Panama Mission Effort - Ed Owens

Ed went on another mission trip to Panama. He is worked with the
Children's home and they are evangelizing the area around the School of
Preaching.

The Children's Home has 40+ children. The School of the
Americas - School of Preaching, Congregation Manunitas, and the
Children's Home are all located together in a sub-burb of Panama City,
Panama.

Buford is had a part in sending him. He is working on the YES
II team with the LAM group. Youth Enrichment Service is for the mission
trip to Central America.

Africa Mission Team

James Howard, Sr. and James, Jr. went on a mission trip to work with our missionaries in South Africa (Jerry Hogg) and Malawi (Ed Crookshank).  The following descriptions are from James, Jr.  Enjoy reading the logs and let them know how much you appreciate all the information shared with us!

News:

June 30, 2008

On our last day in Africa we went to Soweto township and saw the place where the black students had marched against having to learn in Afrikans instead of Bantu. One of the students was shot dead in June of 1976. That lead to more marches and police killings. We saw the house of Nelson Mandela and a museum about the beginnings of the unrest. A local brother took us out to lunch – it was good! Now for the flight to London.

 

June 29, 2008

The Benoni congregation installed their new elder and deacons as part of the morning worship time today. They had them sit at the front, introduced them, gave them a “charge” of responsibility, they responded, and then the congregation responded too. Tonight for Bible study a man from Dallas spoke about the 23rd Psalm. He made the curriculum for prison ministries. A guy in Benoni was the first to use it outside the US and he’s still working with the inmates at many prisons in the area. We ate out at “Roman’s” pizza tonight for dinner. Mr. Bean’s Holiday was on TV and Mr. Hogg liked it a lot (but not as much as Dad.)
 

June 28, 2008

Dad finished up with the computers at SABC today. We tried to play some tennis, but somebody kept hitting the ball over into the neighbor’s yard until we didn’t have any more.

 

June 27, 2008

Dad and I took a van and went to the “Flea Market”. We shopped around for a while. Then we went back to the other mall and watched a movie. We took a few wrong turns going home, which got us into areas of less and less money. At one point there was a parking lot with people crowded around 4 deep watching some dancers, but we decided it might be best not to stop.

 

June 26, 2008

Dad spent most of the day working on the library computers at SABC. I stayed at home and watch some TV and read.

 

June 25, 2008

Today we went to Pretoria. We went to the huge Voortrekers monument. It was built in memory the pioneer Dutch who left English rule in the south to go north. They fought the Zulus coming down from the north. Today’s government is not very happy with what the monument shows, but it make tourist money for them so they let it be. We also saw the Union Buildings where the parliament meets for half the year (the other half is in Cape Town). We had Bible class at 7pm and a former student of SABC from Congo brought a Zimbabwean refugee to be baptized. Dad followed the instruction on the wall for starting the pump to warm the water. However, he forgot to see if there was any water in the baptistery. Thankfully he didn’t burn out the pump. After study we went to a lady’s home where they had an indoor pool for swimming lessons and we were able to have the baptism there.

 

June 24, 2008

Today we went to the SABC and Dad talked with one of their teachers about online teaching. We also fixed up one of their new computers in the lab so it could get on the internet. I got sick today and lost my lunch in the driveway. I feel better now though. Sadly one of the congregation’s members passed away tonight. They got the call a few hours ago. So, we’ll pray for the family.
 

June 23, 2008

 

Not much happened today.  I slept in until 11am because Dad didn’t get me up.  He had fevers and chills all night and kept turning the heater on and off.  I think he’s better now, but I got to watch more TV so it wasn’t all bad.

June 22, 2008

 

Today we worshiped with the Benoni congregation.  Near their building they have a cell phone tower disguised as a huge palm tree so it doesn’t look so bad.  Mr. Hogg preached on having Absolutes in the Christian life.  For a snack we had tea and rusks (flavored, rock hard, dried bread that you dip in your tea and then eat.) In the afternoon Dad made a lesson which he gave tonight.  It was about our Citizenship in Heaven. 

