3 Testimonies as Told By Scott...

Alicia

(From January 25, 2009)

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will. -Romans 8:26-27

Our team left Managua, Nicaragua early Sunday morning for Houston and then home to the Detroit area. We had an incredible week in seeing God's glory. There were numerous significant events and we all shared them Saturday night as we debriefed, encouraged each other, discussed re-entry into our culture and 'reverse' culture shock which is an aspect of the short term mission experience.

Prior to our leaving El Ayudante, our host and Mission Director, Bill Cox, shared and told us of the miracles that have happened after people had left the base. As it true with our God, His work for us is never complete.

After a short ride from the El Camino Hotel to the airport, we cleared check in and security without challenge. As I was walking to board the flight I noticed an older Nicaraguan woman in a wheelchair and her husband at her side. I noticed too she had what seemed to be a gentle spirit and I immediately thought of my mother who spent the greater part of her life disabled and too spent time being transported in a wheelchair.

Most of our team was in the middle of the plane, and once we the pilot turned off the fasten seatbelt sign, this woman began to labor back to the bathroom in the rear of the plane. I kept my eye on her as her gait was very choppy, slow, and deliberate much like my mother's had been during her life. As she past my seat her hand slipped off the top of my seat and fell upon my shoulder, she said she was sorry in Spanish and I told her it was no problem. I made eye contact with her, smiled, and put my hand on her shoulder and seemed to rub her shoulder as she past me.On her return to her seat, she again stopped by my seat, as she wasn't moving very well. I again put my hand on her shoulder and told her I would pray for her. She said thank you very much and I watched her as she labored again back to her seat. I prayed for her and asked God to keep her in His grip and asked for favor to rest upon her.

A short while later, I was returning to my seat and I was lead to give Alicia my last disciples cross I had brought on our trip. She was sitting severalrows ahead of me on the aisle. I took my cross off, knelt down to her level, and told her I wanted her to have my cross, told her I would continue to pray for her, asked her her name and again rubbed her shoulder. She looked at the cross, smiled, and thanked me. I could now see that gentle, lovingspirit in her eyes. As I went back to my seat I again prayed for her.

We landed in Houston exactly on schedule and as we taxied to the gate the lead flight attendant announced and asked all passengers to stay seated as one of the passengers needed medical assistance and the medical team would come on the plane to assist. I then looked at my friend Tammie that was sitting next to me and told her that I thought Alicia may be that passenger and told her that I was lead to give her my cross . . Tammie had seen me give her my cross.

As we got to the gate there was an ambulance next to our plane waiting and as they came to get Alicia, she labored with help to the front of the plane . . . as Tammie and I prayed for her.

We serve a GREAT BIG God. He knows our needs, He reveals Himself always, He so loves His children . . . Bill too, has seen and heard of God's miracles right to the end of many short term mission trips. God is so good. We have all heard the saying: God is good, all the time, all the time, God is good . . . it is so true. How did He know Alicia needed prayer? Easy, he's God. And we need to finish the race. God too, knows what each of us are struggling with today and He too loves us more than we can ever imagine. Let the Spirit lead us in prayer and lift up those we know need prayer and pray for each other. And while you are at it . . . say a prayer for Alicia. Thank you Lord for revealing yourself in a mighty way. Thank You Lord for revealing yourself. We love you Jesus!

-Scott

FRANSESCO OF WILLIAM FONSECA
(From January 23, 2009)

Jesus answered, " I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and Spirit.Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ' You mustbe born again.' The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear the sound, but you cannot tell where it comes fromor where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit. "-John 2:5-8

Last night, the men on our team went to have bible study and fellowship with the men at Inglesia de Mount Horeb ( church ) in the barrioof William Fonseca in the northwest area of Leon, Nicaragua. Last year, we too met and had bible study and fellowship with these men.

Last year was the first time this church had met as a group of men. Last night our time started with worship and we were blessed, again, with worshipping with our friend Clara, who leads worship, and we again were overwhelmed with God blessing us with her spirit and her incredible gift of voice as she sang and worshipped. The worship band consisted of a drummer, a young man on the bongos, and an organist. Worship here is an integral component of all gatherings in the church. It is common for the worship time to last over an hour and the time is their time to truly worship God.

Last night we had bible study with about 50 men. We chose to form a circle to maintain a more personal, intimate type gathering. We began in prayer. I was the first to speak, I welcomed them and asked how many were present last year and there were about 15-20 that acknowledged.

I spoke about the Armor of God, about character, about holy living, and about resisting the evil one. I stressed and challenged the men to find another man to be accountable to daily. I spoke about being a good person and segued to the ten commandments highlighting how much our God hates sin. At the end of my talk, I asked if there was anyone tonight who was being lead to accept Jesus and turn his life over to Him and that we would be honored and blessed to pray with them.

My friend Lynn shared his testimony and it was straight from the heart. Prior to going to study Lynn had told me he wasn't up for sharingas we had a long hard day and he wasn't being lead to talk. However, as God often does, Lynn knew he needed to share his testimony as there were many men who have lived Lynn's testimony or know someone who is living it now. He was rewarded with much applause.

We had a few Nicaraguans share their stories, stories of partying, stories of drugs and alcohol, stories of pushing God away, stories of emptiness, stories of denial and thinking that knowing who God is is enough to get to eternal life with Him . . . stories that we all hear in theUnited States when men ( and women ) become real and truly seek God.

Don shared his family life and spoke and read from Proverbs 5 . . . Warning Against Adultery . . . this is a prevalent issue here in Nicaraguaas it is in the United States, and all around the world as this stronghold, as most sins, has no boundary.

Mark shared how since he has cometo know Jesus how challenging it is to share Jesus with his friends who are on the wide path and who know not the love and strength of the Lord in their lives. I know there are many reading this now who too are on the wide path who know not this love. The love and power of Jesus Christ in your lives. Mark challenged the men to take advantage of opportunities to share Jesus when they have the opportunity not afterwards as is so common.

