Straight Street Nicaragua

We capped off an incredible week of ministry with a team from Enterprise, Alabama with men's and women's conferences, evangelism, and today a conference for pastors and their family's. We ministered to each age group of the family including the children, adolescents, and youth. We blessed each family with scriptural challenges as pastors face various challenges in the ministry and in the family! We love our pastors and we bless each local church as the people of God on the earth!

This is Amanda Marken. She will be serving with Straight Street International for 25 days. She has felt a call to missions and decided to sacrifice part of her summer to explore that calling.

Amanda is strongly involved in her church in Colorado. She volunteers with and mentors middle school girls through the church. She just graduated high school in May and is planning on continuing her missionary journey through YWAM starting in September. Please continue to pray for Amanda as she ministers and that she will listen to the call the Lord has for her life.

We want to introduce you to Julia Cunneff! She will be interning at Straight Street for 27 days and has sacrificed time out of her summer to serve here in Nicaragua with us. She has come with an open heart to learn more about what it looks like to be the hands and feet for Christ. She feels a calling into missions and has learned a lot so far about what that looks like for her life.

Julia is currently serving at New Life Church in Colorado Springs. She will be a junior in high school this upcoming year, and she is excited to continue exploring God’s calling for her as she finishes off her high school years. Please continue praying for her as God reveals His great plan to her!

We want to introduce Kaylee Parkison. Kaylee will be serving with Straight Street for 4 weeks. She will also be serving at the Seeds of Hope ministry teaching graphic design and drawing classes. She is aiming to gain practical experience in international mission work and serve where needed.

Kaylee currently serves in her local church at Eastanallee Baptist in Riceville, TN. She is a rising senior at Lee University and will be graduating with a degree in graphic design in May of 2023. Please continue to pray for Kaylee as she discerns God’s call on her life and for wisdom in making future plans.

We want to introduce you to Cade Windebank. Cade will be serving 3 weeks, giving up part of his summer to share the good news. Cade first came to Nicargua back in March of this year and felt a strong call to come back. He feels called to share the gospel on an international level and is taking his first steps to do so while in Nicargua. He is excited to be back and see what the Lord has in store for this short time.

Cade has served as a youth group leader at his church for several years and loves to see the work God is doing in the lives around him. He is an upcoming sophomore and will be transferring to Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida this fall. There he will be studying graphic design. Cade asks all of us to be in prayer for the people in Nicargua and other countries who have yet to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. Cade will continue to be led by the Lord on where to go next in his journey.

This afternoon our group of 6 interns serving this summer held a luncheon for local youth pastors to encourage them in their invaluable work for the Kingdom. We worshipped together and encouraged each one of these servants to not grow weary and continue in the work. The interns shared how a pastor or mentor had invested in their lives, maybe even when the pastor saw no fruit, and today each one of these interns is exploring a call to ministry and missions. It was an emotional time for everyone as they shared testimonies of pastors not giving up, brothers stopping an attempted su***de, and the beauty of the Gospel transforming lives. At the end, we laid hands on each pastor and blessed them in their work and exhorted them to run the race as in due time their would be a great harvest. God is working out His great global plan and we're all thankful to be a small part of what He's doing!

We want to introduce you to Lauren Akridge. Lauren has been here at Straight Street since July 7th and will stay until August 10th. She visited in March for a short-term mission trip, but felt called to come back this summer to serve as an intern to get more time to experience what it’s like being a missionary in Granada, Nicaragua. She has already had the chance to be a part of many different opportunities including feeding programs, church services, church events, conferences, and more. Her main focus of this internship is to learn how to run an organization like Straight Street in a third world country to see if that’s something that God is leading her to.

She currently works as a third grade teacher and support staff at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She plans to graduate in two years from Grand Canyon University with her Business Administration degree. She hopes to use her experience and education to further the kingdom of God, possibly as an international missionary.

Please pray for Lauren as she continues to serve and minister to the people of Nicaragua and explore the path that God has for her in the future.

Last night we celebrated the work of God as this mission team finished up a great week of ministry. We had a testimony night with both missionaries and local church members praising God through His work in men's and women's conferences, discipleship visits, a new church inauguration, and several new brothers and sisters receiving new life in Christ! Thank you First Baptist Sweetwater for blessing the Church of Nicaragua!

