I’ve just confirmed the dates for our 2012 VivaNica support trip to Nicaragua!  The trip will be Sunday August 5-12. If you are interested in joining our team, mark your calendar!  The Info meeting is schedules for Sunday, March 4th at 12:30 in the Creekside room.  A pizza lunch will be served.

Trip wrap up by Amy Pfost

Our team returned home to Dallas Sunday. But before we left, we had a jam-packed Saturday. We started the day with Camino de Vida’s first service at a church they are partnering with in a different neighborhood. We spent Thursday afternoon setting up the equipment, rehearsing the service, handing out invitations in the neighborhood, and playing with the kids. It’s simply amazing how many children will seemingly appear from nowhere if you pull out half a dozen bouncy balls. These kids are so precious. A few in particular latched onto those of us who had cameras. Most love to be in photos or take photos. I had a brilliant Spanglish moment while trying to get the kids interested in the jump ropes we brought. For whatever reason, I assumed “ropa” was Spanish for rope…then on the drive home I kept noticing store signs that said ropa. Yeah, ropa means clothes. I was pointing to a jump rope and saying, “Clothes! Clothes!” No wonder I got such strange looks.

On Saturday, we got to participate in the first service at that church. So many kids came that even Jeremy, the pastor, said he had no idea how many there were. Three of our guys played a role in the service: Chris played a pirate, Paul was a superhero, and Matt Rushing was an old man. We were excited to help out any way we could. Hopefully the kids will continue to come to the church and hear the Gospel.

Also on Saturday, after a trip to the market for souvenirs, we went to Camino de Vida’s youth service. We learned that in Nicaragua “youth” means anything from early teens to when they get married. Even though I didn’t understand most of what was being said during the service, I enjoyed just seeing church in another country. The Gospel is the Gospel, whether it’s in English, Spanish or any other language.

We wrapped up our trip with a unique dinner experience, eating on a balcony at a pizza place overlooking a huge crater. We got to visit and laugh with our friends and missionaries with whom we had worked all week. I know it will take weeks for us to process all that we experienced and all that God wants to teach us. We are so grateful to God for working through us to support the ministry in Managua, to our community for supporting us, and to the Camino de Vida staff and missionaries for taking such good care of us.

We were blessed to have a free day to spend at the beach Friday. It took about an hour and a half, a third of which was on a dirt road, to reach our beautiful destination. Because it’s the dry season, the scenery on the way there looked a lot like West Texas. There was a big cabana with hammocks and chairs overlooking the beach. We had the place almost to ourselves. After finishing the Refuge house Thursday, we all needed a chance to rest and relax. Everyone loved the food … fried bananas with cheese, fresh-baked pizza and other entrees. The only casualties were a few pairs of (sun)glasses that were carried off by the waves.

Day 4 by Paul Garrett:

Wednesday was a work day.  Most of the team did a great job painting in the hot house. The houses here mostly have metal roofs which radiate the heat from the sun into the house making them warmer than outside where there is a breeze.

Some other projects of the day were to make some shelves, a sign, and peg boards.  To acquire the materials to make these projects we had to go to four different stores.  Their are no one stop hardware stores here.  A previous group built some shelves for the house.  They did an amazing job considering the tools they had to work with.  We got to varnish and paint those shelves and they look great.

All in all it was a good day where lots of work was completed. It was our only day to work straight from 8 to 5, and we definitely felt it at the end of the day. We are blessed to be staying at a comfortable mission house that feeds us breakfast and dinner. Wednesday was spaghetti night!

We just put up a Flickr album!

Day 3 according to Chris Tedrow:

Today was our second day of work at the refuge house – and it was a longer one as we spent the whole morning and a good part of the afternoon working on it.  I am very excited about the work our team gets to do on this house.  Other teams have already accomplished much of the foundational work for the house during previous trips.  Our task has been trying to add the finishing touches to the house so the government officials can inspect it and open it up as a shelter for the boys who will come to live there.  Today we continued painting the bedrooms and bathrooms and started building and varnishing shelves for the rooms.  It is very tiring work, especially in the heat of the Nicaraguan dry season, but the Lord gives us the energy we need to face the day.  One of the most encouraging ways I’ve seen the Lord at work in our group is seeing the reflection of God’s love in each team member’s heart that drives their work with enthusiasm and a sense of purpose.  I think we are all excited about what the Lord can accomplish through us here this week!

