November 14, 2008
Dear Family and Friends,
We were busy this last 2 months, so this newsletter is a little longer. In September my Mom came to visit, her 2nd visit to our place here. We enjoyed her visit very much, but her two little grandkids especially enjoyed it!
In the first couple weeks of October, we had two airplane medical transports between Waspam to Port, the only existing runways in NE Nicaragua before our arrival. Both were critical and could not handle the 4-6 hour bus ride over the terrible roads. The 45 minute flight was smooth for them. One teen girl broke her back when her bicycle was hit by a truck. I took her on a stretcher and she was flown on to Managua later. You can see the pictures on our web site, www.hanleymissions.org under Photos.
In the last part of September, we received a donation that allowed us to drill a well in our village of Tronquera (20 minutes walk from our house), and a second one in the next closest village to us, Santa Rita. There are 300 people in each village, and the current wells only collect surface water. Marilyn often sees water born illnesses in her visits to through out the community. These new wells will enable the villages to have access to good clean drinking water. One well is 62 feet deep, and the other 75 feet. They were drilled by an American named Jack Hall, who is here with his family in NE Nicaragua and gave us the wells at cost. It is wonderful to be a part of providing something as vital as good water to so many people who have never had it.
In the first part of October, Willis Hankins came along from Tennessee. His goal was to build a church in a nearby village. He stayed at our house, and we drove to the village (called Tasba Pine) every day. We worked hard on it for 3 weeks. Many days it rained, but the Lord blessed and at the end of his time we had the cement block walls up and the roof on the new church. It is a solid church and will serve the members of that village for many generations, if we have that long before the Lord comes. We were happy to be a part of the project. Willis also brought down and installed a 2-meter ham radio antenna for us, which improved our communication tremendously.
Our work on the church was complicated by the fact my wife had to leave to Managua, the capital on the other side of the country, halfway through the church building project. This left me in charge of the children and the house, an added challenge while working on the church almost 1 hour from home, 9 hours a day. I now appreciate my wife even more, she does do a lot around our house that I never knew needed done! My wife went to a church meeting in Costa Rica for several countries in Central America. We were invited to give a presentation about the mission work the American’s (two other Adventist America projects are running on this side the country besides ours) are doing in conjunction with our church. Since we are working closely with the church, we felt this meeting of the leaders was important. She left the meeting very encouraged about the work of the Seventh-day Adventist church in Central America.
After we finished the roof of the church, I drove our little truck over to Managua. Willis went with me. It took us 2 days, 25 hours of driving time. The distance is only 200 miles of bad road, but we often used 4x4 creeping in 1st and 2nd gear through places that sometimes high centered the truck.
In Managua we “found” Marilyn, it had been a long 10 days for me and the kids without her! She was busy finishing a root cannel and getting a crown on her tooth. Brandel had a hurting tooth, so we took him to the dentist and he also had to have a root cannel. He is in need of more dental work on our next trip to Managua. The children also went for a long overdue check up with an English speaking pediatrician, and received their immunizations. We had to borrow the money to pay for the dental work and doctor visit on this trip. As many of your know we are volunteer missionaries receiving no wages or benefits, this includes medical or dental insurance. Because we do live in Nicaragua this cost was much less than it would have been in the US where one root canal can cost over twice as much.
We were very blessed to receive a donation that allowed us to purchase a generator and a projector for evangelism, which Willis brought with him from America when he came to work on the church. We used it a couple times already for church, and it brought in lots of people. People here like technology, so when you have it, everyone comes to see. It is a wonderful evangelism tool. Now we have deep wells of pure physical water, and evangelism tools for giving the Living Water. The end of February Marilyn’s sister and brother-in-law are coming down with their family and will be doing a Share Him evangelism series for a couple of weeks. We are currently starting Bible studies to get ready for this, and look forward to increasing our membership from the one Adventist family we currently have in Tronquera. Our new projector and generator will be vital to this endeavor.
One of the reasons we drove our truck to Managua was to haul back hand pumps to put in our new wells (there is no electricity for 1 hours drive from here). After 3 days of looking, we bought some pumps. They are not exactly what we wanted, but they will get the water out of the well. We were also able to get a little cement mixer, which will be used right away to pour an apron around the well. Our truck was very full for the trip back, which we managed to do in 2 full days, arriving back here November 7. The Lord blessed and our truck ran well.
Yesterday, November 12, I flew the inspector that came from Managua out to the San Carlos airport for the 3rd time. She has not approved it the previous two times, so we had people worldwide praying this time it would pass. She carefully looked it over, and approved it! It has taken 6 months and almost $1,000 in airplane gas and government fees to get it opened, but it is the first community on the river in 30 years to get a runway.
Our computer is our only communication here via e-mail and a well used resource in our mission and life. It is 5 years old and causing us some trouble. We would like to ask for your prayers as we raise money this month to purchase a new laptop on one of the great specials on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving.
In the next couple week we will be painting on the church, installing the hand pumps in the wells, working on our house, and doing a health screening in 3 villages. Please continue to pray for our work here.
Wishing you God's Blessings,
Clint and Marilyn
www.hanleymissions.org
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Wings Over Nicaragua Mission
185 Harris Rd
Goldendale, WA 98620
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Wings Over Nicaragua Mission in Tronquera
Clint and Marilyn Hanley
Tronquera, Nicaragua, Central America
www.hanleymissions.org
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