Preview of Trip to San Carlos Nicaragua

This will be my third trip to San Carlos Nicaragua.  There are two churches we have worked with before and our plan is to work with both of them on this trip.  Sharon and I will arrive in Managua late Thursday Night - have a 2 hour drive to Juigalpa where we will spend the night.  Early Friday we are to have another 2 hour drive to San Carlos where we will spend the next few days with Rose of Sharon Church and Templo Baptisto Church both in San Carlos.

San Carlos is a beautiful town located where the Rio San Juan flows into Lake Nicaragua.  

Our hope is to teach/preach each night we are there as well as show the Movie, "Son of God" one night in each Church.  Please keep us in your prayers this week - This is Sharon's first international mission trip - a challenge in and of itself.  We are also asking the Lord to move in a strong way in among the impoverished in these small churches.

We will be updating this blog throughout the week!

Post Number One

The flight from Houston to Managua though bumpy was very pleasant.  We arrived in Managua about 9:30 local time and then had a 2 hour drive to Juiglapa where we stayed the night with Pastor Abel and his family.   The entire mission team was about 13 strong with the majority of them staying in the Juigalpa area.

Sharon and I enjoyed breakfast with the team and then with our interpreter Maricela, left for our 2 1/2 hour drive to San Carlos.  On the trip we stopped for something to drink - this woman was finishing cleaning the skin off an Iguana getting it ready for lunch!

Our first stop in San Carlos was a Rose of Sharon Church to meet with Pastor Juan Jose.   I was with Pastor Juan last trip here to Nicaragua and it was a great reunion.   While we had planned on having services starting that Friday Night, Pastor Juan said it would be better to start Saturday Evening.   That gave us Friday and Saturday to rest and see some of the sites in San Carlos.

We checked into one of my favorite hotels - Hotel Ocaso.

We had time to stroll around town taking in some of the quaintness of San Carlos.

My Favorite dish in San Carlos in Jalapeno de Pollo.   The cost of this meal?   About $3.00 on the Malecon.

The next day I was reuinted with Champa - my fishing buddy from La Esquina Del Lago - a fishing lodge across the river from San Carlos.   A few years ago I made a video for their lodge in exchange for a River Tarpon fishing trip.   Click Here to watch it.

Here are a few pictures we took at the Lodge.

That evening we had a wonderful service at Rose of Sharon Church.  The worship was lively as always and the people were warm and inviting.   It was great to see many of them again and meet new friends also!

Sunday is coming!  Should be a great day!  Keep us in your prayers!

Post Two - Rose of Sharon Church in Larel Galen - March 15th - 16th,2015

Sunday Morning at Rose of Sharon Church was wonderful!  We spoke on the Faithfulness of God and looked at Joseph's life - How God was faithful when Joseph was in the Pit, Potiphar's Home, Prison and the Palace.   God was faithful even when Joseph had no idea what God was doing.

I asked Sharon to share a small bit of the story about how God brought Joseph and Nathan into our lives.

During Worship I was asked to dedicate this precious baby Izzy.   Her mom and dad are not believers, but her Aunt brought her to church because she wants God to be part of Izzy's life.   What a testimony!

After church it is always Photo time with the kids!  They love having their photo taken and then looking at them on the camera.

Sunday Afternoon we were able to move through the community that Rose of Sharon minister's to.  Here are some of the photos of houses and people.

The people here are not totally impoverished, but they are not "middle class" by any wide stretch of the imagination.   The average income for the families would be about $100.00 a month.

Here is a photo of Pastor Juan and his son in front of Rose of Sharon Church.

Sunday Evening we showed the movie "Heaven Is For Real" to the church.   We had a good turnout, but I was disappointed that it was primarily Church people that attended and not more from the community.  I may have to rethink my strategy on the movies here.   We are scheduled to show "Son of God" movie Monday night at the other church in San Carlos.

We had a great time and Rose of Sharon Church and look forward to coming back again!

Monday Night we will be showing "Son of God" Movie at the other church in town!  Should be a great evening!

Post Three - Iglesia Bautista Church "Rios De Agua Viva"

This was my third visit to this Church, but I was not here last year.  It was good to be reunited with some familiar faces.   The Pastor that was here last time I was here has left and they are pastorals right now.

It was planned for us to come Monday Evening to show a movie, but when we arrived there was one there.   Our interprtor Maricella made a few calls and one of the laymen arrived with keys.  He said there was nothing planned - so we asked if we could set up outside on the Church's front porch and show the movie.  He agreed and we scrambled and found all we needed. 

We prayed and started the movie.   By the end of the night some 50-60 people stopped and watched "Son of God."  

At the end of the evening we have a simple invitation and about 10 people indicated the wanted to follow Jesus.  What was amazing was out of the 50-75 people at the end - only 2 were members of the church - the rest were just people who stopped.   

So many want to hear about Jesus but will never enter a church.   We must find. Way to get the message of Jesus to them rather than demanding they come in to hear a song and sermon.

The next morning we met with Pastor Juan, his wife and several members of his church to look at some land in a neighboring community named 

Melchorita.  It is about. 30 minute drive from Rose of Sharon Church.  The land for the new church would cost $1300.00 and the awning they would start with would be about $600.00 more.  

Here are some photos of the community.

They asked if we could help th buy this land and start a new work there.   They have so little and it seems we have so much.   One of the most difficult tasks I have is to discern how best to help in situations like these.  Please pray that God would guide me in making the proper decision.

Here are some photos of the land.  The house does not go with the land, but will be disassembled and moved to a new location.  The people that own the land are taking their house with them.

Please pray the God will provide.

We showed "Son of God" again at the Baptist Church - many of the church people were there this evening and the crowd was greater than the night before.

During the invitation there were several that responded.  It was another amazing night.  

While we were in the village today - Sharon found this broom.  I think it is one of the early models that my Mother-in-law flew!   (Grin)

Here are a few more photos through the day.

We had prayer for this woman who was suffering from some malady.  

I told the old man that if I wasn't married I would steal his wife away!   He said go ahead and take her!   They were A very funny and spunky couple. 

Post Four - An Unscheduled but Fruitful Day

We were scheduled to leave San Carlos but had our stay extended by one day.  We were invited to a barrio named Treinta De Mayo named after Nicaraguan Mothers Day.   Apparently many towns have a barrio by that name.  So out we went.   Here are some photos of the barrio.

And here is a photo of the Church.

It was a very poor area and the sound equipment the had was inadequate at best.  Through this trip we relied an the churches sound equipment rather than bring our own.  But with an old amplifier with one channel burned out and on blown speaker we showed "Son of God" with our interpreter reading and telling the stray along. 

At the end of the evening several decisions for Christ were made.  It was a great evening!