February 2010 Newsletter

Dear Harvest Hands,

Much is being accomplished with your help and we thank you. As you recently read in our last newsletter, a team from Michigan came to build a yellow house for a family. Also, a team from Virginia came to teach the men and women here in Anonos and at the men’s and women’s rehab in Alajuelita, which is part of the CCA Church.

This past Wednesday, we said good-bye to a team from the New Life Church in Gahanna, Ohio, who came to build a yellow house. This house was built for a family of nine people! Some of you may know Lester, who leads worship here in Los Anonos. His father passed away in October, which left his mother a widow. So, because of the nine people and because the team was able, they built a home a little larger than usual. What a blessing to move a family into a lovely house, with indoor plumbing and more space. Most of the yellow houses do not have plumbing inside… maybe only to a kitchen sink.

Also, there were two women on this team who came to teach on starting home businesses, the Ten Commandments and conflict resolution. They also did some crafts to show the ladies how easy it is to produce something to sell for little money. They made great connections with the women in Los Anonos. These two ladies also helped to paint the yellow house that the men built. Thank you to all from New Life, who helped with this project.

One of the things that we are working on is helping families that are presently unemployed to find ways to make a living. You’ll hear more about this in the future. As this is something that we feel God is stirring our hearts towards…. helping those in need.
We have all heard the expression, “You can give a man a fish or you can teach him how to fish.” We can also equip him with the proper necessities to fish.

For those of you who would like to read a wonderful description of a week of serving God in Los Anonos, I am going to direct you to New Life’s blog. This was written by the pastor, Brian Robertson, who came with them and others. The last day was written by all of the team members about how the trip impacted them. As in all blogs, you will have to go back ten days to start at the beginning of the trip. The blog address is: http://newlifeincostarica.blogspot.com/

Here’s the New Life team in front of the house they built.



We will have a little break before our next team from Mechanic Falls comes in March. Rodney’s family will be visiting us this month, which will be wonderful.

We are still in need of a building for a church. Please pray about this. The possibility of getting the kindergarten building is not looking good. God has the perfect place for us to meet.

As we move forward as a church, we are in the process of raising leaders and establishing a leadership team. Please keep this in prayer, as well. You will hear more about this in the future.

Once again, we would like to thank all of you for your support. If you would like to financially support Harvest Hands, checks can be made out to Harvest Hands and sent to:

Harvest Hands
c/o Vineyard Church
P.O. Box 55
Mechanic Falls, Maine 04256

Dear Harvest Hands friends,

This newsletter is coming to you a little later than typical. We have been busy. We just said goodbye to the second team of the year. The first team, from Vineyard North, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, came right after the new year. They constructed a yellow house. It was a real blessing for the family that was in much need. Relationships were built and the family now has a greater desire to grow closer to the Lord.



The second team came in from the Mountain View Community Church in Culpeper, Virginia. They basically did teachings here in Los Anonos and in the rehab centers who we work with. They taught on abuse, purity, marriages and family.



As they leave, we are now preparing for the construction of the second yellow house of the year, with a team from Columbus, Ohio, the New Life Gahanna Church.

In light of all of this, all of our hearts look to Haiti at this time. As we look out on the community where we live, Los Anonos, we can only imagine how devastating this is to so many who live in Haiti, because of the conditions that they already live in. It is also awesome to hear the testimonies of faith of the people from Haiti. In reflecting on the Haitian people and those who we work with here in Los Anonos, it is amazing how those who live in poverty have a greater strength to rise above devastation such as this. They know how to survive without their computers, without cars, without TVs, without gourmet food, without hot showers, etc. Because, for most, they never had these luxuries to begin with. I am not saying that it is easy for them. But, what I am saying is that they are truly a people of faith who depend on the Lord.
I ask myself, “Oh God, how would I do if I were in their shoes?” I don’t want this to sound political or judgmental, but this is an awakening in my heart even more for those in need. This is truly a tragedy that is happening in Haiti and they need all the help that they can get.

With that being said, we also must reflect that according to UNICEF, 25,000 children die each day due to poverty. That’s 100,000 in 4 days. This rarely makes headline news. If you feel led, take a look at the statistics on this site: http://www.globalissues.org/article/715/today-over-25000-children-died-around-the-world.

When I looked at this site, I felt overwhelmed. However, I know that God had given us, the church, the ability to help those in need. We are thankful for all who have supported the work here in Los Anonos and we know that your hearts are also crying out as well for those in Haiti. Let’s also continue to reflect on the catastrophes that happen every day. Is it possible for us to make a difference? I believe, yes, because we have a great God, who has a huge heart that cares for mankind.

