July 10-17 Pinnacle & Friends!

07.10.08
Linda spent the day meeting with some dentists that might be able to help her once the clinic gets going. Tommy and I rode in the van to pickup Jennifer, her 2 sons, and Allison from Pinnacle Church of Waynesville, NC. My friend Brittany McManus from Miami also flew in to stay a week. 8 more people from Pinnacle will be coming Saturday. The 4 from Pinnacle made it on time, but arrived with none of their 8 checked luggage and Brittany arrived a few hours late but had no problems with luggage. We came back to Leon and met up with Linda for dinner at Solera.

07.11.08
The Gables and Jennifer spent the morning having a board meeting with 2 different people involved over phone. The youngsters of the group and myself planned for Friday Night Youth Group and had lunch together at Tip Top. We went out mid afternoon and had some fun playing volleyball and setting up for the night. Daniel and Allison did a lot with the first 30 minutes of games and entertainment, then I shared some videos. Joel played drums in place of Tommy who went back to Leon to meet a taxi driver with the luggage. Daniel led a good worship service and then Joel shared verses and a message on God’s love with Oscar interpreting. We got back late in taxi and met Tommy, who was successful in getting all of the luggage.

07.12.08
A college friend, Rebecca Adams, who is teaching English for the year of 2008 in Costa Rica emailed me last night saying she was in Leon and she met up with us this morning. Tommy took all of us to climb and sand board / run down Seiro Negro, while Jennifer and Linda spent some friend time. The volcano was a lot of fun and afterwards Rebecca decided she wanted to stay and hang with us a few more days before continuing her vacation days further north. We all went and had dinner at Hollywood Pizza and played cards and hung out at Hotel San Juan waiting on the rest of the Pinnacle team to fly in. I left in a taxi at 10 to meet Ben Rexroth at the airport and returned at 2 am.

07.13.08
This morning was a fully packed Sunday School service, with extra children there from Pastrana’s new reach out community, Quitanka and others from Nuevo Amanecer. Oscar used Lorencito to tell the miracle of the feeding the 5000 with bread and fish. Yaihaira and Rigoberto dressed as clowns and the kids loved it. In the afternoon, Pinnacle took our top 20 Candelaria youth members (hopefully soon to be leaders) to the Bloquera Bethel for lunch and an afternoon of games, dancing, and sharing with Big O. My friends joined Tommy, Oscar, and I in Guanacastal for a short message. We then had our Sunday night service with Tommy preaching from 1 John chapter 4.
07.14.08
The 4 of us from my house went out by bus this morning to the beach for a full Monday off from the mission, while Pinnacle did some tourist things in Leon. They also visited with children in the hospital. The rest of Pinnacle joined us early afternoon and gave the Gables some time alone. Many of the group rented surf boards and a few actually got up. We had a competitive afternoon of beach volleyball and time to just relax and visit, and just get to know each other better. We had a great seafood dinner at Suyapa and headed back to Leon.

07.15.08
Linda and Big O went to Chinadega this morning after dropping off Shawn, Jody, and Lee in Candelaria for their first of 3 days doing roof repairs. Big O started the process of getting a motorcycle for Pastor Pablo in Guanacastal. Ben, Leo, and I organized all of the trunks and luggage donations Pinnacle brought in the clinic and separated trunks for a big clothing sale tomorrow. Most of the Pinnacle group helped Linda get things ready for a medical clinic we have planned for tomorrow and playing with kids. Morgan, the nurse of the group, held his first of 3 planned first aid meetings teaching people from different villages. Big O had a late afternoon meeting with youth leaders of Candelaria and we all came back for dinner at Casa Vieja.

07.16.08
Oscar, Tommy, and Big O continued working in Chinadega to get Pastor Pablo’s motorcycle bought and are hoping to have it paid for and all paperwork compete Friday. Shawn and Jody roofed all day. Linda and the rest helped in the medical clinic. Scarleth, Leo, and I spent the entire day running the clothing sale of the trunks Pinnacle brought last trip and this trip. New clothes were sold for less than half price of market clothing and some used clothing and shoes were next to nothing. All of the money is going into more roof repair with the heavy rain season coming soon. Morgan had his 2nd session of first aid class and Jennifer met with her craft ladies. Dana and Jennifer also went to visit some of the new, smaller villages we have started working in with stuffed animals for the children. Big O had a youth service tonight for people in Candelaria with awesome results. 7 or 8 young adults came forward at the end to give their lives to Christ.

07.17.08
Today was the groups “fun day.” We left in a full 15-passenger van for Masaya and Granada this morning. We had a snack lunch in Masaya and did some shopping. I got a huge hammock and I’m very excited to put it up soon! We went out on the lake and to monkey island in the early afternoon and then went to the rain forest zip lines. The group really had a lot of fun with all fun things Granada offers. They continued some shopping just before dark in Granada’s central park and then we had dinner at the Roadhouse. We got back to Leon with enough energy to crawl in bed and sleep.