KPC Nica Team 2008

The final analysis

2008-11-26T13:15:00.001-08:00

3:17 pm Central Time

We are sitting in the airport of San Salvador, El Salvador. We had a 45 minute flight from Managua to here. After a time of lunch, we are meeting in the waiting area of gate 14 analysing the mission trip and mission trips in general. Do they do good? Are they worth the sheer cost of getting down to our destinations? Is there a long term impact? The concensus seems to be that yes, they are worth while. Without these trips, not enough eyes and hearts would be open to the issues that affect the Central America and other developing nations in the world.

Dan, during his time of testimony, of telling his story, read "The Final Aanalysis" to us. This was particularly meaningful to me in my work of the last couple of days and now as we come home. I hope you enjoy it.

The Final Analysis (Do it anyway!) - By Mother Teresa

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.
What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.
Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway.
In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

-Mother Teresa

2008-11-26T04:48:00.000-08:00

Written by Mark Hofstee

Today is the last full day on Nicaraguan soil. We spent the day at the Barcelo Montelimar Resort on the Pacific Ocean. This is a 1.5 hour trip, travelling up and down a mountain, hitting 860 metres above sea level. We stopped for a photo opportunity near the top of the mountain. The resort is an all inclusive resort and so we had a big buffet breakfast and a big lunch. Supper, for those had it, was from the pool bar. We spent the day walking the beach, looking for wildlife, using boogie boards in the surf, and swimming in the pool. The beach portion of our day was ended with a time of praise and worship on the beach watching the sun set before heading home. Our evening devotions were led by David Wrathall.

This will be the last post from Nicaragua. Tomorrow we leave, arriving home at 10:20pm. Please pray for protection for us in our travels. Thanks for all your prayers and for following our blog.

Sunday and Monday

2008-11-25T04:30:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

We have had a busy couple of days. Sunday morning was spent at the barrio church. Pastor Elvis preached a great sermon on Mark 11--having the faith to move mountains. Amazing how God works as that has been the focus of our prayer time this week. After church we served some 400 hotdogs and 75 hamburgers.

In the afternoon we went to Granada on lake Nicaragua for a boat tour around the islands. On island was a bunch of Monkeys. We went out for supper and had a "Canadian" type meal of steak and rice and potatoes. Made me miss home... The evening was spent listening to a testimony given by Brian.

Yesterday the team split into 2 until 2pm. The 1st time guys and Jim went to the barrio in the morning and dug holes for soccer nets. We decided as a team to use some of our continingency funds to make proper goals for them. So they dug the holes and we put concrete "sleeves" in them into which the goal posts can be set. We need to do this in order to remove the nets when not in use or the steel will be stolen for scrap. The barrio is known as a rough one and everything that is done here has to take into consideration what could possibly happen by less reputatble people. We are concerned that the sleeves are going to be filled with gravel or mud or garbarge from sheer maliciosness, but we move forward anyways in the hope that they won't. Anyways, the first timers dug the holes and went to a feeding centre. The other guys went to the work site and put up some more sideing and gathered up the concrete materials and went to the site and make the concrete and set in the sleeves and painted the posts. After that work was done, the sports ministry set up the field using the hockey nets and the championship game was played. That was great fun.

We said good bye to all the people of the barrio and came home late for supper. The evening was spent listening to the testimony of Rick Schnurr.

Today we are off to de-compress at the beach and tomorrow we go home. Look for the final post from Nicaragua tomorrow morning.

A Letter from Josseling to Mark

2008-11-23T12:28:00.000-08:00

Dear Marcos

Thank you for being with me in a most difficult time of my life because my Mom went to Costa Rica and I miss her. And I love you as a Dad that I never had and a good friend. I thought that I would never see you again but thatnks to God that you came back and I got to see you. I send you many kisses.

Josseling

Open the Eyes of My Heart

2008-11-23T05:43:00.000-08:00

Saturday November 22 2008 -- by Mark Hofstee

Saturday morning was spent at the site and the afternoon at a Managua market (Huembe) The evening after supper was spent at the coffee shop and we finished the night with a stirring devotion by Doug Gray and went to bed some time after 11:30. We were up again at 3 for our prayer time. I continue to be amazed that these 12 men would get up in the middle of the night to offer up prayers for my healing, for a miracle. I am amazed and so thankful that people all over the world are reading the blog and are praying with us and for us.