I am reminded of something that Bono said, “The poor are where God lives. God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. God is where the opportunity is lost and lives are shattered. God is with the mother who has infected a child with a virus that will take both their lives. God is under the rubble in the cries we hear during wartime. God, my friends, is with the poor, and God is with us if we are with them.”

With this being said, we know that God is with the Haitians and with those around the world who are suffering from extreme poverty. And He calls out for us to continue our involvement in His Kingdom, here on earth, wherever the Holy Spirit leads us.

God bless you and thank you for your prayers and financial support.
Rodney and Cindy

Nicaragua Trip

I have been pondering for days about how to write about our trip to Nicaragua. It’s very difficult to know where to begin, because of the intensity. How do you write about a trip to the second poorest nation in the western hemisphere, where 85% of the people live below poverty level?

We went with 16 people. Being missional was new to 11 of the 16 and all came back to Los Anonos with a greater under-standing of Nicaraguans and of what it is like to live in poverty. The young men from Anonos, though in need themselves, saw that there are others who live in worse conditions.

The only glitch that we had in the 12 hour travel day was a three hour wait at the “frontera”, the border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua. We had 500 notebooks that we were bringing to a Christian school located in the Managua dump. The border guard was going to charge us $200 to bring the notebooks into the country, but he later changed his mind and charged us $20. Hmmm... That makes you wonder where he was coming from! But this is very typical of the corruption in the government there.

Our first place to visit the next day was “La Chureca”, the dump in Managua. About 1,500 people live here. Please take a look at this video, taken by another ministry. It describes “La Chureca”. http://www.vimeo.com/1054619 Here the people merely exist. They exist by scavenging for garbage to eat. I saw a man who had a bag of bones that looked as if they had been discarded by a butcher or meat shop. Our guide, the vice-principal of the Christian school, said to me, “That’s his dinner.” I saw another man walking on top of a smoldering pile of trash. He had on rubber boots. A man told us that his feet are numb from the heat... not burned, but he was just accustomed to the temperature. This is how he survives. I saw one of the cutest dirtiest little girls that I've ever seen.

We saw trash scattered everywhere, houses of plastic bags, dirty and naked children, and animals looking for food, as well. The air was heavy with smoke to the point that it burned my eyes and I wondered how many had respiratory diseases.
One lady told me she had lived there for eleven years. How can this be? There are some who wouldn’t want to leave... they know nothing else. They wouldn’t know how to live outside of the rubble. They wouldn’t know how to live if they didn’t have to scrounge for every need.

Next, we worked in Tipitapa for 1-1/2 days. Tipitapa is a huge community of shacks. Some of people who live in Tipitapa work in the sweat shops, where they are barely paid enough to buy food. Many homes don’t have refrigerators or stoves. Perhaps just a wood fire to cook the little food that they can buy, perhaps just rice and beans.

We had two focuses in Tipitapa. One was a children’s program and the other was rebuilding an outhouse and a shower for an older couple.

Virginia is 56 years old, but looks 70, because of her hard life. Adam is older and has Parkinson’s disease. He can barely function at this point. Virginia and Adam have a one room wooden house with a dirt floor. Their outhouse had no door and was falling apart. Their outside shower was nothing but a few metal sheets put together with plastic as a curtain and a bucket to fill with water. She has such a look of hopelessness on her face. And he has blank eyes from discouragement because of his disease.
We hope that when they stand under that running water in their new shower that they would be washed and refreshed by the love of Jesus.



The children’s program was held at the local church, a small and humble facility with a tiny enclosed yard. And somehow this small yard was filled with about 300 children!! The group of young people, who went with us, did some activities with the children and then gave them hot dogs, chips, a drink and candy. Many of these children brought their one hot dog home to their family. We were happy to give out hot dogs, but frustrated, because of the endless hunger in this area.

We finished off Saturday with a trip to the Managua Children’s Hospital. We joined with the Vineyard church in Managua, so there were about 30 people who went. It seemed quite strange to me to visit a children’s hospital from 8 to 10 at night. We divided into three groups. One group went to the ward where children were in serious condition, but healing. Another group went to the cancer ward. And the last group went to the waiting room in the general ward and ministered to the parents and some of the children who were out of their rooms. These children were being tested and cared for, but were well enough to visit. What precious children! We can’t say if any healings happened, but we do know that there were tears and blessings on both their part and ours.

This is just an overview of our time in Nicaragua, because of space purposes. We have included here a couple of photos. I will post some photos here and on my Facebook page.

We want you to know that your prayers and your financial support are greatly appreciated. We pray that you will have a wonderful Christmas and a joyfully blessed 2010!

