On May 13th we drove to Nicaragua for our Regional Conference in our Heredia base van.  Thirteen of our leaders from Panama and Costa Rica rode with us for the hot 11 hour trip.  Two hours of that time was spent in the chaotic atmosphere of a Central American border crossing with other travelers, vendors, beggars and plenty of people willing to help you, (for a few bucks of course).

The first 3 days of the conference were for the leaders of the different base locations to get together for fellowship, training and encouragement.  About mid week, the staff and students arrived until we had about 250 people there.  It was great to reconnect, worship and pray together.  Several international leaders also came to share with us some challenging messages.  It was a long week but we came home encouraged and inspired with new vision for the future.  One of the highlights for us was to do some Bible distribution on some of the streets of Diriamba, Nicaragua, where many people were touched by the Lord, prayed with and came to know Jesus personally, as they accepted God’s Word into their homes.

Most of you remember our sharing that our personal vehicle was stolen 3 years ago but within a week the police had found it completely stripped to just a shell.  Well, in the past three years since that, through the help of many friends – – we have slowly been rebuilding it – – replacing all the engine and transmission parts, tires, doors, hood, seats, etc.  We still lack the fenders, fog lights, hitch, and luggage rack, but even without those things, we are happy to report that two weeks ago the vehicle finally passed inspection and is legal to drive again.  At least we are able to use it and get around more.  We want to thank all of you who helped to make this happen!  Thank you for your generous gifts toward this need!

About two weeks ago our first summer team arrived from South Dakota, so we were busy every day with them.  They worked in a local church and some public schools where they did drama, puppets and clowns.  In their spare time they were helping us with some building and maintenance at the base.  We were especially thankful for all the help they gave towards building our new greenhouse.   We have teams coming through June until mid July, so it will be a busy time.  If your church would be interested in coming down to join us for a summer outreach, we still have room from mid July to mid August.  All the information and a team application is available on our website.  ywamheredia.com