One thing we have really discovered is that no matter how successful someone looks on the outside, no matter how confident look one may look, you cannot judge the book by the cover. Everyone has overcome some sort of struggle or many struggles. We have also learned in our devotion times that often our views of ourselves is different, very different from how others view us. We continue to be thankful for God walking with us or carrying us in these times of struggles and are greatful that he uses these times to make us stronger...

One of the things I really have enjoyed while down here is photographing the Nicaraguans. I particulary love capturing people's eyes as I think the eyes are the best windows to the contentment of people's hearts. So enjoy these photos.

the hospital and the barrio

2008-11-21T21:10:00.000-08:00

Written by Ken Phillips

This morning would represent a very interesting experience for all of us. The team would have the opportunity to visit the La Mascota Children’s Hospital in Managua dedicated to treating various types of cancer for all children in Nicaragua. The hospital does not have CT scan capabilities, does not have an MRI unit, and may not even have sufficient medicines to support the treatment of cancer at any given time. Against these odds, the La Mascota Children’s Hospital continues to provide medicinal treatment to over 1200 children per year.

Five of the men had previously visited La Mascota in 2006 but seven of us were completely unprepared for what we were about to see. PAN started a painting ministry in the hospital several years ago and this morning each member of the team would engage in painting one-on-one with one child suffering from cancer. This was an emotional experience for each one of us but also very rewarding. We would sit on a child’s bedside and help them paint a picture making every attempt to communicate out of love. We also had the opportunity to pray with the child and the family if they were willing.

Each child was left with a portrait created by one of the men and a Teddy bear. It was truly amazing to see the smile of a child who is going through a very painful and traumatic experience. God guided us through a very difficult experience and rewarded us with an outpouring of love from these children.

The day continued to get better when we went back to the barrio for our final day of Sports Ministry. Most of us have now become very much attached to the children after five consecutive days. These children continue to pour out their love to us every time we come and certainly look up to us as father figures.

The Men’s BBQ at the church in the barrio became the highlight of our day. We had between 25-30 men come to the church for the BBQ to experience a time of praise and worship with the team. Doug, Charlie, and Dan had the opportunity to share their testimonies with this group of men. We served these men by providing them with a hot meal and an outpouring of God’s love.

The evening was amazing and Pastor Elvis even closed the evening with an altar call. We had the opportunity to pray for five men who made their way to the front of the church. At the end of the service, two men from the barrio wanted to speak and they communicated their appreciation to the team for their work in providing them with a sports field. We will do this all over again for the families of the barrio on Sunday afternoon.

Talk about one amazing day! God was with us and blessed us in every way today!

2008-11-21T05:28:00.000-08:00

Written by Brian Watson
Being down in Nicaragua with a group of 13 men is a unique, amazing, life changing experience. As I was thinking about what I would put in my blog entry, I thought about the number of things that happen in a day. I thought I would take the approach of a point by point list of things that happen down here. Hope you like details. So ... a day in Nicaragua is about:

· wake up anywhere between 6 and 7
· shower if you didn't shower after you got back yesterday afternoon
· wander to the eating patio for a coffee
· check e-mail or chat
· after grace, eat a great breakfast of options like egg omelettes, eggs and ham, pancakes, French toast
· always gallo pinto (beans and rice)
· sometimes pineapple and watermelon
· 3 of us make 3 loaves of sandwiches for lunch
· brush teeth
· check e-mail
· prepare for the day - work clothes, load up with water, hat, sun screen
· chat with another team member while waiting for the van
· load the van
· pack into the van - sometimes there are as many as 15 in the van that holds 13. 3 of those 13 have seat belts on. When you're packed in like that you don't need seatbelts :)
· stop at On The Run. No Tim's down here but On The Run helps us Canadians get over that. Stock up with Gatorade, specialty coffee, chocolate (yes even on a men's team), snacks for later on in the day
· drive through the streets of Managua. There's a topic for a book, not one line in a blog. Victor and Chepe do a great job of getting us wherever we need to go, and always looking out for our well being.
· conversation in the van, singing such greats off the radio as Rhinestone Cowboy, American pie, etc.
· arrive at the work site; figure out the plan for the day with Rolando, the work site foreman. Samuel, our translator does an awesome job and is an awesome guy to have as a part of the team.
· go to work possibly doing something you have never done before. Placing clad panels so they can be secured, working on the end of an impact drill driving in self tapping bolts, digging a septic hole, no I wasn't really welding 20 feet in the air.
· lunch time - sandwiches, drink, Pringles chips, cookies, fruit, yogurt
· load into the van to travel to the barrio (neighbourhood) where Pastor Elvis's church is located. This is the barrio that some us worked in 2 years ago.
· arrive at the playing field - God used us to transform that field from an overgrown, dangerous garbage area to a useable playing field.
· greet the kids as they start to gather. Those two white vans signal that something exciting is going to happen.
· get out a soccer ball, baseball and glove and offer to play with the kids. What starts with one or two kids soon becomes a gathering of many.
· look for other ways to interact with the kids. Watch Rick's (Pied piper) instant gathering of children begin their first activity for the afternoon.

