HCS 5

Greetings to Everyone!

Please keep any and all missionaries and workers in your prayers. I say this particularly this morning as I read about the 22 Korean Christian volunteers being held captive in Afghanistan. One of their group has already been killed by Taliban forces and the rest are in imminent danger.

But also pray for the workload and immensity of tasks confronting missionaries anywhere as the task is immense and we are seeing this firsthand here in Managua.

We worked at the re-nutrition center again on Wednesday. More assistance was provided to the staff in caring for the children.

Each day it seems I hear of another orphanage, or gathering of children who have been abandoned by the system and life of Nicaragua. The need is tremendous! And then, the present efforts may provide for these children until they are 15 years of age or so. Then, they are forced to leave the care facilities, most times only to return to lives of drugs, crime and prostitution. Pray that current efforts begin the systemic change in this country for a brighter future.

Yesterday I heard of a young man at the center we are assisting who has known little other than life at the center and the influence of Christians. He has seen groups come and go and been prayed for and with and one has to believe that God is working at that level to provide fundamental cultural change in this young man's life; so that he may be a catalyst for change for the future.

It was a comical scene yesterday morning when we arrived at the center. We were running late, but were anticipating the delivery of the water tank. The laid back approach to things here usually says that things aren't always delivered precisely when they are "supposed to be". On the way to the center, I said a prayer that the tank would be delivered on time and don't you know, when we pulled up, there sat the truck with the tank.

The tank is so large that the delivery truck could not negotiate the driveway. So, we unloaded in the middle of the right lane of a 4 lane road. Then, we turned the tank on its side and rolled it up the driveway to the prepared site. We stood it upright on the slab and all cheered as it looked very nice sitting in place.

A local craftsman came to drill a hole in the tank for the water lines and he informed us that our slab needed more work. We had a couple of high spots and also needed to fill the space between the blocks with cement, as well as cement a berm around the edges. Sometimes in our lives, we all may think the job is done, only to receive more insight that the job is not yet done. We were not discouraged and promptly set about making the job right!

Later in the day, we had an opportunity to visit an active volcano (not spewing lava or rocks, but lots of steam coming out) called Masaya. I only wish that I was able to download pictures and share them over this blog. Watch for pictures at a later date.

The team is jelling. I can see that bonds are being established amongst the team members that will last forever and pave the way for things in the future that God has in store for us.

And the "Room 2 Boys" are excelling! These are the young men on this team who are maintaining excellent attitudes and tremendous levels of enthusiasm for all we are doing. They are Timmy, Aaron, Erik, Jonathon and Acen.

We are all well and have been blessed in that no one has been hurt or sick! Keep up the prayers please!