This morning we had the opportunity to hear Antonio share his testimony of how he came to be involved with One-by-One’s ministry.  Antonio, along with his wife and two children, will be the first host family for this house, so hearing his story has been especially meaningful and encouraging as we are working to serve them as well.

In the mid-afternoon, we had our first opportunity to see first-hand one of One by One’s outreach programs in action.  We had gone through the Loma Verde community the day before to hand out invitations to all of the kids, so today we threw the kids a piñata party.  I was at first skeptical of the turnout we would  have for the event, as One by One has had only a few kids from Loma Verde come to their events before and this was their first big outreach to this neighborhood.  But as has happened many times during this trip and during the preparation for it, I was surprised at how many people the Lord has brought together to be touched by this ministry’s work.  I think in all about 100 kids with their parents showed up for the piñata party.  We all had so much fun playing with the kids, and it was great to see the community gathered together in simple celebration.  I am hopeful that some of these kids will now have an avenue through One by One’s programs to hear of the love of Jesus and find new hope in His ultimate sacrifice.

Today’s post is by Meg Hornung:

We started off the day priming the refuge house. The guys did a great job in February and it’s so exciting watching it all come together! The work is tiring but worth every effort knowing this house will be a safe haven for abused children.

We visited House of Hope later in the day. It was an amazing and heart-wrenching experience. I have heard of the mission of House of Hope and that these little girls have gone through abuse, prostitution, and/or sex trade, but seeing the precious girls and talking with them was really hard to take in. It really opened my eyes to how good my life is and how ungrateful I’ve been. God has really touched my heart after hearing what some of these girls have gone through.

After a day of hard work and emotional time at House of Hope we hung out with the Russells. Lots of laughs and rest time to gear us up for tomorrow. Can’t wait for the days ahead and see what God has planned for us!

The group with our luggage at the Managua airport.

From Matt Rushing – So yesterday was travel day and it went pretty well. We had to be at the airport at 4 am, yup, that’s right, 4 am. What was such a blessing is that it went really well. Our first stop was in Miami and then straight to the plane to Managua.

Chase and Paul met us at the airport. It was great to see such good friends and make our way through the crazy streets in the van talking and catching up. We did have a hiccup in the travel, we left a bag at the airport; but luckily the crisis was averted and the bag was recovered from the airport with a return trip.

We had a really good first meeting with Paul, he was able to share with us the vision and mission of OneByOne and let us know what we will be doing this week. We have full week work and ministry before us and we are raring to go.

The first night here we got to have dinner with all the Russells and Paul. It was full of food and lots of laughs. It was a fantastic way to spend our first night here! Then, it was off to bed and rest before our first full day of ministry!

We leave tomorrow! We want to thank everyone who has supported our trip, whether it was helping with one of our fundraisers, donating money, or encouraging us along the way. Please pray for us as we leave early, early Sunday (we’re meeting at the airport at 4 a.m.!). We’ll try to keep you updated throughout the week. Viva Nica!

Praise the Lord! We set a goal to raise $1700 for our trip at our garage sale, and God has blessed us far beyond that. Our total at the end of the sale was $3500! The extra proceeds will go to benefit our missionaries at One by One. We want to thank everyone who donated, the volunteers who helped us with everything from set up to clean up, and anyone else who contributed to the sale. We enjoyed an unexpected blessing when a group of Boy Scouts came and took everything that was left after the sale. To God be the glory!

Ready for Spring cleaning? The 20s Nica Team needs your help! We are putting on a garage sale Saturday, March 12 from 6:30 a.m. here at Woodcreek to raise funds for and awareness of our trip to Nicaragua to support our missionaries and their ministries! Need to get rid of some stuff? Donate your items for the garage sale.

You can drop off your items in the metal receptacles around the back of the church behind the dumpsters starting March 6. The items will be brought inside and organized daily. You can even bring items Friday night, March 11 and early Saturday morning, March 12, as we are organizing the event. Thank you for all your support! For questions, contact Contact paulmarkgarrett@hotmail.com.

Also, if you missed it, we put up a widget in the sidebar that makes it super easy to donate online if you would like to partner with us.

“Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.” 1 Thessalonians 2:8

With this verse on our hearts, 11 members from Woodcreek 20s are preparing to depart on April 3 for Managua, Nicaragua. If you followed our trip last year, you’ll know our purpose is to support the ministry of OneByOne and their outreach to the children of Managua. Our desire is to share the love of Christ with the kids and help the staff of OneByOne however we can.

The team has a couple of different events planned so you can get involved in supporting our trip and the ministries we are serving. We’ll have more details as the dates approach.

Thank you for your prayers! We are excited to see how God is working in Managua.

We want to thank all those that supported our trip and with us helped support the ministries in Managua.  We are continuing our relationship with Camino DeVida, House of Hope, and Nicaragua Christian Academy in the future.  If you haven’t had the chance to read about our trip, take some time and scroll through the blog posts below.  God Bless.  Nica Team 2010.

Hi there! For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Kathy Pacheco and I am an 18 year old Nicaraguan. I’ve had the privilege to translate for this mission team for 2 years now, thanks to David Russell who introduced me to the Lillies. It’s truly been a blessing to have this same mission down here for another year and I know for sure that their work here has not been in vain. It’s been interesting to see the team’s responses to what they’ve found here and how their eyes have been opened upon seeing the different circumstances that people here are faced with. However, though hard to believe, it’s also been a very impacting and intense week for me too.

As a Nicaraguan, you would expect me to be well acquainted with what happens around here and what the vast majority of our citizens are dealing with, but sadly I’m not. I had the privilege to visit the city dump for the first time last year when they came down and visited again this Friday, and I was completely blown away by what I saw! You see, the problem with many of us Nicaraguans who live in the upper parts of the city is that sometimes we live oblivious to what is happening down in places like those. It’s a very sad reality, but I can definitely be identified in that group of people at some points. Part of the reason that I like translating and working with teams is that I get to go to places like those and take part in serving my country in some way. I also feel that it helps me understand my people more and it is then that I am fully aware of the great needs they have.

Since I had visited the dump previously, I was already familiar with what happened there and the intensity of the poverty that area has. However, the part of this trip that really hit me the most was working with House of Hope.

I had heard about this ministry previously, but had never been there or much less heard about what it dealt with. Upon hearing multiple testimonies of girls who had been either in prostitution, were sold to be slaves, or were being abused in some way my heart completely tore apart. I have been living in this country for all 18 years of my life and had never heard of such a thing like child trafficking or just prostitution of children! I was completely blown away by it all, but it really helped me open my eyes to things. God has definitely been challenging me to look past my own wants and needs and to really look out for the greater needs of others around me, which are in most cases, way more important than my own.

However, this trip has meant a lot more than that to me. This group of 10 people has been incredibly amazing and I am thankful for the opportunity to have met them and have shared this week with them. Whether it was teaching craft work with Kelsi, talking with Erin while we poured cement, laughing about Laura’s hilarious stories, learning about Clint’s amazing photography skills, singing/listening to songs with Matt Rushing, sharing last year memories with Sammy & Jon, or just talking about random things with Matt, Luke, and Nate, it has all added up to making this week an amazing and unforgettable one! I want to thank the team for being so awesome and friendly to me, to the Russell’s for being a big part of this trip, to all you people in the USA who helped make his trip possible through your financial support and prayers,  and of course,  to God for allowing it to take place and to go so well! It’s been a true blessing to be a small part of this whole trip and I can’t wait to see the fruits of the seeds that these guys have planted here!

Much love in Christ,

-Kathy Pacheco

This morning began another early morning for the Woodcreek 20′s.  After our devotional time our team had breakfast and headed out to La Chureca (the dump).

Today was especially challenging for us; partly due to the fact that the majority of the team was not feeling well, but also because of the difficult things we saw at La Chureca.

As our van drove in to an area with what could literally be described as hills of waste, we were told that there have been many improvements over the past few months.  It was impossible to imagine that what we were seeing was improved because of the amount of waste and extreme conditions people were living in.  But the reality of what we  witnessed, however difficult, didn’t really hit until moments later.

We were headed into the dump to visit a christian school for some of the children that live on the dump site.  However, the path was very muddy and our driver did not want to get stuck so we had to go by truck.  When the driver opened the door to let us out, we were immediately struck by an overwhelming and suffocating stench that permanently fills the air at La Chureca.  It was a 30 second trip from the van to the inside of the truck (for the girls), but it was enough to cause some of us to gag for air.   There were very few words spoken between us as we drove deeper into La Chureca.