· As the sports ministry people figure out the plan, join in and help or continue with the kids that aren't involved in the current game.
· show pictures of family
· pass out stickers and get mobbed at the same time
· try to talk in Spanish
· greet any men that come by
· invite those that are standing, watching, wondering what is going on
· visit homes in the barrio to tell of God's love
· see needs and wonder how we can help in some way
· pack into the van for the ride back home
· optional shower time - we usually stink pretty good by that time
· dinner - again great food
· sometimes evening activity such as folklore festival, girl's orphanage, etc.
· always devotions and patio time (my favourite time)
· time to sing
· time to get into God's word
· time to hear one of our team mates story of where they have come from in their journey
· time to be challenged
· time to be blown away
· time to pray
· time to encourage
· time to support
· time to cry
· time to wonder
· head off to bed with earplugs because of the sounds of dogs, roosters, birds, snorers, etc.
· at 3am we get up to pray for our brother Mark and the healing of his right eye
· pour our hearts out before God
· learn how to pray better
· learn how to listen for His leading and guiding
· bring our requests before God
· back to bed
· sometimes wonder if we will get back to sleep
· sleep until wake up time and begin the next day

Whew ... hope you got through all that. Some aspects are the same from day to day but there is no question that each day will be unique in some or many ways. Each day we all experience something we have never experienced before.

Thank you for your prayers, your support, your love. We love you all and desire to do what God wants us to be doing down here.

Special love to hwtebw,glw,mlw,tdw

The team in photos

2008-11-19T18:33:00.000-08:00

Brian Watson

Charlie Bridges

Dan MatweyDave Wrathall

Don Vickers

Doug Gray

Joel Pink

Ken Phillips

Mark Hofstee

Rick Schnurr (The Pied Piper)

Steve Light

Wally Ferkranus

Brian Watson :-)

Tuesday's day...November 18th, 2008

2008-11-18T19:45:00.000-08:00

Tuesday Nov 18th...contributed by Dan Matwey

We’re trying hard not to lament the fact we’ve been deprived of sub zero temperatures back home, but once again it was a hot beautiful day here in Nicaragua, so we’ll just have to try and live with it. Today was essentially a continuation of the projects that have now been underway for a few days. Mind you, no routine is ordinary in this environment and as a newcomer to this group; I can now understand what was meant when we were told that.

The construction site was a hub of activity in the morning, as we continued working on the warehouse, which is progressing well ahead of schedule. More so than our first day, we also got to work alongside our counterparts from Nicaragua today, which was really quite a treat. It became evident that language isn’t a complete barrier to communication as well, judging by their laughter at the antics of the KPC goofballs they were working with (these guys really do keep me entertained). With a delay in getting a supply of more panelling, we found out quite literally what it’s like to work in the trenches today. Not that there was one there when we arrived, but upon leaving a 50’ trench several feet deep was ready to accept the piping from the warehouse to the septic tank. A pretty messy job all and all with virtually nobody recognizable by the time we were done (Jim’s somewhere under that layer of dirt).

We were back to the Barrio for the afternoon and it’s really quite amazing how quickly the new sports field fills with children within moments of us arriving. Again we were there for a few hours engaging them in a variety of games and there were a few hundred kids there by the time we left. The smiles (see the pictures) on these children and the simple joy they experience by having a group of men come to spend time with them astounds me, but they don’t get half as much out of it as we do. Tomorrow, a couple of us will begin touring the Barrio with a translator and sharing our stories with some of the adults, so a comfort zone that’s already stretched beyond what any thought it might be, will be pushed a little further. We’re all going to try and do a bit of that before we leave.

As always, the fellowship and chance for us to get to know one another continues to be one of the real blessings of this endeavour and I think it’s fair to say we’re bonding into a pretty close knit group and drawing strength from one another and drawing a little closer to God in the process.

