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Mid year relaxation

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July has always been very special to Jari and I. We celebrate our wedding anniversary and our birthdays! However, we have an extra special reason for celebrations this month. We have heard good news that our family will be growing! What a great anniversary gift! We decided to take a few weeks off of ministry work this month to celebrate, far from home.  I will not be able to give specific details here on this blog about how our family is growing, but it is something we have been praying about for many years. Thanks be to God, He is answering our prayers. So, please celebrate this special month with us!  There is another Discipling Marketplace Leaders global summit scheduled to take place in November, in Ethiopia! However we will not be able to participate this time. We are sad we wont be able to see our friends and fellow workers, but we are so excited for what is to come. This was our time at the last DML summit in T anzania .  I love you Jari. I am excited to see where God takes us i
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A hot field day!

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This year we have been feeling the full effects of a very strong El Niño. The pacific ocean has warmed up and the rains stopped a few months earlier. Temperatures have exceeded 35 degrees Celsius here, where it is normally 28 -30 degrees. Despite the quick onset of drought caused by El Niño, producer Jose Francisco wanted to plant corn, under irrigation. The San Gabriel river runs through his property and it flows all year long. While the levels are low because of the drought, it still has water! He is going to plant a new variety of corn we are offering in our agricultural program. We are very excited for this corn! We wanted to plant some corn ourselves in last planting cycle, but because of the drought we decided on beans.  Great management by Darwin This will be Darwin's first trial with corn, but he had the support of the agronomist team in Jinotepe to fill him in on the knowledge he needs to advise Jose Francisco. An acre of corn was planted near the river, in the middle of
Location: San Rafael Del Norte, Nicaragua
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Cultivating Lives

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On April 25 we concluded our Bible devotionals with a group of farmers in a community called San Marcos. We call these lessons "Cultivando Vidas" ( cultivating   lives ). The themes are:  Attitude Goals Faithfulness Friendship Family Compassion Liberty Creation Poverty This group of farmers was very firm and direct in telling us they will not "convert to our religion" as they are traditional catholic. One of the oldest farmers said he will not open his house for these lessons, but he participated in two lessons in his neighbor's house. Our response to their concern is not that they leave their churches, but allow God into their daily  lives , and work in adoration to Jesus Christ our Lord. The farmers opened the doors of their houses to receive us, and we thank God for this!  Thursday afternoons was an anxious time as we prepared for the lessons, particularly for our agronomist Darwin. The farmers are older than him, and he walked a line of respecting his elders
Location: San Rafael Del Norte, Nicaragua
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Induction Seminar 2024, more growth!

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We have our second induction seminar for new producers! This time it is being held at a coffee roasting business. A much better suited environment as the venue also purchases coffee from producers and the owner is a coffee farmer.  Jari is welcoming our guests! We had eleven new producer finish the seminar! A good number considering there were a few who came to the make up days. One farmer came in by bus over 40 km away, not an easy task to complete considering the roads. We also had the chance to share our experience with a visitor from the Nehemiah Center. Jinnet. She stayed with us to spend the week learning about our ministry and work with farmers.  Jinnet sharing her experience cooking our beans Everyone in line to try a sample of beans to eat! Our seminar last four days, form 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. The subjects include who are we, what is good seed, and of course budgeting and technical assistance. We have reached three different regions of Jinotega, all with slightly different planti
Location: Jinotega, Nicaragua
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Church and Mission in the Labor Field

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 We were invited by Dra. Gabriela Tijerina Pike from Calvin Seminary to teach DML online through the  Christian Leaders Institute.  This is my first time teaching a course online. We decided to teach our Church Based Business as Mission course. It is going to be challenging as we do not have all the material we need to teach the course in translated to Spanish. This shouldn't slow us too much, because the class is only one session a month, all year long! This gives us plenty of time to translate the lessons as we move along in the course. There are always some problems with translating, and Jari is the head translator for this material. She will be borrowing from a lot of the things we already have in Spanish to help speed up this process. Will get to see how this course develops over time.  We have online lessons from DML president, Dr. Renita Reed-Thomson and board chair, Dr. Phillip Walker. These videos will need an audio dub in Spanish, which costs a lot of money to produce. T
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Project Mature Bean, third cycle

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 January 12 - 15 we harvested our third crop of beans! This time we earned a profit, despite a flooded field then a drought for the last part of the growing cycle!  Jari enjoying our progress The oppertunity came up for us to be able to plant a whole manzana (1.7 acres) of land for free! A friend loaned us some land he was not using while waiting to start some construction. We planned on planting corn, because we did not have personal experience with some of the varieties we have available for farmers in our program. However, as the rains for the second planting cycle delayed, we needed to change our crop options. Corn requires a lot of water, and the growing season is longer, around 100 days. In average years the rains would start in September, but October was already starting, and there was still no rain! We called an irrigation company for an assessment of the well on the property. They said the well was shallow, and they warned us with the current lack of rainfall we could not expe
Location: Jinotega, Nicaragua
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December Celebrations

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The week in between Christmas and New Year was always a traditional vacation time for me. I would get the week off when I used to work in the tool and die shops as a young man. This is when the car factories would shut down production and so we would also get the week off in the die shops. When I moved to office work in finance, I would save vacations days to carry on this work tradition. Then I gave my life to God, and the vacation time had a better meaning for me. It was always about family time. I would visit my grandma, aunts, hangout with cousins, good times just being together. In the last few years here in Jinotega, I have not been able , or perhaps even forgot about my traditional vacation week. I am always working in our business/ministry and preparing for the next month! Until this year! I am tired, and so I took the week off, like I used to! Signage to Oscar's Rosquilla shop I visited my friend pastor Oscar in Somoto. He showed us his new location for his cajeta making b
Location: Jinotega, Nicaragua
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