September Update

September Update

Hello all:

This year is moving right along and our hopes to enjoy a bit slower pace has become the opportunity to learn to enjoy the same hectic pace, but with different matters outside the scope of guest missionaries and their work with us.

Travel Notes

As I write this update I realize that one month from today Sheila and I will be heading south to Managua, then north to Portland, OR for a wedding/family reunion with her family. This will be the first time the whole group has assembled in many, many years and we will be celebrating with her brother and his soon-to-be-wife.

From there we will head back to the Lone Star State. I will be working with the school group north of Mt. Pleasant as I have for the past 20 years. I always say that returning home is tiring and as I look at our schedule I see that we will not spend more than three nights in a row in any one bed. We look forward to seeing as many of our friends and family as possible, but also realize we will not get to see as many as we would like.

As always, I have dropped a few pounds (not enough to notice) because of river trips, etc., just before the return to the States. I will, of course, pack them back on once I get there and return home to Jinotega heavier. My wallet is always lighter as travel is expensive – no way around it, but we have budgeted well and are excited about the five weeks we will be back.

Vision Screening Meets Bible Hour

With the addition of some new equipment it is safe to say that we operate one of the most complete vision screening operations in Nicaragua. For specifics about the number of people screened, check out a sight for sore eyes. When we screen children’s eyes we include in the follow-up an invitation to our children’s  Sunday afternoon program. We continue to have 85 to 100 children meeting with us weekly with newcomers each week as a direct result of the vision screening.

This last week I handed the blank schedule sheet used to plan every month’s lessons and activities to the three group leaders. I provided nothing but a fill-in-the-blank form. They planned and prepared the October schedule completely on their own. I am proud of these 20-somethings for their leadership, willingness to learn a new way of doing things and the Godly attitude with which they lead. The program has spilled over into the youth group as older brothers and sisters have come with younger ones and have been invited to the Saturday evening youth meetings. They are even participating in the youth retreat to be held in a couple weeks at a nearby Young Life Camp Facility.

I have mentioned little Carmen Lopez at times in my reports. She is the little girl, now 6 years old who you have helped over the course of the last two years with transportation and other travel related expenses to the seven eye surgeries she has had. She will have her next surgery in December. Often, this family comes to visit, and often brings a gift. Last week they brought a box of jocotes,( a wild local fruit). Her father stopped by Friday to say thank you and pay for services rendered. (We don’t charge anything for what we do.) The corn they grow and eat is pretty much what we grow for feed in the States and I got a whole sack of it! I was told there was no hope for it because this was harder than what the locals eat. It is the thought that counts.

By the way, Marina, our head cook, turned that hard corn into some wonderful things. She turned it into enough for the whole staff to have lunch together. She made tortas de maiz, atol, güerillas, tamales dulces and more. And if you don’t know what any of those are I am afraid you are missing out on some good stuff. Please com eon down and try them out!

our friend Carmen

SPOT

The SPOT machine is here and is literally the answer to prayers. Within seconds this little machine, roughly the size of my late Grandmother’s Polaroid camera, gives us diagnosis of six vision maladies. Based on the person’s age it takes the information and compares it to appropriate parameters and gives a pass or fail message. If the test recognizes an issue we refer the child to the local optometrist for a more complete eye exam. We then help the family pay for the child’s new glasses or fit used ones on the adults.

Sheila and I will try to complete the vision screening of the five remaining schools in Jinotega before we travel. These are big schools with one of them having a student population of over 2,000. With the addition of the SPOT machine, a gift paid for with donations from the Kaufman and Lubbock Lions Clubs, we should be able to complete the screening this month.

El Rio Coco

The Mission was gifted with opportunity to have two boats built and given motors to go along with them. The boats in which we travel are genuine dugout canoes. The canoe builders begin the process by finding an enormous tree. Then they dig it out – using only hand tools.  The cost of the boats and motors was a donation from church of Christ in Mulberry, AR.

I have had two trips to the Rio Coco since the last group left in August. Normally they are not booked that closely together. This last one was a medical brigade from Olive Branch Ministries International and I was blessed to make many new friends, the majority of whom were from the Austin area.

I was slowed down a bit by dehydration, something that is hard to admit since I have deemed myself the Misión Para Cristo Dehydration Czar. I have been back off the river a little over a full week and am still feeling the effects of not quite being right. A bit of a bug and more dehydration put me working from home for a few days. I am ready for this to be over. Maybe in was the noni. For more on this obscure, cryptic reference read here: Probably the last fruit of the day ever.

Los Cardinales

Our little league baseball team, the Cardinals, still have not won a game. We are competing better and have won a couple of innings. Our team has some skills but lacks fundamentals. Just last week we didn’t even get run ruled in one of our games. After seven weeks of doubleheaders (only 13 more weeks  J) official team rosters, forms, birth certificates and photos were submitted. Our two best players excelled partly because they are 14 years old, and in a 12-and-under league that can be an advantage. They are not any larger than the other players. Go figger…  

The team has been blessed with cleats and uniforms. With the cleats, we are able to run faster so that our base runners at least get to see who is on the base waiting for them with the ball. We are also able to overrun and misjudge while fielding. The cleats were a gift of Maryellen Grounds, who support Misión Para Cristo in many ways including lending her nursing skills, working in construction while she is here, and filling and delivering Smile Boxes before the holidays. The uniforms are a gift of the Tyler Duke Foundation and have been ordered. Learn more about this foundation here: The Tyler Duke Foundation 

The general managers of our team made the decision to buy used international name brand (Nike, Body Armor, Umbro) cleats because the cost and quality of what was available in Nicaragua proved to be expensive and of poor quality, mostly made of plastic in China. They are thinkers and by allowing me to tag along as the team grandfather it has opened the doors to some folks I would otherwise not have had the opportunity to get to know.

Please join us in our…

…Concert of Thanksgiving

·         success in the linking of our version of children’s Bible hour and the school vision screenings taking place

·         success in the young adults taking leadership and ownership in the children’s program

·         donation of funds to purchase the SPOT machine

·         continued opening of doors to new people

·         Colette Price, who keeps Sheila and me from going crazy by filling in all the little gaps and keeps them from becoming great chasms

·         Improvement of health issues

·         You, for your continued support through prayer and finances so that we are able to do what we God has sent us here for

…Concert of Supplications

·         understanding, fairness, grace and mercy as we deal with the daily challenges of working with Mission staff

·         continued prayers of support, especially for spiritual stamina

·         an additional congregation/individual(s) to fill in the financial gaps

·         continual prayers for the process of adoption documentation presentation