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Dear Prayer Supporters:

I am at the beginning of my Nicaragua/Honduras trip of July 2-21. I have just arrived in Guatemala due to unforeseen travel changes related to a mechanical breakdown in Miami on the flight that was to take me to Nicaragua today. They were not able to repair the mechanical problems, nor replace the airplane with another, so 400+ passengers were forced to spend 3-4 hours in line trying to make alternate arrangements for flights that were already booked to overfull due to the US July 4 Independence Day travel schedule. In order to get to Nicaragua and attend the first appointment in León, Nicaragua, I had to make arrangements to fly to Guatemala overnight and then take an early flight to Managua in the morning. I’m at the airport as I write this note ready to fly to Managua. However my checked baggage (my clothes and a box of 70 books) are not travelling with me in the alternate flight plans, so they are expected to arrive in Nicaragua on Thursday afternoon. Due to weather problems here in Miami, my flight was delayed for over an hour, but thankfully, I was able to make it out and get to Guatemala City to spend the night there.

Please pray that the books for my courses will arrive later Thursday afternoon without any delay. For the first part of the trip I will be opening up a new Centre in León that is made up of 45 students who are part of an existing Church Leadership Training Institute. Lord willing I will be at another church in Managua over the weekend to start another Centre there. Next week I plan to teach at the existing MINTS Centre in Puerto Cabezas. While there I will be visiting the area affected by Hurricane Felix where MINTS and Word & Deed have partnered in the rebuilding of the village of one of the MINTS students. I’ll be travelling by motor boat along the Atlantic Ocean coast-line to visit this community (in Dákura) to review the relief work being done by some of the MINTS students in the water treatment and housing project in that community. After spending time at the prison in Managua over the following weekend I’ll be spending a week in Honduras coordinating plans for the future for several of our MINTS Centres there.

Please pray for safe arrival of the books for the courses I’ll be teaching and for safety in my travels during this ministry trip.

Rev. Eric Pennings