At the conclusion of our time, we thanked God and prayed. I began to close and asked once again, if there was anyone who wanted to commit to Jesus Christ, ask for forgiveness of their sins, invite Jesus into their hearts, and become a new creation today. After a minute or so, I began to close our time and a man raised his hand . . . I asked if he had something to share or if he wanted to commit to Jesus Christ. He indicated he wanted to accept Jesus. We invited him up . . . we had him in the middle of the circle, and we laid hands on him . . as I prayed for our new brother Francesco, the sounds of men praying in Spanish and our team praying in English was absolutely beautiful.. We welcomed our brother into the Kingdom . . . I told Franceso that I ( and our team ) would never forget him as God had given me a wonderfulbirthday present, in him, as yesterday was the 9th anniversary of accepting Christ and turning my life over to Him. Hallelujah. Francesco and Ishare the same birth date . . . January 22nd . . born again . . . in the love of Jesus Christ's eternal sacrifice. Amen.

After we prayed, I spoke to Francesco through our translator Luis, who accepted Christ a year ago while he worked with our team, and he told me that earlier in the day he felt a presence that told him he needed to come to church that night. He didn't want to but the presence was so strong he said he had to come. He said as he heard us speak he knew it was a divine appointment and he was to surrender to Jesus tonight. Hallelujah! I thanked him for his encouragement, his obedience, and him revealing the true nature of Christ to us tonight. I gave Francesco my disciple's cross, that my friend Pete makes for me, and we just, 'coincidentally' had one Santa Biblia left, and we wrote the date, Francesco'sname and that the bible was a gift from God through For the JOY, Brighton, Michigan, for him to always remember the day his life with Jesus began. Hallelujah! It was a glorious time and all for His glory not ours. He was glorified!

One last thing . . . there are many reading this devotional who have yet to turn their lives over to Jesus, to commit, to surrender, to ask God for forgiveness of their sins, as Francesco did last night. There aren't any sins that God will not forgive if we in our heart, and He knows our heart,truly seek Him, repent, commit . . . and fix our eyes on Jesus. If you too are being lead to accept Jesus . . . ask Him, invite Him in . . . let me know or let someone you know who knows Jesus. And as Francesco did . . start your new life in Christ today. Jesus died for our sins and our eternal invitation to spend with Him forever. We all make a choice even when we don't . . . no choice is still a choice. May God richly bless you.May the old disappear and the new rise in you. Make today the day you too accept Jesus and be born again. Your life will never be the same . . .and you will come to know and feel a love that you never realized existed.

-Scott

The sounds of Nicaragua
(From January 21, 2009)

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another --- and all the more as we see the Day approaching. -Hebrews 10:25

Each morning while we are at our mission base of El Ayudante ( www.nicamissions.com ) we have breakfast at 0700 and our worship and devotion time is at 0730. Each day when we begin to congregate for our worship and devotion time there is an array of different kinds of birds that begin to congregate in the rafters of the meeting area and the trees that surround it.When we begin to worship and sing it is incredible harmony. The different songs that the birds sing can only give us a glimpse of what the music may be like in heaven. The pitches of the songs sung by the birds are of every octave that we can hear and we are surrounded by their beautiful music.Most mornings before breakfast we will walk in the neighboring barrio called Ruben Dario. It is a great opportunity for those here for the first time to get immersed into the culture. We hear the sounds of the neighborhood ( barrio ) . . we'll hear manyroosters crowing, the sounds of people sweeping the roads and their yards, the tortilla lady making her tortillas and calling outto prospective customers . . . just Wednesday morning we heard the commotion of a chicken that was flying from tree to treeand a group of young men trying to shoot it down with their slingshots . . . we hear the sounds of motorbikes, children playing,and sounds of people cutting wood. There is an abundance of sounds and if you aren't attentive it is easy to miss them. When walking with Don and Mark this morning . . . we were able to point out different sites as we all were seeing different things. Itgot me to thinking about our walk with Christ. Walking through the barrio . . . being attentive and pointing things out to each other. Walking with Christ.How is our walk with Christ? What is it we miss when we are not attentive to the sounds ( God's revealing nature ) and to theholy presence of the Lord in our day? What is it we miss when we are not focused on Him? What is it we miss when we are not in the Word discovering our God? Do we hear the sounds? Do we fellowship with men and women so they can lift us upand point us in the right direction and hold us accountable? Or are we like my friend JT, who was a 'lone ranger', and if so arewe feeling as he did . . . . JT said that " this lone ranger thing isn't working "! How is it working for us if we too are a lone ranger? When we fellowship with ourselves we miss much . . . we miss the sounds . . . we miss the opportunity to learn and tosee what others see and hear from our God. The bible tells us to not stop meeting together. Do we meet with other Christianson a routine basis . . . or . . . do we miss out on what God has for us through our brethren? Do we miss the sounds . . . do wemiss the attentiveness of others who do positively affect and benefit our walks? Why not make today the day that we committo hearing the sounds and having greater attention through the fellowship of our brothers and sisters. No wonder Jesus hungout with His disciples . . . He was teaching them as He can teach us today.At night, it is very quiet at El Ayudante . . . but in the morning at 0725 our choir will appear and share God's gift of music onceagain. Hallelujah. We serve a great BIG God.-Scott

Martha of Nicaragua
(From January 20, 2009)

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!-2 Corinthians 5:17

Last year while we were ministering in Nicaragua we met a school teacher named Martha. Martha had a strong appearance of unhappiness and had the look of someone who had no hope. She and a few of her fellow school teachers were watching our team paint her school. The Holy Spirit had directed us to work an additional day at Pablo Morales school and we had the opportunity to share the good news of Jesus Christ with Martha.