Last night we celebrated with El Varillal Church as they inaugurated their new building for worship and as a place of praise for God's name. Many thank you's were given to God and the many people who made this vision possible. We were able to accomish the dreams of the church in a creative way by providing a large worship space, 3 classrooms, and a future kitchen area. God has been good to this church and is using this body of believers to reach and disciple many in this rural community. Thank you to the many of you who have made this vision possible and have blessed this community so much.

In the future we would to love to build a complete kitchen for their feeding program and a bathroom to serve this community. If you are interested in blessing a community and fulfilling a vision like these or the many other needs in this area please let us know!

We're putting the final details on our current church project. We will finish the concrete floor, stucco the walls, and the electrical system. Then we will celebrate with the whole church on July 10th with an inauguration service as we thank God for his provision, and encourage this body to continue the work they have started in calling the dead back to life. Thank you to every person who has made this project to become a reality and has given this incredible tool to this community!

This past week we have had a nursing team from Pennsylvania serving with us in underserved areas throughout our area. Before they leave they will see and dispense medicine to over 200 patients. Also, they are providing education to different groups concerning diet, basic first aid, and general health. We are thankful to our many gifted partners and how they show the father's heart to those who are most in need!

We kicked off a new ministry this morning with a weekly television broadcast on Canal 5 called "Wisdom for Today." This program combines teaching of God's word with a morning talk show vibe to share how the principles of God's word are applicable to everyday life. We began a series over marriage and the family and how living out the truth of the Bible leads to a blessed marriage. The weekly program is designed to reach the nominally religious and also mature believers alike with the practicality of God's word in their daily lives as they shop, work, rest, and play. We're thankful for the impact this ministry will have in the lives of many in the days to come!

We want to introduce you to Micah Bice. Micah will be serving with Straight Street for 11 weeks, giving up his summer to explore the call of God on his life. He knows he has been called to serve and will be gaining many different ministry opportunities with local churches here in Nicaragua and exploring what is international missions.

Micah has served as an interim youth pastor and currently serves in his local church of Eastanalle Baptist in Riceville, TN. He is a rising senior and will graduate with a major in communications from Lee University in May of 2023. Please continue to be in prayer for Micah as he ministers to others and that he hears clearly from God the direction He is calling him to serve.

Our construction team is advancing rapidly on our next project. This church is a new design to maximize all of the resources available to match the needs of the church. This pastor is a very hard working man and is a very humble discipler. The estimated time to finish the church so they can begin to worship inside is around 6 weeks. Thank you to everyone who has made this prayer possible!

Our next construction project is advancing along. Several years ago we met Pastor Mario who had just started pastoring this church after the building sat empty a couple of years. Mario began to minister to this community where there had been no pastor and began to reach families and children. Mario began to disciple leaders and after 4 years the church has outgrown the current building. They began to meet in an outdoor structure for the lack of space and the building was basically sawdust and unsafe.

We felt led to share this need to construct a new building in this community and several of you have responded. This will be a different type of construction with an open air and multi purpose concept. We will be building around the existing structure and demolishing later. Because of the year round climate we can build in creative ways. The sanctuary will be open without walls. We will have a classroom and storage space connected to the worship space, and finally a back porch will serve as more classroom space for children and a kitchen for their feeding program.

We're excited about how this new tool will be used to reach and disciple new believers in the faith and serve as a center of hope for this community.

We recently celebrated the inauguration of our last completed church project. Our construction team worked very hard for months to complete this building and we finally got to celebrate with the whole church as they asked God to use this building as a tool to reach their community. Thank you to everyone who financially supported this project and has blessed this community!

This week we celebrated our first team in 2 years to serve the local church in Nicaragua. This was the last night of ministry at a celebration service for all that was accomplished during the week. In this picture, I see 8 people who committed to faith in Christ standing boldly in their decision for Him. I see blessings of the global church as a church from Colorado blessing a small fishing community outside of Granada. The church is growing and needed more chairs and this church provided them. This local church had recently lost their keyboard for worship services due to a problem and unknown brothers from another country provided one so that God's praise can continue. I see youth missionaries sacrificing their spring break to see Christ made known. I see the power of the Gospel in transforming lives, healing homes, providing a future, restoring marriages, and the Kingdom growing. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, I think we can find more than 1,000 in this picture for which we can praise God! Thank you Global Infusion and New Life Church for serving with us and changing lives for eternity!