Merry Christmas!
Rodney and Cindy and the Harvest Hands Team


If you would like to see more pictures from the Harverst Hands mission trip to Nicaragua,
please visit Picasa at the link below.

http://picasaweb.google.com/cinrodlaf/NicaraguaTrip2009#

To all of our Harvest Hands Friends,

Go to this site, if you would like to view our photos from our Nicaragua Trip 2009:
http://picasaweb.google.com/cinrodlaf/NicaraguaTrip2009#

The months fly by so quickly, it’s difficult to keep track of what is happening! Now that November is upon us, we are prepping for our family to visit for Thanksgiving and at the same time planning our trip to Nicaragua with about 12 – 15 people. Oh how many blessings God pours out on us that we are thankful for!!



During the last week in October, we had the privilege and honor of hosting several of the pastors and mission leaders of the churches who come on a regular basis. These churches send teams two or three times a year and have been instrumental in the growth of the church here in Los Anonos.

This group of churches were made up of our home church, the Vineyard Church of Mechanic Falls, Maine (it was so good to have Dick and Maida Ray, our pastors, here!!); New Life Church of Gahanna (Columbus) Ohio (Brian Robertson, associate pastor and Cindy Schmidt, missions director); Mountain View Community Church of Culpeper, Virginia (Derek and Carrie McFarland, associate pastors and Jeff Kesner, missions director); The Summit of Madison, Virginia, (Mark DeCourcey, pastor); and Vineyard North of Grand Rapids, Michigan, (Mike and Lauren Befus, associate pastors). These people come to Los Anonos and give freely of their hearts, souls and pocketbooks! We thank God for them!

We talked about the vision of a new church here and how to make it work. We talked about the needs, such as a pastor and a larger building. We do know of a building nearby that will cost $1,000 a month to rent. It is a very large house, with a living room that is able to hold about 100 people. Plus there are several other rooms that could be used for classrooms. We know that God will provide the perfect place for a church in Los Anonos. He will also provide a pastor with a heart for this community.

On our mission trip to Nicaragua we will be working with the local Vineyard church of Managua and with several of our Los Anonos young people and several people from La Viña. This is, for many, their first mission trip.



Our hope is to see the Viña Los Anonos become a missonal church from the onset. We also want to see the other churches do more missonal work abroad. We will be working in a community called Tipitapa. The poverty here is extreme. A children’s Christmas program at one of the local churches in this community is being given, as well as a small construction project. Also we will visit a school that is in the dump of the capital city of Managua. There are 1500+ people who live here, where you see children rummaging through the trash with the hope for something to eat or a tin can they could recycle for cash.


We thank all of you for your support and prayers! They are so needed at this time.

If you would like to send monthly support or a one time donation, you can send a check to Harvest Hands at this address:
Harvest Hands
C/O The Vineyard Church
P.O. Box 55
Mechanic Falls, Maine 04256

Blessings to you All!
Rodney and Cindy

Dear Harvest Hands friends,

It's time for another newsletter! How quickly the months pass! Thank you all so very much for all that you do! We are seeing the fruits!

Baptism!!

We woke up this past Sunday to a beautiful sunny day. What a day for a baptism, a baptism of 14 of our young people from Los Anonos! And the Lord was so faithful to keep the rain away until we were finished!

We held it at our friend Rosa’s property in the mountains, a lovely place with a natural pool, a rancho and the peace and love of God.

Rodney went out early to set up. Rosa’s sister was already there, cooking a typical Costa Rican meal for forty people. The remainder of the people arrived around 10:30.

Our service began with worship, followed by a precious baby dedication that had been requested by several of the young mothers who wanted to dedicate their babies to Jesus. These children were anointed with oil and the mothers were encouraged to raise their children in the ways of God.

After the dedication, 14 young people gave their testimonies about how the Lord has changed their lives and why they wanted to be baptized. Some of these young people have come out of drug addictions and they all still live in very difficult situations. I've attached a photo of one of our young men being baptized. It is such a picture of dying and being resurrected into a new life!



The day ended with a sharing of communion, a great meal and a wild round of mud “futbol”! (Photo attached) Note the “muchacho” on the left…. He is our very own Steve, who is fast becoming a friend to all of these young men.



There is so much happening here that it is difficult to put it in one short letter. Rodney and Jono took a trip to Nicaragua at the end of September to plan a mission trip. They made some awesome connections there, one being a Christian school in the middle of the Managua dump, where about 1,500 people live… yes, they live in the dump. As we will be taking several of our young people from Los Anonos on this trip, please pray for them to be able to raise funds, etc.

