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
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.
