Managua Campaign Wrap Up

Wednesday morning after Kid's Club all of the gringos were able to visit Plaza Sandino, home to Managua’s most recognised landmark, a solemn silhouette of national hero Augusto Sandino, who was killed in 1933 in an ambush after a meeting with the Nicaraguan president. The silhouette stands at the lip of Volcán Tiscapa’s crater lake and affords excellent view of Managua. It was a great location for a group picture!

On Thursday night after the  family festival we had a time of "good-byes" to the North Carolina team who was flying out very early Friday morning. 

 After the festival on Friday night we had a time of "good-byes+ to the Arkansas team.  There were a fair amount of tears and hugs as the teams prepare to return to their normal lives in the states.  The most exciting thing was to hear that there were 588 professions of faith during the week.  It's such a blessing to be a part of the work here in Central America.

Nicaragua Campaign--Kid's Club

Our church campus in Bolonia sponsored Kid's Club on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday morning.  The clubs were held in the same neighborhood we visited in the evening so they served as an outreach to contact more kids/parents and a way to bless the kids during their vacation time.  (Schools were out because it was Holy Week.)

The club theme this year was "Jesus is My Friend."  In addition to the opening and closing time, there were four rotations:  Bible verse/craft, Bible story, games and refreshments.  Nicaraguans, Salvadorans and North Americans worked together.  Our high school/college team from Arkansas really enjoyed the opening and closing sessions because they taught the kids some Vacation Bible School songs/dances.

These pictures willl tell the story better than my words:

Nicaragua Campaign--Day 3 and 4

On Monday and Tuesday of the campaign, we shared one-on-one in the mornings in the neighborhoods we would be visiting in the afternoons.  We've found this an effective way to reach more people.  As a result, the attendance at the family festivals is much greater than when we just show up to invite in the afternoon.

Here are some pictures from the two days.

Nicaragua Campaign--Days 1 and 2

We spent last week in Nicaragua for a campaign with our two church sites in Managua.  Unfortunately, the Internet at the hotel was wolefully lacking so I wasn't able to keep the blog updated.  I managed my daily upload of pictures but only if I did it after midnight or before 6:00 a.m.  The delay might have been due to the fact that there were 37 team members at the hotel and every one of them had at least one device (some had a phone and a computer) they wanted to connect.  

We flew over on Saturday morning--the flight is only 45 minutes!  Pastor Felix and his son were there to pick us up.  They took us to the hotel and our room was ready!  Our friend, Misha, rode the bus over with the Salvadorans, but stayed in the hotel.  The three of us walked to the mall for lunch.

Before the Saturday evening campaign in the Villa Venezuela neighborhood we paired up the translators and the team from North Carolina.  The rest of the team did not arrive until after the campaign.  Even with only 18 people, the team was able to go out and talk to many people in the neighborhood, share the gospel at the door and invite them to the family festival.

  
One of the new things we have added to our family festival is a group dance activity.  This holds everyone's attention after the kid's games are over and the second time through, people from the crowd are invited to join us.  Right on the heels of the dance is the drama and then the gospel presentation.  There were 35 professions of faith on Saturday evening.

Sunday morning we all worshipped together with the Bolonia church, at their new location.  They were able to rent the auditorium in the Chamber of Commerce building; there's also a large parking lot.

Half of the team, 14 from First Baptist, Van Buren, Arkansas, were "newbies," there were 12 high school/college kids and two adults.  Even though they were new, they were excited about sharing the gospel so on Sunday night the entire team of 37 shared one-on-one before the family festival.  

 Another 30 people asked Jesus to save them!  Pastor Felix and Pastor Rodrigo are excited about the response to the gospel!  Follow-up started the next day!

Back to School

As I have previously discussed, our church here in San Salvador has a comprehensive discipleship program.  The first step is one-on-one discipleship; Stephen and I completed this at Abundant Life, our home church.  The second step is IDEM, a three-year small group/tutoring program focusing on ministerial development; Stephen and I just completed this in January.  The third step is participation in our church seminary, Seminario Bautista Vida Nueva, accredited through Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina.

Individuals who successfully complete IDEM and who are recommended by their tutors/pastors are invited to begin taking classes at the seminary.  On Monday evening, I attended a seminary information class during which the director explained the various options available.  

Tuesday evening Stephen and I attended our first seminary class, "Introduction to Biblical Counseling," taught by Pastor Julio Contreras.  We have until March 29 to decide whether we want to take the class for 3-hours of seminary credit or just audit it.  Right now we're leaning toward auditing the class because we are going to miss several sessions due to campaigns and a trip to the states in April.

In any event, please pray for us as we go "back to school," in Spanish.  At this point I can't even imagine doing homework, taking quizes and taking exams in Spanish!

The rest of the campaign

I've decided that I'm so far behind that it's best to just wrap up last week's campaign with one more post.  The schedule for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday was similar to the other days (devotion, school and family festival), with only minor variations.  

Wednesday was Don Laity's birthday so before we went to the school, we celebrated with a birthday cake on the bus.  

After sharing the lesson in the school, Stephen and I took the team to the food court at Galarias and they enjoyed seeing the mall and having an opportunity to try Pollo Campero!

Wednesday evening we were invited to set up the event on a soccer field in Cafetalon Park in Santa Tecla.  We took two inflatable and they were filled with soccer kids; our team members spread out through the park to share the gospel.

As I mentioned before, the team was only 8 people, but they worked really, really hard.  Even after one of them got sick and had to be hospitalized, the rest of them didn't lose their focus.  At the end of the week, there were 676 professions of faith!  We were blessed to be a part of it.

A Trip to Usulutan

On Tuesday, we left San Salvador at 8:30 a.m. and drove 2+ hours to Usulutan, a city fairly close to the ocean, which meant that the temperature was considerably higher than what we are used to in San Salvador.  Lucky for us, we had to take the inflatable so we followed the bus in our pickup.

More than twenty years ago, Vida Nueva helped plant a local church in the city and the youth pastor, Jonathan, arranged for us to present the sexual purity lesson at a local private, Christian school.  The students really enjoyed our time there and many of them made professions of faith.

After the morning in the school we all went to Wendy's for lunch and then went back to the church to rest before the family festival.  We also had a time of prayer for the church, it's pastor and the festival.    

The evening campaign was in the city park,  right in front of the Catholic church, but it didn't stop us from sharing the gospel one-on-one, playing games with the kids and preaching after the drama.

The local church was very appreciative of our efforts and, especially grateful for the professions of faith that were made.  They will do the follow-up, and we are praying for "fruit that remains."  They invited us to return whenever we have the opportunity.

We ended the day with a two-hour bus ride back to San Salvador--it was a long, but rewarding day.