On June 14, 2006, a Global Adventure team of 9 people left for the Nicaraguan community of Puerto Cabezas. Located on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua, this town of 30,000 people has a tropical climate and culture. God provided numerous opportunities for our team to share His love with the people of Nicaragua, and lives were eternally touched through this outreach.
The trip to Puerta Cabezas took two days. Arriving in the capital city of Managua we were greeted by Patrick Tinkam, our host from Partners in Christ International. The next morning we boarded a small, twin-engine plane for the 90 minute flight to the east coast of the country. If you have never traveled on a small 30-seater commuter prop plane, let me be the first to tell you that it is a unique experience all its own! Praise the Lord, we all made the trip unscathed, but I think every member of our team was some varied shade of green by the time we landed in Puerto Cabezas. This town of around 30,000 has a very tropical feel to it. It is very green, warm, and extremely humid. It has a very Caribbean feel to it, and the culture, called Mizkito, has a Creole flavor. Immediately after arriving and meeting our local host, Pastor Earl, we took a tour of the town and began to lay plans for our ministry time there.
The town of Puerta Cabezas from the Air.
The Lord provided so many open doors to share, even beyond what we had expected prior to the trip. Our construction team labored long and hard, installing walls, windows, and doing various other repair projects in the orphanage that is run by our host church in Puerto Cabezas. This hard working group of men were the first ones out every morning, and the last ones in every night. The added rooms and ventilation windows that they installed were a huge blessing to the children at the orphanage.
The Finished Work of our Construction Team
While the construction team hammered away relentlessly, our evangelism team had plenty to keep them busy. We were able to openly minister the Gospel on several occasions in two public schools. We shared a Gospel message, had prayer for salvation and other needs, and had fun doing craft work with a total of around 600 children. In addition, we had the opportunity to minister in the local jail, which was not only a life-changing experience for the prisoners, but for our team as well. We shared messages and testimonies, and had many opportunities to pray for salvation, rededication, healing, and encouragement with the prisoners. In addition, we had plenty of opportunity to minister to the children in the orphanage. We built relationships, shared testimonies, did crafts, went to the beach, and conducted evangelistic park ministry with the kids there.
Boys listening to our team share the Gospel.God blessed this outreach. Dozens of people made commitments to Christ and we were able to greatly encourage many of the believers in the town of Puerto Cabezas. But as much as God transformed the lives of the people we ministered to during our time there, each of our team members had life-changing experiences as well. Several plan to be part of future teams, and I know all of us left a piece for our heart with our brothers and sisters in Nicaragua.
John Rohde
Nicaragua Team Leader
