February Updates from Linda Gable

an email I and other staff members received this weekend from Linda

What a marvelous life-giving time we have experienced with Jeremiah and Renie Parra!!! Everyone here feels injected with love, energy and a spiritual lift from the exchange of the live of God in their visit. We thank God for the visits and ministry from friends with us here in Nicaragua. We hope that you can open this attachment in which you can hear from the Parras themselves. We have been amazed as God has been impacting those who come here so strongly that they want to come more or even relocate. This is Jeremiah's future hope. He is from Bogata, Columbia and was the first person Tommy lead to Christ many years ago. He was am great help interpreting and working alongside of us. He and Renie poured out love, gifts of bibles and heartfelt prayers everywhere they went. Their hearts are bonded to the family of God here and the people here cried to see them leave.

Preston and Sandra rented a house here as they want to come more often to begin an industrial school. The young men who he taught electrical skills to last week installed 10 new fans in the church structure by themselves this week!


Jim Bob Norman (Diego here) will be moving to help us on the 14th. We are dancing about this gift to us from God! He is incredible with the youth and super techo skilled. I think God saw me drowning and sent him to save me!!! (Linda) Take a look at this article about

him.http://www.mountaintimes.com/columns/0000_lifetimes.php3


We thank God for the 340 school packages that He provided for the 3 churches that are growing in new Christians which means more students. What a whirlwind week we had, shopping in the open market, distributing the supplies, dealing with the confusion of wrong sizes, mistakes and re-shopping! WHEW!!!! Finally, everyone is in school and happy!! Next year we will have a better method. We are doing a lot of living and learning here, but God always wins! Please pray about joining us in this venture to see the youth here educated in public schools and trade schools. For $35.00 a month you can change the destiny of a entire family through education. Checks can be mailed to ACC 3355 Old Jonesboro Rd. Fairburn. Ga. 30213. Soon you will also be able to adopt and pay on-line.


Tommy's Leadership Training and Equipping Class with 12 leaders is awesome. The men are eating it with a spoon! They don't mess around but they apply what they are taught that week. What a joy for him. He is in his element.


We gave out Bibles to each family and asked them to read a chapter of Proverbs a day for wisdom. The baseball team was also there to receive their uniforms and shoes and be commissioned as our official team. We are using the athletic leagues to reach the youth for Christ so most of these boys did not have a relationship with Jesus. I was surprised as they all were asking me for a Bible. I met with them and explained the good news of God love and forgiveness to each of them and His desire for a relationship with them. When I asked them who wanted to accept this gift they all shot their hands up!!! What a joy!!! Oscar lead them in a prayer and now we have the coach and young men discipling them each practice. YAHOO!!! I sent a picture of them to you. Please pray for many people, especially young people to be connected to God in

reality and begin new lives. That is why we are here!


The medical/dental clinic has a roof on it and the workers will be able to continue as we have have received all but $6,000.00 to complete the construction. Praise God and thank you all.


The garden is putting out radishes, beets, and cucumbers currently. Soon, more than 300 cabbages will be ready and what looks like a million green peppers along with many other fruits and vegetables. I get in that garden and jump around. The workers laugh at me but I don't care, I can't help it as it is a 5 year dream coming true! We had a problem as the dry season requires us to water the garden and the city will not let us use the community water so the 5 workers were dying as they tried to carry water by hand 2 times a day and water over 1 acre. Now, all of the baseball team is helping in the morning to water the fields and others who are benefiting from our programs and classes are watering in the PM. The whole church is bringing their compost to help and it has become a church family ownership. None of this was planned ahead time. This is the way God works here, a problem presents an opportunity for greater community.


We are on our way back to the airport to pick up Drew and Mari Miles from Vero Beach Fl. They have been a huge help in fund raising for the small business projects. We are happy to show them what is happening with the funds that they raised and more that anything enjoy our time together seeing what God will do this next week.


We love you all and are so appreciative for such a team that is ever growing by the hand of God! Love, Tommy and Linda

Mountain Times Article

Touchdown in Nicaragua
Former ASU football player becomes missionary

By Melanie Davis

http://mountaintimes.com/columns/0000_lifetimes.php3

A Watauga County native and former Appalachian State University football player will be following his heart on Valentine’s Day – all the way to Nicaragua in Central America for an indefinite stay.

Jim Bob Norman, 23, visited the rural, poverty-stricken villages of Candelaria, La Isla, Santa Matilda, Chichigalba near the west coast of Nicaragua in mid-January with his parents and grandfather on a mission trip coordinated through New Song Mission Nicaragua.

The trip was planned by Norman’s parents for January due to Norman’s December graduation from ASU.

Photo by Mark Mitchell

”Tommy and Linda Gable, founders of the Appalachian Christian School in Boone and now permanent residents of Nicaragua, addressed the congregation of First Baptist Church in the fall of 2007. Norman’s parents, Dan and Teresa Norman, heard the lecture and immediately decided to make a trip.

