REVEALED

Nicaragua Update 2

davechoutka — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 04:01:36 +0000

Here are a few details about our last few days:

On Thursday we were blessed to have a free day in the midst of our week. After 3 full days of construction and food distribution it was a nice break. We traveled to Granada and took a boat tour of volcanic islands full of beautiful flowers, trees and some monkeys. We also went to an overlook in Caterina that had an amazing view of Granada as well as some mountains and volcanoes. We headed to the market and bought a few souvenirs to return home with and ended our outing by going to a live volcano where we hiked and snapped a few pictures. Our final stop was a chicken and pizza place called Narcy’s Pollo and Papa John’s.

Today we had a fantastic long day of sports ministry. We traveled into the Oriental Market to Pastor Belcer’s church and played some games with the 3rd through 6th graders. We had a blast playing balloon relays with them as well as Sharks and Minnows and a little dodgeball. They didn’t quite understand the dodgeball game, but we tried. It was awesome to hear their laughter and see their smiles. After the games were done we had a snack for them and gave them a gift. The 3rd and 4th graders received board and card games (Candy Land, Chutes and Ladders, UNO, Cootie, Yahtzee Jr…) and they were so excited, but had no idea what these games were. We had to do a little explaining and showed them that there were instuctions in Spanish they could follow. I hope there was a lot of game playing going on tonight! We gave the 5th and 6th graders frisbees which they first used as a plate, but then we showed them how to use them and it was all good. Right after we were done with the younger kids we ate a quick lunch on the bus on the way to a great sports camp in the mountains that had a basketball court, soccer field, baseball field and volleyball court. There were about 50 high school students from Belcer’s church that joined us. The students that got to participate in this were there as a reward for good attendance or good grades at school. We divided them up into three groups for kickball, soccer, and basketball. It went very well until the heat was too much for everyone and we gathered under the shelter of the basketball court for some shade. We had a great game of German Dodgeball then gathered for a snack and Sean Dietrich shared about being an example at school.

By the end of the day we were worn out! We ended our night with a fun celebration of the two birthdays in our group. Tyler Wysner turned 16 and Heather Pielemeier turned 17 this week so we had a fiesta with an Elmo pinata and some delicious cake. One of our Nicaraguan friends Yesinia also had a birthday so she joined us for the festivities.

We can’t believe that our week is almost over and we treasure the friendships that have been made both in our group and with the Nicaraguan people. Thank you to all who have been praying for us- the Lord has worked in and through all of us and we have been forever changed!

Nicaragua Update

davechoutka — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 04:17:29 +0000

Hola from Nicaragua! We have been having a great week so far! Our team works amazingly well together and God is showing us in a visible way how we are all part of one body with many gifts. We have each been able to play different parts at our worksite and together have made a lot of progress! We spent the first few days working at the college dorm where we worked last year. Last year there were no structures in place and we dug footings and worked with rebar most of the week. This year the worksite is quite different! We did not recognize the place when we arrived and were amazed at all that God had done through the hands of other groups that had come throughout the year. There are four rooms completed and we were able to pour the concrete floor in a couple of downstairs rooms, as well as pour the concrete for the entire second floor. We were also able to prime the walls of two rooms and paint the steel beams for the upstairs structure.

In the midst of doing construction, we have also been able to take different groups out to distribute food to families that are a part of the churches NRN works with. This has been one of our favorite things to do because we are able to meet individual families as well as see where they live and pray for their specific needs. This has shown us how God truly can and does provide our daily bread and how it is our responsibility as those with much to share with those who have little. We are learning how we can take our time, money, and efforts and use them for the benefit of others rather than solely for ourselves- together we can all benefit from the blessing (2 Corinthians 8:13-14).

Tomorrow we are breaking up our week and having a fun day and traveling to Granada for a boat ride as well as going to a volcano and the market. We will check back in a few days with more updates. Continue to keep us in your prayers!

Nicaragua

davechoutka — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 19:08:10 +0000

I am hoping to post periodically here of how God is moving through our group and what we are up to here in Nicaragua. Some come back often during the week of April 2-10 to check up on us.

We are part of something bigger than ourselves

davechoutka — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:54:12 +0000

I am teaching a series at North Beach called threads. It’s a 4 week series on community and how we are interwoven together in relationships. So in looking at different things on community and on the church I found this video by Francis Chan talking on 1 Peter 2:9-10. It’s about how we are part of the church. However, God is telling us that we are apart of something bigger than ourselves.

Watch – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9iJSkn5jwQ&feature=related

Check out videos from the mission trip

davechoutka — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:15:54 +0000

Click on this site to see some videos we uploaded from the Chicago Mission trip. We have Pastor Andy sharing, Keegan showing how powerful Turpentine is, The Everything Skit performed at the Hesed House and a youth pastor from Geneva First Baptist way too excited to sing Take it All by Hilsong. Good stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/user/NorthBeachOnline#play/uploads