Dear friends,
I want to first thank all of those who have visited with us for the first time lately. We hope that if there is anything we can do for you, you would let us know.
It is so good to be back in the United States of America and our team trip to Nicaragua was successful and God worked through our team to bring much relief to this area. This past Sunday, our team testified as to how God changed their life on this trip. While we were able to be a blessing to the people of Nicaragua, they have abundantly returned the favor by blessing our team. The Bible says in Acts 20:35, “I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Our team experienced these words firsthand and we would like to share with you some of our pictures from our trip. It is our desire to have a lasting presence in Nicaragua and commit to making a difference in this foreign land. Our team assisted in feeding over 538 children providing them with a meal that will last them for a day and also our team distributed vitamins to parents and children. One of our team members, Christ McKnight has a blog about our trip that you will want to read and keep up with. You can follow him at www.hikingwithcroc.com . Be sure to log on and check out this blog. It was a real blessing to partner with other ministries to accomplish this task. The following organizations helped us complete our mission in Nicaragua:
- Carried on Eagles Wings Ministries (Billy Kain, Montpelier, VA)
- Dr. Alex Rizk (Louisa area physician)
- Blessings International (www.blessing.org)
- MAP International (www.map.org)
I also want to inform you of an exciting sermon series coming to our church beginning August 23 entitled “One Month to Live”. This series is based on the question: “What if you knew that you only had one month to live?”. What would you do differently? How would you live? How would you feel? This series will be a great time to invite your friends out to New Life Community Church. Our ascend discipleship classes will also be discussing in great detail the sermon topic for any given Sunday. As we get back into our fall routine of school, work, etc, it is important to keep God at the top of your priority list and this series will challenge you to go to new levels with God. Invite a friend and come on out. Sunday mornings: 8:30 (Celebration Service) 9:45 (ASCEND Discipleship Class) 11:00 (Celebration Service #2).
Coming up at New Life is what we know to be an exciting year of AWANA. Mr. Pelloni has many wonderful and new activities planned that will launch our kids to new levels in scripture memorization. The AWANA meeting is Wed. August 26th starting at 6:30pm, directly followed by a child protection class for all interested. The meeting is for new and returning workers and anyone at all that has an interest in helping with AWANA! :)
This Sunday beginning at 1 pm, we will have our summer ending picnic at Blue Ridge Shores. We have several who will be baptized that have recently come to faith in Christ. If you have recently been converted, the next step for you is baptism. Let me know if you are interested in being baptized and we can handle this on Sunday. There will be much food, games, and fellowship with the Saints. Bring a friend to church on Sunday and then come to have lunch with us at the lake. Bring a lounge chair and any games you may want to play while we are there.
I have taken some time to sort through these pictures. It would really be a blessing to you and us if you would spend a moment to look through this album and pray for each person in the picture. Thanks for caring.
Feeding Programs through local churches
Our teams received a generous welcome from the Christian churches in Nicaragua.
Before eating, the kids would listen to the word of God. Pastor John Nichols brings the gospel to these kids. Notice how still they sit and listen.
Time for worship and did we worship. Here I am speaking through a translator.
 
Letting out of Rose of Sharon Church in Leon, Nicaragua. God bless Pastor Pantaleon.
One feeding program done for the day. Praise His Name!
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No General Electric, each feeding program began with building a fire.
Many of the kids did not have plates and silverware. This child is eating on a palm branch with his fingers. Our team wants to take silverware and cups next time.
Welcome to the kitchen ladies.
These children are reciting Bible verses and whoever does the most gets a prize.
Meet Kim, one of our team members who is a nurse in the Charlottesville area.
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The Dump Area
These homes are typical for the dump area in Managua, Nicaragua.
Here we have men, women, boys, and girls digging for food through the trash.
These dogs watch as a young child searches for food in the trash.
This family is being interviewed by our team to possibly be moved to a new home provided by Eagles Wings ministries.
This man drinks the nasty sewage water draining from the dump. God help him.
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One of our workers Kelly stands in amazement and the living conditions here in the dump.
This young man lives in the dump and most likely will never get out.
When I asked these kids how they were doing, their response was, "very good". What???
 This is medical syringes and waste that is dumped here. Children play here in this area.
This young man is happy that he has ketchup packets to eat.
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The Solution
The ministry that we partner with has a desire to see families removed from this dump and given a new start on a different peace of property. I call it the promise land. These families will have a house built, clean water,and an opportunity to farm their own parcel to provide for their family. For about $2500.00, a family can be removed from the dump, placed on this property and given food for a full year after which they are expected to supply their own food. Below are some pictures of the promise land.
We know that first, Jesus is the answer, this wife and mother is getting saved right now.
The promise land: this property will soon have people from the dump living on it. Currently, they are growing beans on this property.
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While there are some places that are horrible, others are beautiful.
This water tower will provide 24 hour fresh water to the people living on the promise land.
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