Beyond Partnership

Tomando un descanso de Estudiar

2009-05-15T23:17:00.002-04:00

I am now at the halfway point of my language school in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala... and tonight, my "home" is quiet because the kids all shipped out to their aunt & uncle's for a sleepover and I am basically here alone...except for the oldest daughter who has a friend over... thinking I should study but my brain just isn't thinking clearly, so I am doing everything BUT study.

The other day, I was playing with the camera and its ability to macro-zoom... I had fun, but a story line came to mind as I was shooting, so enjoy this little diversion with me!

Time for a break!
In school, which begins at 8:00 AM (en punto, en español) we have a break (pausa) at 10:30 for 1/2 hour... after 2-1/2 hours of grammar, believe me this is a welcome break!!! We usually congregate in the outdoor patio to chat and soak up some of the wonderful sun and climate of Xela... the teachers engage in conversation with the students (extranjeros). Then, we head back for another 2 hours of instruction. Since my goal is to become functionally fluent, I must be diligent everyday about my studies and homework.

Most of the students in our school are world travelers... for most, Guatemala is just one stop along the way for them and the typical stay is about 1 week. Most are students on leave or are in between studies and have between 3-8 months to travel. So, for me and my 8 week stint in Xela, and the fact that I am older than most of these kids' parents, I am sort of set apart while the "party crowd" learns slang and avoid homework like the Plague!

Thinking of Home...
At times like today when the house is empty... or when my brain is so fried and I cannot form a sentence or ask a question, I long to be home where everyone speaks my language...to see Lee Ann and my family and friends...and finally to not have to study Spanish grammar and memorize conjugations! I cannot wait until late June when Lee Ann and I will be back together...Skype is great, but it just doesn't compare with face-to-face!

And my family here in Xela is awesome - they have hosted students for ovr 20 years and I honestly feel like I am part of the family - especially today - all were gathered for a family lunch and it was just so cool to experience their family dynamics.

I must persevere - I have learned a lot in four weeks - and in the next four, I imagine that I will continue to do the same. Prayers, please for the week after next - I venture into the unknown territory of THE SUBJUNCTIVE. Our younger daughter Lauren said to prepare for my world to turned upside down...yikes, I thought up to this point, I had approached meltdown status a few times!

God has plans for me and I realize they are not always easy to follow or understand. I was blessed this week by a devotion on Jeremiah 29: 11...it just brought back to mind that God, who is ever-present (even in my classroom when I am ready for a meltdown!), has big time plans for me... and I am comforted by that!

Porque yo sé muy bien los planes que tengo para ustedes —afirma el Señor—, planes de bienestar y no de calamidad, a fin de darles un futuro y una esperanza. Jeremías 29:11

For those of you that do not have any translation software...

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

So, for now, I will escape into my studies... maybe soon, I will have the ability (and the guts!!) to go out and talk with folks I do not know in the park... in the market... on the street. This has got to be one of the hardest things I have done in my life...I pray that God continues to give me the strength and the patience to keep at it.

¡Doy a Dios la gloria y la alabanza!
Go ahead... figure it out...es facil!

Rick's Home Away From Home

2009-05-01T07:02:00.001-04:00

I have been in Quetzaltenango Guatemala for language school since Saturday April 18th...after flying from Albany - Newark - Guatemala City, I took a bus from there to Xela - about 4 hours, non-stop, then a short taxi ride to my host family's home. I was warmly greeted by my sister in Christ Ruth Gramajo (Ruth is Lesly Najjar's Mom, so we immediately had something in common which began my adventure in Xela on a positive note!)

For five hours per day, 5 days per week, I will immerse myself in language studies at El Portal Language School until June 12th. In addition to that, I have been participating in 2x per week conversation sessions that last about 2 hours each - this is areal challenge as I am not a long conversationalist to begin with! So far, my experience although difficult to initially adjust to has been wonderful. Slowly but surely I am learning the language...so you can teach an old dog new tricks!!! ;)

Please pray for my ability to continue to learn and apply what I have learned. My effectiveness as a team leader is dependent on my ability to effectively communicate with the ministries we serve in Central America.

Back from Bluefields – On Tour with the Jackson 4

2009-04-13T07:40:00.005-04:00

It has been pretty busy for the past couple months – God continued to reveal Himself in new and refreshing ways! From our return from Bluefields Nicaragua to the vision trip team from Jackson Baptist Church (NJ) we are now re-charged to take on the very full schedule ahead of us!

In reading and contemplating on Deuteronomy 15: 7 my calling to serve my brothers and sisters in Central America has been reinforced…

If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother.

Back from Bluefields – The team of 20 left Main Street Baptist in Oneonta, NY for Bluefields, Nicaragua on February 12 to help build a new church that was planted by the original church (Torre Fuerte) that was begun on our first trip in 2007. We were amazed by the ability in such a short time for the ministries to be grounded enough to reach out into another community and begin a new church community – El Buen Samaritano. What s truly remarkable is that there are other locations in the eastern region of Nicaragua where other church communities are budding!

New Name – The decision to change our ministry name to Beyond Partnership…Serving Their Vision Together stemmed from our desire to more clearly describe how we work with the ministries we serve. One of our cornerstone principles is that we serve UNDER the national church associations – the term “partnership” alone had a negative connotation where it also was accompanied by power. It is our desire to keep the power in the hands of those closest to the ministries where we serve. In a few short weeks, look for an announcement of our new and improved website going live – http://www.beyondpartnership.org/.

On Tour With the Jackson 4 – After saying goodbye to our team in Nicaragua on February 23rd, I boarded a bus to San Pedro Sula to meet up with a team from Jackson Baptist Church. Their goal was to shadow the ministries of Erick Sanchez in Honduras, Nelson Juarez in El Salvador and Rigoberto Reyes in Nicaragua to evaluate where they would send a team in the future. This trip was wonderful on so many fronts – I met a great group of guys that I will not forget from Jackson Baptist Church – I was able to get to know three missionaries and experience ministries in three countries in a more complete way – God spoke to me to encourage me to continue on the path He has laid for me. We look forward to leading the JBC group in the summer of 2010 – location still TBD!

As we move forward into 2009, we offer some praises and prayer requests…

Praise – God has allowed us this opportunity to meet with normal everyday people and introduce them to His ministries in Central America – and to experience others’ life changes is a real gift!

Praise – For the friendships we have started with our brothers and sisters in Christ in Central America – they are truly gifts from God. We continue to draw strength and encouragement from them!

Praise & Prayer Request - we want to thank all of our faithful prayer and financial partners. Without you behind us, our efforts to serve God would be an uphill battle! Right now, our ministry support level is at 51% - if you are being called by God to financially support our ministry, we would love to talk with you! I can promise that we will be faithful stewards of your contributions!

Prayer Request – over the next couple months, Lee Ann and I will be away from each other – we ask for prayers for our marriage and that we can each accomplish what is necessary while we are apart.

Stay tuned for more updates from the field as we offer ourselves in service to our Living Lord!

Peace,
Rick & Lee Ann

It's Official - We are Beyond Partnership!

2009-03-19T16:40:00.001-04:00

Well, now that we have our new logo, I guess it is time to announce officially that we have changed our name to Beyond Partnership. Because our foundational principle is serving under the national leadership we work with, we wanted to portray that we have moved past traditional models of "partnership" where there is some sort of underlying power structure that results from financial assistance. We truly serve UNDER the auspices of the national church association where we work. Stay tuned for more updates - especially with the launch of our new website - http://www.beyondpartnership.org/

Not to Worry!

