Tuesday

Tuesday was pretty good. We had 8-10 more people at the institute. The teaching went well. Some of the students have been traveling 2 hours each way to come to the institute each day. Thanks for your prayers. Please pray that we would be able to have a good meeting with the other pastor's council. It seems that for whatever reason they have not been very involved this trip, so we would like to reconnect with them. Also please pray for health of the team as some of us are having "stomach issues". Thanks.

Monday Bible Institute pics

Pics from Sunday and Monday

These first 2 pics are from the hotel lobby in Managua. The next one is Becca at the nursing home when she and Tara took the food leftover from the bible institute lunches to them. The 4th shot is most of the team on the veranda of the Rivas hotel.

A good first day

Our first day at the Bible Institute went well. The rain this morning made prevented some of the pastors that come from another town to attend today. Our numbers were smaller, but those that were there were faithful and diligent. It isn't about numbers. Christ had 12 disciples and look what happened, so if we don't hit 100 this trip it will be OK. I saw lots of familiar faces at the institute and it was good. All the guys did an excellent job teaching. Since we didn't have as many attending today as we thought we would we had food left over at lunch. So Becca, Tara, and Cairo took it to a nursing home here in town. It was a good alternative to it going to waste. The entire team is doing well and seems to be enjoying the trip. We are enjoying the fellowship with our Nicca translators.

Please pray for those traveling to the institute...especially those that had difficulty today. Also for the teaching tomorrow. Thank you for all of your support!

More pictures from Sunday

Here are some more pics from Sunday. The power (and hence the internet) went out during my last post so I didn't get to load all the pics I wanted to this morning. Here are the rest from yesterday.

Pics from Sunday

As you can see in the pictures below we stopped at a volcano on our way to Rivas. It was pretty cool. We met briefly with Pastor Josua last night just to touch base before we bgin the institute today. It was good to see him and his wife again. It sounds like the people are ready and everything is good to go. We are about to have some breakfast in our hotel and then head over to the church. We had our first taste of Nicaraguan winter as we were waking up the morning. Winter in Nicaragua means the rainy season and it cools down to 87 degrees from 90 something. Sickler loves that concept of winter. There was a quick summer shower as we were waking up and now it is gone, but left behind a little cool air. Please be in prayer for the first day of the bible institute as it is always a little interesting. Thanks!

we are in rivas

We just made it to rivas. I am typing as we are waiting to get into our rooms. We stopped by the volcano and the market on the way here. I´ll post more later and hopefully gets some pics from today up.- I just wanted yall to know that we made it here safely.

About to head south from Managua

We had a good night's sleep and obtained our rental vehicles. Now we are about to head south to Rivas. I think that we will stop at the volcano on the way down there. Cairo's wife Jessica and his son Adam Joshua joined us for breakfast this morning. It was a treat to get to see them.

Everyone seems to be doing well and looking forward to seeing more of Nicaragua than the airport and the hotel across the street from it. Thanks for your prayers.

We are in Managua

Our flight got in here about 20 minutes after 8pm Nicca time. (We are an hour earlier than Arkansas). Cairo and Arlen were waiting for us at the airport and now we are about to crash for the night at our hotel. It was a smooth day of travel. We met up with Jeff at the Houston airport just fine. So we are going to get some rest and then head south tomorrow.

Hanging out at the LR Airport

We are sitting here at gate in Little Rock waiting to board. I think the flight is a little late, but not a problem since we have about a 4 hour layover in Houston. I have to give props to the LR Airport for free WiFi. As I type the plane is pulling up the gate, so I'll shut this machine down. Thanks for the prayers. Please keep them coming.

Pastors Sponsored

Thanks to everyone that joined in and helped make this Bible Institute possible by supporting a pastor for a week. We have all of the pastors sponsored. Thanks for partnering with us in Nicaragua.

July/August Trip Itinerary

Here is our itinerary for the July/August Trip:

Saturday (28th)

• 10:00 am- Arrive LR airport (not Jeff)
• 11:55am- Fly LR to Houston (CO# 2447)
• 1:24pm- Arrive in Houston from LR
• 1:30pm- Jeff Depart LUV to Houston (CO#2374)
• 2:35pm- Jeff arrives in Houston meets up with “the team”
• 5:45pm- Depart Houston for Managua, Nicaragua (CO#1774)
• 8:10pm- Arrive Managua, Nicaragua- greeted by Cairo (head interpreter)
• Spend night at Las Mercerdes Best Western Hotel in Managua (http://bestwestern.worldexecutive.com/directory/nicaragua/managua/hotels/70901.html)

Sunday (29th)

• All 3 interpreters meet us at the hotel
• Get rental cars
• Drive South (2.5 hours to Rivas)
• Stop at volcano national park (tentative)
• Masaya market the best place to get anything “Nicaraguan”
• Sunday late afternoon- Arrive Rivas
• Check into Rivas hotel
• Touch base with leaders of the Rivas Pastors Council

*Note the fact that we are now on “Nicaragua Time”…there are not exact hours listed

Monday (30th)

• Rivas Bible Institute ~8:00am-3:30pm

Tuesday (31st)

• Rivas Bible Institute ~8:00am-3:30pm

Wednesday (1st)

• Rivas Bible Institute ~8:00am-3:30pm

Thursday (2nd)

• Rivas Bible Institute ~8:00am-2:30pm
• Head to San Juan del Sur (before sunset)
• Spend night in hotel in San Juan del Sur
  

Friday (3rd)

• San Juan del Sur beach
• Whatever you want to do in a lazy beach town
• Leave for Managua sometime after lunch
• Spend night at Las Mercedes
  

Saturday (4th)

• 6:50am-Depart Managua for Houston (CO# 1775)
• 11:02am- Arrive in Houston
• Noon- Jeff departs for LUV (CO#2407)
• 1:05pm- Jeff arrives at LUV
• 1:35pm- Depart Houston for LR (CO# 2841)
• 3:04pm- Arrive LR

14.5 pastors sponsored so far

So far we have support for 14.5 pastors. That is a great start but we still need some more help. We are shooting for 100. Just contact myself (chris.kear@gmail.com) or anyone on the team to get involved.

July/August Trip

We are preparing to head back to Rivas July28-August 4th. The team this trip is Dr. Scott Duvall, Dr. Brad Sickler, Jeff Ellsion, Becca Woodall, Chris and Tara Kear. If you would like to sponsor a Nicaraguan pastor for the week of the bible institute for only $20 please let myself or any other the team members know ASAP.

Ways to Pray for the trip:

• Preparation of the lessons
• Safety and smooth travel
• Opening doors for the Nicca pastors to come and absorption of the material
  
• Financial provision for the pastors
• Financial provision for the gringo team