Mission Bluefields Nicaragua

His presence in you has ministered us through your caring for us and for the Nicaraguan people. We want to express our gratitude to you in this special time of the year for your prayers and financial support throughout this year.

As this year ended, we will share what has happened during this month.

We love in Christ,

Vital and Ketly

Safe Harbor

Work on Safe Harbor is nearing completion. Safe Harbor is the name of the home that will be used to house children whose parents are out of the country working on cruise ships. During the month of December crews finished painting the inside of the house. Currently, all that remains to be done is to install the doors on the second floor of the house and to bring in beds and cabinets. The outside of the house also needs painted, but this will be completed after the children have moved in during the dry season in Bluefields. Bethel Baptist Church members have been busy praying and planning for Safe Harbor during the last several months. We are excited to begin this ministry.

Already parents have contacted the church hoping to have their children stay at Safe Harbor while they are away working. After touring the house, one parent commented that he could really sense the presence of God in the building. The Safe Harbor ministry will provide a safe home for children whose parents are out of the country working. It will also provide a place where they can grow spiritually, while attending their school during the daytime. Children living at Safe Harbor will also attend the after school program at Bethel Baptist Church and will participate in the other activities and ministries of the church. Twenty-four children will be able to live at Safe Harbor.

Bethel Baptist Church plans to open Safe Harbor on January 22, 2007. We are currently looking for a married couple to live in the house and serve as house parents to the children who will be living there. If you feel God leading you to serve in this manner, please contact Vital and Ketly Pierre. Also, we would appreciate all of our friends to pray for this ministry that God will use it to reach those who haven’t accepted Christ into their lives.

Throughout the construction of Safe Harbor, we have been blessed with many different groups from outside of Nicaragua that have come to help construct this building. It has also been amazing to see God use the construction of this building as an outreach tool. Many of the local laborers from Bluefields who have worked on the construction of this building have not been Christians. God has used the witness of the Christians working on the construction project to change the hearts of some of these non-Christian workers and lead them to accept Christ into their lives.

Now that Safe Harbor is nearly complete, we pray that God will continue to use this unique ministry for the salvation of lost souls.

Road Construction

Construction crews are pouring the final sections of concrete on the street leading through Barrio San Pedro in Bluefields to Bethel Baptist Church. The road should open the week of December 18, just in time for Christmas.

Anyone who has ever visited Bethel Baptist Church knows how poor the condition of the road was prior to being paved, especially when it rained. When it rained the road was a muddy mess and was often impassible. It was likely that the poor condition of the road and the five-minute walk that was needed to travel from the nearest concrete road had deterred many individuals from attending outreach programs at the church. Now that the road is completed, individuals will be able to take a taxi or bus or drive to the entrance road of the church, eliminating the mud one had to travel through previously. We give thanks to God that the construction of this road has finally taken place.

Second Annual Soccer Tournament

Matthew 9:35-36 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

Bethel Baptist Church held its second annual citywide soccer tournament this past month. The tournament ran from November 27 to December 13 and was held on Bethel Baptists Church’s soccer field. However, unlike most soccer tournaments, the main goal of this tournament was not to decide who has the best soccer team in Bluefields. Rather, the goal of this tournament was evangelism. This tournament provided a unique opportunity to reach many individuals who didn’t know Christ and normally wouldn’t have come to an event being held at a church. In the words of Vital, “a fisherman needs to use the right kind of bait to attract fish to his hook”. As Christians, we are fishers of men. In this case the members of Bethel Baptist Church used the bait of a soccer tournament to attract the youth of Bluefields to the church to hear the gospel message. We praise the Lord that ten soccer players accepted Christ into their lives during the course of the three-week long tournament!

Seven teams entered the tournament. Four teams competed in the 16-20 year old division (the juvenil division) and three teams competed in the 10-15 year old division (the infantil division). All of the youth who competed in the tournament had numerous opportunities to hear the gospel. Each game started out with a fifteen minute devotional in which different members of Bethel Baptist Church shared the good news of God’s plan of salvation with the soccer players. During the course of the three weeks, some of the teams participated in ten devotionals or more. Many youth who had never even opened a Bible before were given the opportunity to hear God’s word on numerous occasions during the soccer tournament. Church members also made themselves available to evangelize the tournament participants and spectators before and after each of the games.

During the Sunday evening church service on December 10, members of Bethel Baptist Church participated in a unique aspect of the soccer tournament outreach. Many homes are closed to the word of God because people do not want to think about God or listen to what Christians have to share.

However, during this church service, Vital and the members of the church prayed over each of the trophies that was to be awarded to the first and second place teams in each division and the best goalie and highest scorer for each of the two divisions. They prayed that God’s presence would go with these trophies into the homes of those who were to receive the trophies. In this manner his presence will be in many homes that would otherwise be closed to the word of God. Perhaps someday in the future these youth will be drawn to God when the see the trophies and remember the message of salvation that they heard during the tournament’s devotionals.

Although the main purpose of this event was evangelism, there were also numerous exciting soccer games. A soccer team from Barrio San Pedro named Barcelona won the 16-20 year old division, with the team comprised of youth from Bethel Baptist Church capturing second place. In the 10-15 year old division, the team Fatima from the Barrio Fatima won the division, and the team from Bethel took second place.

Please, pray for:

House Parents for Safe Harbor
Children in Safe Harbor
Opening of a new church in Kukra Hill

Love you in Christ,

Vital and Ketly Pierre

viket@ibw.com.ni

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