Larry Quinton Team, Pueblo Nuevo de Jinotega: I was told that there was an emergency being brought to the clinic…something to do with severe pain associated with an eye injury. About 6:30 PM, a thirteen year-old girl accompanied by her mother came to the school where the team was set up. She could only partially open her eyes and appeared in great pain.  Evidently she had suffered an injury approximately one year earlier when one of her eyes was struck by a brick. She had been under the treatment of an eye doctor but now she was experiencing severe pain. Our Team doctor examined her and also asked our student optometrist, Luddy Navarro, to look at her eyes. Luddy will graduate this next year and will be the first optometrist to graduate from a Nicaraguan optometry program. Luddy said that she had a raging infection and that she needed an antibiotic-steroid combination. We had only antibiotics but no ophthalmic steroids. Luddy gave her antibiotic drops and instructed the mother to come back the next morning. I called Jose Rodriguez, who works for me and who was already on his way back to Managua to bring back other items that the Team lacked. Since Jose manages the Mission pharmacy in Managua, he knew right where the combination antibiotic-steroid eye drops were located. He returned about 8:00 the next morning and the combination eye drops were given to the young girl’s mother. Mother and daughter returned the next afternoon at the close of the day. She didn’t appear to be the same young lady. Both eyes were open wide and she had a beautiful smile on her face. It was absolutely amazing the affect that this combination steroid-antibiotic ophthalmic drop, applied with prayer, had on her eye infection in a short time. Mother and daughter were sure that the Team had come to their village just to provide this special treatment that she needed. The Cervical Cancer Screening (CCS) clinic was very busy. One-hundred and sixty-five women were screened, resulting in fifty-six or 33.9% being treated with cryotherapy, potentially preventing cervical cancer a few years down the road.  Unfortunately, a fifty-four year old lady was diagnosed with advanced cervical cancer. Oh that she had come to one of our CCSC’s three years ago and been treated. I spoke with a medical oncologist (cancer doctor) from Austin, Texas, this morning here in Managua. He told me that cervical cancer is the number one cause of death in women sixty years of age and below in Nicaragua. This reaffirmed again the importance of the CCS clinics which are part of our teams. Everyone heard the Good News of the Gospel, both under the big tent and in small groups as they waited to go into the clinic.  We are praying about planting a church in this area and will be returning there soon to see how the Lord leads as we visit those who made confessions of faith. Jeff Palmer Team, Bocana de Paiwas, R.A.A.N.: Only the week before the Team arrived, there had been heavy rains and the two rivers that come together there (Paiwas means two rivers in indigenous language) were way out of their banks. The area where we put the Children’s church tent had been under water. A lady who was in charge of the local women’s organization said to me, “You know that it is a miracle that it is not raining this week. It is not raining because you are here. It will begin raining again the minute you leave.” What she said was prophetic. It did not rain the entire time we were there but drops of rain began to fall as the buses pulled away. The Team was located in two schools, one on one side of the main road but up a steep, rocky incline. Because the kitchen and the ladies dorms were in this school, everyone had to climb this treacherous hill several times a day. Had it been raining, the hill would have been very slippery and more dangerous undoubtedly resulting in many slips and falls and associated injuries. The rains would also have made crossing the main river very dangerous for the villages on the other side. It was obvious to us that it was God who held back the rain. There are many opportunities for injuries in the Team Ministry especially as the trucks are unloaded/loaded, the tents set up/taken down, and the many heavy items are moved from one area to another. To my knowledge, during my time in Nicaragua, we have experienced only one fairly serious injury. This occurred last year when a one-hundred pound propane tank fell out of one of the trucks and struck the leg of one of our village helpers resulting in a fracture. I attribute this very low injury occurrence to God’s protection. Our last night in the village of Bocana de Paiwas we experienced this divine protection in a dramatic way. The last service under the tent was well underway. The tent was full and people were everywhere around the outside of the tent as well. One of the team members, Manuel Reyes, was sitting outside the tent near a large pipe that was the residue of some former playground equipment. Sitting behind the stage where the band, preacher and sound equipment were was translator Jose Maradiaga. At some point during the sermon, Jose got up and began to slowly walk around the stage towards Manuel. Manuel saw Jose coming and thought he was going to sit down beside him. As he neared Manuel, Jose raised both of his lower arms to the horizontal and just as he did there was a loud clang and this heavy pipe fell into Jose’s hands. Had he not caught this pipe, it would have smashed into Manuel’s head. Afterward’s, Manuel asked Jose if he had seen that the pipe was going to fall and Jose said, “No.” That he had just got up from where he was sitting for no conscious reason. Asked why he had put his hands out, Jose responded, “I have no idea.” Manuel gave testimony to the Team that Jose Maradiaga had saved his life or at least saved him from a severe head injury. We all had chill bumps as this story was shared and we gave thanks to God for His divine protection of Manuel. Only eternity will tell how other divine interventions went unnoticed by us that were for our protection. For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. Psalms 91:11 God sends forth these ministering spirits to minister to those who will inherit salvation (paraphrase of Hebrews 1: 14). Interesting stats: On this team of fifty-nine North Americans, twenty-three were first timers, twenty-six had a family member on the team, nine were sixty-five years of age or older, eleven were under twenty-one, and twenty-one churches were represented. Observations: There was incredible harmony even though twenty-one churches were represented. The Team Ministry is for the young and old. The Team Ministry is a family affair. And, the eleven teenagers on this team were constantly involved in different ministries, whether in children’s church, passing out water and/or Ramen noodles, rotating through the different areas like pharmacy, benevolence, kitchen, haircutting, etc. They were guided by their youth pastor and his wife. These kids received an education and ministry experience that will continue to impact them for the rest of their lives. Quote: "The greatest missionary is the Bible in the mother tongue. It needs no furlough and is never considered a foreigner." - William Cameron Townsend, founder Wickliffe Bible Translators The two teams mentioned above left almost three-thousand of these “greatest missionaries” in the villages where they ministered. And, even greater, the Lord Jesus sent His Holy Spirit to dwell in the lives of the new Believers. In closing: Cathey and I always remember that our health, strength, direction and power come to us as a result of the prayers of you who pray for us daily. We are so grateful for each of you and pray for you as well. Thank you also to those of you who give to the ministry here so that we can continue to do what God has called us to do. Colossians 1: 9-14 Serving Christ in Nicaragua, Darrel & Cathey Johnson