This is our first Christmas outside of the U.S.A since we can remember. While we miss our family and some of our traditions back home it has been exciting to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ abroad. Instead of snow we have rain, instead of presents there are firecrackers! Familiar Christmas carols in Spanish and Villacion Navidenos we never heard before. Let all the world rejoice! A savior is born, and His name is Jesus!
Here our some of our photos of December in Nicaragua. These displays were downtown Managua, a sight to see! A short video is included!
Our ministry is based on a simple but profound concept, work as worship! The Hebrew word AVODAH,( עבדה ) means service. It carries two other meanings, work and worship. In the Old Testament this word was used when the nation of Israel was called to serve God, and worship him. It is also the same word used to describe work! We can say this word, Avodah, is spiritual service. (Exodus 23:25) This concept is expressed again by the Apostle Paul in Colossians 3:23. When we “work” as unto the Lord it is an act of spiritual service and is also worship. Whether we are giving a workshop in the Jinotega Chamber of Commerce, or in a farmer’s field of beans, the concept of Avodah is what we live out and teach. It is in this field of beans where we have the most potential to reach our region of Nicaragua with the Gospel! We are now purchasing a small farm to invite farmers to experience avodah with their own senses. We have certified red bean seed, sorghum and hybrid corn available. We can de
Jari and I arrived back home in Jinotega late December, just before Christmas time. We took a few days to rest and recover from our travels and a small cold that traveling brings. We couldn't wait to go and see the field of beans now that it was almost harvest time. Up to this point, we only saw the field in pictures, but now it was time to be present and see the beans flow in the wind! The plants did not disappoint us in person. They were healthy, bushy with big leaves and plenty of bean pods maturing to a nice deep reddish color. Some of the plants leaves had started to turn yellow as they were reaching maturity and dying off, putting the last of their nutrients into the beans. Darwin had done a great job caring for the plants and now he was preparing for the harvest, but when would they be ready? The answer was, wait. A test of patience. In the first week of January we saw large portions of the bean field dying off. Since this was Darwin's first time planting beans he wasn
Red beans, growing in El Naranjo, Nicaragua Ever since I can remember I was working with my grandfather in his garden. When I was a kid he would pick me up, looking for "day laborers," as he would joke. My cousins and I would go and work the acre he had at his cousins house in Grant, Michigan. We planted and harvested tomatoes, corn, onions, various chili plants, zucchini, green beans, etc. The green beans, Blue Lake bush beans, were always the most work, and we were able to harvest two crop during the summertime. As my grandpa aged, his gardens were smaller. Eventually he moved the garden to my backyard after I bought a house. Every Memorial Day we would till the soil and plant vegetables, and of course we had three rows of green beans. We would spend the summers sharing stories and jokes as we worked the garden. I always laughed, no matter how many times I heard the stories, because something new would be shared about his life and my great grandparents. When Jari and I le
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