The team of five (Andrew, Bob, Cody, Joey, and Mily) left Nothwest Tennessee on Thursday morning September 25th. They will be spending the next few days working with the Chosen Children Ministries staff. They will be traveling to numerous locations in central Nicaragua to meet with various pastors and other people that may be involved in the agricultual project that Catalyst will be undertaking in January 2009. ( click here for the Nicaragua - January 2009 brochure) They will be taking soil samples, evaluating markets, asking questions and doing research on how to best assist the vision of the ministry and pastors with their agricultural needs.
Please pray for: · Safety in travel · Health of the team · Strength to keep up with the demands of the schedule · God's direction and wisdom in gathering information
· God's ordination in meeting the right people
Update - Thursday evening September 25th, 2008
The team has arrived safely through customs and is at the CCM base outside of Managua.
Update - Friday morning September 26th, 2008
The team will be traveling northwest to Leon today to meet with a pastor (pictured on the left) in a community where there is a field that is a target of the agricultural development project. This means 3 hours in the bus to get there with meetings and research and then 3 hours drive back to the CCM base.
Update - Monday afternoon September 29th, 2008
The team has safely arrived back in Atlanta.
Trip Recap
This research trip was highly productive. God opened many opportunities for meetings with national pastors. Out of these meetings a strategy is developing which includes a partnership with a number of churches and pastors throughout central Nicaragua. These churches plan to host the Catalyst Agricultural Development team in January 2009. This team will provide agricultural training and seminars to people who are interested. These sessions also provide an opportunity for the church to reach out and serve the people in the communith that wouldn't normally come to church. What a tremendous opportunity.
Follow Up Prayer Requests
· Pray for pastor Carlos' (pictured above) health. He recently nearly died from a surgery on his liver.
· Pray for the children and staff at the Casa Mephibosheth Orphanage. Recently several of the oprhans were removed by the authorities in a manner outside of the usual procedures and legal channels.
· Pray for the pastors and their wives. The pastors that met with out team requested a specific team to return and provide spiritual encouragement and focused teaching to their viwes.
Update - Friday morning September 26th, 2008