Back to Bluefields, Part 3!

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