It is Christmas time in Nicaragua. We painted the front of the house enough to put out a large display of colored lights. The neighbors really  like it. It is nice to put a smile on people's faces because you just don't see this much here in Nicaragua. The children especially like the lights.
Slowly but surely, we are finishing up all the ceilings on the house. There is a lot of taping and spackling to do (especially since we did not do standard flat ceilings).
We have put a lot of nice little details into the house. All together they probably do not increase our costs more than five percent, but they make it twice as comfortable and appealing as a standard concrete building.
 It is hard to believe, but it has been sixteen months since we packed up all our furniture into crates and moved out of our house in Dallas.
This picture brings back memories, but no regrets.
We are going to try to move a bunch of boxes over to the house on Monday. This is the stuff that will go into the attic. If we get ambitious, we might even try to move some crates, but we cannot take the furniture out until the paint is done.
 We have to keep reminding ourselves that this building has almost 4000 square feet under roof and it will take longer than a normal house.
We have made phenomenal progress in the 8 weeks since our original crew left and we brought in multiple crews.
We already are receiving a lot of questions about the building and what we are doing there. We are prepared to do the Bible Training Classes, but we need to find locals to coordinate the computer classes, music classes and other ministries.
 The year of building has been very valuable for us in many ways.
We have had met a lot of people through the construction process.
We have blended well into the neighborhood and gained the respect of the neighbors. We help them out however we are able and they appreciate it.
It is important in this culture because neighborhoods are like family and if you blend in well, you are much less likely to be robbed or vandalized because the neighbors look out for you (although it can still happen, but only by God's permission).
 Tim is speaking for four sessions at the annual meeting of the Atlantic Coast Baptists on December 17-18.
Please pray for boldness and grace. The worst thing that could happen would be for a bunch of people to come and listen, then go out and do nothing.
We are starting to bring new people into our Bible Study on Wednesday night. Our earnest prayer is that we will be able to bring a lot of people in for Bible study that do not go to church.
Christmas is coming, then New Years, then two weeks later we will be in the US for a short visit, then back to begin the work. We will see many of you soon. Until then . . .
Thank you as always for your prayers.
God bless you,
Tim and Kim |
