The mission trip began on Sunday, March 1, 2009 when nine of the thirteen working witness team members arrived in Puerto Cabezas on the East coast of Nicaragua. They would travel three hours to Panua where they would meet up with the other four members of the team who had been there sawing lumber the previous week. After brief planning the team was split so that half would work on the trusses and the other half would work on framing the church building walls. Two of the crew members returned to Puerto Cabezas to run the motor grader. Only a limited amount of preparation work was done on the first day. That night Eric Byrd and Jeff Hayes gave their testimonies half-way through the “Jesus Film”. The next day all of trusses were built and set and all four walls placed despite the rain delay that was experienced in the morning and afternoon. The team also experienced extreme wind and rain that night. The next day the purlins and metal roofing was put on the main part of the church building. The siding, windows, and doors were also built on Tuesday and put on the building. The porch framing was underway just before stopping work for the day. On Wednesday the porch was finished, along with twelve pews and a podium for Pauna’s pastor Philemon Rosemond. That night the team was invited to a church service in the newly constructed building. Over seventy locals plus the working witness team attended the first service. Pastor Denatri and Pastor Philemon both thanked the team and described the new church as one of the most beautiful churches they had ever seen. The church members were very thankful for the new church and all of the extra work the team had done that week. Pastor Philemon was extremely thankful for his podium. On Thursday part of the team laid block for the pulpit while the other part packed up camp. The team was able to make it safely back to Puerto Cabezas just in time for lunch.

Contributed by Taylor Kellerman