International Ministries (IM) and our missionaries, Ketly and Vital have asked me to incorporate a summary of recent Short Term Mission (STM) activities into this journal.

Ketly and Vital had started an After School Work-Study Program in Bluefields, Nicaragua. The program has half-day, morning and afternoon, classes. They have planted the First Spanish Speaking Baptist Church - Bethel two years ago in the veranda of their house. The school enrollment soared from 15 to 155 and a building is badly needed. The original seed of the short-term mission (STM) was planted in First Baptist Church in May 2001, when they were joined here in Colorado Springs, CO along with missionaries Tim and Patti Long for a Pastor's Mission Conference. Ketly and Vital asked a contractor in our church, Joe Smith, if he could come and help them with the construction of a building, even though they did not even have the land at that time.

In July 2001, after fasting and prayer, Vital went out to look around for the place that God had His eyes on for the construction of the church and the program. A place where children and young people can find the presence of God manifested in different ways by His love, His security and His peace. That same day that he went out, he found the place, but the owner had asked $20,000.00 for the land of 3 ½ acres. In December 2001, after much prayer, the Church was able to buy that same land for $10,000 with her tithes and offerings, and with the help of International Ministries. The same month, the church as a whole, children and adults, put the fences around the whole property. Little by little, the church built a small house and a swimming pool. At their first baptism in the pool and picnic day, they had more than 250 people there and had the opportunity to share the Word of God. From that activity some families came to the knowledge of Christ.

Plans slowly developed for the construction of a multi-purpose facility, where the church and after school program will be, due to the need for architectural and engineering leadership, until God opened the doors to EMI (Engineering Ministries International) in February 2002. What an outstanding group they are and are located right here in our own city. This group of primarily volunteers go all over the world providing just this service as a mission, but it can take them more than a year before they actually do the design in a foreign country. They were unable to assist us when we asked them, but we continued to pray faithfully to the one who can open all doors. Again Bethel and our group continued to experience a series of answered prayer and miraculously EMI changed their schedule to accommodate us in early June.

In the meantime, a group from Anacortes Baptist Church from Washington state, led by Denny and Joanne Jenkins, arrived in Bluefields in May to build a basketball court, followed by the EMI team and then by our team. There were 10 of us and were joined by three of the young adult architects from EMI who stayed over with us to "build their plans" (EMI has never experienced that before, of actually "building their plans"). Not enough good can be said for that wonderful group that God handpicked to do the foundation of the building.

The rainy season in Nicaragua is from May until December, so early on, everyone was praying about this condition and God honored our prayers. We still had the heat, humidity and rain, which meant deep mud, but we also had overcast skies and much sunshine to enhance the work. To God be the glory and honor! Bethel and our team witnessed answers to prayer sometimes within minutes of a specific request (i.e. a cement mixer that supposedly did not exist in Bluefields). Our lessons in the power of prayer and the building of relationships were as important as the building of the church and school.

Our team was followed by a Discovery Team of 28 people, led by Karl Metzler who went to continue the work we started by laying out all the blocks and had Vacation Bible School in the afternoon with 154 children for 5 days. As Ketly shared with me, the seed that was planted in the hearts of children, young people and adults, some new people came to church the following Sunday.

Let us continue to pray to God so He may continue to give the increase in these hearts. On a personal note, which I trust you will indulge me: My heart was full of joy to be with my "adopted in love missionary children, Ketly and Vital." We have a long and deep relationship that I treasure. Now my teammates know what I have always known ...that they are true servants of God and such a joy to know. We were all spiritually uplifted by their dependence on our Lord and their dedication to His work. It is truly wonderful to see Vital at work. As the team commented, Vital always had a song in his heart and on his lips and he was such a joy as they labored so hard digging, bailing water, pushing wheelbarrows of cement and carrying blocks. The building is now entering its final stages and will soon be completed.

As team leader I would be remiss if I did not encourage other Short Term Mission (STM) leaders to avail yourselves to two wonderful resources 1) Short-Term Mission Team Leader's Guide prepared by former IM missionary Ann Borquistand a 45 minute video tape about STM by Francesca Crane of IM. Both are excellent and were invaluable to me. To obtain copies of these resources contact Allison Fisher at 1-800-ABC-3USA extension 2196 or e-mail her at Allison.Fisher@abc-usa.org.

Pray for Ketly and Vital and for all of our missionaries around the globe. Having met many of them, I see hard working, outstanding, sacrificial folks who are dedicated to their Passion for Missions.

Marveen Thomas

First Baptist Church

Colorado Springs, CO