Arrived Safely in Nicaragua.

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All our luggage arrived and we cleared immigration with no problems.  We loaded into 4 vehicles--all 49 of us.  Twenty-four people plus all of our luggage (on top and inside) crammed into the bus.  We drove for 2 hours on a smooth road.  The countryside looked similar to other Central America countries.  Our driver drove very carefully and safely.  We saw several volcanos.  One was still active and we could smell fumes as we drove past it at distance of several miles.  We particularly noticed how clean everything was.

We arrived at Hotel Dalinky outside of Rivas in Tola.  It is cute and clean, and our team has completely occupied every room. After unloading all the vehicles and getting situated in our rooms, about 13 of us walked to the nearby restaurant for our second meal of the day.  We are right across the road from Lake Nicaragua--the only freshwater lake with sharks!!



Tomorrow is Christmas Day here in Nicaragua so we will not try to open our clinics or begin training.  We will spend the morning getting organized then possibly take a boat out to an island in the middle of this very large lake.  There are several SDA churches out there.  Dick and Brenda Duerksen are part of the team here and want to take us out there.  It should be interesting and colorful. Maybe I'll have some pictures of it tomorrow.  It has been a long day so we are all heading to bed.  Thank you for your prayers.  God bless.

Nicaragua Here We Come!

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Our team flew out at 11 pm from Seattle last night.  We had a safe trip to Miami and met up with the rest of the Maranatha team.  After a 3 hour flight we arrived safely in Managua, Nicaragua.

A SHMI team of 8 will leave for Nicaragua tomorrow night to conduct a Vision Clinic and do Village Health Training.  We are taking 3000 pairs of eyeglasses.  We will be meeting up in Florida with another 40 people who will also be doing mission work ( with Maranatha).   Check this blog for pictures and up-dates daily.  Please pray for God's Spirit to use us and be poured out on the people there.

SHMI heads to Nicaragua this month!

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A team of 8 from Second Hope Ministries International will join with Maranatha for two weeks.  We have been collecting used glasses and have almost 3000 pairs packed and ready to go along with 600 pairs of sunglasses and another 600 pairs of Readers.  Part of our team will train workers in Village Health Care while the rest of us will examine and fit people with eyeglasses.  Please pray that we won't have any problems getting our supplies and equipment through immigrations going into and coming out of Nicaragua.  We will make every effort to keep you posted as to our activities while we are there.

Shoes for All Nations Center, Yakima

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Sabbath, November 10, SHMI joined with North West Mission Institute (NWMI) and delivered over 500 pairs of boots and shoes to the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Yakima, WA.  We set up a distribution center at the All Nations Center.  Thanks again to the donations of Saager Shoe Store in Milton-Freewater, many children and women will have warm, dry feet this winter.