2009-02-11T13:33:00.009-05:00

After listening to the news lately, it is hard not to get discouraged with the state of affairs in our country. But as we prepare to leave tomorrow for Bluefields Nicaragua, our problems are nothing compared to what our brothers and sisters in Christ experience there. They do not have deteriorating 401(k) accounts…worries about the mortgage rates…or which stimulus package is passed. Their concerns are different and more eminent – will they have enough food for their family… will their children live past age 3…is their drinking water going to make them sick, again? Our brothers and sisters in Christ embrace the concept of “daily manna” far better than I do, that is for sure. It is humbling to be in the presence of those who have nothing (compared to us) and yet they still have a strong faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Matthew 6: 25-34 has struck a chord with me lately – We pray that you are blessed, too!

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Please continue to pray for us as we meet a new church family in Bluefields – we will be building a sanctuary for the congregation of El Buen Samaritano which is a church plant from the original congregation of Strong Tower Baptist Church in Bluefields. God has blessed the ministries there and the gospel is being proclaimed!

To recognize God’s greatness, here are some praises for how God has provided for us!

We have been making plans for me to attend language school in April – I must become more fluent in Spanish to better serve the ministry. The schooling and lodging will be costly and we prayed about how we might change some of our budget to accommodate. In our year end statement, we received an unexpected one-time gift that will cover, almost to the dollar all my expenses for those two months!
I had been asked to connect with a vision trip this month with Jackson Baptist Church – this expense was unplanned and we prayed again. It will be very important to join this team while they experience in person, ministries in Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua. A couple weeks ago, we received an email from our headquarters about a contribution that was assigned to another missionaries’ account. Not kidding – that gift will cover all my expenses for extra travel and lodging for this trip!
Both Lee Ann and I have felt peace about the coming year, despite it being very busy – and there will be extended times that we will be separated. This peace only comes from God, but we also sense the presence of our prayer partners in a big way – and for that, we thank you!

Stay tuned for more updates from the field as we offer ourselves in service to our Living Lord!

Peace,
Rick & Lee Ann

Prayer for 2009

2009-01-04T09:12:00.000-05:00

This was a prayer from a Sunday service bulletin from our former church in PA a few weeks before we left for upstate NY in 1996. I have kept this taped to my calendar as a reminder that God is always in control. In 1996, we were in transition as a family and at that point, we relied on God in a way that has changed our lives forever. SO, I share this prayer with you in hopes that it blesses you and yours in the coming year.

Loving Lord, as we step through the door of a new year, we believe 1996 (now 2009) will be filled with hope and promise. We do not know all that will happen in our lives over the next few months, so we pray that whatever comes our way – good or bad, success or failure, gain or loss – we may have the confidence and strength to accept blessing and hardship. May each of us grow spiritually and in Christian character, and may our church have a greater sense of your mission and ministry for us. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.

Merry Christmas - Wherever You Are!

2008-12-23T10:13:00.003-05:00

We will be blessed to have family together this Holiday season... and sounds like we will even have a White Christmas. The northeast has been blanketed by a couple snowstorms and the temperature will cooperate despite a predicted period of sleet and freezing rain and maybe rain on Christmas Eve. It will not damper the festivities as we gather in celebration of the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ!

May the miracle of Immanuel, "God With Us" bless you and yours!

Thanksgiving – A Newly Adopted Lifestyle

2008-12-12T08:40:00.001-05:00

We can relate to Paul’s encouraging words to the churches in Thessonalica…

We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 1: 2 -3 NIV).

As we contemplate the memories of spending Thanksgiving with our grown children and begin to focus on the celebration of Advent and the eventual birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, it is humbling to reflect on how our ministry was blessed by your presence. Some of you we have known for just a brief time, but others have been long-time, steadfast friends and supporters and for that we want to say “THANKS”!

Without you, our desire to serve our Living Lord would just not be where it is right now – the mystery of how God uses each one of us to encourage one another is so inspiring!

We pray that we can be an encouragement to you, too! May God use our ministry to add blessings to your lives and draw you closer to Him!

To recognize God’s greatness, here are some recent ministry highlights and what He has planned for us…

Recently, I met with two Campus Ambassador Groups to discuss our upcoming Summer 2009 Internship program – an 8 week adventure to experience first-hand the people and cultures of Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Applications are being requested and sent out and we expect to have a team forming soon. Internship dates are June 13 – August 8, 2009!

We want to welcome McLean Bible Church (Vienna, VA) to our “family”! Team leadership has been established and applications for members are being processed – we look forward to our first project with them in Honduras over June 29 – July 10, 2009!

In October, we changed our ministry name to Beyond Partnership – our leadership team will be meeting December 11-14 to finalize our website and promotional materials, so stay tuned!

Our leadership team will also review the scope of our ministry for 2008 and look forward to what God has in store for us in 2009. We have an exciting action-packed team schedule planned for next year – a combination of many returning teams along with a few that are new to Beyond Partnership – PRAISE GOD!

We look forward to leading a team from our home church, Main Street Baptist to Bluefields, Nicaragua. It is exciting to see the growth going on there – we will be building a sanctuary for the sister church that was formed out of the main church we helped build last year!!

Prayer Request - In order to make me more effective in ministry in Central America, we have finalized plans for me to attend intensive language school in Guatemala – I will begin sometime in mid April and stay until my first summertime team project begins in mid June! Please remember to keep us in prayer as we will be living apart from each other until the summer teams begin – then we look forward to serving together on projects!

What can you do to help us… and how can we help you?

Your prayers are the foundation from which we function best – this bears repeating - without folks like you praying and advocating for our ministry, this all would be an uphill battle!

If you desire to have us present the vision and focus of our ministry at your church or with your small group, we would love to hear from you!

We thank you and ask for your continued prayers as we offer ourselves in service to our Living Lord!

Peace,
Rick & Lee Ann

Listening to His Quiet Voice

2008-11-10T08:20:00.006-05:00

We continue to be amazed how God has revealed Himself to us in many new and refreshing ways! In times of uncertainty, He was always there with His quiet voice to reassure us – we praise Him for his faithfulness!

After lengthy discussions amongst our leadership team, Partnership Ministries has decided to change our name to Beyond Partnership with a tag line of Serving Their Vision Together – stay tuned for updates! The reasons were many and some were purely a simplification of our vision…

We saw the word “Partnership” overused, especially in the secular world – with the obligatory photo of two hands shaking signifying some sort of mutually beneficial agreement… but we have noticed that “partnership” even in missionary circles has a connotation of power because of economics.
One of our ministry cornerstones since its inception has been to serve UNDER the national ministries in the majority world – and that the power needs to reside in the local church associations and churches, not in the North American churches or organizations that provide economically.
There is an existing Partnership Ministries… a valid yet unrelated ministry – when we officially established our ministry in 1991, the Internet was not utilized like it is now – we did not need to have a domain name or email. To avoid problems with finding our ministry online, we decided a name change would help facilitate that.

To recognize God’s greatness, here are a few of our recent ministry highlights and what He has planned for us…

Over the past couple months, I have been able to meet up with some new church partners and individuals who have expanded the base of our prayer and financial supporters – God has been good to us by opening these new opportunities!
Beyond Partnership, at this point has 21 teams booked for projects next year already! This is unprecedented this early in the planning calendar! We anticipate maybe 4-5 more teams bringing our overall total higher than any previous year – praise God! As it stands now, Lee Ann and I will lead 3-4 church building project teams aside from our home church’s trip next February!
We are receiving considerable interest in the Summer 2009 Internship program – an 8 week adventure to experience first-hand the people and culture of Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua as well as some very cool ministries in the region. If you have any “20-something” young adults in your midst that would be interested, please have them contact me directly! Dates are June 15 – August 8, 2009!
Prayer Request - In order to make me more effective in ministry in Central America, we are finalizing plans for me to attend intensive language school from right after our home church’s team leaves Nicaragua on February 22nd until the 2nd week of April – this will give me the needed skills for translation and communication! Pray for the time that Lee Ann and I are away from each other - that we can draw strength from God!

What can you do to help us?