June 21, 2008

 

As we headed out of the park this morning we took the longest route possible.  On the way we saw a troop of baboons crossing the road.  We saw a rhino family pretty close and then we saw a baby giraffe less than 5 feet tall with its mother.  They were only 20 feet from the road.  The baby never took his eyes off of the car.  As we left the park we went to Sun City just outside the park which was extremely expensive resort, casino, Gary Player’s golf course, etc.  I was mildly impressed, but it wasn’t as good as the Pilanesberg Reserve.  We drove home and saw a lot of huge mining areas.  They take platinum, gold, silver, diamonds – all sorts of stuff.

 June 20, 2008

We started the day with breakfast at the resort. I tried some orange marmalade on my biscuit, but it was disgusting. We had our windows washed on the van, but then went straight on to dirt roads and I don’t think it was worth much. We saw many of the same animals plus crocodiles, kudu, and baboons (back at the resort going through the trash.) We watched kingfishers fishing for quite a while and saw either a bee-eater or a malachite kingfisher (either way it was very colorful and pretty). We took a night tour. It was very fun. I thought it was going to be boring when the guide passed right by a giraffe, but stopped the whole bus to point out a crow (and called it a crow, rhyming with cow). But then a guy drove up and said there were 3 lions out away off. We followed his directions and we saw a huge male following a big female down to a clump of trees. How they roared! Later we saw a lone younger male lion, then two more, and finally I saw one moving toward a herd of wildebeest. We also saw black backed jackal, a rhino with its baby, a little steenbok, a night heron in a small stream, a bush hare (native to Africa), and a hippo out grazing by the road. The full moon came up orange with streaks of cloud covering strips of it. Then as it came out of the cloud it turned more peach colored. We had a late dinner of kudu (me) and ostrich (Dad) and Devonshire Tea for desert. It was wonderful day.

June 19, 2008

We were on the road at 8:30 this morning. We were supposed to have breakfast on the road, but by the time they started looking we were out of the cities and there wasn’t any where to eat. After 3 hours we reached the Pilanesberg Game Reserve northwest of Pretoria. We grabbed some rolls and juice and found our “hut”. It has a thatched roof. Dad and I sleep in the loft while the Hoggs are down stairs in a separate room. On our first pass through the park I spotted 4 elephants at a pretty good distance. We also saw lots of zebra, three hippos plopped in the sun, a family of giraffe, wildebeests, and lots of impala. When we came up to the resort there were about 40 striped mongooses running around and 20ish Veravet monkeys. They were messing up the gate guard’s little house. We headed to the main lake of the park where we saw a white rhino very close up. We also saw a warthog, hartebeests, tsebee, comorants, kingfishers, herons, waterbucks, . Then there was an elephant in the middle of the road with another off to the side. Later, we saw people pointing and there were elephants to the side of the road. I then noticed two lumps in the grass and two baby elephants got up and were playing in between the adults. I noticed a carcass to the side of the road and had them backup. As we backed up two black backed jackals walked up and started pulling at the bones of a dead giraffe. We had to be back by 6pm because the park gates close then. We ate at the resort restaurant. I had potato skins with cheese sauce for starters, but I tried some of Dad’s crocodile medallions. For the main meal I had Impala T-bones it was very good. Dad had Eland rump steak. My dessert was white mousse on a chocolate cone thing with syrup on the bottom. Dad had hot mud cake with vanilla sauce. As we’re writing this we heard hyena’s laughing in the distance.
 

June 18, 2008

We went to the SABC chapel this morning. They sang, “When All of God’s Singers Get Home” but in an African style that had nothing to do with the notes or the tune we know. Dad spoke and then they had exams while we had a tour of the college. Then Dad drove the van and we went to Lakeside Mall downtown. Parts of it were made to look like a Riverboat. We had Cadbury chocolate and bread for lunch. When we got home they had a tea for the SABC faculty to meet and talk with Dad. We went to Bible class at Benoni church of Christ at 7pm. The building was very nice, but cold – no heating. Everyone in my class had beanies on. Their congregation is in the process of adding some Elders and Deacons.