The last day, a day that we weren't scheduled to be at Pablo Morales, our friend Ayele lead Martha in her prayer of salvation. Later that evening a team went to Martha's home to pray with her.

Prior to our departure for Nicaragua last Saturday, our hope was to see Martha again and see how God has created anew in her.

This morning the men on our team went to share encouragement and the word with a professional baseball team in Leon. We shared with them accountability, what the bible says about 'bad company', we shared temptation, and we shared why being a good person will not get you to heaven . . . we walked them through the ten commandments.

After meeting with the ball team, we went to a rural area, near Pablo Morales to do Vacation Bible School with about 60 pre and early elementary aged children. Our host was Ramona, whom we first met in 2006, when we painted her school building. She, like many teachers in Nicaragua, use their homes to teach, get no funding, nor any pay for their work. Ramona is a true blessing to the area and the children she works. After the VBS, a few of us went to see if Martha was at Pablo Morales school as we were delivering teacher packs to them.

Martha was tutoring a few students . . . school is out until February; but, Martha and her team were there dedicating time to her students. She on the otherhand makes a minimal amount of money with no supplies provided. Martha looks amazing and she exudes hope and happiness. Martha shared with us that that day last January changed her life forever. She loves Jesus. Is happy. Attends church each Sunday and is content in knowing that Jesus loves her and she Him.

Last year, God directed us to spend time with Martha when we weren't even scheduled to be at her school, gave us the opportunity, obeyed, and here it is a year later and we see what a new creation she is in Jesus Christ.What about us? Are we a new creation? Have we, like Martha, taken the step to invite Jesus into our hearts? Is the old self, the dying self,still alive in us? If it is, and I suspect it is in many of us, why not make today the day that we too invite Jesus in our hearts and we too willfeel the kindling of the Holy Spirit in us and the old self leave us as it did Martha. Commit today and let someone who knows Jesus know about your new commitment.

-Scott

Nicaragua 2009
For The Joy Ministries
Return Report

We bring many Dios Bendiga (God Bless) and Gracias (thank you) to you from the people of Nicaragua.

Thank you for your prayers for our team. Everyone remained healthy while in Nicaragua and our daily travels were safe.

God Continues to Work Mightily in Nicaragua!

Thank you for your donations of hygiene supplies, the supplies we received enabled us to put together over 200 hygiene kits to give to the adults and children we ministered to.

We delivered Bibles and food packages, consisting of: rice, flour, matches, coffee, sugar and oil, to 50 families, which cost our team per family, $3.15 ($159.50 total).

We had three Vacation Bible School programs, during the week at 2 different preschools, and one orphanage for girls. Thank you for the Beanie Babies and small gifts you gave to our team, these were given to each child as our goodbye o them at the end of our time together. Supplies used for Vacation Bible School were divided up between the preschools and orphanage.

Teacher supply packs consisting of: staplers, grade books, charts, tape, scissors, pens and pencils were also given to each preschool and the girls orphanage.

Please remember the people of Leon, Nicaragua, in your prayers. Two Ford auto supplier factories will be closing leaving 1,000 more people out of work, adding to the present 80% unemployment rate.

Dios Bendiga!

Tammie and Lauren Fenn

Church Services

We attended Sunday morning Service in William Fonseca, Iglesia de Dios with Pastor John Paul and Sunday evening worship service in Leon with Pastor Obed, at Mount Horeb Iglesia.

Both services were very lively, lots of music and those who like to worship by clapping hands, holding their hands in the air and dancing. I heard a lot of familiar music in both services. I sang along in English as much as I could, but at times was so moved to hear the local people sing in Spanish that all I could do is clap my hands and enjoy the singing they were doing! People sang in loud lovely voices, lifting their praises to God. It was unlike any service I have been to in the States.

At Pastor Obed's church he preached a message of who is suppose to be most important in our lives, God. Many people came forward to recommit their lives to God or some committing their life for the first time to God. When he did the altar call I was very surprised at how many attenders walked up to the front to be prayed over. A few of our team members went forward to pray over them. In my last post I included a picture of a lady with Scott and Lauren. I had the honor of praying for her. She told me that she is a widow and misses her husband so much, that her life is very lonely.

Every person we ministered to or with was very warm and relational. When we visited families in their homes we were offered a chair to sit in and something to drink. When we were able to took the chair but refused the drink stating we brought some with us.(remember dont drink the water in 3rd world countries, believe me it isnt worth it!)

I feel the best part of doing ministry work we were doing was the babies, toddlers, and young school aged children we worked with. They loved talking to us about whatever they were coloring or createing during VBS. They would hug us, give us smiles and share their supplies we used. All the children were very well behaved. I am sure each one of us had at least one child we enjoyed playing with while we ministered.

We also ministered to many more adults than children this trip. We had weekday men's and women's Bible studies at the churches we visited on sunday. It was so wonderful to be there ministering to those who needed love that we could share. The people were so precious. Many of them would come and greet us before sitting down, thanking us for attending services that morning. When we ladies had the Bible studies, we stood at the doors greeting each woman who entered the sanctuary. We would receive a hug and a kiss on the cheek. I loved serving in this country where the people were willing to introduce themselves and not shy away! :) It was a wonderful feeling to recieve a hug but it was a great thing to give hugs to those people who many not receive any at all!

~With Love, Joy, and Peace,

Tammie Kay pics by Scott Bondy

We travelled by bus, either the team bus of the school bus that is used By El Ayudante for the children.

We had one of three interpretators travelling with us all the time.

They only times they were not available to us was during a movie we went to see and in the middle of church worship services.

Any time we went ministering they were near ready to help us understand what was being said by the local people. Nestor, Nadia, and Luis are pictured at the left. There were several times where we had all three of them with us, at the larger VBS programs and when we did home visits and we were split up into three teams. Nadia is a student working on a masters degree in laboratory science, and Luis just graduated from Law School and will be enrolling in medical school. All three interpretators work alot! There are I think two or three other interpretators that work for El Ayudante.