Your prayers are the foundation from which we function best – without folks like you praying and advocating for our ministry, this all would be an uphill battle! If you would want to have us present the vision and focus of our ministry at your church or with your small group, we would love to hear from you!

To donate to our ministry, go to this website - http://www.missionsdoor.org/donate

We ask that you consider financially supporting our ministry with an ongoing contribution (monthly, quarterly, etc.) – we are reliant on folks just like you to partner with us. We promise to be faithful stewards of your investment in our ministry and desire to welcome you as “part of our family”!

We thank you for your interest and ask you to continue to pray for us as we offer ourselves in service to the Living Lord!

Peace,

Rick & Lee Ann

1 Year @ Partnership - A retrospective

2008-09-24T18:19:00.001-04:00

Wow, we have just passed our first year anniversary with Partnership Ministries – and what a year it has been! God has revealed Himself to us in many new and refreshing ways! In times of uncertainty, He was always there with His quiet voice to reassure us – and also by placing many people in our pathway to offer encouragement!

Over the last week, the leadership team of Partnership Ministries met to review this past year and also to make plans for the coming year with regards to

How to continue to solidify our relationships with the national and local church planters in the areas we serve
Our ministry vision and goals and how they align with the efforts of the church planters we serve.
Our approach to promoting our ministry – personal and collective presentations, web, DVD’s and brochures.

We rarely get all of us into one meeting for one day let alone three – we have a dynamic team and we are dedicated to continually improve ourselves while remaining focused on our desire to serve under the leadership of the national and church planters.

To recognize God’s greatness, here are a few of our ministry highlights…

Steve Reed, our director and I traveled to Honduras last November – we had wonderful meetings with national missionaries Humberto Del Arca and Erick Sanchez as well as many of the regional leaders that serve the people of Honduras. I was humbled by the many vibrant ministries present and the sacrifices that the national missionaries make on a daily basis to serve God!

In December Lee Ann and I led our first team since our appointment – a team from our home church worked alongside Rigoberto Reyes in El Pochote, a mountain village just outside of Masaya. A bonus blessing was experiencing this with our daughter Lauren who served as translator for the team!

After attending 5 weeks of immersion language school in Granada, Nicaragua, I met up with our home church’s second team – this time, while still in Nicaragua, we ventured back to Bluefields where we finished the church our teams started in 2007. The bond that began last year was reinforced and God’s love abounded!

In April, I represented Partnership Ministries at the Mission Mid-Atlantic conference – from the first day, I sensed God’s presence guiding me into new relationships with churches and individuals – ones that are developing now and allowing me to spread the “good word” throughout that region!

Just last month, Lee Ann and I led our first team that was not from our home church – this time, we returned to Honduras with a team from Calvary Baptist in Warwick, NY to work alongside of Humberto Del Arca. In La Ceiba, we helped the hard working team of nationals build a kitchen next to an existing church building – we also ran a VBS program for children of the area. God continues to show His hand in the ministries there!

What can you do to help us?
Your prayers are the foundation from which we function best – without folks like you praying and advocating for our ministry, this all would be an uphill battle!

We also ask that you consider financially supporting our ministry with an ongoing contribution (monthly, quarterly, etc.) – we are reliant on folks just like you to partner with us. We promise to be faithful stewards of your investment in our ministry and desire to welcome you as “part of our family”! If you would want to have us present the vision and focus of our ministry at your church or with your small group, we would love to hear from you!

To donate to our ministry, go to this website - http://www.missionsdoor.org/donate

There are many options to sending your donations to the mission in support of our ministry! (details for all options are fully explained on the website above)

By Credit Card

By Personal Check sent to: Missions Door 2530 Washington Street Denver, CO 80205-3142

By EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer)

We have come a long way in this first year of service, but we have a long way to go. We thank you for your interest and ask you to continue to pray for us as we offer ourselves in service to the Living Lord!

Peace,
Rick & Lee Ann Myers

P3 = Power from God!

2008-07-12T09:59:00.002-04:00

Greetings once more from upstate NY! Summer is upon us and the thought of anything but blue skies and warm days just escapes me! God’s creation all around us gives us a mere glimpse of His handiwork! Since we last shared with you, God has also shown Himself to us, so we offer this update in His name…the power of the 3 P’s… Praise + Patience + Prayer!

Praise!

On June 1st, Lee Ann and I returned to our former home church in Pennsylvania, Christ Covenant Church - it was definitely a wonderful homecoming. We were honored by the warm reception - this was our first time returning as missionaries. We look forward to someday planning a church building trip with this congregation!

I have returned from California to help fellow Partnership short term trip leaders Eric & Gloria Hodel at the Harvest Gathering missions conference. We spoke with many folks about the plans and vision of Partnership Ministries. Eric & Gloria are dear friends that have been positive role models for us and helped Lee Ann and I develop our new and improved retirement program – thank God for their dedication and desire to serve our Lord!

Recently, I made a connection with a company that I want to introduce you to – Total Resources International. They specialize in First Aid and Emergency Preparedness Products – and it is clear that the company was founded with God’s heart in mind. We were blessed by them just a couple weeks ago – they donated a case of first aid kits to share with our church building teams. Thanks especially to their National Sales Manger, Joe Fisher for their generosity!

Patience!

Recently, one of my devotions was based on the scripture verse of John 16: 13 - But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. Sometimes, we need to wait on what God has in store for us. Recently I was personally challenged by this concept and God showed Himself to me just yesterday. As some of you may know, there was a TACA airline crash at the Tegucigalpa airport on May 30th which closed indefinitely. Immediately, we contacted Humberto Del Arca, our contact in Honduras, to move to another area closer to the San Pedro Sula airport. These changes were made without skipping a beat, but in the process, our purchased airline tickets got all messed up and up until yesterday, I was not sure we could even fly into Honduras. We were offered a full refund but at this point any existing tickets from other airlines were 40-50% more expensive than what we had already purchased. After spending over fifteen hours on the phone and online, speaking with six CSR’s from three airlines, I was blessed by meeting up with Edward from Confidential Airlines. What seemed impossible to others was simple to Edward… within 3 minutes on the phone, his “we can do this!” was music to my ears! Thank God for that lesson from the book of John!

Prayer!

In 2 weeks, Lee Ann and I will depart for La Ceiba Honduras to meet up with the team from Calvary Baptist. We will be working alongside the ministry of Humberto del Arca and the many pastors of that region. Please keep us in your prayers for God to reveal Himself to us and the team in a way that could only be construed as His… that the team forms a bond that will last for many years…that we are invisible and that the people in the village we serve see God at work!

We are setting up meetings for later this summer and into the fall – there will be a lot of car travel and possibly time away from Lee Ann – please pray for traveling safety as well as for us during times of being away from each other.

How can you help – can you feel the power?

Become financial partners with us – we thank all our faithful supporters but for those who are new to us, we promise to be faithful stewards of your contributions and desire to welcome you as “part of the family”. We have been blessed recently with several generous one-time gifts as well as promises for ongoing support, but we need to press on – we are just over 40% supported now and are striving to achieve full support by year’s end. For details, please either contact us to meet face to face or go to http://www.missionsdoor.org/ and click on “donate” button

If you have been blessed by a short-term missions experience, spread the good word to those that haven’t heard!

Please continue to pray for our ministry…for all the connections we are and will make with churches and individuals.

Your prayers and financial support mean more than we can express in words – may God continue to bless you and yours!

Peace, Rick & Lee Ann

Ministry Update - On the Road - May 21, 2008

2008-05-21T08:52:00.003-04:00

Greetings from upstate NY! Our valley is full of green and blooming flowers, shrubs and trees now and the promise of long days and warmth is being fulfilled daily – it is great to be alive in upstate New York! OK, it is a bit dramatic, but when you have 6-7 months of grey and colder climate, you gotta get excited about this time of year!

Great meetings!

