Bagby Family Support
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$50.00
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Laura and Michael are the founders of Seek The Lamb and the Rio Coco Cafe ministries. They are pictured here with their four children; Arielle, Lukas, Moselle, and Mikaela (2009 Sih Nicaragua).
Michael is a historian and former Navy pilot who first came to the Miskitia in 1984 during the Sandinista- Contra war when over 60,000 Miskito refugees has fled their communities along the Rio Coco into neighboring Honduras. He volunteered for a two week trip to deliver relief supplies, but due to the extreme remoteness of the region, it took over 6 months to deliver all the clothing, food, and medicines to the communities along the Kruta and Coco Rivers.
It was during this time that a refugee teacher named Augusto Vicente asked Michael and Truman Cunningham (the refugee co-ordinator) to help him start a school for refugee children. In 1986, four more schools were started and by 1987 there were 12 Project Ezra primary schools located along the Kruta and Coco rivers. When the war ended in 1990, they were invited by the new Nicaraguan government to continue the school project on thhe Nicaraguan side of the Coco River. Since then, tens of thousands of Miskito youth have been educated.
Kiwastara School, 1989 Honduras, war years
Laura is a social worker and cosmetologist who met Michael in 1987 on Maui. They married in October 1, 1988 and lived in the refugee comminity of Auka Honduras along with a home in the nearest city- La Ceiba Honduras. Laura quicky learned the Miskito language and started the Child Sponsorship program which touched hundreds of Miskito children over the next 20 years.
Laura and Michael took three of the Miskito leaders of the school project to Israel in 1997 for a Biblical cultural study course, and were invited back in 1999 to work with Dr Randall Smith of Christian Travel Study Programs. They returned to Israel in 2000 for another study tour where they helped Dr Smith begin a relief program helping victims of the Intifada with food and medical help.
Truman Cunningham, Michael, Onofre Zamora & Augusto Vicente, Old City Jerusalem, 1997
They continued to bring friends for Biblical study tours in Israel, Greece, Turkey and Italy of Biblical sites in 2001, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2018, 2021, and 2023.
In 2004, they launched a coffee roasting business, Rio Coco Beans, to generate income to pay the school project teachers.
During their 14 years of residence in La Ceiba, Laura and Michael began visiting the sland of Utila, only 18 miles offshore from La Ceiba. Utila is part of the Bay Islands, a former British colony that is famous for scuba diving. The Bay Island are part of the second largest barrier reef system in the world. All the world comes to Utila for their scuba and few diving certifications.
When Laura and Michael returned to Utila after a 10 year hiatus in Nicaragua, they were inspired to start a coffee shop ministry, to reach out to the many travellers from Europe, Australia, Israel, England, Ireland, Canada and the United States. Good food, good coffee and hospitality are the key to reaching many with the Good News of Christ. They found a waterfront home in 2011, built a cafe and opened in the summer of 2011. That fall they opened the first Rio Coco Cafe in Vero Beach Florida.
The Rio Coco Cafe ministry now has three locations, and serves as a community building location where the Gospel is naturally presented through hopsitality, music events, art classes, Bible studies, and community meetings.
Michael and Laura are volunteers to the Rio Coco Cafes and the outreach on the Coco River in Nicaragua. They are supported by a team of friends who have participated in this work since it began in 1984.
