Dear Mission supporters and Friends,
A Special Call to all our Partners to Pray for Nicaragua:
We are asking for special prayer for Nicaragua, because on April 20th, we landed in Nicaragua for our normal mission trip with the Charis Bible College students from Woodland Park, Colorado and the country was in civil unrest against the government. That day in the morning, when we and our staff arrived, everything was good. We saw a few protestors, but everything was peaceful. By the time the CBC team arrived at night, the protesters had started blocking roads and burning tires. This made it very difficult for the team to get to the hotel. The team came into something that we had never experienced in 25 years of missions in Nicaragua. We talked to the team. We prayed, and we felt it was good for us to stay to do the mission the Lord called us to do. So, on Saturday, we went to our main church in Managua that morning, everything was very peaceful.
Church Service in Managua, Nicaragua:
Our team from CBC and staff was so excited about being at our main church in Managua with Pastor Daniel. He explained to the team some of the problems that had just arose in the country. That the country has financial problems and that the President of Nicaragua, had announced that there would be a 5% social security cut taken from the people. This is what caused the unrest in the country. After that, we began to worship God, dance and celebrate His goodness. Then, Pastor Daniel had the team gather around the flag of Nicaragua and pray for the HEALING of the Nation and for peace. It was powerful!! Then we had 2 of the CBC students minister the word and we prayed for the young people in the church. God’s presence was there in a mighty way. After the church service, it was time for us to go to our feeding program in Xiloa.
Xiloa Feeding Program (Saturday):
Our team went to the feeding program in Xiloa on Saturday afternoon. This team from CBC was so prepared and excited to be there to minister. We had some of the CBC students outside the feeding program doing dramas, some of the team was working with the medical clinic, plus praying for the sick patients and the other part was inside setting the tables up for the children to eat, while Poncho and Chocolita taught the children a Bible story. After the lessons, we gave all the children the BIG Easter packages that our staff had made that was on the Easter container that was sponsored by our partners. Plus, the Charis students brought toys, school supplies, shoes, etc to bless the children too. It was such an awesome time. We ministered to over 500 people that day. Then the team gave offerings to bless our staff that do the Xiloa feeding program on a regular basis, plus prayed over them. We also had care boxes for all our Nicaraguan staff at Xiloa to say thank you for all their hard work. Our plan was to finish before dark and go to the hotel in case the protesters had started back up in Managua, which we did. That night, after we were back in our hotel, we were told the protesting and destruction had started again. All of us were fine and had a tremendous day of ministry.
Ministry Time at our Las Maderas School and Church (Sunday):
On Sunday, our team got up and started early because we had a full day planned of ministry in Las Maderas and our new area where we are building our new school in San Francisco. On the way to Las Maderas, we could see where the protesters had burned tires, but everything was good for us and we went to our school and church in Las Maderas. The students were going crazy with excitement that we came. We broke the team down for some to work with the school children and youth. Then some of the team, went to minister in our church to the adults. Several members of the team preached, shared testimonies, prayed for people and did dramas in the church. Then the other part, did a wonderful job doing dramas and sharing testimonies in the classrooms. We were blessed by Ashley and Carlie Terradez Ministries with confession cards in Spanish. So, some of the team shared these with the middle and high school students. We are so thankful that we are getting the word of God inside theses children. At the end, we blessed all the students with their Easter care packages and a nice hot meal. The children were so happy. After we finished with Las Maderas, we headed to our new school project in San Francisco, Nicaragua. We were so looking forward to showing the CBC team our new school going up and blessing 500-700 people with the word of God, food, toy gift packages, shoes and clothes.