Monday's day...

2008-11-18T05:40:00.000-08:00

Monday November 17-2008 --written by Rick Schnurr...
Monday was another beautiful day in Nicaragua. We all awoke refreshed and anxious to start work on the PAN warehouse. After a quick breakfast, we loaded up our tools and headed to the work site. The site is approximately 5 acres and is located northeast of Managua. The steel frame of the 40’ x 40’ structure was nearly complete when we arrived. Our team’s first priority is to cover the outside of the warehouse with a steel siding that looks much like the siding that is used to build warehouses and sheds in Southern Ontario.
We were pleased to make significant progress in laying the siding and were able to complete 2+ sides of the warehouse by 1:00. The attached picture provides a general idea of the size of the structure and shows members of the team laying the first few pieces of siding.
After a bag lunch at the worksite we loaded into the vans and returned to the barrio where on Saturday we had cleared an area for sports ministry. We spent some time raking the area once again, which is something we anticipate doing several times before we leave as each pass over the land unearths new pieces of glass, barbed wire and other treasures.
While we were raking, the area quickly filled with dozens of kids from the barrio who pitched in as we cleaned up the mess. Soon the hockey nets that the mission team brought down two years ago appeared and were used as soccer nets for a series of games that we had the pleasure of participating in with the kids. Many of the guys who came down on the previous trip were touched to see what great care the kids had taken of the nets. They clearly appreciated and valued the gift from two years ago. The joy the children’s faces on Monday afternoon was only surpassed by our own as we played soccer, baseball and shared pictures and stickers from Canada. Joel worked the same magic he does each Sunday at Kortright with the kids from the barrio and a fantastic time was had by all.
In the evening Wally led us in prayer late into the night. “Porch time” is quickly becoming a special time for both new and repeat members of the team.
We have been blessed to have Pastor Melvin from El Salvador staying with us while we are here. Pastor Melvin visited Guelph in the summer and spent time with the mission team at one of our preparation meetings as well as spending an evening at the church. Pastor Melvin’s journey includes many stories of medical miracles that have been brought about through prayer. Pastor Melvin has found that focussed prayer between the hours of 3:00 and 3:30 am have been a key to bring about unimaginable healing. Mark was touched by Pastor Melvin’s incredible stories of healing in the summer and has once again been touched by Pastor Melvin on this trip. 19.5 years ago Mark was struck by a baseball on his right eye that left him with blurred vision and limited use of his eye. For two consecutive nights now, the men’s team has been joined by Pastor Melvin at 3:00 am and prayed that the damage to Mark’s eye be reversed. The team has committed to continuing this prayer time through the rest of our stay in Nicaragua. We invite you to join us in prayer each morning during this time as we call upon God to provide healing for Mark. Nicaragua is one hour behind Guelph so it will be 4:00 in Guelph when we start our prayer each morning. If you feel so moved please pray silently or together from 4:00 to 4:30 (Eastern) for healing for Mark asking God to reverse the damage caused by that baseball so many years ago.Please continue to pray for our spouses, without whom none of us could be here stretching ourselves and our relationships with God.