A few weeks ago a pastor approached us with a problem in his church. Many marriages were under attack and many had already given up. He asked that we do a follow up to a previous conference in the fall that God may work in the lives of these marriages and restore them. This past Friday night we shared two special sessions with this great group of couples learning that marriage is not a contract, but a covenant and if that is true what practical things should a marriage do to reflect that covenant and be healthy.

This is the testimony that we received this morning translated- "Good morning. I want to give thanks to Straight Street for your support. There are testimonies of couples that were going to separate or divorce and this past friday was the last attempt for them. After the conference everything changed and they have decided to continue to fight to be together in their marriage. Many thanks because this has no cost." He continued on giving thanks for the Word of God.

We're thankful for this incredible ministry that God has given to each person of this team as we work together to build the church in Nicaragua!

Hebrews 13:4 teaches us to honor marriage. Last night we had the opportunity lead worship and teach basic biblical fundamentals about the truth of God's word to these couples. Some were already Christians, others not. Some were married, some were only living together. Some were already committed, some were not. Our prayer is that through God's word that some received the inconceivable love of God and that others took a step to commit to death to their partner living out the principles that we find in the Bible. Pray for us as we host another marriage conference this Friday in the city of Granada!

Our construction team has been working very hard to finalize our latest church project finishing up all of the metal doors and windows in the building to make it secure, and laying the ceramic tile. We're grateful to be a part of helping to build the Church of Nicaragua as we know many lives will be changed forever through the power of Christ in this place!

In 2005, I (Drew) had the opportunity to go on my first international mission trip. It was 7 days that would later define the direction of my life and God began to whisper a call to the nations through this week. We know there are many young people out there exploring this same call to serve the Lord in a place foreign to you. Straight Street International is accepting short and long term "interns" to learn more about cross-cultural missions, test your call, and gain experience and skills while being a part of what God is doing in His global church. If you are a pastor or church leader and have a potential candidate or you are interested in finding out more information about what a leadership internship would look like involved please send us a message!

The covid crisis that began in 2020 continues on into this year. This for good reason has not permitted travel at times, and has made travel more challenging, especially internationally. Even though there are challenges, we are accepting mission teams in Nicaragua in 2022. If your family or church is interested in serving with us this year, please send us a message and we can discuss the travel requirements and solutions to make sure that you have a great week of ministry in the middle of much uncertainty!

In 2021 you have blessed many people in Nicaragua through your financial support. We wish that you could experience every single blessing in person, but until then may these stories bless your investment into the Kingdom this year!

20221 Year of Blessings/ Year in Review - https://mailchi.mp/21a4da23484c/2021-year-of-blessings-year-in-review

2021 Year of Blessings/ Year in Review We have had a very fruitful year of ministry and have experienced many blessings in our lives this year. We have also seen how your faithfulness has blessed hundreds of people’s lives though the resources that you have entrusted to us and to Straight Street International. We could tell story after...

The next two weeks we're continuing our support of churches that participated in the 15 week long child evangelism training earlier this year by supporting 20 different week long vacation Bible schools in various communities around Granada. We're praying for a great week of ministry and that many children's lives are changed as they hear a clear presentation of the Gospel!

As we serve the people of Nicaragua we are reminded daily of the physical and spiritual needs that exist among the people here. The purpose of each of our ministries is to bless others and show them Christ.

We are reminded today that because of the economy of Nicarauga your investment is multiplied and will bless many people as 100% goes directly to the people, churches, and projects listed below. Thank you for considering blessing the people of Nicarauga on !

We want to highlight several ministry areas that currently have needs:

-We have 12 church based feeding programs feeding over 2,000 kids weekly. It costs around $150 a month to support a local feeding program. As the economy of Nicaragua continues to suffer we have many churches asking to begin feeding programs to bless and be the light of Christ to their communities.

-Weekly we serve in the prisons of Nicaragua sharing a meal, worshipping our King, and teaching the prisoners about the hope that is found in Christ.

-Many churches in our area worship God weekly in buildings without roofs, or under roofs without walls, or sometimes under the shade of a tree. Other churches are in need of kitchens for their feeding programs or a classroom for their Sunday School.

-We do many conferences and events yearly to unite local churches, and train local pastors and leaders to be better equipped to lead the local church.

-Our Bible Institute will begin another class in 2022 offering a seminary level education to local pastors and leaders as we only ask for a symbolic cost and a firm commitment. We have eliminated the barriers so that pastors can receive a high quality bible education.

-Our English classes continue to grow and reach new people through our scripture based curriculum as we give people opportunities to earn greater resources through knowing the English language.

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