Our presentation at Community Bible Church in Franklin went very well - many thanks to Pastor Walt Schlundt for extending the invitation to share with his congregation. We look forward to how God will open new opportunities for short-term missions for this church!

Steve Reed and I had a wonderful time sharing the vision and focus of Partnership Ministries with pastors and church leaders at the 2008 Mission Mid-Atlantic conference (formerly known as Mid-Atlantic CBA) at Sandy Cove in Northeast MD. We met some new potential ministry partners as well as caught up with old friends of the Partnership – overall, God blessed the time we spent and I am eager to establish connections with churches in the Mid-Atlantic region.

The team meeting with Calvary Baptist Church in Warwick resulted in finalizing plans for the VBS and Children’s Program crafts. It is exciting to see the enthusiasm grow within this team of 12! Our building location in Honduras has been determined - will be working outside the town of Catacamas which is about 100 miles northeast from Tegucigalpa. To follow the progress of this team, I have established a blog site – check it out! http://calvarywarwick.blogspot.com/

On the Road Again!

On June 1st, Lee Ann and I will return to our former home church in Pennsylvania, Christ Covenant Church to present at a breakfast meeting and briefly during the service. This homecoming has been in the planning stages for a while – we have stayed in touch with many dear friends since we left in 1996, but this will be our first time returning as missionaries. The seeds of our appointment with Partnership Ministries were sown at this church, where Lee Ann and I were involved with two short-term trips to the Navajo Reservation in Window Rock, Arizona.

I will travel solo on June 5th to Elk Grove California to help fellow Partnership short term trip leaders Eric & Gloria Hodel at the Harvest Gathering missions conference – it is a Central and Northern California event – I am being asked to represent the East Coast. We are in the process of developing new promotional materials (brochures, videos and website) so I will also take time to meet with Steve Reed to discuss strategies for those.

Making Plans!

We are filling up our schedules for travel this summer – we would love to add your church to our itinerary – give us a call if you are interested! Has your church considered investigating short-term missions? We are available for your congregation to begin the process of evaluating short-term missions. Speaking for my family and church community, I can vouch for the blessings we have received through our short-term missions experiences. Maybe you would consider these opportunities…

A vision trip – 4-5 members of your congregation would travel with folks from Partnership to “shadow” a missionary that we currently work with to experience first-hand how your church could partner with a church in Central America – it is an awesome way to ignite the spark of interest for short-term missions.

Your Church’s Missions Conference – maybe you have spots in your upcoming missions conference – we can prepare for just about any type of presentation – from a short “mission moment” to a Sunday School presentation to participating in an international potluck dinner. Our goal is to communicate to as many folks the immediate and longer term benefits of short-term missions!

How can you help?

Please continue to pray for our ministry… for all the connections we are and will make with churches and individuals.

Become financial partners with us – we promise to be faithful stewards of your contributions and look forward to having you as “part of the family”. For details, contact us or go to http://www.missionsdoor.org/ and click on “donate” button
If you have been blessed by a short-term missions experience, spread the good word to those that haven’t heard!

We appreciate your interest and concern for our ministry – may God continue to bless you and yours!

Peace,
Rick & Lee Ann

Ministry Update - May 1, 2008

2008-05-01T22:41:00.000-04:00

Greetings from Oneonta, NY! Spring is trying its best to arrive in upstate NY… we did have a hard frost this morning, so we may have to wait a couple more weeks! The tulips looked good for a little while! Lee Ann and I just returned from a week with our daughter and son in-law in South Carolina - it was fun to see the transformation of seasons as we headed south from NY to PA through MD, WV, VA and NC on the way to Spartanburg, SC. Azaleas and other flowering bushes and trees displayed their colors in South Carolina…we have faith that the browns will be replaced by greens and the other colors of Spring!

We have many opportunities to serve the Living God in our future with Partnership Ministries, but before I get into it, I want to thank all of our faithful prayer and financial supporters. Words cannot describe the reassurance we feel because of you… thanks! We are just over 31% in pledged support with many generous one-time gifts. As the news of our ministry gets out, we are attracting more and more partners…we look forward to the coming opportunities in the next few months. Please pray that the support discovery phase is fruitful and that we approach 100% support levels quickly so we can mobilize! If you are being lead to support us financially, please let me know – let’s talk!

We have a few things on our docket coming up… please remember us in prayer as we prepare for these and other approaching opportunities to share our ministry. Also as I plan for further my Spanish language study – amongst all this activity, I will need to concentrate on that again so my ministry will become more effective.

This past Sunday, Lee Ann and I presented in Franklin, NY at the Community Bible Church. We have a few friends there and also share a rich history. As board chair of the Central New York Youth for Christ, I worked closely with CBC. In this new capacity, I am excited about the opportunity to share the scope and vision of Partnership Ministries with this congregation! The congregation received us openly and some folks are interested in hearing more about how they can get involved with short-term missions.

Next week, I will team up with Steve Reed, our director and will be exhibiting and presenting our ministry at the annual conference of the Mid-Atlantic Conservative Baptist Association – we will have time to meet and share with many pastors and church leaders! MACBA geographically includes churches from Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, DC and West Virginia. We want to thank MACBA Executive Director Dr. Jim Leary for offering us this wonderful opportunity!

I am coordinating our first official team effort with our home church, Main Street Baptist and Ray Ramos and Edwin Colon – both are Missions Door spiritual warriors in Brooklyn. Ray is an urban church planter with two Recovery Houses of Worship in place – one in the Williamsburg neighborhood in Brooklyn and the other in Staten Island. Edwin is the pastor of the New Baptist Temple in Brooklyn centrally located with a wide spectrum of opportunities to serve and glorify God!

We are also working with Calvary Baptist Church in Warwick, NY as they are finalizing their plans to travel to Catacamas Honduras to help build a church there from July 26 – August 2. It is exciting to guide this team through the team building and fundraising phases – we look forward to sharing this potentially life-changing experience with them! Please pray for our next meetign with this team on May 10th as we begin the process of preparing VBS crafts.

We hear wonderful stories from Rigoberto Reyes, our bother in Christ in Nicaragua who we have partnered with… the church we just helped build in El Pochote is growing and flourishing. It seems like success breeds success as we also hear of other smaller community churches that are now meeting in homes are eager to have their own worship centers built. The ministry in Bluefields continues to amaze me – a sister church has already sprung from the church we started to build last year and completed this past February. Rigo has plans to build a church building for this growing congregation as well as maybe venturing up the coast into some new communities. Praise God for the many people who have heard and responded to the Gospel of Jesus in these areas! Please continue to pray for the Nicaraguan Bible Extension Institute – that it continues to grow and to train new pastors to serve the entire country of Nicaragua.

Do you want to hear about Partnership Ministries or learn about how your church or organization can be blessed by serving God via short-term missions, please give me a call – I am available to talk on the phone or to travel and meet with you at your facility. Take it from someone who was blessed himself – it is awesome!

Thanks again for your prayers and support of our ministry… we will keep you posted on any new developments!

Peace,
Rick & Lee Ann

Calling All Recipes!

2008-04-23T21:14:00.001-04:00

We are compiling a fundraiser cookbook to benefit our future trips that support the ministries of Rigoberto Reyes throughout Nicaragua. We are working with a company that has a website to enter the recipes to help us save production on costs. Just let me know and I can give you the log-in and password.

We have just passed 200 recipes! This is awesome... BUT we need at least another 100 more recipes to make this venture worthwhile...spread the good news and get everyone you know to send in their 10 best recipes! If you have entered all your recipes... we thank you! Do you have more recipes? You can add another contributor name and add 10 more recipes! If you haven't reached the limit of 10, please dig deeper into Grandma's recipe box for those treasured family favorites! Remember…we are doing this to help our church building projects in Nicaragua!

We will also need to have you work hard to sell these once finished! They will be a great gift for family and friends!

