Builders project to Nicaragua brings improvements to national office space
For Dave and me it was our second time to Nicaragua. It was great to see the camp we worked at in 2010 when Lester and Darlene Olfert were there—the same custodian was still taking care of the camp.
But going to another country to do a project is a new experience each time; on this occasion the project was to improve the conference’s national office in Managua. No work had been done on the building for many years, so it needed a complete overhaul. This included a new roof and new sewer lines, and the inside needed to be redesigned to make better use of the space and make it a cheerier place to work.
The work team, serving March 14–29, 2025, was Gerald Reimer—Conference rep, Ernie Koop—team leader, Leroy Siemens, Dave and Pat Brandt, Isaak Peters, Gord Utz, Art Koop, Darrell Guenther and Peter Peters. Peter left after the first week and Justin Brandt and Brad Brandt came the second week.
We first removed all the furniture and office supplies. Some of it went to the camp and some to the Morazan church next door so the women working in the office could keep working during construction.
The men took the A/C off the roof and the T-bar and tiles off the ceiling. After this they worked hard chopping down inside walls and taking out floor tiles. The doors had to stay closed so neighbours wouldn’t complain about the noise. It was very hot and smelly from sweat, dust and from the old sewage pipes in the building. The temperature outside was always around 35 degrees.
Meanwhile offsite a few of us worked on painting steel rafters which had to get welded. Ernie spent many days getting supplies for the project: rebar, paint, welding supplies, cement, and many other supplies that were needed. After each day the men were very dirty and tired but, in the evenings, they were cheerful with lots of joking around and visiting, a few card games and an evening of singing and sharing.
On the Saturdays, we did some sightseeing, swam in the ocean and went to a market. We went to two churches one Sunday and another the other Sunday. We also got to meet a Cuban couple that was staying at the guesthouse we were in. We communicated by language phone translation to hear how they left Cuba by faith and trusted in God to plant churches in Mexico. Their visas ran out so they were in Nicaragua hoping and praying for new visas so they could go back to Mexico and not back to Cuba. It was not looking hopeful, but they were still very positive. They said, please pray for us.
The building looked quite destroyed at the end of our stay. When we left, the last inside wall was down, trenching for the sewer lines was being dug, some rebar and some steel beams were in, and some cementing had been done. All the work was done inside—the outside walls were left. Some face lifting will be done on the outside as they progress with the project.
This is only a small picture of what the two weeks were like. We left the building very unfinished, but the local contractor Johel will complete the project while we continue to raise funds.