Without having Nestor, Nadia or Luis with us the communcation between us and the local people would have been very difficult. I am getting better every time I go to Leon in understanding the language but speaking it is still hard for me. I have not figured out how to put a spanish sentence together! I love listening to people talk.

Photos by Scott Bondy

Home Visits

To the left you will see rice, sugar, flour, beans, oil, coffee, and matches we purchased to give to the elderly and the very poor in Leon and William Forseca. .

Many of the people we visited asked God for someone to come because they were lonely, or asked Him to provide their next meal. We would ask the different family members about themselves, their ages, how many children they have, how many families lived with them(sometimes two or more families lived together in one "building"). Most people told us that they knew God was with them everyday. One lady my partner and I spoke to stated she loved God very much.

Many of the families asked us to pray for their unemployment situation. In Leon the unemployment rate is 80% and will be going up when two of Ford's auto suppliers close. They also ask us to pray for family situations that they dont know what to do about. The elderly often asked us to pray that their family members who had moved out of Nicaragua, would contact them.

Often we would leave a Santa Biblia with them, which they also appreciated. Our team leader had a donor give him money to buy the Bibles with. It was neat to give out a new Bible to those who wanted one.

Wednesday

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Monday, we went into the poorest of poor. We saw images of poverty that most people do not experience in their lifetime, not even from the outside looking in. The place we went sat right next to a septic field, which meant any water yielded was highly contaminated and by our standards, unsafe for drinking.
One of the translators made one comment that put this into perspective: For their lifestyle, unclean water is still better than none.The homes were made out of scraps of metal, cardboard.

People collected plastic from the garbage dump that they could sell. Yet amidst all of this, a young girl sat in front of her home having a tea party with her tattered doll.

Scott, Mark and I went together with Nester (our translator) into the homes and prayed for the people there. The first woman had two daughters and her husband. She asked us to pray for her family, protection for her home, and health. She had a soft heart. She told us that she had recently become a believer and was attending church with Pastor Felix. (The pastor who took us to this portion of Leon.) We gave her a new Bible as she told us hers was very old. Lynn, another one of my teammates, said that on his way back to get more food packs from the truck, he saw this woman sitting with some friends reading this Bible.My heart was broken while there.

We met this young man named Martin. My guess was that he was about 20 years old. He said that he was a delinquent and had been arrested for stealing and spent some time in jail. When he came home he had promised his mom he would not get into any more trouble and that he wanted to change. He said that some missionaries at the jail had introduced him to Jesus and he wanted to believe in him but didn't want to play games with God. He felt that he had to get his life on track before committing himself. He didn't want to disappoint God. He said that he was tempted by where he lived. He said that about 2 weeks ago he had been hit in the face by one of the guys he used to hang out with for not going back to what he used to do. He said that he wouldn't fight back and they mocked him for being afraid. Scott asked him if he wanted to accept Christ. once again he told us he could not play games with God. He said if he were to die tonight he would go to hell because he is a sinner. Just then, a young man entered the room and Martin told us he could not accept Christ right now. The conversation ended so sudden. We gave him food packs and Scott told him to remember today and the things that he had told us.

Yesterday morning, the men went to the baseball team and ministered to them. They said words of encouragement against temptation. The men came back blessed from this experience. One of them will be updating later to share more about this experience.

One of the greatest joys for our team has been ministering to the children here. As much as I normally have a hard time doing this, I have been blessed ammensely. While the men were with the baseball team, the women went to have a VBS for a local preschool. The preschool had about 48 children there, with a teacher who is an amazing woman. Her name is Romana. And despite not being able to understand her language, there's no question of knowing her heart. She has a beautiful smile. Her students were honestly the most well-behaved preschoolers I have ever experienced. (Nicaraguan or American!) They followed instructions well, listened and were quiet during their activities. The men joined up for us and we did a puppet show for kids, and in response: they sang us two songs! We spent time face painting and playing with beachballs and soccer balls.

In the afternoon the women went to Iglesia de Dios and had a women's bible study with the women there. Dot spoke to them about trusting God, using the story of Gideon. Dot's message encouraged others to share their testimonies of times that we needed to trust in God. Some women there got up and told their stories. Our teammates shared some amazing stories that related with some of the women in the room.One woman told of her alcoholic husband who was verbally abusive and how she trusted that God would restore her relationship and household. She said that it was after trusting God that she started coming to church and even her husband was attending with her.Another woman told that she had a beautiful home and enough money to send her children to the best schools. But after the earthquakes, she lost everything. She came to Leon with only 100 Cordobas (equivalent to about 5 US Dollars) in her pockets. She said that through trusting God and attending church faithfully, she is able to support herself and her family.

The people here, despite great obstacles and terrible circumstances trust God faithfully and have a strength unlike any other.

While the women were at the bible study the men were doing construction. When they returned from their building project, they were covered in cement. From experience, I'd say that makes for a pretty successful work project ;)

The rest of the evening we spent as a team. We packaged more food for the homes in the area, and packaged hygiene products as well.

Thank you so much for your prayers while you are here. We have been greatly blessed by the experiences here.

Written By Lauren.

I could not have expressed anything Lauren wrote any differently. Please keep us in your prayers as today is a big day for us.

Tammie

Our Teams Top Ten Reasons...

We've arrived here in Leon, Nicaragua safe and sound.The flights went without a stitch, and the flight staff and airport personel were extremely helpful and cordial to us along the way.Already God is showing us that it does not matter how many miles you are away from home to experience community as His church.

We've encountered many people in our travels that are also following God's calling to step outside our comfort zones and follow Him out into HIS world. We follow a great big God, and I think we're beginning to see that He truly is everywhere!God has already blessed us greatly on this trip.

