same. Blessed beyond measure..Linda Gentry
'
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Day 5
First day of labor and boy are we tired. Before we left we all actually picked up the parrot that stays in the hotel so that was really cool. We headed out about 8 for La Quinta. We stopped on the way to buy paint and tools to knock down the wall around the pool. When we got there the girls started painting the bathroom to the girls dorm light green but we ran out of paint before we finsihed so we had to start on the big room. We painted it tan. Ginny and Courtney sang to us the whole time making up there own words to songs. They drove us crazy. The guys worked outside and busted down the wall around the pool. They were wore out so they came in to help us paint the big room. Elvis, one of the orphans there, helped us work all day. He has a limp but it doesn't stop him from working for the Lord. :) We finished painting the whole room today. Praise God. Tomorrow we will be going to Pastor Manuel's church and then going to visit the barrios which is like the ghetto and alot of the children live there. We will be evangilizing and giving them cookies. I want to ask that you pray for us as we go tomorrow that God will work through us and that the people will see God when they look at us, not us. Pray that God has his will during this trip. Last but not least pray for me (Tiffany) personally because I'm the only one who has gotten sick from the food here. Pray that God will make me feel better so I can continue doing his work. Thanks for all of the suport so far we couldn't do it without you!
January 1st, 2010
God is good all the time, and all the time God is Good. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! It is amazing how God can display his glory through His creations. We went to the beach today because it was New Years and nearly all the stores were closed. Much like in the USA, they dont work on New Years. But the beach was awesome. The water was very warm and the beach was VERY hot! My momma (Ginny) rode a hore on the beach and I thought I was going to die laughing. Although we were in the sand, we took the opportunity to share Jesus by passing out "tracks" that showed how to become a Christian in Spanish. We passed out about 60 of them. I remember one case in which the boy we gave it to read it, and looked interested. The tributary was very low so we got to walk down the exit of the river. I saw so many "houses" that were nothing but a fdw sticks with metal on the top. Amongst the poverty I saw many children laughing and having fun. It really opened my eyes to what real poverty was. We havent even seen the extreme poverty of Nicaragua! As for prayer requests, I ask that you please pray for us as we are working tomorrow. The guys will be busting up concrete and the girls will be picking up the pieces and/or painting. I ask that you pray for are strength to be full and our hearts to be open to hear God. Thanks for all of thr prayers and messages.
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