Open Hearts Nicaragua - Farrington Family
Open Hearts International Children's Relief Mission
Walakitang….Praise God for a great trip!
Had an awesome trip up the river to Walakitang!!! Thank you for all of your prayers! God was with us and showed His grace and mercy in mighty ways….there was a very peaceful spirit with us in Walakitang this time around which was so beautiful! Here are some of the details from the trip…in the photo above are Katie Pullen & Hanna Hill from Tallahassee, Becky Blanco from Miami, Moses, Brinson and myself. The man in the middle is Dr. Alexander, he was our translator and was an outstanding asset for us. He is a member of Verbo church on the East Coast and after this trip is going to remain in Walakitang as a missionary for three months! Awesome. Also Pastor Victor is in the picture next to Brinson (with his new haircut…shocka!).
(took these cool pics on the first day down the river…huge ring around the sun!)
This trip was allowing two things to happen. Katie Pullem has a ministry called “Masterpieces for Miskitos” back home where she raises money for the work in Walakitang. This has long been a goal for Katie to make the trip and everything came together for us to do it this time of year.
Also, it has been a hope and dream for the church in Walakitang to eventually build a concrete building for the church. We recently received a donation that allowed us to send the first load of construction materials up to make this happen. Praise Jesus! So we also loaded a second boat with those materials; 4,500 pounds of concrete, steel, tin sheets, and tools.
So off we went with our team to spend the week in Walakitang. What was great about this trip is that we traveled to Walakitang and stayed there for our entire trip. On past trips we have made visits to surrounding villages to do ministry, but this trip we decided to focus our time on Walakitang. We got to have several days of ministry activity and really spend time with the people there, getting to know them better. We had a day of children’s activity making hand print paintings. Then the next day Becky, Katie and Hanna did a special activity for the women of the church which culminated by them washing all of the women’s feet and giving them new sandals and bags that were donated. We also had church service on Sunday and got to preach there. That along with doing movies at night and setting up all of the construction materials made for a very fulfilling trip!
Some of the most memorable times were visiting families and praying for people in their homes. One lady in particular had recently lost her 20 year old son to a drowning accident. To be with someone as they mourn and mourn with them is a type of ministry that is very impactful and intense no matter where you are. We prayed together, shared stories, and even worshiped God with song together in her little wooden home. God’s presence was there with us…”blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted”.
Here are some great pictures of the ministry times….the washing of the women’s feet and praying for them specifically was a really awesome time as well!!!
As I mentioned, it was such a blessing to have Dr. Alexander with us as well. He is a very committed Christian and is someone we are hoping will be a great asset to the ministry in Walakitang to help Pastor Victor. Krista’s sister Elizabeth packed two packs full of meds for him to distribute while we were in Walakitang. He was tending to people the entire time. At one point a man came up with his hand under a towel. He had just cut it open working his fields with a machete. He had severed the tendon of one of his fingers. Dr. Alexander took some of the anesthetics we brought and went up to the clinic in Walakitang and did surgery, not just closing the wound, but also reconnecting the tendon with sutures as well. Had he not been there this man probably would not have been able to get anything else besides stitches to close the wound and would have lost the use of his finger. Praise God Dr. Alexander was with us!!! Here are some pictures of the surgery, a little bloody but nothing too intense, I don’t think?!?!.
Again thank you for all of your prayers and thank you for continuing to lift up Walakitang, Pastor Victor and his family, and Dr. Alexander who will be there for the next three months. We hope to send another load or two of construction materials as things move along, so please pray for the construction of the church too! Praise God that He is alive and that His Spirit is moving along the Rio Coco!
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Open Hearts Nicaragua - Farrington Family 