Our flight into Houston arrived on time, and blessed are we that we flew into a gate that was in the same terminal as our departure. This was a relief, as we did not need to run to our gate! We even had a little time to spare and some of us got some snacks to eat.

Even all of our luggage has arrived here safe. We were able to spend some time unpacking this evening and organizing all of our supplies. We relabelled all of our luggage to be certain we knew where to find all of our supplies.

Tonight we spent time together reflecting on God's grace in bringing us to Nicaragua. God is already speaking to our hearts, telling us that He will be stretching our comfort zones and teaching us to rely fully upon Him.Which brought us to a discussion of why we are all here, in Leon, as a team.

So to conclude this entry, here is a top ten list of reasons why we are in Nicaragua. Some are selfish, some are compassionate but all of them are honest.

Reason #10: It was -10 degrees in Michigan when we departed. The arrival in Nicaragua brought us a 84 degree heat, that is pleasant with breeze and sunshine.

Reason #9: Those of us that have been here before missed the white pineapple and love the taste of beans and rice.

Reason #8: We're set on overcoming our fear of four-inch wingspaned moths.

Reason #7: We love people. And that's what we're going to be doing: spending time with others.

Reason #6: We all believe that God has placed this team together for a distinct purpose. Be it solely to hold each other accountable or encourage one another. Or because we can function together in great ways.

Reason #5: We're not perfect and God is still working on us and still revealing to us new things.

Reason #4: Some of us need a break from reality and routine to bring us back to our first love, Jesus Christ.

Reason #3: Christ is our love and he has called us to serve one another.

Reason #2: God is the perfector and reason for our faith. As such, we must search and follow Him to wherever He has called us to find Him. And this time, it's Leon, Nicaragua.

Reason #1: We don't know all of God's purposes and we're ready for the adventure!

Please continue to be praying for us as we work with the people in the neighboring communities. Tomorrow we will be attending two local church services. We will also be taking the children of the El Ayudante protection center to the movies and spending some time and sharing lots of fun with them!

-Lauren

3a.m. will be sooner than I think...

I was able to get home from work earlier than most fridays. I finished at the church then went right over to the food pantry. I finished early enough I decided to come home rest and nap. I am tired!

My bag is packed. For some reason I remember being able to get more into it. Course the weight limit has changed, what one can carry as far as hygiene items has changed also.

I am not sure how much my bag even weighs. I put clothes in it for a week hopefully it wont be too much.

I didnt get all my normal stuff done that I had intended to do for Gary and the boys. It is all good though, they know how to shop for groceries and cook frozen dinners if they need to do such.

I helped Lauren get the music folders together. She needed those printed up, hole punched and placed in folders.

Prayer Card

Above is our prayer card we went out with our support/prayer letter. You can click on the image and print it up. Keep praying for us while we are gone!

In previous trips to Leon we bought supplies to feed around 200 people, the supplies per person were around $3.00-4.00. The food bags we supplied contained, oil, flour, matches, beans, rice, and laundry soap. As a measuring cup, one about the size of a McDonald's large drink cup, was used to measure rice and beans with. This would feed a family of five I believe.

We went on the same day as Pastor Felix would be at the garabage dump to deliver a devotional lesson and a lunch for each person who was there.

For lunch each person was served a piece of fish, rice, veg, and a tortilla. I noticed some did not eat their food right away, they took it home with them for later.

We also handed out packages with candy and gave each child a beanie baby. The kids faces would light up over such an insignficant gift, it was nice to see some smiles. The first time I went to serve in this ministry I got mobbed by the kids. They were soooo happy to get a treat. It was fun. I laughed til I cried with the kids, we all had a good time.

There will be some time where we will get to relax in between ministries. For some of us it is important that we have this time as it helps to recharge. Lauren is reading a book, I tend to nap in the afternoon after lunch.

I have been asked how do you it when you go there with the stuff you deal with concerning your health? I take care of myself as I would at home. I take my medications along with me, I rest when I need to and if I really have to I will stay behind. Sometimes I dont like having to stay behind but there are times I need to. Just as I would need to do so at home in the evening. I could push myself to do everything there is to do when we are in Nicaragua but I would not be doing myself or my teammates any favors. Fibromyalgia is not something I like to mess with, if I push myself too far I find that my body just does not want to go after a while because it is just too fatigued.

Team Housing...

Someone stated to me, "don't drink the water". I told her that we are given purified bottled water that is supplied to us. A water cooler is in the main building, next to the kitchen. We are encouraged to fill up.
The blue, water towers pictured here are used for washing clothing, cooking water, and showering. This tower was being built at the end of the first trip to Nicaragua in 2005.







People have been asking me...
1. What are the buildings like where you stay?
The team building is sort of like a duplex. Women's bedroom on one side with an attached bathroom, and a Men's bedroom with an attached bathroom. Towels are supplied for our use.

2. Where do you sleep? Each room in the team house has bunk beds in them for team members to sleep in at night. We do not have to bring any bedding or blankets as they are provided by the organization.

The beds are quite comfie. They also supply electric fans in the rooms for nights it is too warm.

Staff for the organization clean the bathrooms and bedrooms everyday. Of course we are responsible for our belongings.




To the right you see the main team house meeting area. There are two rooms to each side of the house, like the team house above. The only difference between this house and the house above is there is a kitchen, pantry and dining area.

I am almost ready. I did buy a carry on suitcase today. I am going to try to only work a half day tomorrow. I am gonig to start packing my clothes tonight.

I will hopefully post one more time, friday. Tomorrow I hope to put up some pics of construction work we have done on previous trips.

Love to you all...Tammie Kay

Flight Itinerary

Hi. It has been a busy day.

I discovered I like the phrase "PAID IN FULL"

It can have many meanings, but in my case it means,

NO MORE FUNDRAISING! Thank you to everyone who contributed monetarily. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, it means so much to have the financial support from others, it helps me to know that you are supporting me in missions and that you want to be a part of missions.

