Third Time's the Charm

Well, we finally have a good internet connection, but it likes to kick us off at random. So this is the third time we are attempting this post and we are confident that we will prevail! Here are the last few days of our trip! They aren't necessarily in order, but for the sake of OUR sanity, you get to jump back and forth in time. We have decided to not battle against Blogger any longer. Just go with it....it could be fun!

We went hiking through this jungle!

A little boy fell off a horse and impaled his cheek with a stick. Nurse Laura to the rescue! She and Aaron cleaned him up and then took him into to town to the hospital to get stitches.

This is San Cristobal Volcano, which we can see from the worksite.

Steven with 2 of the cute kids that are on our site all the time. Their dad works with Pastor Rigo.

Children of the Corn! This is our group in front of the corn fields. They go on foreverrrrrrrrrr.

Our team having morning devotionals with Pastor Rigo.

Mike and Marcee riding in one of the bicycle carts in town.

The sunset on the Pacific

San Cristobal at sunrise

Torrential downpour at the worksite

One of the houses we ate lunch at for our home visits

Another family's house

Inside of one of the houses

More hiking through the jungle

Our whole group heading back

Teaching the kids the chicken dance

Doing worship at a VBS

Thank you for your support over the last week and a half. We are now enjoying our debrief time on the beach as we reflect on what God has done in our time here. We will be flying back to the States tomorrow. Please pray for safe travels and that we will make our connection. We have a short layover time, and we have to get all 19 of us through customs and immigration and make it to our next flight. 

We'll see you soon!

The MISSION: Bonete Team

The Night the Lights Went Out in Nicaragua

Sorry, friends! We have had some problems with the internet and we kept losing power last night, so we haven't been able to post. We've got more pictures, a video, and updated prayer requests to share with you! Hopefully the connection lasts long enough to get it all uploaded.

*ok, video is too big to load! Sorry for the false hope!

Here are some pictures, though!!

This is Elizier! His mom helps prepare all our meals and he helps us work on all our projects.

Emily learning to wash clothes on a wash board

The 1st VBS in a village called Israel

The salvation bracelets that the kids from Trinity's VBS helped us make for these kiddos

Jake helping tie on the bracelets

Marcee explaining what the beads mean

Miguel driving the tractor

Some kids at the VBS in Bonete

Our fearless leader Aaron "Twinkle Toes/El Jefe" Palmatier

This little one deserves special attention! This is Carlos. He is a little boy that Mattea and Laura noticed at the VBS today. They talked to his mom and found out that he has leprosy. They prayed over him and we ask that you all would also lift him up for healing! 

Team picture in front of a city sign in Bonete

A few of the girls from the village

Prayer Requests:

*Alina - She and her dad are here from Colorado working with us. She is very ill and has not shown much progress. She has been sick for two days now and if things don't improve by tomorrow, she will probably need to go into Chinandega (the nearest big city) for a doctor.

*Home visits - On Monday, we will have the chance to go to the homes of the church members here. It will be a great opportunity to see how they live and build relationships. Please pray for good conversations and confidence in speaking Spanish. Aaron also suggests the missionaries' prayer: Lord, I'll gobble it up if You keep it down! (Some of us are a little worried about the food they will make for us because we have to eat it all with a smile on our faces, regardless of what it is!)

*Physical bodies - We have been blessed with good health, aside from the occasional blister or little bit of nausea. Please pray for continued energy, strength, health and endurance. We still have a lot left to do!

*Kids - We are blessed to be here serving these beautiful kids. I'm not sure there is anything sweeter than hearing 100 children singing Cristo Me Ama (Jesus Loves Me) or Gloria a Dios (Glory to God). We ask that you pray for abundant blessings for these kids, that our words and stories would impact them and that they would grow up loving the Lord and knowing the love and power of Jesus.

Ok, I know that was long but thank you for your continued support! We will update as we can.

Bendicido (Blessed),

The MISSION: Bonete Team

From Thursday...

What a day! We just have time for a quick update because we are getting ready for a HUGE event tomorrow. Today, we continued a lot of the projects we started yesterday. More concrete was poured for the floor of the welding center and we started laying cement blocks for the walls. We also continued digging trenches and installed the water pipes. Some helped plaster a wall, learned how to wash clothes on a washboard, and helped prepare the meals for all the workers. It was another productive day! 

Working on the concrete

More testimonies at lunch

Marcee with the iguana 

We were visited by a local government official who invited us to participate in a celebration in his village tomorrow. We will be sharing the gospel as we present our VBS program. He estimated that there would be about 500 kids!! We are very excited about this unexpected opportunity and we ask that you pray for a successful time tomorrow.

We can't wait to check in tomorrow and share stories from the festival!

Love,

The MISSION: Bonete Team

Alright, the internet is working tonight, so let's get some pictures up for everyone to see.  Our experiences so far have included:

• a visit to an active volcano
• unwanted bedroom visitors (frogs, spiders and scorpions, oh my!)
• trench digging
• painting
• tortilla making
• authentic Nicaraguan meals
• mixing concrete
• a huge afternoon thunderstorm
• bilingual worship
• testimony sharing

And many, many more things! We can see God moving already in the relationships being developed, the strength and endurance of our bodies, and the beautiful scenery and people around us. We are being stretched and challenges in different ways, but we are also utilizing the various gifts and talents of our team. 

Here are a few pictures from the last couple days:

Loading the luggage on top of the vans

Masaya Volcano

The view across the crater

Sharing and translating testimonies at lunch

Mixing concrete for the welding center

Worship during the thunderstorm

Making tortillas

Digging trenches for the plumbing

Needless to say, we are looking forward to a good night's rest tonight so we can gear up for another full day tomorrow. Please continue to pray for our bodies as we adjust to the extreme heat and humidity, energy for the days ahead, and for everything to continue running smoothly! We also ask that you pray for our team as we work to overcome the language barrier and develop relationships with our new friends.

Until next time!

The MISSION: Bonete Team

We have arrived!

Hello friends and family! After many hours of traveling, we have arrived safely in Nicaragua. We are a little tired, but otherwise everyone is safe, healthy and accounted for. We stopped at an active volcano (Volcano Masaya) after leaving the airport and now we are eating lunch at a local restaurant. After this we will stop and do some shopping and then we have to drive a couple more hours to get to our motel. We wanted to take advantage of the wifi here just to give a quick update of our safe arrival! We will try to post some pictures from our journey and the volcano when we get to the hotel this evening. Thank you for your continued prayers as we finish our journey for today and start our work in the coming days. We love and miss you all! Love, The MISSION: Bonete Team

Meet our team!

We are proud to introduce our MISSION: Bonete team!

Laura Baillie

Erin Cook

Matthew Dickens

Myke Dickens

Marcee Edwards

Mike Edwards

Ryan Engle

Mattea Gunderson

Jonathan Islas

Pam Kosirog

Jake Malone

Debbie Maxcy

Heather Maxcy

Aaron Palmatier

Manny Palmatier

Emily Schaer

Stephen Sloan

Matthew Tunnicliff

Rebecca Tunnicliff