Clothes Sale & Leadership

Saturday morning we got all the clothes organized in different rooms of the clinic and started a clothing sale at 9:00 AM. We started by blessing each of our church servants and workers with an outfit and then sold clothes for very cheap to the church community. In the final hours we opened the sale to everyone else. It ran for a little over 4 hours and we raised a little under $100.00. For the rest of the week we are selling everything else for 50 cents in hope to clean out our trunks and get more space in the clinic bodega. All of the money will be used next Sunday, December 21 for a church Christmas party where we will decorate, bust piñatas, and serve refreshments. We want to bless our church body especially the children this holiday season.

Because we missed pastors’ class and leadership training Thursday, Tommy and Linda held a meeting this afternoon for our Candelaria leadership and outreach pastors. We are hoping that everything will run as smooth as possible during the Gables time away with friends and family. Tommy let the men know their roles as leaders and had each of them come up front in the night service.

Tommy shared the importance of male leadership in the home and church with scripture from Acts 20. He let the church know his heart for really outreaching out and building up strong men in our church starting when he gets back in January 2009. Rosa Lara prayed over the leadership Tommy is training and the church seemed to receive the message in a good way. Please pray for all of these men, Sergio, and myself as we work to make this church and community stick together and grow while the Gables are in the States.

Youth Service

I spent Friday getting things ready for our youth service. Itzel and Jose met with me in the clinic to go over the schedule and assign people to different verses. They also helped me get the clinic clean and ready for tomorrow’s clothing sale.

I spent the afternoon preparing my message and putting together some videos and pictures of some previous youth trips, graduations, and candid photos. Sergio and Tommy had a meeting with some of the Candelaria men that Tommy needs to help serve as leaders in his absence. Carlos and the drama team warmed up and got their final practice in as well.

At 6:30 PM Jose and Itzel welcomed everyone and Yahaira opened in prayer. Julia shared Proverbs 3:4-5 and I challenged everyone to memorize and start living those verses. We had a drama, faith test activity, and praise music led by Daniel, Kervin and Rigoberto. The drama team then shared a dance, followed by videos and more praise and worship.

At 8:00 PM the drama team shared a very touching drama about putting trust in Jesus and Yahaira shared its message, before I preached. I had about 10 of the youth divide up reading the book of Jonah with me sharing after each chapter. I taught on putting all of our trust in God, no matter how crazy we think his request is. We are hoping to see more people reached in Candelaria, even though we see people every day that we don’t think will ever be a part of the church. In May, about 15 of the 30 young people involved in our church were those exact same persons. They have shared in Bible Study’s that they cannot believe some of their friends that are now a part of the church, including themselves. I let them know how different I am from a year ago today and Rigoberto closed us with in powerful prayer. For next week, I am hoping to have others come up front and share their own testimonies in times they made their own choices with results. Then share times they put their trust in God and how he has taken care of them.

Chinadega Teacher Training

This morning a truck bed full of teachers and leaders were taken to Chinadega for classes and training by Samaritan’s Purse. For the youth that did not go, we had an open discussion Bible Study about making good decisions from Tuesday and Tommy’s Wednesday night message of keeping secrets and hiding from God and each other. I also used this time to get 6 youth that will help Scarleth and I with a clothing sale on Saturday.

Most of Tommy’s pastors and key men were in Chinadega so we did not have class this morning. In the afternoon, the Gables, Julia, and I visited in Santa Matilde. I think it has been almost 3 months since I was last there, and without Friday night youth I haven’t seen any of the kids in a long time either. We visited with Carmen, Griselda, and Margarita for most of the time and then walked around seeing some other friends.

Kervin and Andres lost their grandmother this morning. The wake was at their aunt’s house and started at 7:00 PM. Pastrana and Eduardo led the service with Daniel, Rigoberto, and Kervin sharing music. It was very well attended and I was happy to see all of our youth their supporting Andres and Kervin. The funeral will be tomorrow.

