This month my team is living in the shadow of a smoking
volcano. The picturesque scene behind our house is the backdrop for our
ministry this month. The climate here is very hot (usually about 40C every day,
and only cooling off to about 25C at night). It’s the end of the dry season, so
at the beginning of May it should start to rain again, but at this point there
has not been a significant rainfall in almost 6 months. It is hot, and
everything is a little brown, but already this is one of my favourite months.
The community we’re working in is beautiful and the people are amazing and so
hospitable.
The month of April began with more team changes, this time affecting
the entire squad. Since we are a new team yet again, we have created a new name
to describe our team. So, team Wreckonciled consists of Joy Robertson (our fearless
leader), Emily Tuttle, Tiffany Prater, Joel Dutton, Brent Frederick, and me!
You can follow any of their blogs at theirname.theworldrace.org.
Team Wreckonciled has joined with the new Team Rooted for
the month. We are living in a building on the grounds of El Projecto, a site
for Vision Nicaragua. Also on the grounds are several micro-businesses, including
a block making construction area, a second hand clothing store and a medical
clinic.
Our ministry is mostly relational this month. We go into a
nearby village, Bethel, almost every day. Usually we don’t have a plan, we just
go wherever the Lord leads us. We have done several prayer walks already, and
have made friends and visited with many people in the community. There are so
many children that are so excited to see us all the time. Because Vision Nicaragua
does a lot of work in this village they are not at all surprised by the sight
of “gringos” (North Americans). We’ve also participated in several church
services.
So far we have discovered that one of the main problems here
is the conditions of the sugar cane workers. Many of them are sick with renal
failure because of the working conditions. My team is talking to a lot of the
people here, and we will be writing more blogs about this in the future. In the meantime, though, please be praying
for the health of this community and for my team as we start to delve into this
issue.
Thank you everyone who
has supported me so far, both financially and through prayer. It means so much
to me to have the support of my friends and family. I am now almost fully funded!!!
Two of my squadmates, though, are in danger of going home. It is down to the
wire! If they do not meet the $10 000 deadline by TOMORROW (Monday, April 11,
2011), they will not be able to continue this journey with us. Please
prayerfully consider supporting my brother Lamar
(lamaranderson.theworldrace.org) or my sister Char (charmatz.theworldrace.org). Lamar needs another $750, and Char needs about $1000. A donation of any size is greatly appreciated!!!!
