Nov 2009

Nicaraguan Touchstone November 2009

Come, you who are blessed by my Father: take your inheritance, the Kingdom. Prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. Matthew 25: 34—36

Welcome to the November installment of our family ministry. When I first faced the task of compiling a monthly newsletter telling of our daily journey here in Nicaragua, I thought how in the world will I ever come up with enough information to fill two pages. Well, I sit here now and wonder how I can cut it down to only two pages. So if I run over, please bare with me, we have had quite a month. God has been quite busy here in Nicaragua. I will chronicle them in the following articles. There are many highlight to the past month. To keep it all straight I have to look through my date book. The first week found us at Ni-139 Mimados del Reyno. A school funded by Compassion International. Our kids sit in the classroom for language development and social interaction. Vanessa is a teachers aide in Sydney’s class. I will be working to develop a sports camp for the children and in the later part of the month that idea blossomed. Vanessa will be holding a Volleyball camp on Thursday afternoons for the girls. I will be teaching baseball for the boys. This idea has great potential for there are 23 other Compassion Int. schools in Leon and the vision is to start a league with them in the new year. On October 12 & 13 I attended a conference with over 180 pastors and church leaders to be trained on the Alpha Program. The Alpha Program teaches a different approach to evangelism and has had an overwhelming response here in Nicaragua. It is exciting to see so many pastors fired up with the knowledge of how to grow their churches. We also traveled to Managua to visit the U.S. Embassy. They were hosting a town hall meeting. We met several Missionaries that are working in Leon and visited with new friends. The evening culminated with a trip to McDonalds for cheeseburgers. Over the past month I have had several opportunities to speak at different churches. During one particular speaking engagement at the Ebenezer Church in Los Cocos we had approximately 600 people in attendance. I spoke on God’s call to Godly living and also shared my testimony and God’s workings in my life. October also found German and I preparing for a mission team’s arrival on November 22nd and for a crusade from December 27th to Jan 1st. We are laying the ground work for those teams and preparing the local community for the crusade. Another occasion, we visited a radio station to discuss the possibility of advertising for the December crusade. I was asked if I wanted to speak on the radio. For the next 30 min I gave my testimony, an invitation and promoted the crusade. It was an invigoration experience, something that would have terrified me if I were not empowered by God. Continued on back This month for me has been one of settling into a routine for our family. We have a good idea of what we are doing on a daily basis which helps the kids and myself get done what needs to be done. Because of our internet access I am able to print off pictures and stories for the teachers at the school to aide them in their teaching. I have enjoyed creating different crafts for the kids at the Compassion School and even had an edible nest with gumball bird eggs for the kids to work on last week. We are currently studying the story of creation in the preschool class, so everything revolves around birds, animals and the Garden of Eden. Usually on Thursday and Friday my kids and I work on North American school and venture into town if John is around. I have not yet tried to go shopping without John’s help but am getting braver everyday and will probably begin to do that soon. I am excited about the opportunity to teach English and Music to the kids that are interested at the Compassion school. Thursday will be filled with teaching volleyball for the older girls. I really enjoy playing the sport and will most likely enjoy teaching it even more. Continued on back

Contact info. Email: [email protected] Blog: speigle6onmissions.blogspot.com Skype:

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Address: Not really known Do you want to partner with the Speigles in their mission work? Contributions can be sent via: Voice of Hope Ministries, Attn. Katie Hulsey P.O. Box 1780 Rogers, AR 72757. Sydney Helping In the Kitchen

Kyle discovering rock Climbing.

From The Kids From Sierra There is a school by Jericho Church that we go to so we can learn Spanish, and to make friends. We can’t really communicate with them because they speak Spanish and we only speak a little bit of Spanish. I like it here in Nicaragua. From Kyle. It is fun here in Nicaragua. I like it. When we first got here we stayed at the beach. I like playing soccer with a friend across the road in our neighborhood. Her name is Gaby. We like playing with her.

From Caleb. It is fun being here in Nicaragua. We have made some new friends at a school called Compassion. We have been doing science experiments using pennies, fettuccini, a cup and string. We are testing how many pennies the uncooked noodle could hold. From Sydney. I like it here in Nicaragua. I like making friends. I made three new friends, two at my school and one across the road. Gaby, Claudia, and I don’t remember the third girl’s name.

You know God only gives us what we need even when we don't know we need it. Yesterday was an unexpected worship service and thankfully I was looking for God in it all. We were tired, hungry and not really wanting to be where we were but God blessed us last night with an amazing service of appreciation and love for family and church members. The church we went to that was supposed to have a birthday party turned out to be a worship service and pastor appreciate night. I was humbled to see the gifts of gratitude and hugs and love and tears from so many people for their pastor. To make it even more amazing in a culture where women do not receive that much status, this pastor was a women. I could tell she cared for her congregation and they cared for her. God is good and I am thankful He doesn't do what I want. Looking forward to a day of worship at a new church with John preaching again. To God be the Glory!!! This is an Excerpt of our blog found on speigle6onmissions.blogspot.com

Upcoming Events: Nov 8th. The family is travelling up to the top of the Telica volcano to evangelize in the community of Frio Agua (cold water) a very remote location only accessible via 4 x 4. November 12th. Sports camp opens. November 22nd. Team arrives from Arkansas and Virginia for evangelism and construction.

Coming in upcoming issues. Ever wonder what inspires pastors in Nicaragua to do what they do. Are you interested in hearing their story. In the upcoming issues I will interview and report on the life and trials of some of the people who choose to serve God at great cost! Stay tuned.

*Making contact with the Government and the Ministry of Families to establish residency and foster parent status. *Making contact with the right people to help us get started. *Language development *Need of a vehicle and the funds to purchase. *Health and safety as we acclimate to a new environment. *God’s continued guidance Vanessa & Michael

(John Cont.) The last two weeks of October found me developing new calluses. We broke ground on a new church for Pastor Miguel. We quickly discovered why the community is called “of the Rock.” Several of the foundation piers had to be dug into solid rock. Progress was made by hammer and chisel. I enjoyed working with pastor Miguel and believe I am developing a good friendship with him. It is a challenge to talk with the other workers because they only speak Spanish and I am only learning slowly. On Friday afternoon Pastor Miguel asked me to speak at his church service. I decided to speak on Matthew 7: 24-27, building your house on the “Rock.” Can you guess where I got my inspiration? (Vanessa Cont) I have spent much time preparing for teacher training workshops that will be starting next week. I pray that God will guide me to the right material to help these teachers in the areas they are looking for help. It is hard sometimes with the language barrier to understand exactly what direction they are coming from so I rely on God to guide my directions. I had an especially good time last week when we were invited to visit an English university. The students are learning how to speak English and the professor asked us to participate in the class. We spent several hours talking with the students about topics that ranged from deep theological questions to the political events that are happening in the country. It was wonderful to discuss such topics and listen to how well some of the students new their English and to see how others really struggled and wanted to know more so they could communicate. It was a real blessing to be there. I have enjoyed another month in Nicaragua serving our Lord and Savior and look forward to many more.

Prayer Needs of the Speigles :

Sierra & Nancy

Caleb with his soccer mates