Wednesday Meetings in Leon

I woke up refreshed and ran a few errands in Leon before heading to the Gables house. I spent some time talking with Tommy and Linda just the 3 of us before staff meeting began. We have been facing some trust issues with some of our leaders and needed some time to share different things we have seen and heard this past week. We really want to get things cleared up before next Wednesday when the Gables will be gone to the states for a month.

We had an extended Bible Study discussing our mission needs and priorities. We got things clear for the time we will be here without the Gables, and began looking into our focus for 2009. Tommy shared a lot of his vision and goals with open discussion for the Leon staff and our Candelaria staff. Linda then shared our schedule for closing out 2008. We are asking everyone to pray with us to get our finances up and even to close out this year. America’s economy has really affected giving towards all missions, including NewSong. For the last 2 months payrolls have been cut short, and some projects put on hold. We are trusting God to provide what is needed to end out this calendar year.

We all went out for Wednesday night service, with Tommy speaking on living in the light. He is challenging us to not hide things from God or each other in the darkness. For two weeks church attendance has been down, when Tommy has had very important messages. Please pray for the people here to have a heart to learn the scriptures and be a part of a loving Christian community.

Tuesday

Tuesday morning Yahaira and Julia led a great Bible Study on making good decisions. They talked about the process of making decisions, and how to ask God’s help when we need to do the right things. The youth really listened and interacted for some good discussion and examples.

Carlos came out in the afternoon to lead dance and drama practice. They have a dance and 2 dramas planned for this coming Friday night. Sergio was in Candelaria most of the day seeing over the house construction and clinic progress. Sergio, Julia, and myself all rode back to Leon with Carlos for the night.

I got some emails caught up and had time to talk to my mom on the phone, before falling asleep. I can’t remember the last time I was that tired by 8:00 at night.

Swimming & Friendly Dinner

Following December 7, Monday is a work-free holiday nationwide so only a few people were even around the church today. A few garden workers came and worked a couple hours, and some of the grounds people showed up in the morning. The girls went home and brought down breakfast, while we sat guard at the property. In the afternoon we planned to go swimming, about 20 of the youth, but people kept changing their mind until it was late afternoon when no one wanted to go. Itzel, Jose, Rigoberto, and I went anyways.

Making a decision here takes forever, and then people change their mind based on what their best friend or cousin wants, so they sit the fence and wait for you to beg them to join. Instead of wasting more time with this, I am working to just inviting everyone and whoever wants to do something joins in.

We had a youth dinner together at Cony and Jessica’s house. The two of them and Daniel planned for about 10 of us to pitch in some money and have a meal together. We had grilled chicken, salad, and tortillas then had a napkin fight, and played some games.

Some of us left early to meet some policemen at the church to talk more about catching the stealing problem that continues at the land. With all the construction going on, more people are at the land and ladders, tools, and cement are tempting people to make some money stealing and reselling the churches things. We are afraid some of the same people hired, being fed and paid are assisting friends in this. We had an extension cord, 2 bags of cement, and an expensive electric saw stolen last week. We are trying to teach responsibility to the people who lock-up the bodegas, and also end the stealing problems here.

Sunday: day of rest

I slept the best I have slept in a long time last night and after breakfast, while the kids were busy with Sunday school I escaped into the clinic for a very productive morning. I got things unpacked and setup more of a room atmosphere in the back room of the clinic, where I’ll be staying until the house is complete.

I ran some errands in the early afternoon, for some last second shopping for our youth Secret Santa, gift trade planned for 4:00 PM. We had about 20 youth plus our Leon team playing in a gift exchange. I got Gloria a dress shirt and some candy, and Kenia got me some new, much needed, flip flops. We had cake and soft drinks to close out the afternoon.

December 7, is a holiday in Nicaragua for the Virgin Mary that is probably bigger than Christmas, due to the number of Catholics here. There are parades and lots of partying all night, so we didn’t have service. I slept under the church building with Kervin, Rigoberto, and Alfredo. Julia had a sleep over in the clinic with Itzel, Kenia, and Mauren.