 

June 17, 2008

We went to the Southern Africa Bible College with Mr. Hogg this morning. Dad spoke with Mr. Theo something who is working on distance education. Dad will hopefully be able to help him in that. After that we came home, made a few arrangements and then went to “Lion Park” on the other side of Johannesburg. Once there we paid R150 (or $19). I was twice attacked by lions! Don’t worry - it was only by cubs that had the notion that it would be more fun if he attacked my leg and side. I even had a near-mortal wound (or small scratch). There were four cubs, three months old. Two were regular and two were white lions. They played liked kittens, although their pounces were more painful. Next we went to a 9 ft. platform where the giraffe came up to be fed. Mr. Hogg bought a bag of giraffe pellets. I put a handful up to the giraffe and he put out his tongue, wrapped it around the back of my hand, and slurped it all up leaving loooong strings of slobber to float around. Dad, wanting to stay cleaner, figured out how to pop the pellets one by one on his way outstretched tongue. It would stick out of his mouth for more than a foot. We saw cheetah, Wild African Dogs, hyenas and their pups, and a Black Backed Jackal. Then we got in the car and drove to large pens where different prides lived. They all seemed to be aggravated as one pen was closed and other prides moved around due to the death of a man who jumped the fence a few days ago and became lunch. They said he could have only been in there a few minutes, but three lionesses killed him and ate right up his middle. The lions were all roaring and one jumped a tree near the fence and looked like she was going to clear the fence. Another one came right up to the car ahead of us and put her nose up to the door. Two females fought right in front of us as well. We think we saw a leopard in the back cages. Out on the “savannah” we saw wildebeest, hartebeest, springboks, zebra, and ostrich. South Africa is much more modern than Malawi. The roads are paved (without bicycles on the sides), the electricity works most of the time, the internet is fast, there are high rises, most of the construction is getting ready for the World Cup in 2010. I like the money here – it has African animals on the bills.

June 16, 2008

Today was our last day in Malawi. We saw Mr. Stroop and Crookshank off for their second round of lessons with the Mobile Bible School and packed up our stuff. We went to the post office which had curio vendors all around the parking lot. These vendors were more aggressive putting things in our faces and hands and not wanting to let us leave their section of the strip. At the end one even wouldn’t let me shut the door when we were trying to leave because he wanted to sell his wooden crocodile. We got some Cherry/Plum Sobo and headed to the airport. Again we had problems with the “same name” thing, but finally got through to departures (after paying $60 in departure tax). Then we had some more Cherry/Plum Sobo. The flight was fine. We got in to Johannesburg, found the Hoggs, and went to where they are living – Al Horne’s house in Benoni. The night was cold except that I had an electric blanket!

June 15, 2008

Today we went back to Salima North to worship at the Gospel Meeting. Mr. Crookshank brought his African walking stick today because his knee was hurting him. The people were calling him a “Gogo” or older man/grandfather. We picked up Isaac on the main road and I jumped in the back of the pick-up with the camper top. He had used a bicycle taxi from 20km away. When we go to the meeting place there were 50 people and someone already preaching. Worship started at 9am. Two local preachers preached their message while we wondered what they were saying. Then around 11am more people started coming in because we’re on Malawi time. Dad preached once, Mr. Stroop preached once, then Mr. Crookshank preached at the Lord’s Supper. After the collection there was a “stick count”. We all found a stick or piece of straw to hand in and these were counted to see the total attendance. It was 346 including children. Everything was finished at 1:30pm except for the “Introductions”. They called out every congregation to have the people from there stand up. There were 34 different congregations represented. Then the chiefs or their right hand men were recognized and many said little speeches of thanks. This took another 35 min. then we ate in the little unfinished building again, but this time we were offered goat and rice as well. The goat was offered in the form of stomach wrapped in intestine, liver, and heart. It must have been a small kid goat because the heart was only 2 inches long. I decided to have the rice and sima. As we were getting into the truck the littler kids started saying “James” with an accent – more like “Yames”. On the way home we went down to Lake Nyasa (Lake Malawi) it had a nice beach resort. There were Africans in dugout canoes peddling fish to the tourists. We were going to buy some, but Mrs. Crookshank didn’t like the price. Then we went shopping for curios at stands along the road. When we stopped they all crowded around and said, “Come to my shop!” Dad says, they were very restrained for African shop keepers though. We found out today that there was a congregation near the place where we’ve been having the meeting that didn’t want the meeting to happen. They had even threatened to come to the meeting with guns to stop it. They didn’t though. Also, Saturday night on the way back home Dad and I had to go to the bathroom really badly. We made it to Paul’s (the interpreter) house where they pointed to the brick outhouse. We didn’t want to go in in the dark and it was smelling pretty bad. So, we just stood in the bushes. Little did we know that in the past week a school girl had been killed by hyenas on that same stretch of road.