Nicaragua Team Report - Mark Your Calendars

2008-03-21T17:14:00.001-04:00

When?

Sunday March 30, 2008

10:30 AM & 6:00 PM Services

Where?

Main Street Baptist Church

333 Main Street, Oneonta, NY 13820

The two Nicaragua church building team will report on their experiences in El Pochote and Bluefields Nicaragua. Come on out and see how they saw God at work!

We look forward to sharing with everyone!

PRAISE Report from Chinandega!

2008-03-11T22:29:00.003-04:00

This update is just in from Chinandega where a medical missions team offered their time and talents... Partnership Ministries was asked to offer logistical and translation support. But what resulted was way beyond our wildest dreams! We serve an awesome God!

Last night I got back from Nicaragua from the medical project. Last you heard things were looking really bad for the medicine and medical people to get into the country. The health ministry said that they would hold the meds for a week. I got pretty depressed, thinking the whole thing would fail, that we would lose our relationship with VIMM, the medical missions organization that came with us, and that the Nicaraguan church would have ruined their relationship with the communities where we were to work.

But God decided to show us that we need to continue to have faith even when it seems impossible that things will work out. In our minds, the last option we had to make things work out was using Pastor Marlon's (Chinandega) brother who is director of Radio Sandino to have a meeting with Rafael, Daniel Ortega's son, who with just a word can make almost anything happen in Nicaragua.

The appointment two days before the group's arrival was put off until the next day, but at the exact same hour of when the meeting with Rafael was originally scheduled, Rigo had to go to the health ministry, and believe it or not, they apologized to him (extremely uncommon in Nicaraguan govt., especially with Sandinistas) and gave us the fast track to get everything approved. Not only that, but they didn't send anyone to the airport to inspect the group, nor to the sites, which they normally do with medical teams. In fact, They called Rigo 3 times asking if they could help in any way. Now we can see there was a huge spiritual battle going on, and it ended at 3pm on Feb 28 when the wall at the health ministry crashed to the ground, and everything else fell into place at the same time.

As a result of the medical team, there are now 3 fledgling church groups in three villages. In one they will give the church land to build, in another they want the church to have services in the community center, and in the other a woman has offered her home for church meetings. Thanks for all your prayers for us. Mike

...because we serve an awesome God... that's why!

Back to Bluefields, Part 3!

2008-03-06T00:19:00.000-05:00

From Oneonta to El Pochote to Bluefields
It has been 2 months since our first team left Oneonta on December 26th to help build a church in the tiny village of El Pochote, Nicaragua just outside the town of Masaya. We departed there on January 6th with all but the roof completed – but within 2 weeks, the roof was added and we hear reports from Rigoberto Reyes, our missionary contact in Nicaragua ,that new families are worshipping there. We were blessed by the experience and we pray that the congregation becomes a beacon of light in that mountain community.

On February 14th, I met up with the second team from Main Street Baptist – we traveled from Managua by bus to El Rama and stayed overnight (well, sort of… our “stay” was only for 6 hours!). At dawn, we headed down to the docks and traveled east on the Rio Escondido to the town of Bluefields. For some of us, this was our third visit to Bluefields… for others, it was their first… what was common regardless of our individual experiences, we saw God at work in this town! We continue to be impressed with the ministry of Rigoberto and Claudia Reyes… they do not stop all day long… Rigo is constantly meeting with people – sometimes juggling multiple conversations regarding the construction site with cell phone calls with brothers and sisters in Christ throughout Nicaragua. Every morning, before our team arrived on site, Rigo would lead the Nicaraguans in devotions and Bible Study. Claudia directs the women in their ministry in the kitchen – sometimes serving 70+ people – cooking all day long (from dawn to after dark) with smiles on their faces - that truly was a blessing for all of us!

God is Big in Bluefields… Jesus Walks the Streets
I am quoting our very own songwriter, Suzanne Johnson, who penned a heart-felt song about our experience with God on this trip. Suzanne was able to play and sing her song at our “Good-Bye” service with her daughter Devan and fellow team member, Tara Stone singing it in Spanish. We worshipped and shared together in Spanish and English – God was glorified that night for sure!

The church in Bluefields was designed to be a regional church capable of training and sending local pastors into the eastern regions of Nicaragua. Already, two daughter churches have emerged from this church in a little over 2 years since Rigo’s vision trip to the region. One church is closer to the downtown area and another one up the coast. Many new families have joined the congregation since we last visited Bluefields in April 2007… there were at least 200 adults in attendance for our final service on Friday February 22nd not including a very large group of youth and children. It was truly a blessing to sing and worship on the newly poured altar looking up at the near capacity crowd that gathered. Earlier that week, we attended a baptism service for four youth (from the downtown church)that made their public declaration of faith – at the end of the week in Granada, we had a similar blessed event – with four of our team being baptized – praise God!

What’s Next??
The Bible is full of stories about people’s interaction with Jesus – I find most interesting “the rest of the story”, that is, what people did after their interaction with Jesus. For example, after meeting Jesus at the well, the Samaritan woman went back to her town and lives were changed because of her testimony (John 4: 39-42). I pray that these two trips have a similar impact on our lives - we all need to take time to process this trip and ask how God can be glorified. For even the veterans of 5+ trips, God continues to reveal Himself in new and exciting ways, so we all are challenged to seek His wisdom and guidance. Personally, these two trips were my first experience as a team leader for Partnership Ministries and I was humbled by how God’s love was revealed to me.

After saying good-bye to Lee Ann and the rest of the team on January 6th, I headed to Granada for five weeks of one-on-one instruction at language school. It is amazing how much information was poured into me… please pray that I can continue my studies and apply what I have learned. There are local opportunities in Oneonta to audit classes at SUNY Oneonta which I plan to pursue. I realize I need to continue with more full immersion classes in the future… please pray for God’s wisdom as I mull over the options available.

We will spend the next few months touching base with our faithful prayer and financial supporters – without you folks, this all would be an uphill battle with no end in sight. Knowing that we have friends and family praying and offering help when needed (especially while Lee Ann and I were apart for over 7 weeks!) brought us true peace and we thank you for that gift! Lee Ann and I will be visiting new churches in hopes of attracting potential partners for our church building efforts in Central America and also New York City (with my brothers in Christ, Raymond Ramos and Edwin Colon in Brooklyn). This is definitely a wonderful part of my new assignment… to introduce people to experiences like we just had in El Pochote and Bluefields is truly a gift from God!

If your church is interested in investigating short term trips and you are located east of the Mississippi River, contact me and let’s set something up! Right now, we are 30% funded, so, if you are able and desire to financially support our ministry, we would love meet with you! We can share our vision for our ministries for Central American and New York City church planting as well as economic development projects that would support all those endeavors.

God is not only big in Bluefields… he is omnipresent and at work everywhere!

¡Hasta luego! ¡Bendecidos!
Rick & Lee Ann

A Church is Built on a Hill in El Pochote

2008-01-25T17:46:00.000-05:00

The team from Main Street Baptist in Oneonta has returned from Nicaragua and by now is back into the swing of their normal routines... the small church community in El Pochote just finished their worship service in their new sanctuary! Boy, did we have an awesome experience in the process!

My last visit to El Pochote was after the team from Oneonta left Bluefields last April… I was able to tag along with Rigoberto Reyes, Aaron Palmatier and Mike Najjar to venture to El Pochote amongst other destinations in that region. The church at that time was a dilapidated structure that needed to be torn down. Not only was it in poor condition, it also would be too small for the potential growth of this church community.

