Dear Mission Supporters and Friends:
Special Thanks for Giving to the Emergency Email for Nicaragua:
We want to start this month’s newsletter off, before we tell about our mission trip to Acuna, Mexico, by saying how THANKFUL we are for the TREMENDOUS, OUTPOURING of love for food for Nicaragua during these difficult times. The Lord put on our hearts to send out an Emergency Email to all our partners that we have their emails on June 13th to share about the hardships our families and students in our schools are up against due to the unrest in Nicaragua over the past 2 1/2 months. It has become so difficult that now many of our families in our schools and programs are not getting to work, so they are not able to buy food. We felt, we should let our partners know that we need to help buy food for our families and friends in Nicaragua. ALL WE CAN SAY IS THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR HEARTS!!! You, our partners, began to respond and give within a few minutes of the video email. Right now, we have taken in around $30,000.00 for food. Within a few days of the email, we have already sent over $17,000.00 for food to our main pastor, Daniel Ortega Reyes and a few other missionaries to help buy food in other areas. They have bought rice, beans, oil, salt, sugar and a few other necessities to give the families. We have been able to help over 1000 families because of your love and help. We will be able to do this many more times over the next weeks. We will be sending money every 4-6 days as the need is there until all the money is gone. If you did not get our email and would like to be a part of this Emergency food need for Nicaragua, please just mark it on the enclosed monthly slip, “FOOD FOR NICARAGUA”.
Things Turning for the GOOD in Nicaragua:
We are seeing things TURING for the GOOD in Nicaragua this past week, just like we have been praying for. Our schools in Las Maderas and Managua were able to reopen. Our school on Ometepe has been opened most of the time. Only our middle school and high schoolers in Managua are still not able to go to school. However, we believe for that to change over the next few days. Many of the road blocks have been stopped and the roads reopened so people can work, and students can go back to school. We are believing that PEACE and Safety for the people are returning every day. We are believing God that on August 3rd, our normal scheduled mission trip, that our team will get to go and continue sharing the love of Jesus like we have for 25 years. We know God is healing Nicaragua. We are so grateful to our teachers and staff in Nicaragua for their love and hard work to bag and distribute food to the children and families that have lost their jobs during all the unrest. Partners, thanks for CARING so much to see that our families are fed and to help ease the suffering!
Mission Trip to Acuna,Mexico:
We just got home from our mission trip to Acuna, Mexico. We had a team of 27 people with a lot of young people. It was a powerful and very FUN trip. Todd, our Director of Operations for missions, and his wife Melissa, who helps us in missions, was able to take all their children ranging in age from 8-18 years old on this trip. Their son, Brandon, who is over our Partner’s Relations goes with us every trip. Todd and Melissa adopted 5 children over 7 years ago and God helped them to raise the money for them to go. Plus, we had a lot of our young people from Freedom Christian Center and a group from Atlanta, Georgia from Arise Church on the team. We were so blessed to have Pastor Alex and Pastor Jim that travel a lot to Mexico with us to do missions. We want to say a special thanks to Art, from Maranatha Christian Fellowship for driving the truck and trailer with our luggage from San Antonio, Texas to Del Rio, Texas where we cross into Acuna, Mexico (Ronnie, thanks for the use of your truck, while you were in Israel. We missed you and Missy this trip). Even though the temperature was over 103 with the heat index, the team ALL worked and ministered with all their hearts.
After Schools In Acuna, Mexico:
Our team went and ministered at our 3 After schools in Acuna, Mexico. We are so proud of the great job our staff are doing with the children. They are learning so much about Jesus and their Bible. Plus, at our new after school number 3, the pastor’s wife that helps at that one shared a great testimony with us. That 7 of the children’s grades in school have excelled to a new level. The principal at the school the children go to, asked her about our program and praised her for the great job with the children. We were so blessed by that testimony. We know that God is helping these children to do better in school because of the love and help they are receiving in our programs. Thanks partners for giving to help us to have these after schools. Our team did a wonderful program for the children and we blessed them all with nice big gifts.
