This may be the most beautiful picture I have seen of my time in Nepal. To be able to visit a local church in Nepal and see this Nepalese man worshiping the same Savior that we worship, in the middle of a land devastated by the earthquake says more than any words could express.
My second trip to Nepal was much different than my last trip this year. The last trip was just before the earthquake. Many things look different this time. It is amazing the doors that are opening after the earth shook. The first day on the ground this time, we were helping to build a permanent home for a family. In the pictures below you can see some of the earthquake damage and what the temporary shelters look like that people donated through MANNA to build. Now, we are in our second phase of relief in helping to build some permanent shelters. It was a great opportunity to interact with the villagers.
The second half of our time in Mongolia was spent in Ulaan Baatar. It is the capital of Mongolia. We were able to visit one of our feeding centers and spend time at our orphanage. The orphanage was the top rated orphanage for Mongolia several years ago. Typically they require a yearly license, but because of the quality of care we offer, they have given us a lifetime license to operate in Mongolia. In fact, the government brings other groups that are starting orphanages over to visit and show them how to run a quality orphanage. Please be in prayer for the orphanage. We have funding for it for the next year, but we need a church or business that would be willing to partner with us to help support it going forward.
While we were at church on Sunday, we met a lady that had travelled 1,400 km through Mongolia, just to meet us at church. That is humbling. While spending time at our feeding center, we met Moogii. She started coming to the center when she was 8. Now she is 15 and helping to lead worship at a local church. She and her siblings were basically abandoned by their mother and our center has helped sustain her through the years. One of the children we rescued was found in a ditch with his umbilical chord still attached and barely alive. Words cannot describe the overwhelming emotions that come with hearing testimony after testimony of children being rescued, ministered to, led to the Lord, discipled, and now serving.
We have had an amazing time thus far in Mongolia. The first part of our time was in the Gobi Desert. We visited one of our feeding centers and got to really engage the community. It really is amazing where people can live. We drove 10 hours, one way, from Ulaan Baatar to a village on the edge of the Gobi named Erdene Dalai. There were stretches of an hour or more where we did not see a single person or animal. For 1/2 of the trip we were on a paved road, then we ventured off onto a trail that wandered through the desert. The youth in the village had us play them in volleyball one night, then the next day a Mongolian champion wrestler wanted to wrestle us. Needless to say we lost. But, he told us how grateful he was for what we are doing for the children in the community. We met a girl named Boldmaa who began coming to our center as a small child. She is now 19 years old, learning Korean so that she can teach in the schools in Mongolia. She was saved at our feeding program and she is now leading a discipleship program in the city college. It is an honor to see how the Lord is moving in lives and to be able to play a small part of it.
Can a short-term mission trip really have a long-term impact? Yes it can. Here is a video from our recent trip to Nicaragua, so that you can see it with your own eyes. The team from The Creek Church went down and helped build a new church in a village. We went door-to-door in the community to invite people to church, and at the end of the week we were able to participate in the first ever church service in the village. How significant is this? There is no church in this village. Not from any denomination, religion, group, etc. Nothing! Being part of planting a new church is special. I’m looking forward to watching it grow and reach people. There are already over 100 kids attending the Bible Club every week.
A lot can happen in a year. Here is a video about our recent trip with Trinity Baptist to Guatemala. We took them in 2014 as well, and it is awesome to see what the Lord has done in 1 year.
In 2014 we worked on constructing a new orphanage. This year we got to play with 20 kids that are now living in the orphanage.
In 2014 we went to church in Sumpango. This year we got to feed kids, make home visits, and provide the praise music for church.
In 2014 we went to San Lucas and fed kids and did home visits. This year we were able to help work on the construction of the new church and work at the feeding center.
In 2014 we prayed over a vacant piece of land in El Arado. This year we were able to see the new church that has been constructed on that land and help with a medical clinic and go on home visits in El Arado.
I love seeing how the Lord is continuing His work in Guatemala. We are so humbled to be a small part of it.
We are officially home from Guatemala and Nicaragua. It was an amazing trip with some great churches. The Lord allowed us to help the construction process of a church in Guatemala and a church in Nicaragua. We worked at medical clinics and nutrition centers. We helped put on some Bible Clubs and we got to love on some orphans. We performed outreaches with food baskets and water filters. We were able to see people saved and people baptized (both nationals and people on our trip). The sick were ministered to, as were the young and the elderly. We got to meet a new orphan on his second day at the orphanage and were able to watch him go from scared and timid to engaging in just two weeks time. We had fellowship with relationships we had built last year, and got to start some new friendships. Thank you to everyone that went, prayed for us, supported us, and kept up with us. You are a huge blessing to our family.
It has been a great week in Nicaragua, through the help of a lot of Advil. LOL. A group of us have been helping to build a structure for a new church that is being planted in a village/community called Palopan. We are using 120 lb blocks and have moved 350 of them thus far. That’s 42,000 lbs. The structure is progressing well, but it took a lot of work to clean all of the dirt off of us each day. Another group has been working at the Bible clubs each day and helped with the music, Bible lessons, games, face painting, etc.
Today we did a special outreach in the village to invite them to church this Sunday. It will be the first church service of the new church. It is really neat to be a part of the beginnings of something like this. This afternoon a group of us went and painted a structure that used for a Bible Club and a youth service that will happen tomorrow. We were able to take the group to an active volcano one evening as well. There are more great things to come.
It has been an awesome week watching kids from the States helping serve kids in Guatemala. Of course, I’m a little partial, two of them are my kids. It has been a great couple of days. Yesterday we went to Sumpango and worked with Pastor Jaime and his wife with the kids and the feeding center, then did a couple of home visits. Today we worked at a medical clinic in El Arado, then did home visits in the village. It is a Mayan community and we are almost finished with the construction of a church.
What a way to start week 3 in Guatemala. We have an awesome team of girls that were willing to roll up their sleeves and get dirty by helping us build the church in San Lucas. Then we went to help with the nutrition center and they painted the fingernails of the girls at the center. Finally, we got to do 2 home visits and see 2 people accept Christ! Not a bad start to the week.
Jones Family - MANNA Missionaries 