So, after our arrival on site on December 27th, we started working and the church emerged from the flat ground. Slowly but surely we organized into jobs that utilized our skill strengths and progress was immediately noticeable! Digging foundations was necessary to begin the process of wall building, so immediately the team got busy. Columns needed to be made out of rebar and formed metal rods… column manufacturing was one project that never ended throughout the week – both upright vertical columns within the walls and cross beams required the same technology! Concrete had to be made, but first materials had to be moved about the work site… the sand and rock were delivered by larger trucks and sometimes had to be moved twice to a strategic location. The building blocks for the church were large quarried stones… weighing just about 100 lbs. each, so for those with the energy and stamina were enlisted to move these closer to where the masons could use them.

Most noticeable throughout the week were the relationships that were formed between our team and the local folks that volunteered to help build the church. Actually some traveled from as far away as Chinandega… about 2-1/2 hours away… others from nearby Nindiri also contributed their time and skill to accomplish the overall goal – it was awesome to see! Everyone has their sties of how they were impacted… all I can say is that as a first time leader of a team, it was so cool to see how we all cooperated despite the language barrier… Christ’s love was shared… and that is universal!

During the week, our team shared with the local children through puppet dramas depicting Bible stories, singing and craft making. Even the simplest crafts became treasured keepsakes. The children seem to have a natural ability to open up quickly and the teams responded with their creativity. Many times you would see kids playing with team members… sure the building needed to be done, but most importantly, relationships were formed. Jesus taught us about relationships… and that lesson will last a lifetime!

By the time for our departure, just 9 days after we arrived, the church was completed all except for the roof… and that could be finished by local volunteers. One of our team members, Justin Leuttger carved a sign into one for the quarried sytones with the name of the church - it was such an awesome gift from Justin... and it was a gift in return to Justin when the stone was placed on the last wall... God gives gifts to those who freely give of themselves!

All week, we were blessed by the awesome service of our sisters in the kitchen… out of a basic structure cam food for our army of workers… I do not think I noticed any dissatisfied customers all week! What a true blessing this ministry is… the women are up at least 3 hours before the team and spend most of the day preparing and cleaning up after the current and next day’s meals. The women always greeted the tired and hungry workers with a smile or a kind word… I will never forget them!

On the last day, while preaching for the first time in the new sanctuary, the pastor, Gonsolo stood and praised God from the new pulpit area, raising his hands to the open sky… he looked like he felt very comfortable. We worshiped together and after tearful goodbyes, we departed for our hotel in Masaya for the last time.

After all that hard work, we headed off to Granada for well deserved R&R&R… rest, relaxation and reflection. A definite highlihght was the canopy tour at Volcan Mombacho... everyone tried and and survived to tell their story! It may take a few weeks or months for some folks to comprehend how God wants them to use this trip… for some, maybe a career change is in the future… some need to make college choices… some have to ponder post college career choices… some will consider how to serve God more sincerely… the list goes on I am sure!

We praise God for safety during our travel and work… we also praise and thank Him for his desire to befriend us and guide us on our Earthy experiences.

WANTED - For an Adventure of a Lifetime!

2007-12-24T20:22:00.000-05:00

We are looking 10-15 young men and women, from 20-30 years old who are seeking to deepen their faith in new ways, and may at times, have questioned themselves as to whether there is more to Christianity than they have seen in the United States.

Upon your arrival, you will receive two weeks of intensive Spanish classes in the beautiful highlands of Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. Then we will take you to live and participate among three dynamic national ministries in Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, under their leadership, for two weeks each. There, you will have the opportunity to help with construction, teach English classes to youth, and help to organize a youth retreat. We aren't looking for expert builders or youth ministers - just people willing to learn from others and give of themselves.

Your leaders and guides will be two bilingual Partnership Ministries’ staff members who know the national leadership that will be with you every step of the way. They will lead the interns in orientation, reflection, and handle all the logistics. You will stay and eat with local families from the churches so that you can learn their lives and immerse in their culture. You will use local transportation to get from one place to another, including between countries.

If this interests you, spots are filling fast – please contact us for details!

Kelly Simmons
Ministry Coordinator, Partnership Ministries
2530 Washington Street
Denver, CO 80205

Email: ksimmons@missionsdoor.org

Rick Myers
East Coast Representative
Partnership Ministries
The short term mission ministry of Missions Door
Website: http://www.missionsdoor.org/
Email: rick@missionink.net
Skype: missionink

1 Corinthians 2:9

Deployment Notification

2007-12-19T06:59:00.000-05:00

Prayer & Financial Partner Communication

To: You
From: Partnership Ministries
Subject: Deployment Notification – Rick Myers
Date: 12/18/2007 19:50 PM
cc: The planet

Beginning 05:30 Wednesday December 26, 2007 deployment of Richard (aka Rick) Myers will commence at Main Street Baptist Church’s Big House (aka MSBCBH). Rick will rendezvous with fully trained and equipped squadron of 17 for departure to LGA airport enroute to Managua Nicaragua. ETD from LGA will be approximately 1:00 PM EST via American Airlines flight 637. No pending snowstorms in forecasts to date… repeat… no pending snowstorms in forecasts. Team is taking precautions however due to prior harrowing experiences by leaving said MSBCBG slightly earlier than necessary, but according to regional team leader KZ (aka kzyouthguy), “better to wait in Miami than to repeat Operation Interstate Monster Storm” of February 2007. Anticipated layover in MIA airport is approximately 95 minutes – maybe enough time to call home, freshen up and grab the last American fast food for 12 days. Departure flight from MIA to MGA is American Airlines flight 985 which is scheduled for 5:55 PM EST.

Squadron will arrive in MGA at approximately 7:30 CST and meet up with Nicaraguan National Church Planting Commander Rigoberto Reyes (aka NNCPCRR) and Partnership Ministries Team Leader Mike Najjar (aka PMTLMN) to embark on short expedition via rented fifteen passenger vans (aka RFPV’s) to barracks for one night’s stay in town of Masaya, Nicaragua, approximately 17 miles, or 27.24 kilometers or if we had to go by boat, 14.82 nautical miles. Some secrecy is present about the location of said barracks for the evening. We have been informed by NNCPCRR and PMTLMN that the housing known now as unknown sleeping quarters in Masaya (aka USQM) will be suitable for one night’s stay and that there may even be electricity and running water. The Center of Disease Control and local officials have warned that the squadron will want to rely on your personal fresh bottled water supply (aka PFBWS) and please be advised…DO NOT… repeat DO NOT drink or brush your teeth with local water out of faucets!

Day 2 – Thursday December 27, at 07:00 local time, the squadron will assemble for morning devotions led by PMTLMN, followed by breakfast mess that will be cleaned up by 08:00. Departure from USQM will be approximately 08:15 via said RFPV’s to El Pochote, location of a strategic church planting location just northwest of Masaya. Squadron will arrive and immediately greet all hermanos and hermanas with the traditional Bendecidos and await further instructions form either NNCPCRR or PMTLMN. Once the lay of the land is established and initial greeting formalities are completed, squadron will disperse and begin work as required. Rome was not built in a day, but a local church in El Pochote can be built in a week with teamwork! At approximately 12:00 full team of all on site will assemble for our first community meal which will be followed by a testimony of either local Nicaraguan or one of the squadron from Oneonta. Said testimony presentations will be determined by either NNCPCRR or PMTLMN or as we will be instructed with a change of command, said determination may be under the command of Rick… for more details, read on.

Daily Routines – Day 2 – 9. Squadron will be under the direction of NNCPCRR or PMTLMN until Day 6 when the change of command will be transferred from PMTLMN to Rick. As described in previous communiqués, PMTLMN and his wife Lesly are expecting their baby boy, Jeremy while we are on assignment in Nicaragua. Big Mahoff Team Leader and Founder of Partnership Ministries Steve Reed (aka BMTLFPMSR) from his command post in Sacramento California, USA had determined the best time to transfer duties from PMTLMN to the greenhorn Rick. This will be Rick’s first assignment since being appointed East Coast Team Leader with Partnership Ministries. Prayers directed towards Rick and the squadron at this time of transition is greatly appreciated. So, on Day 5 the squadron will dismiss PMTLMN for his home base in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. Our best wishes to he and Lesly and God’s blessings for their special day! Welcome baby Jeremy! During the week, the squadron will work onsite and share breakfast and lunch mess with local brothers and sisters gathered. Evenings will mostly be spent back at undisclosed USQM with time for small team discussions and reflections as well as R&R (aka rest and relaxation).