For those of you who contributed with different donations, beanies, school supplies, hygiene items, and the many other things that I received thank you. Your donations also shows me you want to be a part of missions too!

The prayer warriors in my life...this is a important part in the ministry of missions. Without prayer warriors praying daily on the behalf of our team, the local people we work with, and the organization we are serving, our work would not go as smoothly.

Today, I spent time doing a few needed errands. I spent time with a precious lady friend of mine, Carol. She is a lover of children, loves to teach sunday school and if she could she would go with me. She asked me to bring home a little person for her, I said hmmm, I think that might present a bit of a problem! We chuckled. Because as much as she loves children so do I.

We met up with Scott Bondy, the team leader of the trip. He took the rest of the medical supply donation that my neighbor gave to us. I had (I cant believe this!) two more Kroger grocery bags with beanie babies in them...how these critters get hidden in my home is beyond me. I am definately going to be inventorying those critters when we get to Nicaragua. I just hope they dont multiply in the air while travelling to Nic.

Lets see...I still havent gotten a carry on bag for my clothes. Too bad Salvation Army doesnt have a store in Leon!

Memories of Jimmy...

I mentioned in a couple of posts how much we miss our friend/brother Jimmy.

I got to know Jimmy in the mission class that we were in at Brighton Christian Church. The class, was an introduction to missions, it started in September and ended in early December. Each Sunday we would meet for several hours and learn about missions, listen to missionaries talk about mission history and the mission field they were called to.

On the first trip to Nicaragua I chose to be the VBS/children's ministry head. All members of the team participated how they wished. If they wanted to be in the puppet show they did. Others held children on thier lap while watching the puppet show and listening to the music. The kids were so sweet, they would watch so intently to the show, once in a while look at whoever is holding them and maybe give the person a hug. Very tender moments.

Jimmy wasnt sure what to do with the kids. He said to me, "Tammie what am I to do with these kids?" I looked at him and smiled and told him, Jim you will find one kid and just hang out with them, help them with the project and be their buddy in the time we are at the site. It will be okay." I am not sure if he believed me or not. There were quite a few times that I caught him smiling with a little child he played with.

He admitted later it wasnt hard and it was fun.

Later in the trip we figured out after dinner the neighborhood kids found out we were in the area visiting. We had brought balls and bubbles so we played that way. the next time we went one of the leaders ordered kites for us to use with the kids. That was such a big hit with the kids.

One of the things I have seen when travelling outside the U.S. is that kids are inventive when it comes to finding a way to play. For instance, one day when I was prayer walking in Istanbul we walked past some children playing jump rope. "I thought wow, isnt that a site?" My reaction was because we were walking in an area where a new building was going up and they were playing near it. When we got closer I figured out it wasnt even a jump rope but long insulated wire heavy enough to use as a jump rope! I was amazed. While on the same trip as me and my travel partner were walking into the hotel we spotted a young boy 11 or 12 years old walking with a home made kite, the fram was made out of dowel rods and string, but the material for the kite was old plastic shopping bags he had fitted on the frame. It was so neat to see his inventativeness. I did get a picture of it and he was just beaming to show off his kite.

The second year that both Jimmy and I went to Nicaragua he had no questions about what to do with the kids. It all came back to him what to do, and I am sure he loved his little buddies that he played with. I saw some really tender moments from Jimmy with the kids.

We will miss Jimmy being with us physically, but I am sure he will witness what is going on and see the fun right from where he is with Jesus.

Prayer Request/Prayer Update Letter

To the left is a letter written by our team leader, Scott Bondy.
I appreciate Scott so much. He aided in helping a few of us in getting some supplemental support outside our networks. Thanks Scott, this post is dedicated to you, for all the work you do In His Name...and BTW...Scott God Loves you best! :-)

I decided to post Scott's letter, I couldnt have done any better.

So enjoy the read, note the prayer requests, and needs for the trip on saturday morning!

I love you all and I feel priviledged and honored to be sent by my friends to do God's work.

In Him,

Tammie K. Fenn

P.S. to read the above letter, click on the lst page to of the letter which is on the top part of the blog.

It has been a very event filled day.

Worship and praise were awesome, as they usually are. I really enjoyed the music we sang in church today. A mix of contemporary with older hymns. There is so much music out there!

Music has been a huge part of my life. My step father is an electronic junkie, has a whole set up of stereo equipment in his living room. He has a wide array of vinyl(33 lps), CDs, cassette tapes, and reel to reel. I think I remember he even had 8 track tapes at one time also. He didnt have one genere that he enjoyed, he loved them all. So I would hear alot of different types of music.

In upper elementary school through high school, then college, I was in many choirs. I enjoyed singing the music just as much if not more than listening to the music.

I remember in kindergarten, that I was trying so hard to learn my address and phone number. My mom tried and tried. Memorization was a difficult part of learning for me. Then for some reason my grandma Lapp (my dad's mom) sang our addresses! Set to music I was able to learn where I lived and remember my phone number.

OOOPs...sorry for that rabbit trail...Anyway, church, worship, music.

Pastor Matt allowed me to talk a bit about travelling to nicaragaua and what we would be doing once there. It was nice to be able to do this in front of the group of people I attend church with. Easier because I didn't have to talk to each person individually! Then he had the elders pray over Gary and I. It was good to have that happen.

After service a couple of my lady friends came up to say goodbye and we talked. My one friend Barb S. and I have been friends for a very long time. She had tears in her eyes and she told me to be careful and have a safe trip...have fun...handed me envelope. She is always so good to me. I love her so much! Then one of the ladies I attend Bible study came up and I hugged and reassured her I was gone from study because of the errands I needed to do for the trip and I was well.

I truly feel loved and cared about. My friends really know how to help me recieve those things, and usually at the right time when my spirit, and mind need those things so badly.

