Enjoy a great Nicaraguan dinner, learn about upcoming trips, hear about future ministry plans, and even pick up some Nicaraguan art pieces!

If you have any question or need more information on this trip, please contact Kerri Fredrickson at  kerritoddf@hotmail.com.

The home-building project was for Reyna, a woman of long standing and
excellent repute in the community who leads a new church fellowship in Reyes Norte. Reyna has six children, two of whom live with her, and she lost her house last fall. Her family has a small piece of land directly across the street from Escuela Cristiana Havila, and our team helped build a house on that land.

The site was prepared before our arrival by a crew of local men, who leveled the
site and laid the stone foundation. We worked for three days putting up walls and a roof.
We did not quite finish the house, but we were able to leave behind enough money to buy
the remaining needed materials and pay for local labor to finish the job.

One of the wonderful parts of working on Reyna’s house was that we were joined
in the labor by Jose and two other men, Marvin and Juan. Jose was there because it
was his mother’s house. Marvin and Juan are men whose houses were remodeled last November by another short-term team. They were eager to pay it forward and join us in laboring on somebody else’s house, and it was sweet to be part of that process.

The second half of our time was devoted to a men’s conference, which was held
at the school. We started Friday night with dinner, some icebreaker games, life stories from two of our team members, and a lot of opportunities to visit and get to know each other.

Saturday was a full day at the conference. Three team members delivered
lessons, one on being a son, one on being a husband, and one on being a father, and four
other team members shared life stories around those topics. In addition, four local men
asked for opportunities to share their life stories in response, and we heard those as well.

In between all that, we had lunch and dinner together, played baseball, and generally got to know each other as men at a level that few team members had previously experienced. Altogether, 57 Nicaraguan men attended the conference, and many of them shared openly with us that it had a profound impact upon them.

It’s that time again to write to your sponsored student at Colegio Cristiano Havilah. You may already be keeping in regular contact with your student. If so, that is great. If not, we would like to encourage you to send your student a note to encourage them. This can be done very easily by using the form found on the website.

Simply follow this link http://unidosnicaragua.org/sponsor-a-student/write-to-your-student/

We will be translating and sending down all of the messages we receive on “    “. So please have your message sent no later than “    “.

These letters mean a great deal to the students. Your student will love to know about your life and about what is happening in the world around you. We will be sending letters back from you students as well. So ask questions about your students. The would love to fill you in.

Please let your student know how much they mean to you today!

and Nancy on discipline. Each one of their talks resonated with different cultural issues – so much so, the next day Pastora, the school director, informed us of the town chatter. Charise shared how she gave up coca-cola in order to save money – and the women were chattering about what that could mean for their lives.
The conference lasted from Thursday night till Saturday. Through testimonies, crafts, and extensive times in prayer – we saw the move of the Holy Spirit as he softened hearts towards Jesus Christ and the conference grew in numbers daily. Judy Hystad and Bianca Simineaux shared powerful testimonies, followed up by prayer ministry. Loretta Trainor led crafts and each lady creatively enjoyed make something new. Patrice, and Charise were our ‘Joy Bag’ ladies and brought the Nicaraguan women to laughter. Linda Wright and Katie Higgins and many others took care of the children and loved each one of them with a Jesus tenderness.
A woman named Maria Virginia gave me her best dress as an offering of gratitude and shared how Jesus spoke to her about her value and significance in Him rather than in what men think of her. The next day, I wore her dress with pride and she smiled at me with tears in her eyes.
The final day was the culmination of everything when the ladies shopped free of charge through a Northshore sponsored boutique and “bought” clothes, and purses. We laughed in delight as we watched Nicaraguans come out with Coach bags, and silk scarves.
At the end of the conference the Los Cedros women lined up to give Northshore an offerning. In the midst of their own poverty they thanked us for our presence in their community. We were humbled as we watched the poorest people we know give with such nobility.
Katie Day and Kerri Fredrickson led the Northshore women’s team into a new place, both physically and spiritually – and we are so thankful.

Thanks,

Team UNIDOS

People began to gather around 4:15pm, and the ceremony started at 4:45pm. The Pardos, David Bustamante, Pastora, Ronn Wilson, and the teachers sat at the tables of honor in front. The ceremony began with a procession of the graduates, first the preschoolers and then the sixth graders. Each child and their escort were announced, whether mother, father, grandparent, or orphanage worker. The parents then sat on the let and the kids on the right.

It was a beautiful ceremony. The children were called up to receive graduation gifts. Preschool boys received “Cars” gift items, the preschool girls “Hello Kitty” goodie bags, the sixth grade girls received journals and gel pens, and the boys a soccer ball and bag. The sixth graders also received a framed photo of themselves that Hilario took on the field trip to Leon. The program included a few folkloric dances by the 4th and 5th grade girls, “Jesus Me Ama” (Jesus loved me) by the preschoolers. Speakers included Ronn Wilson on behalf of the sponsors from Northshore, Hilario, and a thank you from the sixth graders to Ronn in English and Spanish.

The graduates were all then called up again, and joined by their escort, to receive their diplomas. The program ended with a great slide show put together by Mary Frances (Northshore yearly missionary) depicting major events throughout the school year. The teachers passed out cake and drinks for all to enjoy.

At the end of the program, the lights were turned off and everyone gathered facing the field to watch a spectacular firework show sponsored by Phil and Rachel Goodman. Ryan L. and Brinson Buzbee had the honors of putting it together, and they did a great job. All were amazed!

-Nancy Gibson