Reporting from Nicaragua

I flew into Managua, Nicaragua Sunday night.  I am working with the AG Missionaries Bonnie and Levys Hernandez.  I took Monday to hang and get to know Bonnie and their two girls and Tuesday hit the ground running! Seven of the LACC schools have a nutrition program here and the Hernandez's hope to expand the program as well as build latrines and water purification systems in the country. 

Latrines and water purification actually go hand in hand because a bad latrine or using a river as a bathroom is one of the causes of unpure water (hence why I got sick after bathing in the river in Panama for a week =) ).  So, if we can have a clean latrine situation we can help purify the water, but at the same time, we want to purify the water that is still unclean either for other reasons or because someone else is using the river as a bathroom. This week we focused on the LACC schools.  We measured students where the program is currently at and measured students at potential new schools.   I also helped with renewing sponsorship photos.  These pictures have to be retaken every two years.  I am a bit tired because I'm not use to heat, but I am enjoying my time here.  I haven't taken any pictures yet, but above is a picture of a volcano, at the end of the blog is a map of Nicaragua and to the side is a flag from a yahoo image search. 

Lastly, I want to leave you with a verse I read the other day.  "And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him" 2 Corinthians 3:18.  I encourage you to become more like Christ today. God takes us as we are and where we are - loving us unconditionally.  However, He does desire for us to grow and mature in our faith in him! Let him change your heart and mind - working towards becoming brighter and more beautiful.

On the Road...

I write you from the Convoy of Hope offices this morning.  Once again it has been too long between blog postings.  You wouldn't know that one of my favorite things to do is writing these blogs.  I really do love sitting down and writing out some verses or some food for thought.  I enjoy keeping you updated on my life with Convoy of Hope.  In fact I even have an idea for this blog after I return to California, but more on that in a few months =). 

This winter was filled with traveling.  I was in El Salvador, then Springfield, MO then Panama and then Springfield, MO and then in  El Salvador again.  When I was in El Salvador I was traveling all over the country.  In fact I visited every single school that has a Convoy of Hope Nutrition Progam. That would be 21 schools. Anyhow that equals alot of driving which equals alot of traveling!  Once I returned to Springfield after my last El Salvador trip I traveled to California to be with Derek and my family for a little visit.  Now, I have finally landed back in Springfield, but only to be taking off again to Nicaragua.  I will leave April 18th and will be there for two and a half weeks.  Then I will return again in May.  Needless to say life has been exciting and a bit crazy.  It is hard to keep up with everything and everyone with my traveling schedule, but I enjoy it being able to see so many different places, while at the same time being able to show God's love and compassion for people.    

Thank you for your faithful support and prayers!  I appreciate you and all your support very much.  Missionaries are able to do their work by God using you to support them through prayer and giving!  Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!

"The spacious free life is from God, it's also protected and safe.  God-strengthened, we're delivered from evil-when we run to him, he saves us"  Psalms 37: 39-40       

Best read with coffee or tea...

I try to read Oswald's Chamber's Utmost for His Highest and the accompanying chapter from the Bible everyday.  For those unfamilar with Utmost for His Highest, Chamber's takes a verse from the Bible and expands on it.  I like to read the whole chapter that the verse is found in to get more context.  Many times when I read the chapter I find other verses or stories that are encouraging or thought provoking.  So, I wanted to share a few verses with you today.  Some are out of my reading and some are from a daily verse that is emailed to me.  It's simple, but will give you something to read and contemplate (all verses are from the Message version unless otherwise noted).  So, find ten to fifteen minutes, grab a cup of coffee and tea and read over these verses.  Let them sink in and consider how they apply to your day to day life.    

"The Spirit of God whets our appetite by giving us a taste of what's ahead.  He puts a little of heaven in our hearts, so that we'll never settle for less." 2 Corinthians 5: 5-6

"Cheerfully pleasing God is the main thing, and that's what we aim to do, regardless of our conditions.  Sooner or later we'll all have to face God, regardless of our conditions" 2 Corinthians 5:9-10

"Christ love has moved me to such extremes.  His love has the first and last word in everything we do." 2 Corinthians 5:14

"We're Christ's representatives.  God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God's work of making things right between them.  We're speaking for Christ himself now:  Become friends with God; he's already a friend with you.  How? you say. In Christ.  God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.  2 Corinthians 5: 20-21

"So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable.  Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless." 1 Corinthians 15:58 NLT Version

"Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promises." Hebrews 10:23

*Photos are from a Picassa photo search under cross and love.

Photos, Photos, Photos

I dropped the Missouri State University team off at the airport this morning along with my friend Megan McFarlane.  This was a great team and I had a great time.  It was so much fun to have Megan join the team.  We hadn't hung out in two years, so it was fun to catch up in El Salvador.   The MSU team was lead by Carmen Boyd.  She is a Profesor of Dietics at MSU.  The team was academic and made up of dietatic students and one student who is getting her masters in Child and Family Development.  We did a tour of some of the Latin American Child Care schools as well as other organizations in the country that deal with nutrition.  Some of the places we visited were the World Food Program, USAID, Love Link, Libras de Amor and various other organizations.  Convoy of Hope's nutritionist in El Salvador, Winny Menendez, set up the majority of the meetings for the team.  She did a great job.  I really appreciate all that she did to make this team go a smoothly as it did.  So, I am tired because the days were long, but I feel good about the week.   I had a hard time choosing, which photos I wanted to share, so I have uploaded quite a few.  I couldn't get all the captions and pictures to format like I wanted, but you'll get the idea. Enjoy =)    

Feed My Starving Children product, dried peaches from Gleanings for the Hungry and a soup mix that we were able to distribute at a very poor public school in a rural area of El Salvador

Megan, Sarah and Krystle distributing food in Convoy of Hope bags

Boy in El Salvador with a toothbrush from the MSU team

Dollie giving a toothbrushing illustration

This is at the LACC school San Jose El Naranjo this is pasta with chicken in it for the students at the school. The pasta is part of the Convoy of Hope Nutrition program.