June 14, 2008

Got to sleep in a little later today. Dad woke me at 6:30am. (Yes, that’s later!) It was Saturday and pancake day just like at home! Mr. Stroop and Mrs. Crookshank had to go first in the car on the last round of the mobile Bible school for the week. Later we took off toward North Selima for a meeting. Our interpreter today was Mr. Paul. He is a farmer, 8th grade teacher, preacher, and translator. He grows ground nuts (peanuts), maize (corn), pumpkin, and a special type of corn for popping corn. It was paved road almost all the way (my bottom got a nice rest). We went out to the mountains toward Lake Malawi (9th largest in the world). The view was amazing. There were villages dotted along the way with small farm plots everywhere. We passed two veg. Markets selling mostly tomatoes and cabbage. Since only a few have electricity, there is a huge market for firewood, which I told you about them carting it on their bikes. Today we found where it comes from. There were huge baoab(sp) trees at least 15 feet in diameter staying that size up to 30 feet high. But, then the tops looked like a giant had gnawed on them. All the branches had been cut off except for some single tufts of green left by the firewood gatherers. You could see ax marks all over the tree. One of those trees had somehow been felled right beside the road. When we arrived it was a small group. They weren’t expecting the rest until later in the day. Dad preached a total of 3 sermons and Mr. Crookshank preached 2. We ate with the head guys in an unfinished hut with usual hand washing thing first. We had the sima (maize mush) with cooked pinto beans – not bad! You had to scoop out a bit of sima with your fingers and worked it with the one hand into a ball. Then you dipped it into the beans to stick it all together and eat. We tried to teach the kids “Jesus Loves Me” in Chechewa. They wouldn’t sing it to Mr. Crookshank, but when I was eating my snack (raw sugar cane) they sang it to me. On the way home we encountered wild mobs of cheering people waving branches, cars flashing their lights and honking their horns, and people running around yelling and jumping. It was all because Malawi had beaten Egypt 1-0 in football (soccer for us). Once home we tested microphones etc. on the PA system for use tomorrow. (It wouldn’t work today) The only problem was the guard dog was out and we had to go back and forth in the yard. Finally the dog got too excited and Dad felt his top and lower jaws come down on his bottom! But, it was just playing and let go. Tomorrow worship is back in North Selima.

June 13, 2008

Today we went to pick up the new interpreter because Isaac couldn’t come since his nephew had died and he had to go to the funeral. We were in a rented car (the other one was wrecked the first day we were here by the visiting Bible School Teacher) and the interpreter didn’t recognize us. So it took 45 min. and several phone calls to finally find him and get started. We were going to a place called Ghalazi. It was 2 lane dirt road for awhile, then it was 1 lane and at times we were on what seemed like a bicycle trail. We ended up 1 hour and 40 min. late. The people were sitting on woven reed mats on the ground and Dad and Mr. Crookshank taught from under the tobacco drying shed. I situated myself in a camping chair where the thatch side of the barn was blocking most of the wind. It was cold! I was content to enjoy the sermon until the chickens, pigs, and goats decided to go on parade in the middle of where we were seated. One of the pigs was 2 feet tall and 3.5 feet long with a ridge of hair going the wrong way on his back. After the lessons we were invited to lunch by the village. They all ate outside while we went into someone’s house and were served eggs (which I didn’t like), ground maize mush (which was good), cooked greens (which I didn’t try), and rice (which was an honor to be served). Before the meal they held a pan under your hands while they poured water over for you to wash. We were afraid the cleaning water would give us troubles so we used the hand sanitizer afterward. We ate with our hands only, which I liked that idea. Then we had the long return trip home. We had steak for dinner tonight – Yeah!

