Nicaraguan Touchstone

November 2009

Welcome to the November installment of our family ministry. When I first faced
the task of compiling a monthly newsletter telling of our daily journey here in
Nicaragua, I thought how in the world will I ever come up with enough informa-
tion to fill two pages. Well, I sit here now and wonder how I can cut it down to
Come, you only two pages. So if I run over, please bare with me, we have had quite a
who are month. God has been quite busy here in Nicaragua. I will chronicle them in the
blessed by following articles.

my Father: There are many highlight to the past month. To keep it all straight I
have to look through my date book. The first week found us at
take your in- Ni-139 Mimados del Reyno. A school funded by Compassion Inter-
heritance, the national. Our kids sit in the classroom for language development
Kingdom. and social interaction. Vanessa is a teachers aide in Sydney’s class.
I will be working to develop a sports camp for the children and in
Prepared for the later part of the month that idea blossomed. Vanessa will be
you since the holding a Volleyball camp on Thursday afternoons for the girls. I will be teach-
ing baseball for the boys. This idea has great potential for there are 23 other
creation of Compassion Int. schools in Leon and the vision is to start a league with them in
the world. the new year.
For I was On October 12 & 13 I attended a conference with over 180 pastors and church Contact info.
leaders to be trained on the Alpha Program. The Alpha Program teaches a differ-
hungry and ent approach to evangelism and has had an overwhelming response here in Nica- Email: [email protected]
you gave me ragua. It is exciting to see so many pastors fired up with the knowledge of how
something to to grow their churches. Blog:
We also traveled to Managua to visit the U.S. Embassy. They were speigle6onmis-
eat, I was hosting a town hall meeting. We met several Missionaries that are working in sions.blogspot.com
thirsty and Leon and visited with new friends. The evening culminated with a trip to
McDonalds for cheeseburgers. Skype: jdspeigle
you gave me Over the past month I have had several opportunities to speak at differ- john.speigle
something to ent churches. During one particular speaking engagement at the Ebenezer vkspeigle
drink, I was a Church in Los Cocos we had approximately 600 people in attendance. I spoke
on God’s call to Godly living and also shared my testimony and God’s workings Address:
stranger and in my life.
you invited October also found German and I preparing for a mission team’s arrival Not really known
on November 22nd and for a crusade from December 27th to Jan 1st. We are
me in, I laying the ground work for those teams and preparing the local community for
needed the crusade. Another occasion, we visited a radio station to discuss the possibil- Do you want to partner with the
clothes and ity of advertising for the December crusade. I was asked if I wanted to speak on Speigles in their mission work?
the radio. For the next 30 min I gave my testimony, an invitation and promoted Contributions can be sent via:
you clothed the crusade. It was an invigoration experience, something that would have terri-
me, I was fied me if I were not empowered by God. Continued on back Voice of Hope Ministries,
Attn. Katie Hulsey
sick and you This month for me has been one of settling into a routine for our P.O. Box 1780
looked after family. We have a good idea of what we are doing on a daily basis Rogers, AR 72757.
me, I was in which helps the kids and myself get done what needs to be done.
Because of our internet access I am able to print off pictures and Sydney Helping
prison and stories for the teachers at the school to aide them in their teaching. In the Kitchen
you came to I have enjoyed creating different crafts for the kids at the Compas-
visit me. sion School and even had an edible nest with gumball bird eggs for the kids to
work on last week. We are currently studying the story of creation in the pre-
school class, so everything revolves around birds, animals and the Garden of
Matthew Eden. Usually on Thursday and Friday my kids and I work on North American
school and venture into town if John is around. I have not yet tried to go shop-
25: 34—36 ping without John’s help but am getting braver everyday and will probably begin
to do that soon. I am excited about the opportunity to teach English and Music to Kyle discovering
the kids that are interested at the Compassion school. Thursday will be filled rock Climbing.
with teaching volleyball for the older girls. I really enjoy playing the sport and
will most likely enjoy teaching it even more. Continued on back
 From The Kids
From Sierra From Caleb.
There is a school by Jericho It is fun being here in Nicara-
Church that we go to so we can learn gua. We have made some new friends Prayer Needs of the
Spanish, and to make friends. We can’t at a school called Compassion. We Speigles :
really communicate with them because have been doing science experiments
they speak Spanish and we only speak a using pennies, fettuccini, a cup and *Making contact with the
little bit of Spanish. I like it here in Nicaragua. string. We are testing how many pennies the un- Government and the Ministry
cooked noodle could hold. of Families to establish resi-
From Kyle. dency and foster parent
It is fun here in Nicaragua. I From Sydney. status.
like it. When we first got here we stayed I like it here in Nicaragua. I
at the beach. I like playing soccer with a like making friends. I made three new *Making contact with the
friend across the road in our neighbor- friends, two at my school and one right people to help us get
hood. Her name is Gaby. We like play- across the road. Gaby, Claudia, and I started.
ing with her. don’t remember the third girl’s name.
*Language development
You know God only gives us what we need even when we don't know we need it. Yesterday was an unex-
*Need of a vehicle and the
pected worship service and thankfully I was looking for God in it all. We were tired, hungry and not really
funds to purchase.
wanting to be where we were but God blessed us last night with an amazing service of appreciation and love
for family and church members. The church we went to that was supposed to have a birthday party turned out
*Health and safety as we
to be a worship service and pastor appreciate night. I was humbled to see the gifts of gratitude and hugs and
acclimate to a new environ-
love and tears from so many people for their pastor. To make it even more amazing in a culture where women
ment.
do not receive that much status, this pastor was a women. I could tell she cared for her congregation and they
cared for her. God is good and I am thankful He doesn't do what I want. Looking forward to a day of worship
*God’s continued guidance
at a new church with John preaching again. To God be the Glory!!!
This is an Excerpt of our blog found on speigle6onmissions.blogspot.com
Vanessa & Michael
(John Cont.)
The last two weeks of October found me developing new calluses. We broke ground on a new church for Pas-
tor Miguel. We quickly discovered why the community is called “of the Rock.” Several of the foundation
piers had to be dug into solid rock. Progress was made by hammer and
chisel. I enjoyed working with pastor Miguel and believe I am developing
a good friendship with him. It is a challenge to talk with the other workers
because they only speak Spanish and I am only learning slowly. On Fri-
day afternoon Pastor Miguel asked me to speak at his church service. I
Sierra & Nancy
decided to speak on Matthew 7: 24-27, building your house on the
“Rock.” Can you guess where I got my inspiration?

(Vanessa Cont) I have spent much time preparing for teacher training
workshops that will be starting next week. I pray that God will guide me to the right material to
help these teachers in the areas they are looking for help. It is hard sometimes with the language
barrier to understand exactly what direction they are coming from so I rely on God to guide my
directions. I had an especially good time last week when we were invited to visit an English uni-
versity. The students are learning how to speak English and the professor asked us to participate
in the class. We spent several hours talking with the students about topics that ranged from deep
theological questions to the political events that are happening in the country. It was wonderful to
discuss such topics and listen to how well some of the students new their English and to see how
others really struggled and wanted to know more so they could communicate. It was a real bless- Caleb with his soccer mates
ing to be there. I have enjoyed another month in Nicaragua serving our Lord
and Savior and look forward to many more.

Upcoming Events:
Nov 8th. The family is travelling up to the top of the Telica volcano to evan-
gelize in the community of Frio Agua (cold water) a very remote location
only accessible via 4 x 4.
November 12th. Sports camp opens.
November 22nd. Team arrives from Arkansas and Virginia for evangelism
and construction.

Coming in upcoming issues.