Fourteen Years Later   The Mike Day Team from Nebraska and Iowa recently spent a week of ministry in the village of Rio Grande, Nicaragua. My first visit to this village was in 1996, with Rolando Castillo, who was then the Assistant Field Director. After several visits with the school Director, who was a strong Sandinista, she agreed to allow us to use the secondary school for our team activities. The secondary school was located in the old train station.  This train station was the end-of-the-line for the railway that had been decommissioned by the Violeta Chamorro government in December of 1993 due to years of decline. That first year, all of the clinics and pharmacy were located in this old railway station. Even the church services were held in this building at the very end where it dropped down to a lower level. At night, services were held outside using the old platform as the stage for the musicians and preaching.  This year, the Mike Day Team had the use of the new classrooms of the school built nearby the old train station. What a great change! As a result of that first team in 1996, a church was planted in Rio Grande. Two of the first members of this new church were Miguel Escalante and his eleven-year-old daughter Karla. Karla was a leader from the very start. She continued to be faithful in the church serving as a leader in the youth group though her high school years. I had the privilege of baptizing Karla and her mother in the Rio Grande River. Upon graduation from high school, Karla was accepted into medical school. She and her mother and brother moved to Leon so that Karla could attend medical school. Last week, Karla returned to Rio Grande as a physician where she worked with the BMDMI medical team.  She shared a testimony on Tuesday night at the church service about God’s faithfulness and how He had directed her life. It was evident that the people of Rio Grande loved and respected Karla Escalante because she is the greatest success story that has come out of this poor village.  But more than a little girl coming out of poverty to become a physician, Karla is the product of the power of God in a life dedicated to Him as a result of coming to Christ through a local BMDMI church planted as a result of that first team in 1996. Dr. Karla Escalante Dr. Kurt VanHulzen family, Teresa, Andrew & Sarah A Family Affair   The Mike Day Team was a family affair. There were four, husband-wife pairs on the team and three of them brought at least one of their children. In addition, three other dads came without their wives, but brought at least one of their children with them… Mike Day brought one of his four daughters, Chris Routh brought one of his three daughters and Dr. Dave Crippin brought his twenty-two year old son…all the way from Prague, Czech Republic, where they had just completed another mission. Dr. Dave and Alex definitely hold the record for distance travelled for any BMDMI team member. They are also the first to have brought long-handled thermal underwear to Nicaragua! Before we left the village, the young people were already talking about returning to Nicaragua in 2011 and bringing their other siblings with them. What a joy to see so many families sharing the love of God on mission together! This family aspect is just another huge benefit of the Team Ministry of BMDMI! The Day Team blessed the school by leaving five-hundred school notebooks and pencils. The school director on the day of our arrival had asked me if it would be possible to leave some notebooks for the kids who could not come to school because there were many who did not have so much as a notebook or pencil. What a blessing! The Team also left an offering to buy a new well pump rope so the school could access their well water. Still another blessing was the offering they gave to set up a cell phone system in the pastor’s home to connect the village of Rio Grande with the outside world while at the same time providing a small source of income for the pastor. Early in the week, I had reminded several of the Team members of how when the Team went to a draught stricken area of Nicaragua near the town of Condega where it had not rained in more than a year, that it rained two nights in a row. The villagers thanked the Team for bringing the rain. This same event has happened in other villages where we have taken BMDMI teams.  Rio Grande was no exception. We had experienced two of the hottest days of the year on Monday and Tuesday, but Wednesday afternoon, the sky began to darken and the temperature dropped and then it happened. It began to rain and continued to rain for an hour. It just doesn’t rain this time of year in Rio Grande. No rain should have come until the middle of May but God had other plans as He sent additional and literal showers of blessing to cap off a wonderful week of ministry that touched so many lives, both Nicaraguan and North American. If you have never experienced being a member of a BMDMI Team, I encourage you to pray about your involvement. A schedule of teams can be found on the Mission web site. Team Captain Mike Day with daughter Abigail   Tim and Jacalyn Vaughn with Jackie’s son Travis Chris Routh with daughter Jenna Dr. Dave Crippin & son Alex Mike & Patti Andrews with daughter Hannah Roger & Jean Sarchet Cathey and I are so grateful to all of you who pray for us. Prayer is the most important element of any ministry so we thank you profoundly! A big thank you also to each of you who give to the ministry here. We could not possibly do what we get to do without your financial support. We pray a special blessing on each of you during this most significant time of the year when we remember the suffering, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus. Oh how He loves you and me! Serving Christ in Nicaragua, Darrel & Cathey Johnson