June 11

Lilongwe, Malawi

On our way to a Bible meeting we saw guys carrying mops they had made out of bamboo and cotton. They would sell them at the market or on the street. Many people were getting around on bicycles. It’s dangerous!, because there’s nowhere to ride, but on the road with the cars. There’s only a foot of space between them and the cars. The license plates are driving me nuts. The code I’ve figured out is: Yellow rectangle 3 ft. long is for residents, Red squares 2ft x 2ft is for taxis, and the White squares are for government vehicles and military. By the side of the road were older vendors selling fried chips and young kids selling sugar cane which is better than mice-kebabs which we say yesterday. Everybody had sugar stick and they would strip off the outer husk to get at the sweet middle, so the husks were all over the side of the road. After awhile we were off the paved road and on to dirt. The houses there were made of mud and bricks. There were goats and chickens wandering all over the place unattended. Once the chickens were older the people would catch and eat them, but only on special occasions. As we drove up to the preacher’s house there was a grandma on the porch playing with two very young kid goats. The church building was made from kiln baked bricks and plain mud as mortar. The walls didn’t reach all the way to the tin roof. The windows had no windows and the doors had no doors. We met many of the congregation. Some people had biked from 25-30 mins. away to come to the meeting. Mr. Crookshank preached for 1 hour, then we had a 10 min. break, and Dad preached 2 lessons of 45 min. each. I didn’t use the toilet which was 3 walls of bamboo around a hole in the ground – which smelled! Two of the church kids shared duty of listening to the sermons and watching their sugarcane sales. After Bible class we drove back to town and saw guys on bicycles with firewood stacked in a half arch up and over their heads tied to poles and wire to their bikes. They would take this to the market to sell. We went to the shops and at the checkout we had four bars of candy two bottles of pop and big of jug of mango drink. It cost 1900 kwatcha (Don’t worry – the exchange rate is 150k to the dollar. But, it was still less than $13.) Once home we went for a walk after Patrick (the house keeper) put the watch dog away and unlocked the gate. We saw how uninviting the houses were with 7 ft concrete walls with broken glass shards and/or razor wire and/or electric fencing. Most people had gate men to watch their places as well. We’re typing this in the dark because the electricity has gone out again. It did yesterday too, but I slept through it. Sixteen hours of sleep did me wonders!


June 12, 2008

This morning we had no electricity from 6am until we left. Today we went to Chawala village for the Bible School. There were 125 students – men and women. I was taking pictures of goats and chickens when the little kids ran in front of the camera and tried to get in the pictures. When I pulled out the camera all the kids would come running and wait for me to take their picture. The Bible class lasted from 9am to 1:30pm. At least we had beach chairs this time, but the others had the small wooden benches. We saw kilns for the baking of the clay bricks which they use to build their houses. We also saw men packing dry tobacco leaves in bundles getting them ready for the market. One guy asked for the camera, but I said no. Beside each house there were woven stalk/stick silos for corn storage. They were 8 feet high and 8 feet across put up on some bricks to keep them off the ground. During the lesson I occasionally looked outside the door and 3 piglets were playing around in the yard, road, and under the truck. The kids thought the truck was “pitty” when the lights flashed. They had a good time jumping in circles around it. The village seemed well off since they had concrete between their bricks and most had metal roofs. There was a central water spout for everyone to use, so they didn’t have to haul it from the nearby dam. On the way home we picked up 3 of the 10 - 100 pound bags of maize (shelled corn) for the Crookshank’s guard dog. They mix it in with his dog food over one year. This afternoon we just read and went on another walk around the neighborhood.