When we finally reached the school, I was surprised to see how happy and excited all of the children were to see us.   We spoke to Melissa, one of the missionary teachers who helps run the school and we were able to spend some time playing and interacting with the children during their recess time.  Melissa said something that was really awesome.  When asked if she was “immune” to a lot of the poverty and poor living conditions because she is continually exposed to it, she responded that the poverty was not what she saw in these people, but a lacking of the Holy Spirit in their lives.

On the way out of the dump, it was quiet in the truck as we passed the people who had made their homes at the dump site.  It was difficult to apply what Melissa had said to what I was seeing and experiencing.  While it was definitely evident that there was an absence of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the people at La Chureca, it seemed impossible to look past the extreme poverty conditions in which the people were surviving.

I’m thankful for this unique opportunity, however, the reality of what we witnessed today is still only beginning to settle in.

Greetings from Nicaragua!

As Matt mentioned in the last post, last night the Woodcreek team went to Camino de Vida to help out with the neighborhood children’s program. The One by One staff expected around 30 children to attend, but we were blessed with over 80 kids! Jeremy (a member of the One by One staff) led the young ones in songs, games, prayer, and the story of Zacchaeus. His enthusiasm for the children and this country is inspiring and infectious. Christ has truly blessed the community with this ministry.

And yes, I did have to dress up like a dog! It was the hottest I have ever been, and the most fearful I have been that I would be swallowed by a sea of attacking kids.

Today we returned to House of Hope to complete yesterday’s tasks. Nathan’s construction project to cover the trash pit was completed and set in place. It looks fantastic and should enable the residents to get rid of trash, even during the rainy season. We also mixed concrete and contributed to addition of the ladies’ dining facility. It was back-breaking labor, but we learned quite a bit about construction, and completed a very necessary task.

At lunch we listed to O., a man who works at House of Hope and rescues women and young girls from prostitution, give his testimony (I have shortened his name to retain his anonymity). I really cannot describe O’s story. It is replete with violence, hate, and drug use; a story you could only imagine in movies. But through all his troubles, Christ reached this man. If O. has found the love of Christ, I am certain it is available to anyone.

If you can, please consider supporting House of Hope. April, the woman in charge of the mission, brings 300 prostitutes and ex-prostitutes to worship services and Bible studies each week. Over 70% of the women that attend House of Hope leave prostitution permanently, using the skills learned and the power of Christ to overcome traumatic abuse and addictions.
I have learned much about the power of God on this trip, and I have learned it in a way that I could not have at home. Thank you to all our supporters in prayer. Tomorrow, we will report on our trip to La Chareca (the dump).
God Bless from Luke.

Work was on the menu today. We went to House of Hope today which is a safe house and rehabilitation center for children and women that have been trafficked and involved in prostitution. When we arrived we were told about the history of House of Hope and given a tour of the facility. The complex if made up of duplexes and dorms. The duplexes are for women to live in with their children and the dorms are for the young girls. The youngest girls that have been rescued and that live at House of Hope are six years old. All of these girls and women have been so mistreated (that does not even begin to describe some of the horrors that we heard about in the testimony time; I cannot put into words how horrible these situations were). The girls are given a place to live and a school to go to. The women are taught a trade by day; making cards, necklaces, bracelets and other items to sell. The women also have the opportunity to go to lessons at night to learn to read and write. For more on the ministry of House of Hope and ways that you can support them go to their website www.houseofhopenicaragua.com

The work we started for them today was two fold. The first was to finish setting the foundation for an extension of the existing dining hall. This involved finishing the rebar placement and then mixing the concrete and pouring it. The second group’s task was to build a covering for the trash pit, where the trash is burned. It is in need of the roof because it floods during the rainy season and makes burning the trash impossible. Both of the teams were able to complete half of their projects today and we will be going back to finish them tomorrow. We also had the opportunity to hear some of the girls stories at lunch time and meet the staff as well.