A couple of pictures from Sunday

2008-11-17T17:01:00.001-08:00

2008-11-17T06:18:00.000-08:00

Sunday, November-16-08, Nicaragua KPC Men’s Team Report
Today was our first Sunday in Nicaragua and was packed with activity and experiences for the men’s team. We started the morning with breakfast as usual. Pastor Melvin told us a story of healing and prayer that inspired us. Most of the women’s team was scheduled to depart this morning. Upon request we had a worship time that concluded with the men singing “How Deep the Father’s Love” accapella while surrounding the women as our final send off.
We all piled into the van and attended the Remar church “Cuerpa de Christos” in downtown Managua. Here we learned to dance with Don Vickers leading. This Church is rather special in that it ministers to recovering addicts and focuses on its healing ministry. The children from the orphanage are also attendees. The music, the bannering (with tambourines), the prayers and the healing altar call greatly moved me. Even the sermon, although in Spanish and incomprehensible to the team, was clearly a Bible based message that touched the congregation. We all agreed later that some dancing at the front of the church during worship was much needed at KPC. Don, bring your dancing shoes!!!
The remainder of our day was immersed in observing God’s natural power and splendour. We journeyed to the “Parque Nacional Volcan Masaya” and peered into a sulphur spewing crater of an active volcano. I considered the devastating earthquake of 1972 from which Managua has never recovered along with this live, smoking abyss within site of the city and I had a glimpse of both the beauty and fragility of this country. We wiped the sulphur from our eyes and drove to the eco-park that contained the zip-line. En route, we passed through lush, fertile country-side with huge trees and green fields. It was refreshing to escape the crowded and stifling atmosphere of Managua and see life in the surrounding countryside. I particularly noticed the wild poinsettia’s with brilliant red leaves – a reminder of the coming Christmas season.
The zip-line was pure fun. Strung between platforms suspended in century old trees, the team traversed its way down a forested slope overhanging coffee bushes. At one particular tree we met a pack of howling monkeys. This bunch was rather irritated that our bunch was in their tree tops without their permission. Our guides egged them on and next thing we knew we had a shouting match on our hands.
We finished the day with a chicken dinner at a Nicaraguan version of Swiss Chalet. Most of us were unsure what we actually ordered until our plates arrived.
The tradition of “porch time” continued and we all gathered on the outdoor veranda to process the day, have devotions and pray. Charlie presented his testimony that left most of us speechless and praising God for his blessing. Thanks Charlie for your message and song.
We all decided to follow Pastor Melvin’s tradition of praying for healing at 3:00 am in the morning. Without hesitation we all gathered in the dark and prayed over Mark.
Sorry no pictures until later after supper
Written by Doug Gray

2008-11-15T18:18:00.000-08:00

Hola mi Familia es amigos.
Saturday November 15th.
We are up early with the sun. Its rays cascade off the beautiful flowers, bushes and fruit trees at Jenny’s guest house where we are staying. Today we worked in the Waspan Norte Barrio where we will host our sports ministry. We spent about 4 hours using rakes, shovels and machetes to clear the sports field. We had to be careful of the garbage as a number of syringes were found. After the large stuff was cleared Heffe (Don Don Vickers) brought in a lawn tractor from a local sports field to cut the grass. It was a dirty job but people came out to thank us for cleaning up the garbage to make this better place for the kids to play. Check out some of the photos like Rambo Wrathall.
We are hoping that we can put up some permanent soccer goals so the youth will use it often and hopefully it will no longer be a place for drugs and gangs. The sports ministry will start on Monday and run till Friday. Many kids came out today with their machetes to help. We broke out a few soccer balls and played some pick up soccer. We are hoping to draw a crowd of kids and we know God will do the rest.
The barrio has been through a very difficult rainy season and many roads are in rough shape with the road in front of Pastor Elvis’s church being impassable to most vehicles.
The late afternoon we spent at the Remar boys and baby orphanage. We donated clothes, sports equipment, arts and craft supplies and school supplies. We had been predestined to play a soccer game with the boys. No Canadian team had ever won a game from the boys... until today. It was 3 all when our team scored to go ahead. We wanted to end the game but continued. They tied and so we felt this was the right time to end with each team maintaining their pride. Man can those boys move the ball around.
Rick played with the young kids and appeared to be in heaven. He had them drawing and gave them stickers and used his photo album to show them a snowman and much more. For Rick’s 39th birthday I believe he felt very blessed to spend it this way.
As the sun set we gave the kids glow stick bracelets, we were able to hold and feed the babies and played with the little ones as well. ‘
We finished the night with a pizza party singing happy birthday to rick in English and then all the kids in Spanish. All the kids were so well behaved. We served them pizza and pop and enjoyed the time with them. They are so beautiful and Remar has given them a safe and healthy place.
Tonight we are about to have some “porch time” of worship and devotion. God Bless you all. LOL RC, AC, and all our children