After church I went to help pack our supplies for the trip. I brought two boxes with me for the VBS program. We had teacher kits to pack, medical supplies, atheltic equipment, beanie babies, hygiene kits, and a few other things. We got everything into suitcases and weighed. It was so much fun seeing all those items we had collected finally get into a suitcase to go!

I found out...that we have to be at the church on next saturday at 3 a.m.! Yikes! my daughter said you know, I am thinking about not even going to bed. I thought to myself, well I am going to bed and just get up at midnight.

This past week I had reminders that I need to keep Psalm 23 in my mind, know it. Why I am not sure, why I need to, but I have been focusing on it.

Psalm 23

1. The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
2. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,
3. he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
5. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
6. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

6 more days and counting...

Tomorrow is the big packing day. I have all the supplies I have accumulated since the last meeting on November 17th.

I am sitting here wondering if we are going to have enough suitcases going with us.

We had one person who is not able to go with us due to some family circumstances. I will sure miss having him with us.

Another one of our former team mates passed away in June of 2008 from Pancreatic cancer. I was thinking of him yesterday and thought it is going to be different going without him this time. Though he will be on half our team's hearts.

Tomorrow my church will be supporting our team through prayer. Pastor called to make sure I would be there, so the congregation could pray over me. I am glad to have their support, it means so much.

One of the things that I truly miss is being able to talk to my grandma Lapp about the missions trips I go on. She has been with Jesus for a number of years. She understood my heart for missions. My mom also supported me by cheering me on, asking questions and listening to the stories about what we have planned and what we did. My grandma Hibbard knew alot about cultures, geography and history about different countries. It was always interesting hearing her talk about what she knew.

I mentioned something about being gone to Gary and he put his best pouty face on...I know he is going to miss me. I told him you know...you could go next year! He said you know...I am always so busy this time of year. I said well they would get along without you! I laughed, he did too. I am hoping one day he will be brave and go with me, he doesnt show any desire to though. I know he would have such a blast if he did go, construction and playing with the kids.

Here is our itinerary.

Please click on each page and it will go to a readable size.

I created a legend so you can see the different ministry opportunities we will be doing.

I am glad that most nights we will get to experience a worship service or Bible study.

Here I Come Walmart! :-)

Tonight, I went into Walmart. Mostly to pick up things on my list.

For me this is a dangerous thing. I start to think of other things that we "could" need, or "could" use.

I ended up buying 12 boxes of crayons, 6 boxes of markers, 12 sissors, and 2 packages of a 150 pages of cardstock, and some balloons to make balloon sculptures.

Of course this has not been my only shopping trip for supplies. Sometimes I have found items to purchase while Christmas gift shopping.

At Target I found these frisbee thingies that can be turned into a ball and then compressed back into a frisbee. They were on clearence in the Christmas stuff. I also got some playdough in small containers at halloween time, bought those on clearence once halloween was over.

I had someone send me nearly 200 beanie babies. I have bought beanie babies. One lady I bought beanie from when she found out where they were going she took my offer of 10.00 but then I went to give it to her and only had 6 dollars she said that is fine! wow generous.

I have bought frisbees, and other play items from salvation army. I can usually get a good price on used items there and have found that sometimes things are NEW!

I found out today that our itinerary includes serving around 200 children away from the child protection center where we will be staying and helping with construction of a new girls dorm for older girls. Then the children at the protection center...around 30-40 I think. We are going to take them to the theater to see a movie! yay!

BTW... the web address for the center is http://www.nicamissions.com/

I hope you enjoy your visit to the above site. The grounds of this center are just so pretty. There are two team houses, the main dormatory for children under 10, a medical clinic, and the directors house. When one looks to the north of the property volcanos can be seen in the distance. There is a range (like a mountain range) of volcanos that can be seen from the property! On a clear day it is interesting to look at.

Why serve in Nicaragua?

-The great need—one of the poorest counties in the Western Hemisphere
-A frontier for ministry due to internal conflicts in the late 70s, throughout the 80s and into the 90s
-Today, statistically the safest country in Central America with León the safest city
-Its warm and gracious people, diverse culture and stunning landscapes
-Only 3 hours of flight time from Houston, Atlanta and Miami
-Historically, a nation which has determined the stability of our Hemisphere

Why serve with El Ayudante?

-Our holistic approach to ministry which allows teams to serve in their areas of passion meeting medical, facility, educational, spiritual, and other humanitarian needs through our on-campus ministries and in our target communities
-Our strategic partnerships/relationships with the Ministry of the Family, MINSA (Ministry of Health), Community Movement, Ministry of Education, National Police, City of Leon and community leaders which facilitate a more effective week of ministry
-Our beautiful, secure facility located on 31 acres near León and professional staff of 60 nationals including administrators, accountants, cooks, an architect, gardeners, drivers, legal counsel, security personnel, and translators
-Our legal standing, 501(c)3 in the US and NGO status in Nicaragua with a contract through its Foreign Relations Department
-Our low team fees, among the lowest considering organizations serving in Nicaragua
-Our experience in hosting/coordinating mission teams since 2002—in 2008 alone, 75 teams with 1500 members

We invite you to join us and the Nicaraguan people in our quest to bring change to lives, communities, and a nation!

9 days and counting.

As in the past, I am sure we will experience a wide range of emotion. Many times when we are with the children a few will bond with us in the short amount of time we are with them. The most we spend at one site is 2-3 hours.

In my previous post I told you how we spend time with the children. It is always such a pleasure to play with the children. When the time comes to leave, everyone makes sure to give their "buddy" of the day a hug goodbye.

Sometimes there are smiles we share with them, and other times we are moved to tears.

Most times we wonder who ministered to who, we to the children...or the children to us. It doesnt matter everyone involved is blessed!