Special Note about new duties for Rick – aside from tracking finances for the remainder of the trip, Rick with the aid of kzyouthguy and NNCPCRR will act as site leader for the squadron. Rick will lead daily devotions as well as recruit others to share at breakfast devotions as well as to encourage individuals within the squadron to prepare and share their testimonies. Plans are in place to recruit Rick’s daughter, Lauren to act as his translator when his personal language skills are lacking, which, from scouting reports indicate, will most likely include the remainder of this phase of his deployment!

Day 10 and 11 – Free Days. Although still in planning stages, there is discussion about canopy tours near Vulcan Mombacho just outside of Masaya. The members of this squadron that served in the April 2007 tour are aware of the joys that await them. Time is also allowed for some inner reflection and group sessions to review the impact of the present deployment and how said tour might influence future behaviors.

Day 12 – January 6, 2007 - Departure for Home Base. NNCPCRR and Rick will commandeer the RFPV’s and depart for airport MGA to drop the squadron in time for their departure at approximately 13:30 CST upon American Airlines flight 970. Squadron will arrive on US soil at airport MIA at approximately 17:00 EST and will layover approximately 2 hours… enough time to call home, freshen up and grab the first American fast food in 12 days. American Airlines flight 1876 departs at 19:00 from MIA enroute to LGA which arrives at 22:00 EST. The squadron once through customs and immigration will board Main Street Baptist Church Deployed Mini Vans (aka MSBCMV’s) for a moonlit ride out of the metropolitan NYC region and northbound through the western fringes of the Catskill Mountain Forest Preserve via the Roscoe – Downsville – Walton – Franklin route to their final destination – Oneonta NY… approximately 02:30 AM EST. Cellular devices will be used to communicate ETA for rendezvous with Personal Family Mini Vans (aka PFMV’s) to finals home destinations.

Deployment Phases 2 & 3 – Rick Myers. After squadron is safely released into the hands of kzyouthguy at MGA, Rick will depart with MSBCBH to be released into the tutelage of the School Xpress Language School in Granada (their website is http://nicaspanishschool.com/), where he will spend the next 5 weeks in one to one instruction – 5 hours per day, 5 days per week. At his initial appointment, comments made by BMTLFPMSR included praises for Rick’s abilities to recruit and lead church building teams in Central America but his one fault (OK, he has others, but stay with me!) was that he was unable to communicate effectively with the locals in the native language. This initial tour of duty with School Xpress will begin the process of language acquisition which will be fortified by his continued exposure to the Spanish speaking population. Prayers for this phase of Rick’s deployment are requested – not only for Rick but for Lee Ann his wife who will be stateside for the reminder of his tour. It is said that Rick will have internet access and will be able to update a blog site dedicated to publishing updates of these upcoming tours of duty… stay tuned at http://missionink.blogspot.com/.

February 14, 2008. After 5 weeks of intensive language training, Rick will depart Granada to rendezvous with NNCPCRR to meet up with the second squadron from MSBC – this time 25 fully trained and equipped individuals will report for duty – their departure from MSBCBH slated for February 14, 2007 is still in the planning stages, but be sure of this – it will be early as the desire to avoid another Operation Interstate Monster Storm remains in effect. All communiqués will come from kzyouthguy. Destination this time is back to Bluefields to begin construction on an education wing onto the existing church building that was built by the February and April tours last year.

With PMTLMN, Lesly and Jeremy basking in their first days and weeks of family life together, Rick will again assume a leadership role for this tour as well. By Day 6 or 7, PMTLMN will join our squadron and finish out the week long construction project in Bluefields and to stay with us on our free days and help us get back to the airport to depart for home on February 25th.

So, how can you help the ongoing efforts? Your prayers for the many facets and phases of these operations are well deserved targets! From planning to execution, there will be a lot of opportunities for God’s wisdom and grace to intervene!

Thanks! For those of you that have already expressed the desire to support our ministry financially, we thank you and want to let you know we cannot do this alone… your interest and involvement in our day to day ministry is humbling to us… and for that we will be forever grateful! We still hover just over the 20% level of total financial support, so we welcome any new partners to the family! If you wish to begin supporting us financially, there are a couple ways to designate funds… if you wish to give a one time gift, can we direct to you donate towards Rick’s language school account which is Rick & Lee Ann Myers # 558U.

If you wish to make an ongoing pledge to our ministry, our names are our account number – you can do so by going online to www.missionsdoor.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=section&id=8&itemid=30 or by sending your contribution directly to the address below:

Please remember in order to get credit on your 2007 taxes that you must have these contributions postmarked by December 31, 2007.
Missions Door
Attention: Barbara Harrison
2530 Washington Street

Denver, CO 80205-3142

We thank you and ask for God’s blessings on your lives. We serve an awesome God!
Peace,
Rick & Lee Ann

Countdown to El Pochote

2007-11-28T17:47:00.000-05:00

We have just crossed the "one month to go" mark for our trip to El Pochote! I have yet to find the village on any maps, but if you follow Highway CA1 south from Managua, you will pass the town of El Crucero... somewhere between there and the town of Diriamba is El Pochote.

Last April, I was able to travel to this region as we checked out a potential work site that was outside of Masaya. Little did I know at that time that we would return to this area! Two men worked with our team in Bluefields in April - Francisco (show here in blue shirt with construction leader, Julio) and his son Junior - we will be blessed to help his village rebuild their church in the area.

The church building that is currently in the village is dilapidated and needs to be torn down - I am not sure if we will be part of the "destruction crew" or not. The church rests on the top of a bluff overlooking the dirt road heading down into the valley towards Masaya. Our team in February went to see Vulcan Masaya (below), which is almost visible from this location.

The area around Masaya is beautiful - we will be in a higher elevation, so the weather will be cooler than in Bluefields or Chinandega. There are many deep blue lakes in the region as well as many other geological features... we may travel over to Vulcan Mombacho (shown partially below), which the April team was able to experience - a totally different volcano than Masaya - plush green and heavily wooded - a perfect place for canopy tours! Yehaw! Coffee grows throughout this region, so bring your USD$ for a real treat!

The Adventure Begins...

2007-11-21T17:02:00.000-05:00

Well, actually this adventure started a long, long time ago... I find it amazing that God knew about this before I took my first breath... how patient He has been while I have discovered His purpose for my life! We do serve an awesome God! This will serve as our journal - to describe in writing and show in photos and videos how God is working through the efforts of Partnership Ministries... stay tuned - there's a an awesome "Show & Tell" coming!

On November 3, I flew out of Philadelphia to meet in Houston with Steve Reed, our founder and director - our final destination, Honduras! We arrived in San Pedro Sula and without any issues and were quickly on the road heading towards La Ceiba in our rental car. Our "home away from home" for two nights was the Hotel Iberia - and it was a great place to start! Comfortable beds... air conditioning and free wireless Internet... what more could we ask for?!? Everyone from the front desk to the chamber maids to the waiter at the restaurant next door knew and openly greeted Steve Reed… it was a testament to his desire to create lasting relationships – absolutely the cornerstone of the success of Partnership Ministries.

That evening, we headed out to church - home of the Honduran Extension Bible Institute under the supervision of Pastor Humberto Del Arca. Once again, evidence of the many solid relationships nurtured by Steve Reed showed themselves in the exuberant expressions of "¡Hermano Esteban!" and warm embracing. The worship service was well attended despite the heavy rains. Two men stood out to me that night - a father and son named Hector and Santos Flores. What a living legacy between those two men - it was so cool to just sit and soak in the camaraderie amongst these Christian believers - and for the most part, I could not understand much of what they said!