Tonight we are helping out at the children’s midweek program at Camino De Dida, the church that Julie and Chase work at. It is going to be a blast! We will be playing games, singing songs, Jon is dressing up as a pirate and Luke is dressing up as a dog (Hopefully we will have pictures of that latter!). Other than that, we will have a busy day tomorrow too, so for now, I have to run and help out with the program, so this is Matt Rushing saying thanks for all your prayers and we love you back home!

Hello everyone,

I would like you all to know that today we had an awesome day of rest!!  Since we have only been here for one day, it doesn’t really seem as though we’ve earned a day of rest.   However, it was a very fun day that we got to spend with the Russell’s.

To start off our day we went to have an amazing breakfast of bacon, scrambled eggs, gravy, and the most amazing biscuits that I have ever had, courtesy of the Russell family!  After breakfast we got to socialize, and play with Beckett.  We decided that it would be good to spend some time with the Russell’s at the beach, so we told our driver, Oscar, to take us to the beach.

Just as we left for the beach, it started pouring down rain!  The dirt road became very treacherous while we were going down it in a huge fan.  Several times, I knew we were going to have to get out and start pushing in the mud, and the rain.  About 10% of the way down the road, we decided that it would be better to turn around and go do something else, rather than to risk getting stuck for the entire day.  So, we turned around, and made it safely back to the brick highway.  We found another beach to go to.  We found another beach, and had a great day with great food, and great friends.  I really hope that the we were able to bless the Russell’s with the time we spent with them. That’s all from Matt Hunt.

Today, like every day was made by God. I woke up to light pouring into our room and birds chirping outside my window feeling very rested. The fact that I was rested was an answer to prayer because we all had a long day of traveling yesterday and I went to bed exhausted. Then I walked around the place where we are staying and found so many beautiful flowers. I have noticed in the short time that I have been here that there are some really beautiful plants everywhere around Nicaragua which are complimented by the vibrant colors on the buildings. After walking around the place, I decided to make sure that everything was set for the day.

Today our Nicaragua team from Woodcreek church was in charge of facilitating the camp for about 40 children from around the neighborhood. Since I was in charge of crafts today, I began sharpening about forty five pencils with a hand held pencil sharpener and reading my Bible. At seven, our group ate a most delicious breakfast made up of beans and rice, eggs, and pineapple.

Once we demolished the deliciousness, we headed out to the sports complex and set up for camp. As the children were arriving, everyone did a mixture of swinging on the swings, playing soccer, and shooting basketball hoops. After all the children arrived, we started singing praises to Jesus in Spanish which was led by Oscar Hernandez, who is a spectacular musician, and a guy named Jeremy Havlin, who was in charge of teaching the kids the songs with motions. I have to say that was so much fun and the children were having a blast. You can always tell when someone is following there calling because you can see how they thrive in their environment and do what they do with such ease.

I feel that way about everyone involved with One by One. I also knew that God wanted me there and felt so encouraged by everyone around me today. To be completely honest, I was so nervous before this trip because I have never been on a mission trip outside of the USA, I didn’t know a whole lot of Spanish, and I was concerned about my own efforts being enough. Needless to say, I have prayed a lot and I see how God is working in my heart to show me how the less I am in control and the more I rely on Him, the more I can be free to be who God has built me to be. During the crafts, I had an interpreter there named Kathy who helped me to teach the children how to draw different designs and animals to put on their bags. She was a lifesaver! The children loved decorating their backpack bags and were so proud of there creations and they did a great job. While I ran crafts with Matt Hunt there were other stations where the kids did games that our twenties group put on. We had a delicious lunch which included fried bananas. I don’t really like them in the states, but here they are delicious!  We played a scavenger hunt and some more games, which were a blast. After I taught three kids between the ages of 4 and 13 how to shoot the basketball properly (Thanks to my husband Lance, who taught me how to shoot it properly). I left feeling like God was completely in control of the day and feeling so excited about what God is doing in Nicaragua through the missions here. We just had a tour of the church and everyone went out to go invite the kids in the neighborhood to the Wednesday night service. I’m excited about the rest of the week!

We are here in DFW awaiting our flight. So much ahead of us, the team is excited to see our missionary friends and reconvene with Clint!!

This morning I was able to help with the children’s service at Camino de Vida! This is the main ministry that Chase and Julie Russell are in charge of and it was an exciting morning to say the least.

