Posted by: ventureibc on: August 21, 2010
I just got word that the team is back in the U.S.- they are in the Miami airport. Unfortunately, their flight back to D.C. was canceled, so they will be getting back later than expected. Some of the team will not make it home until tomorrow.
In my short conversation with the team, I heard that all went well as far as the mission goes. They were able to drill the well and spend a good amount of time in the community. Look for further posts that will recap the trip, and please plan to be at the Venture worship service on September 19 when we will recap the trip and hear from the team.
Posted by: ventureibc on: August 16, 2010
Saturday, Aug 14: The team traveled to Leon, Nicaragua, safely. All luggage arrived in good time.
Sunday, Aug 15: The team traveled early to the site where they will be drilling the well and teaching. It is a small village about 20 miles outside of Leon. (Suzanne left me a message with the name of it, but I couldn’t understand her. Sorry.) The team went to church in the community and got to know many of the people there. So far the team is healthy other than some sore feet (from too much soccer with the kids) and swollen ankles (from the tropical climate). Tomorrow they will begin their work in earnest. The well team will begin drilling for water, and the hygiene team will begin teaching in the community. The team has asked for prayer for them to be able to communicate and love people with Christ’s strength.
Danny
Posted by: ventureibc on: July 26, 2010
We are about 3 weeks away from when the 2010 Venture IBC Nicaragua Team will depart (Aug 14), but preparations for the trip are in full swing already. For those of you who don’t know, the team will go to a village in Nicaragua and work together with Living Water International to accomplish three goals: 1) drill a well that will provide clean water to people who don’t have access to it presently, 2) teach the people of the local community basic hygiene, and 3) share the love of Jesus with the people there. Here are some updates on the team’s preparations:
-This year’s team consists of 8 members: Greg, Scott, Miguel, Andrew, Lisa, Suzanne, Mandi, and Monica.
-All of the needed support for the trip has come in, so praise the Lord!
-Some team members have already gone to drill training to learn how to run the drill rigs.
-All team members went through hygiene and culture training led by Lisa Hartman this past Saturday.
So overall, things are going very well. Please consider praying for the team as they continue their preparations, and as they go from August 14-21. Pray as the Lord leads you, but here are some ideas:
-Pray that the Lord Jesus will be glorified.
-Pray for safety and health for the team.
-Pray that the well will be completed, and that there will be great opportunities to teach hygiene and share the love of Christ with people.
Thanks for your prayers and support.
-Danny for the Nicaragua team
Posted by: ventureibc on: September 21, 2009
If you are interested in going to Nicaragua next Summer, please Stephen Procopio: stephen@venture-online.org
Posted by: ventureibc on: August 6, 2009
I got the following text from Willo late last night: “We did it!!! Dedication ceremony tomorrow!”
So it sounds like the well is done. Praise God for his work!
Posted by: ventureibc on: August 4, 2009
All- Here’s a text I got from Willo last night with an update on drilling from Day 1 (Monday): “We were not even five feet down when the shaft broke on our rig. I thought, ‘Not again’, but the backup is great and we worked a little longer to make it to 100 ft today.”
So it sounds like they are making progress on drilling to the depth they need to find a long-term source of clean water despite some early obstacles.
Thanks for your support and prayers for the team. I’ll post any further updates I get.
Posted by: ventureibc on: August 2, 2009
I talked with the team this morning and they are going to be drilling a well in a very remote location (see post below) near a school that has about 100 kids in it. The school presently has NO source of water. So this is a great opportunity to meet a real need and to share Christ’s love with these kids. Let’s pray for God to work through the team and to glorify himself there.
Posted by: ventureibc on: August 2, 2009
All- I just talked to the team and found out that they will be in a remote location without internet access, so they will not be able to blog daily and update us on the trip as they have in the past. They have promised to call me if there are any emergencies or significant issues that need our prayer. Otherwise, let’s just keep praying for them daily. And if you have an emergency and need to contact them, I have a way to reach them, so just let me know (danny@venture-online.org).
Posted by: ventureibc on: August 1, 2009
Just got word from the team (2 pm Eastern) that they made it safely to Nicaragua. We’ll probably hear more from them soon. Thanks for your prayers.
Posted by: ventureibc on: July 27, 2009
I can’t believe that the summer is quickly passing us by and it is only one week until we go to Nicaragua. I am in grad school to become a family nurse practitioner and I am finding that it is hard to focus on both school and prepare for this mission trip. My classes actually end a few days before we leave for Nicaragua, which means I really need to work on both. It’s amazing how many of my previous experiences have prepared me for this mission trip.
I heard about this mission trip last October and it intrigued me. In nursing school, I went to Peru for a mission trip with the Christian Medical and Dental Association. It was a wonderful experience. The 60 students and health professionals saw over 6,000 patients. We were able to individually pray with almost every patient (only one person refused prayer), treat many health concerns, and see God at work. The only regret I had was regarding the individuals we treated with worms, but did not educate on how to prevent a reoccurrence. Who knows how long of a reprieve they had before they had worms again. I graduated and went to work at the hospital, but my experience in Peru really changed my life. I realized that some things would never change without education. I later became a School Public Health Nurse, where most of my job was educating children (and sometimes parents, teachers, and staff) about health. I taught kids and their parents about specific health concerns and connected them to resources in the community, but a good portion of my job was teaching classrooms of students about hand washing, nutrition, dental health, and hygiene, among other health topics. It was surprising to go to the hygiene training and find that they taught the people in Nicaragua the same content (you can’t really change the content of health promotion too much!) with the same techniques that I have already used in the classroom. How cool is that? I am looking forward to educating the people about clean water and excited to share with the people how Jesus is the living water. I hope that I am able to be an influence to the people in Nicaragua and I hope that the people in Nicaragua are able to be an influence in my life.
In addition to teaching the people in Nicaragua about clean water, I am looking forward to teaching the people about how to respond to illness. One of the new things I learned in the hygiene training was called a diarrhea doll. It illustrates how fast an infant or child loses water when they have diarrhea and how important it is to rehydrate them quickly. Rehydrate.org states that 26% of childhood deaths (ages 28 days to 5 years) is caused by dehydration and the key causes of diarrhea are unclean water, dirty hands at mealtime, and spoilt food. I hope that the clean water and training in hygiene can increase their health and as a result decrease the devastating results of unclean water.
We appreciate your prayers and support for this mission trip.