“I was excitied about going there but considered it just a week long graduation present, slash mission trip in warm weather away from January in Boone,” Norman said of the first trip. “I did not realize that seven days would change my life so dramatically.”

The group spent the time educating pastors in the villages about making sound financial decisions, for both themselves and their church. The villages are very poor and rely on sugar cane crops. Money management skills and educational opportunities are not common. The mission participants educate pastors and arm them with the tools to share that knowledge within their village.

Norman spent his time working with the children of the villages, particularly the boys age 14-20. His goal with each young man was to encourage them to attend both school and church.

“There are severe gender roles in the villages. Church is only for women and children. Most boys leave school at age 13 to work in the sugar cane fields. They don’t have the means to pursue an education. They accept the fields as their way to earn a living,” Norman said.

Norman reached out to the boys by organizing sports teams and conversations encouraging them to attend a school. Another barrier for education is that each child is required to have a uniform to attend school. New Song collects money and donates fabric to each village. The churches have sewing rooms, where the uniforms can be made.

The return trip to Boone was a difficult one for Norman. The family was already planning to return in January of 2009.

“We said our goodbyes in a Wednesday night evening service. We flew out the next morning, and I could still feel the tug. During the night flight from Miami to Raleigh, I just looked out the window and did all I could to hold back the tears. I began brainstorming how I could possibly make it back earlier than a year,” he said.

Now, less than one month after his return, Norman is preparing to relocate to the area. Through New Song and the Gables, he has been able to arrange living quarters. Dr. Wayne Brown, pastor, and the congregation of the First Baptist Church of Boone, have been instrumental is coordinating Norman’s return trip.

Residency is difficult to obtain, so Norman will be returning to the U.S. every three months. “This will give me a chance to see my family and friends, as well as, gather supplies and donations for the villages,” he said.

Shipping items is very difficult. “Upon arrival in Nicaragua, the packages may be delayed for months in airport security, or never received at all,” he explained. When Norman packs up to leave the States, he will taking two suitcases – one filled with his own belongings to live there, and another filled with donated clothing, educational materials and sports equipment.

Norman credited, not only the January trip, but also several people in his decision to live the life of a missionary. Two family members have taken this path before him. Dr. Andy Norman, his uncle, served approximately 15 years in Nigeria, Africa. A cousin is currently living in Thailand as a missionary.

A friend and former ASU teammate has also been an inspiration. Billy Riddle Jr. left ASU in 2007 just prior to the start of his senior year to become a missionary in Africa. “I remember thinking ‘how can he do this to the team and leave his senior year?’ Now, I understand the calling he felt,” Norman said. He and Riddle communicate more often now via blog: billyriddlejr.blogspot.com.

Norman said playing ASU football influenced him greatly. “Coach Jerry Moore gave guidance and helped build character as a part of coaching football,” he said.

One event in particular during last years stay in Chattanooga sticks out in Norman’s mind. Moore wanted to ensure Norman was with the team by Thursday morning. Norman had to stay in Boone for exams and drove to Chattanooga separately.

”The team attended a breakfast hosted by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes that morning. The keynote speaker, Bill Curry, former NFL player, spoke to the team about “Magnanimitas,” a Latin word meaning greatness of spirit.

“I often think of that word as a inspiration in what I am planning for my future and what I hope to share with the villagers in Nicaragua,” Norman said.

Norman states his mission on his Web site, makemsmile.blogspot.com, as:

Teach love by showing love and bring smiles to all the children and parents faces by raising funds for health, homes, clothing, churches, school uniforms & school supplies, books & computers for education and leisure, bikes, and sports teams & equipment for people in the villages of Candelaria, La Isla, Santa Matilda, Chichigalba, and other poverty-stricken areas of Nicaragua. Getting children and young adults an education so that they can hopefully attend college and/or find jobs and support their families. Bring people to the Lord by showing his love and sharing His word. Bring YOU to the Nicaraguan villages and see if it changes your life.

Upon his arrival, Norman will begin work immediately on more specific goals to become fluent in Spanish, get every child a bicycle, get every child/young adult in school, help send eligible students to college, organize sports for kids, youth, & adults, build homes for widows, build churches for congregations. Long-term plans include a computer lab, though Norman admits this is a large order that will take years to complete.

Norman will be maintaining the Web site for New Song and designing promotional items for the organization as well. “I can do what I feel called to do, and use my education as well,” Norman said, speaking his degree in industrial electronics and computer technology, with a minor is computer information systems.

To contribute funds to Norman’s mission, mail to:

Jim Bob Norman

New Song Mission Nicaragua

c/o Atlanta City Church

3355 Old Jonesboro Road

Fairburn GA, 30213

All donations addressed in this manner will be sent directly and in full to Norman in Nicaragua. The funds can be earmarked specifically for educational purposes, food, clothing, whatever need the benefactor wishes to support. Norman’s activity and all details will be documented at the his Make ‘em Smile Web site listed above.

Donations are tax deductible, as New Song is a non-profit organization. For more information, contact Bud Martin or Dan Norman locally at Martin Real Estate by calling (828) 264-3444.