After Schools in Mexico and the Philippines:
This month on the enclosed slip, we are giving opportunity to sow into our 3 After Schools in Acuna, Mexico and the 1 in the Philippines. It takes us about $3,500 a month to run these programs. This covers the salaries for staff, food for feeding the children, supplies, electric and water bills. We do have a few of the children sponsored in our programs in Mexico, but we are a long way from covering the need every month. Thanks for praying and giving to help us keep these programs running.
Senior Citizen Programs in Acuna, Mexico:
We are so blessed that we get to help 4 different senior citizen’s programs in Acuna, Mexico. There are 2 nursing homes that we go and love and pray for the seniors. Many of them are in wheelchairs and some bedridden. They love when we come and hug and pray with them. There was a 94 year old lady that was bedridden. Melissa went back where she was and talked and sang with her. She was so HAPPY. Then we started taking pictures with her. She loved seeing herself on the camera. She told us, “I’m ready for heaven”. We know she wants to go be with Jesus. We know that will be a glorious day! Another great testimony is with Todd. There was a man last year that was in the bed very sick. They told him that he was going to lose his legs. Todd was dressed as Poncho the clown and was encouraging him and put a red clown nose on him. He told him a merry heart does good like a medicine. Then he spoke healing over him. Well on this trip, Todd went looking for him at the nursing home. The elderly man was there looking great and with both of his legs attached. God gave him his miracle! We also, go to an Adult Day Care in Acuna, Mexico. These seniors can walk or drive to the building they meet in, every day. This is one of our favorite places to go. We did skits for them, preached the word, prayed for the sick, made crafts and blessed them with gifts. We always see lots of people healed during our time there.
New Senior Feeding and New After School Building:
For years, we have rented a small place to do a senior feeding and Bible study in Acuna, Mexico. Well a few months ago, we lost the place because they sold it for a ridiculous amount of money. So, we have been looking for land to build our own place for a Senior Feeding/Bible study and another After School. We visited the land we want to buy from the government. We pray that we can buy the land the first or second week of July. We had a donation come in for $10,000.00 and they said we could use it for this project. Which is a wonderful blessing and start. Our plan is to do the seniors in the mornings and have the After School in the afternoons. On the picture page, you can see us holding the plans and praying over the land. This will be a GREAT PROJECT to bless the elderly and children. We are so excited about this future project.
House and Project Updates in Mexico, Philippines and Nicaragua:
We are building a home for a very faithful family in Acuna, Mexico, thanks to Pastor Jim, Tiffany and their church Mt. Morris Christian Fellowship. We were able to go visit and see the progress of the home going up during our trip. They are so excited about receiving a home. We are so thankful for our partners for giving to help families to be able to have little homes with an indoor bathroom in the countries we work in. It is a new life for them when they receive the homes. We just finished 1 home in Nicaragua that we had started before the problems began and have another one almost finished on the island of Ometepe, where it has been more peaceful. In the Philippines, we are building another home for one of our families that help us in ministry, that was living in a shack. Also, in the Philippines, we just finished a new After School Program building. We are feeding and teaching over 70 children there a few times a week. We are so excited about this program with our missionary named Moses. In San Francisco, Nicaragua, where we are building our new school, things there have been calmer the past 10 days. We have been able to start back on the security wall around the whole property and finishing the septic tank. Then we will be able to put windows and doors in soon. We are moving forward in Nicaragua NO MATTER what. In our preschool classrooms, we finished the remodeling in Las Maderas and Managua before the problems started. Now we need to do the floors at our preschool classroom on Ometepe very soon.
New Bible Curriculum for Nicaragua:
We appreciate the response we have received to help us pay for the new Bible curriculum for our schools and feeding programs in Nicaragua. With the over $10,000.00 we have taken it, this will allow us to buy new Bible curriculum for our programs in Mexico and the Philippines. We can never thank you enough for your continual love and support to get the “good news of the Gospel” out. You ALL are the BEST!!!!
Reaching the Nations,