To Listen to their singing, select SINGING-1
 

Nicaragua Mission Team

This Mission Team was in Nicaragua June 13-21.  The Team Members are: Scott, Kim, Ben and Amber Sitton; George and Jessica Reese; Stan and Charlene Nutt; Erin Simons; Pearson Maugeri; Sherry Bolling; Pat and Ed Owens; Stan, Connie and Elise Quinn; Garry Bratcher; Jake Burnette.

News:

They will conducted VBS for Children, Bible Studies, and Gospel Meetings. 

Notes from Stan and Charlene Nutt:

Sent: Saturday, June 14, 2008 8:05 PM
Subject: Ola from Nicaragua

It is Saturday about 8:00 your time.

We are through for our first day.

We began the day with breakfast at the hotel next to the Managuan airport and then took about a 2 hour school bus ride (NO AC) up the Pan-American highway by big lake Managua and the volcanoes. I don't remember ever seeing a real volcano before. Then we got to our hotel in Chinandega and this afternoon had a VBS session where Charlene worked with the VBS with about 25 kids and I went out with some other men and did some walking the streets. We didn't have to knock doors because everyone is literally sitting in their doorways because it is so hot with no AC. We have AC in our rooms but this is a really poor place. The little city here has absolutely no traffic lights or stop signs so you really have to watch where you go to keep from getting run over. Lots of bikes too. Anyway, this is a very poor place and it really makes you appreciate the comforts we all have.

Well, we are about to go eat dinner at a local place and that will be it for tonight. We plan to be up at the church tomorrow at 8 am which is about a half mile walk from the hotel. I am constantly drinking. I can't get enough water. Anyway, so far it is going well except for the heat!

We have this computer here in the lobby, so we will email you when we can.
We love you all and will see you soon.

Stan and Charlene

Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2008 3:27 PM
Subject: Re: Ola from Sugar Hill

We did loose power in the church building which is also the clinic. We did not have fans or lights. But the church building doesn't have AC anyway. The power went out when Dad was preaching on Sunday but now it is back on.

Today in VBS we painted their hands and put hand prints on the sheet that we are going to give to the church! That was fun!!!

We have had several more baptisms. I don't know how many we are up to now. Right now we are on lunch break.

Last night the ¨Buford Group¨ went to the gospel meeting. it was pretty cool. we cant all go every night because it is too full. which is a good thing. I am meeting a bunch of really cool people, Nicaraguan and American.

They have no stop lights or stop signs. No crosswalks and pedestrians do not have the right of way. But somehow, there are no wrecks. And when VBS is over, we send the kids to walk home by themselves! That is normal down here. somehow, no one has gotten hurt or anything yet. This whole experience is nothing like I thought it would be.

The house we are doing the VBS in is different this year because we are using the church building this year for the clinic. We are using one of the Preachers' house.

Well we are leaving so I guess I better go.

Charlene Nutt

Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2008 12:44 AM
Subject: Monday night

Hey Ya'll,
It was good to talk to Jolene tonight. We had a full day today of walking neighborhoods and studying with people. This place is so poor we were literally sitting out front of a cinderblock building sitting on a rock on a dirt road that is really just an area where the water runs off another road that had brick pavers for the road. These houses or shacks all have power lines running to them though and they have a TV and lights but no AC. Another place we studied was a little nicer. We met with a young woman and her friend in the young womans house and she had a tile floor and a TV and stereo, but tin roof and ceiling of tacked up wood squares and some were rotten. they had a power line running from the street to the house and then had a power strip hanging from the power cord and then about four power lines tacked along the wall to the TV and refrigerator and she had a baby sitting on her lap so she brought a fan out and plugged it in so we would have a breeze, so that wasn´t too bad. Then we went to the church tonight and had a service after going to an outdoor restaurant where they were cooking the chicken and steak out on the sidewalk and flies were just buzzing all around it. I had the steak and it was actually pretty good. At night, there are not that many lights so it gets very dark and we had a thunderstorm last night so that was kind of nice. Well we have a couple more long days before we head back to Managua on Thursday. We plan to visit Granada on our way back, which is the oldest colonial in central America. Established in the 1500s and still has churches that Columbus may have visited. Then we will be driving up to a volcano either Thursday or Friday before heading back on Saturday.