Krystle weighing one of the students in the Nutrition Program

Measuring for the part of the arm where we measure for the arm circumference

Winny Menendez, Convoy of Hope's Nutritionist in El Salvador, is recording the measurments the MSU students are taking.

A dentist in Springfield donated toothbrushes. In every school the students gave presentations on how and why to brush your teeth and wash your hands.

MSU students with the director of Love Link

At the World Food Program meeting

At the World Food Program.  I thought these were were pretty cool.

These little girl was at a home for children whose parents have HIV or AIDs.  Most of the children here have HIV or AIDS as well.

Sea Shells in El Salvador

Sunset in El Salvador.

A worker at CENTA, El Salvador's agricultural and nutrition center, demonstrating how grafting works with trees. 

Megan and I's feet after walking around CENTA - At least flip flops are cooler than tennis shoes =)

Megan and I at the beach - hangin by the Palm tree =)

An International Camping Trip

I am on a plane headed to El Salvador. Internet on planes is quite amazing - however sometime after crossing outside the US boundaries I will lose internet access. Hopefully not mid sentence =). My travel schedule these last few months has been unbelievable. Even the three weeks I spent in El Salvador was spent traversing the country visiting schools. The schedule has made my blogging sporadic. I will try to get it back on schedule.

My most recent trip was to Panama. It was a blast. I came back under the weather with a cold, sore throat and most recently a strange stomach. Despite that the trip was a bit refreshing. It was something different and didn’t have the same stresses as other parts of my job. It was a week spent camping with the Guayami Indians. The AG National Church of Panama organizes an annual Family Camp for this indigenous group. Some of the families walk for a week just to be there. One woman gave birth, while at camp. I would imagine for a woman to leave home that near to time of birth that the event must be really important to her.

In the mornings the National Church held devotionals for the Guayami Indians and every evening there was a service. In between there were classes, lunch and swimming in the river. I attended a couple of evening services and the other nights I helped with bagging the food that was going to be distributed at the end of the week. One evening it down poured. I was soaked to the bone after making sure all the food was covered up. It wasn't Missouri winter rain, but Panama dry season rain, so I survived and didn't die of frostbite =). On Friday the Panamanians from the cities, a church from Kansas, Bethany Thompson and I distributed the food and clothes to 1000 plus families. We had to leave for Panama City after the distribution, but after we left people were baptized in the river.

I hope all is well in your lives. I encourage you to be a light in the darkness today. Live free and live well. Live in forgiveness, love, mercy and grace!

 

LACC, El Salvador and Gangs

I have been busy ever since I set my feet on El Salvadorian soil. Bethany, Winny (CoH staff in El Sal), and I have been visiting all of the Latin American Child Care Schools (LACC) that have the Nutrition of Hope program. There are eighteen schools in all and we have a few more to visit this week. Last Saturday we visited a ministry and did a distribution of food for the parents and toys for the children. The schools are all over the country, so we have spent our days driving and in meetings. The meetings have been helpful in building relationship with the school directors, seeing the school buildings and the children in the schools where the Nutrition Program operates. We have seen what gang filled communities can do to a school and seen the need for nutrition in the campo (countryside).

Gangs and the violence they bring have a powerful control over people. The children are harder and the schools aren't kept up the same.  I believe because if your school is too nice then you risk being robbed or threatened for money.  Gangs carry a real evilness. The directors that work in these gang areas have had their lives at risk. They have been threatened by gang leaders asking for money. However, these schools are light into their communities. The teachers and directors have an influence over their students.

Another ministry in El Salvador is called Castillo del Rey. In English it is known as Kings Castle. They work in areas with heavy gang influence. Their goal is to reach the child before they enter the years where they begin to join gangs. At one of the schools we visited the director spoke of a girl who was on the verge of the gang. She had been exposed to more violence than any child should be exposed to. This child went to a Castillo del Rey camp and her heart was softened. She let Christ come in and accepted him as her savior. God is working. God is moving.

I could say a lot more about gangs. I could probably get on a soap box and in my mind sometimes I do get on a soap box. Gangs are rampant throughout Latin America. Some of it has to do with US policy and US drug use. The real War on Drugs happens in the streets of major cities between gangs and the innocent people trying to live their lives. The trafficking of drugs into the US is part of the issue. Frankly, if the US doesn't change their drug policy the violence is going to continue to spill over into our streets. The fact that it is affecting our neighbor’s streets should have already caused us to re-look at our policies. However, the issue goes deeper than that into both spiritual and physical poverty, acceptance, corruption, control, power and so forth. It cannot be simplified. Pray for Latin America. Pray for those whose lives are affected by violence and poverty every day. Pray for LACC and their students and staff members. Pray for ministries like Castillo del Rey.

I was going to share a few verses, but I guess that was what was on my heart this morning. It is easy to get discouraged in this world, but press on because we have a God who overcomes. We have a God who is a light in the darkness and wants us to be people of the day. Let us be dressed in faith, love, and the hope of salvation (1 Thessalonians 5). Let us be people of prayer and people who believe in what our God can do!