A single step starts a journey of a thousand miles.....as the night skies darken over the southeast a team from the Rock Church in Asheville NC is in route to Nicaragua to join El Taller del Maestro team to begin a multi day trip down the Rio Coco river.
The outreach will provide supplies, shoes, and clothes to villages along the river. These supplies act as a catalyst to share the Gospel Message with the villages, ministering not only to the physical needs but the spiritual needs of the people as well. As the ministry continues outreaches along the river new opportunities and needs present themselves. This trip takes the teams further down the river than they had previously traveled to the community of San Andres De Bocay.
There is no quick or easy way to get to these villages, it takes days of travel by plane, 4x4 vehicles and boat to arrive. When Jesus spoke of taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth......the Rio Coco very well may have been in his mind. The area is rugged and accessible only by boat along the river. The villages are dependent on supplies carried along this thread of rock and water that cuts through the deepening valley of the mountains.
The people of this region are often forgotten due to their inaccessibility, but God knows each one of them intimately and desires to reach them. Though it only took a single word from the mouth of God to speak into existence the heavens and the earth.......God chooses to use people to reach the hearts of the lost. It is outreaches like this that moves heaven and earth and brings the hope of heaven to the people.
The map above shows an overview of the route the teams are taking. The bottom left star is the drop in point at Wiwili. The river winds northeast through the mountains along the border of Honduras towards San Andres (the red pin). Take a look at the map and consider for a moment how many remote villages exist throughout the region. Thousands of people isolated with limited resources and in need of the hope only the Gospel can provide, an eternal hope filled with God's grace and favor.