Stan and Charlene Nutt

Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2008 2:02 PM
Subject: Buenos Diez la Chinandega

As you can see I am learning spanish! HEHE

Now, I can work on the border patrol.

Everything going well here, just hotter than anywhere I have ever been and oppressively hot.

It is about noon here on Wednesday, about 2 your time and we just finished walking the neighborhoods this morning and have a study with a woman named Gloria at 1 and then another couple of girls named Anslema and Jennifer. I made a good buddy yesterday who followed me around for a while because he liked my red beard I reckon. His name was Tomacito and his nina (sister) was Vanessa. These people are poor but they all have TV. The universal past time! HA! They must have some good schools, because they can all read and write and I was writing words in English for Tomacito and some of his friends yesterday. I am sitting here just sweating as I type this. There is no AC outside our rooms and when we leave in the morning, they turn off all the breakers to the rooms so the AC will be turned off, so when we come back to the hotel, the AC is off in the rooms and we have to get them to turn it back on so our room will cool, but that takes a few minutes. Anyway, it is miserably hot and hard to get away from it. I heard the Celtics won the NBA, but no more news on UGA. Well, I better go so I can get cooled off before going back. Tomorrow morning is our last day here and we head back to Managua in the afternoon tomorrow and will tour Granada and go to the Volcano called Masaya on Friday before heading back on Saturday. We have had a good time, but I can't wait to get back to the States so I can just sit in my recliner with AC on my face. Charlene has been working with VBS and doing great.

Well, ya'll take care and we will see you soon.

Adios

Stan

Note from Stan Quinn - June 20th - Summary

The campaign was a great success. A gospel meeting was held each night (Saturday through Wednesday). Attendance grew through the week and the last night, there was an overflowing crowd that went out into the street. Approximately 175 people were present with about 60 of these being visitors. During the day, a medical clinic was in operation within the church building. Garry Bratcher, Pat Owens, and Erin Simons worked hard as a part of this team. After setting up upon arrival last Saturday, they treated approximately 750 patients in four days (half day Sunday, full days Monday thru Wednesday and half day Thursday). Also, a VBS was held each day. The first session was on Saturday afternoon and it began with 5 kids. By the end of that session, there were 50 present and by the end of the week, there were 130 kids coming for a morning session and an afternoon session. Those working on the VBS team included Kim and Amber Sitton, Jessica Reese, Sherry Bolling, Charlene Nutt, Connie Quinn and Elise Quinn and they did a great job. Also, the evangelism teams were knocking doors and conducting bible studies during the week in prospects homes and in the streets. Hundreds of bible studies occurred and 13 baptisms and at least 2 restorations occurred during the campaign. Also, 25-30 contacts will continue their studies with two local preachers and these may be added to the kingdom soon. Those working on the evangelism teams included Ed Owens, Scott Sitton, Ben Sitton, Jake Burnette, Stan Nutt, Pearson Maugeri and Stan Quinn and they did a great job. Last but certainly not least, George Reese worked tirelessly all week with a brother from Ohio named Mike Waters. They made sure that each of the teams had the tools and resources necessary to conduct their work. Whether it was going to the local market and haggling for fans or buying water to keep the workers hydrated, the teams could not have functioned without them. George climbed to install fans and even crawled into a small space and helped hook up a generator (power in the clinic was out for about 36 hours early in the week which meant no lights or fans). Stan Nutt preached last Sunday morning and Ed Owens delivered one of our morning devotional talks on Wednesday. I also had the opportunity to visit a nearby congregation on Wednesday night to teach a bible class there.

This was a great campaign and we have been priviledged to represent Jesus and the Buford church this week. Thanks to all there as we could not have gone unless we were sent. Look forward to seeing everyone Sunday and sharing more about our work in this place.

In Him,

Stan