Well this is when the Whole Trip Changed:
Half way there to San Francisco, we received a call from Pastor Daniel, our main pastor in Nicaragua. He said, “I need for you to turn around and come back to Managua. The people have started to protest early and now are looting the stores, plus blocking roads. So, we don’t want you going to San Francisco. Really, we feel it is best for the team to go back to the USA due to all the unrest.” Plus, some of the American Embassy people and other foreigners in Nicaragua were leaving too. When Pastor Daniel said this, our hearts were broken. This had never happened in 25 years of ministry in Nicaragua. We went to the airport to change our tickets to leave. We could not get a flight out until Tuesday. The amazing thing with the Charis Bible College students, even though their trip was cut short and there was so much craziness in those few days, they worshipped God and spoke peace to the storm in Nicaragua. Then they said, WE KNOW THAT GOD HAD US HERE, FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS”. So, on Tuesday, we flew home early; with a heavy heart, we left Nicaragua.
Update NOW on Nicaragua:
We have been home for a month now from Nicaragua. There is still some unrest in Nicaragua, but we are ONLY speaking PEACE and HEALING to that Nation that we love with all our hearts. We will not engage in speaking against the government, because the Word of God says for us to pray for our leaders. Pastor Daniel, our main pastor, works for the government. The government of Nicaragua has helped us with shipping containers and other things for our Christian schools. We are just to pray for President Ortega and that the Light of Salvation will come to him. All our schools in Nicaragua have reopened. They were closed for a few days. We are moving forward with all our projects in our schools and building homes. We are still buying and packaging for our next container to Nicaragua, which will be for Christmas. On May 25th, we shipped the Birthday container full of gifts, shoes, school supplies, desk, chairs, etc. Thanks, Partners for all the Birthday gifts and donations to make the care packages. This will bring such JOY to the children during these difficult times. We believe what Pastor Daniel said, “Nothing will stop us for doing what God has called us to do in Nicaragua”. Every day is getting better!! We will be returning with a team on August 3rd to go do what we love the most and that is to share His unconditional love!! We love NICARAGUA!!
New Bible Curriculum for our Schools and Programs in Nicaragua:
We are so excited that we received the new Bible curriculum for our Preschool and Elementary classes, plus our feeding program in Nicaragua before the container left. Now every child will have their own workbook to study the Bible plus have activities to do with each lesson. The teachers will have their own study manual and visual aids to teach with in every classroom. We also ordered enough curriculum to use at our Xiloa feeding program. Then for the middle and High school students, we have 5 different study guides of Andrew Wommack in Spanish for them to study for their Bible classes. This is the focus, that we put the Word of God in these children. This is what will change every nation. The cost of the curriculum for all the schools and feeding programs was over $5000.00. We are believing to raise enough money to cover this extra expense to our missions. If you feel lead to help, we would really appreciate it.
Remodeling our Preschool Classrooms in 3 of our Schools in Nicaragua:
Over the past few months, we started doing some remodeling on our preschool classrooms at Las Maderas, Ometepe and Managua. We are putting in ceramic tile floors, drop ceilings, new fans and adding some bathrooms. The preschool at Las Maderas is finished and is so beautiful. We are working on Managua and Ometepe now. By August, they will all be finished. We are raising the money for these projects. It will be around $5500.00. Thanks for your love and help to make our schools better for the children.
Update on the After school #1 Roof and Classrooms Repairs in Acuna, Mexico:
We are so thankful for the outpouring of love we received to help us fix the damage on the roof and the sheetrock in many of our classrooms in our After school #1 in Acuna, Mexico. Because of your love and help, we were able to fix the roof, replace and paint all the damaged sheetrock in the classrooms and bathrooms. Plus, we had enough left to put cement floors in our after school #3 and buy new tables, chairs, plates, cups, etc. for the programs. The After schools in Acuna, Mexico are making a great impact in the lives of the children. We are leaving for Acuna, Mexico on June 15 through June 21.
In Closing:
We appreciate all the people that posted pictures of yourselves in Ambassadors to the Nations T-shirts on May 27th for our Annual Ambassadors to the Nations Day. We are so thankful for your continual support and prayers for the Nations. We know that God has us in these countries to share the message of Grace and love. Thanks for giving to make all this possible. We love you with all our hearts!!
Reaching the Nations,