The next morning, we picked up Humberto and headed out about an hour outside of La Ceiba to see another church under the leadership of Santos Flores. The heavy rain continued but the drive was not so bad in the daylight. We were warmly welcomed and the church service began - many pastors were present as a sign of respect for Humberto and our visit to this rural church. Many shared songs and a brief word and Steve presented a message to the congregation. We stopped briefly on our way at a local family run cantina and enjoyed a fresh cooked meal together. From there we headed back to La Ceiba, taking Santos and Humberto home - a long awaited full night's rest was ahead of us!

On Monday, we headed out in the same direction - this time a little further to the town of Zamora where we met up with Tino Martinez (show left with Steve), another one of the regional directors under Humberto. We spent time with him discussing how we could develop economic projects with his churches to help finance the ministries. Tino was very excited about our interest and also our willingness to listen to his ideas. As a former tailor, his idea of training pastors in the art of clothing manufacturing was very appealing and easy to fund. Interesting how this might relate to the sewing ministry started in Bluefields Nicaragua by Claudia Reyes! One of the neat aspect of my job will be to hear and respond to the many ideas throughout Central America and try to maximize our efforts by opening channels of communication!

From Zamora, we headed to Olanchito and the home of Jorge and Alba Nuñez. Jorge serves under Humberto in this region - many of our former short term folks might remember Jorge as he would have been on site for the church building project in 2000. Jorge brings many years of wisdom to the table - I know he is a valued member of the leadership team. We had fun sharing time and coffee with Jorge and Alma - their son and daughter left while we were there to be on the air with a local radio station - we were mentioned on one of their updates... pretty neat to hear our names in English in the middle of a Spanish broadcast!

Steve, Humberto and I went on to La Ceiba and picked up Aaron Palmetier. Based upon the initial discussions of the day, and the fact Aaron could share with the larger group, a special meeting was called for Tuesday morning to get the regional directors from the North Coast together to discuss economic development opportunities in their region. So after a fruitful day of meetings, we headed back to La Ceiba. The next morning we met at the church once more and it was well worth the extra time - the exchange if ideas was invaluable! After lunch at the restaurant next door, we headed southwest to Siguatepeque.

The 5 hour drive to Siguatepeque was uneventful - the rain still persisted but not as hard as in the previous couple of days. This region was much cooler and higher in elevation, so the geography was something to take in! Our base in the area was the Plaza San Pablo - right in the middle of town, just across the street from a large open plaza. We were surprised at the temperature change - we surely did not need to air conditioning in this town! But good beds and wireless Internet made this triple an awesome deal!

We departed early to head towards La Esperanza - an hour and a half drive from Siguatepeque into the highlands - once again, the magnificent scenery was shrouded in clouds and rain but form the glimpses we had, this area was spectacular! We arrived safely and met up with Erick Sanchez), another regional director. (Shown here with his wife Yoamy and young daughter Ruth) Erick's biography can be found at this location - http://www.missionsdoor.org/images/stories/pplbook_pdf_bio/124862.pdf

We changed vehicles as our rented Toyota would not make this trek - 25 miles out on a mountainous dirt road... in the rain! There were times on our way out to the village in San Nicholas that even low 4WD was challenged to get up some of the hills - we thank God for Erick's skillful driving and for his sure footed vehicle!

About 1/2 way into our drive, we stopped at the home of one of the area directors, Isaías Cantarero to pick him up to take him with us to a recent church building project. In his village, there was a church still under construction - shown here. Out of the mist, came tons of kids... typically curious as to who would be stopping by their village - which is not exactly at the crossroads of Honduras! Pressing onward, after a brief "hola" to Isaías' wife, Olga, we boarded the 4x4 and headed down the muddy road. Isaías' biography can be found at this location: http://www.missionsdoor.org/images/stories/pplbook_pdf_bio/127555.pdf

As we ventured further towards San Nicholas, I was saying to myself, "we have to come back this same way - won't that be fun??" It was an interesting ride to say the least! About 2 kilometers from the end of this road, we stopped in another settlement - pretty decent sized for the area... and in the middle was a church! Barrington Baptist (RI) sent the team that travelled this road (dusty at the time) every day - boy, do I have a renewed sense of what their morning and afternoon trek was like - God bless you guys! We stopped to say hello to the Pastor's family and shared a wonderful cup of Honduran Coffee - a real treat for this cool damp day. I was humbled again by the housing in the area - the pastor's home (Shown here) was larger than some of the others but was still smaller than our combined living room and dining room at home - and he had a family of 6!

The trek back to La Esperanza ended with a meal with Erick and his family - back at their home, we spent some time listening to Erick' ideas about economic projects that could support the ministries of the church plants in his region - one especially promising is a maize grinder - it can be installed with little cost or technology and would benefit just about all the pastor's families. Erick's concise and organized presentations were so good that we will incorporate his template for all future requests - awesome job!

The winding and pothole filled drive back to Siguatepeque as dark settled in was enough to make me want to hang up the keys for another day! That triple room was such a safe harbor for us - just what we needed!

The next morning... Thursday, we met up with Victor and Virgilia Almendarez (Shown here) and Ambrosio and Norma Cordova for breakfast just outside of town. Victor's biography can be foudn at this location - http://www.missionsdoor.org/images/stories/pplbook_pdf_bio/115000.pdf Ambrosio's biography can be found at this location - http://www.missionsdoor.org/images/stories/pplbook_pdf_bio/121413.pdf. We spent much time discussing how we could serve their ministries better and also enlisted their thoughts about economic development programs or projects that could benefit the ministries in their regions. As the lunch crowd started to come into the restaurant, we said our goodbyes to Victor and Virgilia and continued with Ambrosio and Norma to see one of new building sites and meet the pastor's wife. We also were able to stop by their home and meet their family (The entire family is shown here) - it was a treat to hear them share stories about when Steve first came into the area - over 14 years ago.

Regretfully, we had to leave and venture now towards San Pedro Sula... only about 2 hours drive away. Steve was amazed at how much the city had grown and been infiltrated by the typical American chains - Applebee's, Pizza Hut, Pizzeria Uno, TGI Friday's and many more. We managed to find a hotel - pretty good as we didn't have reservations - we stayed at the Hotel Ejecutivo... great rates and in the midst of everything in town - free parking too! We had a wonderful meal at Tre Fratelli - a fantastic finish to a fruitful week! The next morning after breakfast in our hotel, we ventured into the central market where I was able to purchase some Copan region coffee - gotta love it! We were off to the airport so I could get checked in and through security - but not before my last Honduras cafe con leche... and a boot shine - Steve insists it is more of a social activity than an economic transaction... so for less than $ 4.00 US, the Honduran mud was removed from both our shoes - my old reliable hiking boots never looked so good!

My flights back into the US were AOK - I traveled with a Honduran/US Citizen who was bringing and adopted child to New Jersey - I broke out of my shell and started conversation with "yo hablo espanol un poco" and she came back with broken English - we talked almost all the way to Houston - got some practice in Spanish, but better than that, I just started to talk and share! This while trip was capped off by a visit to our former church (Christ Covenant Church in Kulpsville, PA)... what a blast it was - one day I am in Honduras and then next morning I am dining at Tiger's restaurant just outside of Lansdale, PA... a slice of Americana where the regulars mix with world travelers... I had a wonderful time meeting up with brothers and sisters in Christ that I hadn't seen in a long while - some it had been 11 years! My tales from Honduras and beyond amazed some and made others think.... wow, that's where I was a few years back... you never know how God will work!

So, this ends my first blog installment... please pray that God continues to give me the eyes of a child and a dose of His wisdom as we seek to serve Him with Partnership Ministries!