2008-11-14T20:43:00.000-08:00

A little bit about our team’s mission. We are in Managua, which is the capital city of Nicaragua. Managua has 1.5 million people in a country of over 5 million.
Ours is a two part mission. First: we were asked by PAN a year ago to help them construct a warehouse for their newly purchased property. Currently they have no place of their own to store the materials and supplies that are donated to PAN. At present the goods are in various locations around the city of Managua, Nicaragua and these locations are not very secure and, as in many impoverished nations, thievery is common. So the plan is that the warehouse will provide a place to sort and store the goods that will be donated to various Nicaraguan agencies. The warehouse is 40’ x 40’ by about 20’ high. It is made of concrete block about 4’ high and the rest will be steel siding with a steel roof. Pictures will be posted next week. This project is far larger than can be accomplished in our time here and so we will be assisting Nicaraguan workers with the help of Samuel, our translator.
The second part of our mission is working (playingJ) with the kids in Pastor Elvis’s barrio. This is the barrio where previous KPC teams had served building his church. We will be working with the sports ministry playing soccer and baseball. So the work days next week will be divided about 2/3’s on the warehouse site and 1/3 playing games with the kids who never get to play organized sports. In fact most sports are played on the street with equipment that we would find in our dumps...
Today we got to drive around the city seeing landmarks of historical significance such as the former residence of General Samosa. We saw the city from a high point and gave a prayer for the city. Anywhere we stop in the city, we get noticed by children who come looking for handouts. Generally we don’t give them anything because other children will come out of the woodwork so to speak. However Brian has a soft spot and give a cordoba (Nicaraguan currency—20:1 American dollar) or two right at the last minute...A couple of us were called Gringos which interesting.
This afternoon we went to watch a baseball game between a team of one armed men who were going to represent Central America in a handicapped baseball tournament. They were late and so we were just tossing the ball around when some Nicaraguan men came onto the field and we played a four inning game against them. It was great great fun—I think we even won! The “One Armed Bandits”, as they called themselves, showed up and we played one inning against them which also was fun. I don’t think we pulled any muscles, but there were 4 or 5 skinned knees.
Supper was rice and chicken and salad, eaten in a bit of a rush as we got ready for going to see Pastor Elvis. We arrived there around 6:30 and had a time of re-introductions and a time of prayer and of worship. A couple of songs were sung both in English and Spanish which was very cool. The barrio has been particularly hard hit by their rainy seasons and the road that the church is on is virtually impassable which has greatly impacted all who live there, but particularly those who earn a living in the barrio.
We are back now at Jenny’s house having a discussion, a de-briefing of sorts about our day together. Enjoy the pictures. We the team members send you our families our love. AC, RC &LAKABAJA.

We're in Nicaragua!

2008-11-13T17:57:00.000-08:00

After a long day of travel...we left Guelph at 4:45 am and arrived in Nicaragua at 3:45pm Central Time, all hot and sweaty and tired. The temp was 31--at least 40 with the humidex.

We had a great supper and a quick meeting regarding our itinerary and soon will be heading to bed.

The photo is of Lake Managua just before we touched down.

First impressions...the country is very lush, green after all the rains and in combination with the hot weather. Another impression is of the interesting streetscapes, mostly scenes of poverty and no improvements in the city infrastructure. There is also a bit of political unrest in the city after the municipal elections.

That's it for now. Tomorrow we will give a bit of info on where we are staying and the work we will be doing.

Cheers!/Adios

Packing our Bags

2008-11-11T18:00:00.000-08:00

Tonight we packed our team hockey bags. On PAN mission trips we pack our checked luggage with donated items for those in need down in Nicaragua. Each person is allowed 2 checked bags at 50 pounds each and so we packed 20 bags with donated items and kept 4 for personal items too big for our carry on luggage such as work boots and some tools. Virtually all of our personal items--clothing etc must be taken in carry-on luggage and a knapsack. We have access to laundry in Nicaragua and so this is plenty of luggage space. The first picture is of Jim weighing his hockey bag to ensure it does not exceed the weight limit. The other shows the team with the packed bags.

Next post should come after we are on the ground in Nicaragua. (Submitted by Mark Hofstee)

Commissioning Sunday

2008-11-11T14:54:00.000-08:00

On Sunday November 9th 08 the team was commissioned at Kortright Presbyterian Church (KPC). This involved the team coming up to the front of the church and each of us speaking a few words. Pastor Don McCallum then prayed for us.

The team includes 12 members plus our PAN rep. We are, from left to right, Doug Gray, Charlie Bridges, David Wrathall, Steve Light, Ken Phillips, Joel Pink, Rick Schnurr, Brian Watson, Dan Matwey, Mark Hofstee, Don Vickers (PAN rep) and Wally Ferkranus. (Jim Cochrane missing). Please pray for the team as we make our final preparations.

Submitted on behalf of the team by Mark Hofstee

Last meeting prior to take Off

2008-11-04T19:39:00.000-08:00

November 4th, 2008: The team had their final meeting in preparation to leave on November 13th. As of this post the team has reached and exceeded their project fundraising goal and now is putting money aside as a continguency fund to be led by God as the needs present.

The guys are starting to get excited and maybe a bit nervous about the opportunity to serve in a cross cultural way.