We began the morning helping set up and spending some time playing with a few of the girls who were brought over early from House of Hope. Each saturday morning, One By One sends out three busses throughout the neighborhoods to pick up as many kids as want to come, and bring them back the the church. This morning we had around two hundred children come to play, learn, and worship the lord. It was a great opportunity to see this ministry and how many children and impacted and loved each day by small team of americans and a few Nicaraguans who volunteer to share the love of Christ with all of the kids!

Afterwords, Chase, Julie and myself went to the store (kind-of like a COSTCO) to pick up all of our food for the rest of our team (see you guys sunday night!!)  and then came back for a little rest before we headed back to church to put on the Youth service they hold in the evenings.  We got there a little early and all of the power went out…. so we headed across the street to watch the resident futbol game that was already in progress. Chase and i walked over to the local “restaurant” and picked up some very traditional Nicaraguan food for dinner, which we ended up sharing much of with a lot of the local kids who were ecstatic to get some good meat as a snack! It was a bit sad to know that most of these kids don’t get to eat food like this very often, and it was a very cheap meal (about $2 USD). It was wonderful to see their faces light up when we gave them our food!

Once the power went back on inside Camino de Vida, we headed back to start our worship service. The service consisted of youth from about age 12 to somewhere in their 20′s. During worship, we sang “How Great is Our God” and seeing as my spanish isn’t quite all there (sorry mom) i just sang the words from memory in English. But in that, i could immediately feel the presence of God in the room. Up until this point i had been feeling very disconnected with everyone here, but right then i began to remember just how closely connected we all are in the Holy Spirit! Regardless of age, race, background or Language, we  all worship the same King!

Its great to be here!

Today was my first full day here in Managua, Nicaragua. As some of you know i (Clint Brewer) had the opportunity to come down early and begin to work with and photograph the kids and people here in Managua that One By One and House of Hope work with throughout the week.

I have been spending a lot of time meeting the 1B1 staff and spending time with the Russells… all five of them (Dave, Christina, Beckett, Chase & Julie) as i am living at their house with them! It has been great to see first-had where they live.

The morning opened up with some great Nicaraguan coffee, followed by Dave wanting me to play some tennis with him at a court down the road. His last day of school was yesterday and it’s officially SUMMER for him now!  So after 8 games of tennis… Dave had easily won 6 of them but it was a lot of fun.

After this we did what any Nicaraguan Missionary and his trust photographer sidekick would do. We found a long broom handle and i climbed up into a tall mango tree in search for some tasty treats for the rest of our team to eat. I continued to knock almost-ripe mangos out of the tree while Dave (30 feet below) would attempt to catch them as they fell! All in all we managed 10 nice-sized and mostly in-tact mangos!

The rest of the day was spent with all the Russell Clan, including a shopping trip for Dave to get a new tie for the school’s graduation that we would be attending, and Dave would be MC for, tonight.

All-in-all tonight went great at the Graduation ceremony. 18 Seniors from NCA (Nicaraguan Christian Academy) graduated. Most of the students Dave had taught in the past!  It was a cool time to see the students that Dave and Christina had been teaching since they came down here finally graduate and prepare to move off to college!

Well, thats about it for tonight. It was a great day to settle-in and begin to get a feel for the city. I have seen a lot of things and talked to many people about many of the issues that face this country, and i look forward to not only understanding them more but hopefully document them in such a way that can shed some light on not only the extreme poverty, hardship and needs but the incredible Joy i am seeing from those who have found the Lord!

~Buenos Noches

Clint Brewer

Clint is headed down a few days early to start his photo journal of the Ministries in Managua.  Pray for his safety and effectiveness.  See You soon Clint!

Jon

On June 13th our team of ten from the Woodcreek 20s group will travel down to Managua, Nicaragua! We will be working alongside OneByOne missionaries in their efforts to provide education, encouragement, and Christian love to the multitudes of impoverished children living in the capital. We will provide opportunities for the name of Jesus to be heard by these children and love them with everything that we can! On the sidebar to the right you will see several helpful links that will connect you with the ministries and missionaries we are supporting.

Join with us by donating here

We invite you to join with us! All of our team members are excited to talk about the trip with anyone who will listen and we would love to give you the opportunity to learn more about our Team, the situation of Nicaragua, the four (soon to be five) full-time missionaries that Woodcreek has serving in Managua, and the future that is in store!