Enjoy the pictures. I have more to come from previous construction projects my teams were involved with. I choose to not do construction the last two times I went, I am thinking about helping out this time. Pray that I am able, or my health allows me to participate in construction. ~~~~~God Bless ~~~~~Tanmie

A Peek at What We Do...

Packing Day Is Nearing!

My focus til this point has been the not worry mode. Funds have been coming in slowly. My daughter reminds me quit worrying. MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! You have to trust that the money will come in before we leave. God shows he is listening by putting it on donors hearts to send funds.

Our teammates stated that we will leave as a whole team, no one will get left behind because of the lack of funds. Our team mates are so great, what we would do if we didnt have them? I dont want to know! So I stay in the mode of no worry, no anxiety!

Our change jar is getting fuller by the day. We empty change from our purses. Put change we find on the floor of the car, in the house and in furniture in the jar...even change from the dryer is placed in the jar. Next it will be all the returnable empties in our garage...and there are alot of them in there!

My focus from last saturday to the time we leave is VBS, VBS, VBS! LOL I love kids as you know me to. I love getting the program ready, my extra plan set up in my back pocket ready to whip out at a minutes notice, and then all the supplies and fun I can find. We even play parachute games...which reminds me! LOL I need to put it on the list...and go shoppin! :)

My MO is allowing kids to be kids...giving them two to three hours where they dont have to think about whatever is going on at home. They can play in a safe, area watched by adults who are there to minister to them by having fun. Having fun...that is what they like!

I decided this year I would take some shoe shine kits and sewing kits. I had someone donate some hotel sized sewing kits with prethreaded needles...figuring we could give them to little girls who might like to sew some clothing or maybe include in hygeine kits we make. The shoe shine kits, well there are many children I meet on streets that shine shoes for a living.

The other need I find is I meet many children sometimes in village street who are sooo sooo hungry, they look like theyve not eaten in a few days. We had given one little child trail mix, we could not pass him til he had some kind of treat. I am thinking maybe a bag of trail mix will end up in my bag as I dont want to pass a little one up again like that, it is so heartbreaking.

Our team again this trip is taking come teacher kits. In each kit is a stapler, scotch tape, grade books, various workbooks, sissors, glue, and a couple other teaching aides. The last time we took these with us the head teacher just beamed over the kits with so much pleasure! I was so pleased to present these to them on behalf of our team.

One trip we took enough school supplies to give 5 different schools we visited. The principals and head teachers were so pleased and appreciated every box of crayons, pencils pen, and other supplies we bought and to be honest...I think we might have had enough pencils with us to supply that small village! It was so great. I truly believe those pencils multiplied while in the bottom of the airplane on the way to Leon!

Saturdays are a blast!

Last night, I spent some time putting together some thoughts for a Bible lesson and some activities to plan.

So far, I have the lesson, I was able to find one out of a lesson book from my church. I will expaned on it a bit with some craft activities from other resources I have.

I will be ingthe area where I live for some Spanish speaking churches. I need to find some music for the kids to listen to or some we can use for maybe a puppet show!

Today, I spent some time at church practicing music for tomorrow with the pianist, two flutists, and another singer. We are getting better every week as we work together. It is taking us less time to go through songs. Since it is the new year our two male singers were missing, drummer and the other female singer. I sure miss it when they are gone! I can hardly wait until they are back from their winter trips out of state and country!

I brought home the power point to complete tonight, I have most of if finished, only two more songs to format for tomorrow's worship service. I dont find it easy setting up the powerpoint right before practice on saturday morning! I should have gotten the info together last night. It will get done though.

I spent a bit of time at church formatting the bulletin for duplication and readying for tomorrow's service. I had a good time, Pastor Matt and my daughter Lauren were there. We figured out a great layout for the bulletin and then we jammed to get it all layed out. I did get it duplicated and Lauren came back from an errand to help fold them! yay! All done.

I am hoping tomorrow will be a quiet day.

I have spent the last few evenings helping my neighbor purge and organize her sewing/craft room. She is so delighted to have me stand there and say, "Do you REALLY need to keep that!"
We've had a great time and it is so fun watching her find things that were tucked away that she had forgotten about. She found a picture of her mom wrapped up in shrink wrap under some fabric. She said this is my mom! I havent seen this picture for 8 years! I moved everything in this room 8 years ago and never got around to getting things sorted out! I am glad to be there to support her and say, "throw it in the trash, give away pile, or back away from those giveaways!" Really though she has been good about deciding what to do with things. I am proud of the work she has done.

Course in all the sorting and getting rid of things, we have been able to talk and laugh a lot. I am so happy to have someone nearby to do this with. I had isolated myself for quite a while.

All About Kids...Leon, Nicaragua

On my way again to Nicaragua with 9 others, 5 men, 4 women. I can hardly wait to get on the plane January 17th. I am very excited. This will be my third time serving in Leon, Nicaragua.

I did a bit of planning today. Everyone on the team felt I was the one who should be in charge of children's ministries for our team. I am glad to do it.


I am trying to keep things simple, the cost minimual, and allow the kids to be who they are...kids! We do alot of playing while we are in Leon. Bubble blowing, jump roping, playing with a parachute, frisbees, kites, and baseball. We also have crafts, games and puppet shows. The kids love the idea that adults have come to play just with them.


This trip is All About Kids. Our team will be helping with construction of a building that will be one of two dorms for older elementary school children at the Child Protection Center, El Ayudante. In 2005, the center took in 13 children, all of whom needed housing and care from loving adults.


We will most likely visit the dr. who has a clinic in the Ruben Dario bario, which is a few streets from the Children's Center. Last trip we made to Leon, our team helped with construction of a new portion of the dr.'s medical clinic. It will be wonderful to see the addition completed.


As time nears I will more of an exact knowlege of what we will be doing as far as construction and ministry projects. Hopefully once in Leon, I will be able to update the blog with info.


God Bless!