Towards the end of this month, a group of pastors and mission directors will be joining us for five days of meetings. We will discuss what the future of Harvest Hands and a new church here in Anonos will look like. These leaders are from the churches that support us in our ministry here. They are wonderful people of God who come from several different churches: Our church, the Vineyard Church of Mechanic Falls, Maine; New Life Church of Gahanna (Columbus); Ohio, Mountain View Community Church of Culpeper, Virginia: The Summit of Madison, Virginia; and Vineyard North of Grand Rapids, Michigan.


We love that we can all work together to advance the Kingdom! I’m reminded of Psalm 133:
1 How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! 2 It is like precious oil poured on the head, 
running down on the beard, running down on Aaron's beard, down upon the collar of his robes. 3 It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the LORD bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.

It is the joining together of these churches in unity that has been so beneficial to this ministry. God is anointing us and blessing us as we serve here together.

We are in desperate need of a larger facility for our meetings. Please keep this in prayer. Right now, we have our little church divided into many small groups, which has been working out well. But we desire to be able to meet as a body and do not have a space large enough.


Think of how far Los Anonos has come! And it is because of all of your prayers! Thank you!

Bendiciones,
Rodney and Cindy

September 7, 2009

Dear Harvest Hands Friends!

We have entered a new season here at Harvest Hands. It seems that our seasons are such.... January to April and June to August are team seasons. September to December and May to June are our “down times”, when we are just as busy in a different way than when teams are here. God doesn’t stop moving in Los Anonos when we have “down time”. He continues to advance His Kingdom.

We would like to welcome Steve Limerick from our church in Mechanic Falls, Maine! Steve will with us for a year. We’ll love having another man around the house. He will be able to help Rodney with some of those “manly” chores that Taylor and I are not able to do!! God always provides for our needs!

As some of you may know, I, Cindy, took advantage of the “down” time and had surgery on my foot on August 25th. And I would like to thank all of you for your prayers. It is healing nicely. This time as been difficult, because I’m not really able to do much. I thought that I would enjoy the idea of not cooking, etc., but I’ve found that it’s more frustrating than restful! I roll around the house in an office chair! I do stand up on one leg to occasionally cut veggies and help Rodney in the kitchen a little. He’s doing a great job keeping us all fed!

This “down time” has also been a time when we can spend a little more time in the Word and a little more time journaling. However, we have been very busy planning future events, which I would like to tell you about.

This week, Rodney and Jono, the young man who is working with us, will be going to Nicaragua to plan an outreach with the Vineyard Church in Managua. This outreach will happen in November. We are really excited about this, because the trip will involve bringing several of the young people from Los Anonos and people from La Viña Escazu– 20 in all. What a better way to involve them in Kingdom work! They will have the opportunity to serve in a community called Tipitapa, which makes Los Anonos look like Beverly Hills. 85% of Nicaragua lives way below poverty level. The purpose of doing a mission trip at this time is so that the DNA of the church is mission minded and church planting minded.

Please keep this trip in your prayers.
Pray for Rodney and Jono as they plan the outreach with the folks from
Nicaragua.
Pray for God’s favor upon those going in November.
Pray for all of the technical logistics (place to stay, vans, etc.)
Pray that the funds will be there for our Anonos young people.
They are working on getting their passports right now, the money for which was provided by a church that sends teams here. But they will need funds for the trip, as well.

Other current and future happenings is of course the baby church, which is growing. We have been meeting in our small “casita”, but 45 people in a 12’X16’ area doesn’t quite suffice!! So, we are looking for a larger facility for our meetings. We will keep the little casita, as well, because right now it is used 4 nights a week for various meetings...English class, meetings for those who struggle with addictions and our Friday night meeting which started out to be only for the young men, but has turned into an “everybody” meeting.

In October we are having our first baptism!!!! We have 15- 20 people who want to be baptized and I’m sure that more will sign up when we announce it.

Please pray for strategy for this new little church.
That God would bring us a larger facility.
That God would show us the steps to take in order to make it thrive.
That He would help us to train up some of the young people as leaders.
That He would give someone the heart to pastor it.

Please pray for us as we minister to the folks of Los Anonos.
That we will be able to find a good place for the baptism.
That He would give us wisdom, grace and patience.
That He would enlarge our hearing and seeing, to know what He is doing.
That there would continue to be a unity here in the house, as we now have
2 young people living here and 2 more people working with us. A
team of six!! It’s wonderful!


This photo is of our present Harvest Hands Team:



Left to right: Jono Calvo, Taylor Crossman, Luis Sanchez, Cindy, Steve Limerick and Rodney



Thank you for your prayers and financial support. We could not do this without all of you!

If you wish to make a donation, here’s the address:
Harvest Hands
c/o Vineyard Church of Mechanic Falls
P.O. Box 55
Mechanic Falls, Maine 04256


Bendiciones,
Rodney and Cindy