Archive for the NicaNews Category

The day started quickly for everyone at Casa de Shelly. Don decided to peacefully wake us up to the soft music of Norah Jones (just kidding!). As we all got out of bed, the realization came to us that this was our last full day at Because We Care Ministries in Nicaragua. Many of our hearts have been broken by the poverty we have seen, but they were simultaneously pieced right back together again through the kindness and love given freely to us by the family of Christ in Somotillo.

Jim, Kathleen, Mike, Jamon, Rodger, and Johanna all stayed behind to visit a local public Elementary School and a village while the rest of the group made a 45 minute drive to hike up to the mountain village called Cacao. The hike consisted of breathtaking mountain scenery and a peaceful, dusty trail. The Cacao Pastor’s son and brother both came to escort us up the mountain to the Cacao church. They brought four horses with them in order to assist us in carrying medical supplies and food up the mountain. The hiking group had the opportunity to stop at a house belonging to the mother of the Cacao pastor. She had lost her husband last November, and we all placed our hands on her as Dan said a prayer for her. It was a true blessing for everyone involved. As we continued our hour and a half hike up the mountain, we were met with clear blue skies and calming, sweet breezes. When we finally made it to the top, we got to go inside the beautiful church for a service. The Pastor and his family were all extremely welcoming to us, and went out of their way to make us feel comfortable. The team did our typical routine of playing soccer, blowing bubbles, and painting nails with the children. Eventually, the church service started and Dan shared a message with all of us about loving our enemies and seeing Christ at work in the lives of those all around us. His message touched the hearts of everyone at the service. The Cacao pastor then brought all of us in front of the congregation and prayed for us to have a safe journey back down the mountain. We quickly loaded up (because we were running low on water!) and trekked back down the mountain. What a scenic and peaceful day for us all. It was a beautiful way to spend our last full day in Nicaragua spreading Christ’s love and experiencing the beauty He created all around us.

Meanwhile, the group that stayed back had a wonderful time visiting a local public Elementary School. Jim shared his testimony with all the children, and then proceeded to color pictures of the Garden of Eden. When recess commenced, Jim, Kathleen, Mike, and Jamon all went outside to play soccer and Gato Gato Perro (the Nicaraguan version of Duck Duck Goose). The Onion Game also enticed a great deal of laughter. The game consisted of the children and team lining up in a line, and they had to tickle the weakest ones off. The team is currently working on a plan to introduce the Onion Game to American children!

After visiting the school, the team left to go to the Santa Cruz village nestled next to an active volcano. It had been a while since Because We Care Ministries had visited the village due to terrible road conditions. One of the greatest difficulties the Santa Cruz village experiences is lack of water during the dry season. The nearest natural spring to the village barely produces enough water for each person to have one bottle of water a day. During the rainy season (beginning in May) the villagers collect rainwater for drinking, but in the meantime water remains a deadly issue. Don is currently working on a plan to bring more water to the village. As the team all distributed food and clothing to the villagers, Don said a prayer over everyone and gave the villagers confidence in the unending fulfillment that Christ gives.

As the two teams regrouped and showered off their dust-covered bodies, they had time to reflect on their work here in Nicaragua. Although we were only here for several days, we all feel Christ at work at Because We Care Ministries in Nicaragua. Don said to all of us during our time here that God doesn’t call the qualified; He qualifies the called. All we need to do is make ourselves available to God, and He will take it from there. That is our goal as we all begin our travels back to the United States—to constantly be available to carry out God’s will and make disciples of ALL nations.

The cool Nicaraguan air sifted around Casa de Shelly as all of us slowly drifted out of bed. As the sun began to take control of the sky, Jim chased and played hide-and-go-seek with a little girl (the daughter of our head cook) around all over the compound. How marvelous to wake up to the sound of a child’s squeals and laughter!

Emily Freese, Jordan, Emily Jensen, Brent, and Dan were all featured at the radio station today and shared their testimonies. Jordan and Daniel (Andrew was temporarily replaced!) sang “How Great is Our God” together on the radio as well. Their beautiful voices touch the hearts of many Latin American listeners. During this time, the group back at Casa de Shelly was busy chopping vegetables for the stew that would be made for the El Madrono villagers later this afternoon. Donation bags were also being stuffed to the brim for the villagers.

Once the team regrouped, the men were sent out to finish digging the trenches for the Mission Office. They also poured cement to solidify the foundations for a new building by the office.

Meanwhile, the women all headed to a special needs Elementary School to interact with the children. We all sang, danced, and shared Bible stories with the children. Grins were spread across everyone’s faces, and hugs were given generously! After visiting the special needs school, the women continued on to another public Elementary School. We danced and sang again, and brought pipe cleaners to make shapes and bracelets with. We then headed outside for recess…lots of running, frisbee, and soccer!

The men and women regrouped for lunch—why on Earth were the men so sweaty??? We proceeded to have an American lunch of hotdogs, chips, and chocolate cookies in the sunshine. Don was conducting pastor training with 36 of the local Nicaraguan pastors throughout the day. Don also had the opportunity to share the Biofuel project headed by Brent, Emily Jensen, Emily Freese, and Andrew that results in heat for cooking meals. The biofuel burns very clean compared to wood fires that the villagers use; if the project is implemented into the community it could mean a decrease in common respiratory infections caused by breathing in wood fire smoke inside of houses with poor ventilation. The Capstone team is conducting a field test on the project today!

After lunch the team was ready to go to the El Madrono village. The village is fairly secluded and nestled in a small valley. Medical care was provided to the children as balloons were inflated, bubbles were blown, baseball and soccer were played, and pictures were colored. Brent apparently has the divine ability to rap—who would have thought?! He conducted a rap for the whole village with the help of Jordan, Molly, Emily Jensen, Lily, Beau, and Daniel. The rap told the story of Jesus feeding 5,000+ people from only two fish and five loaves of bread. Oh yeah…a majority of the rap was also in Spanish, way to go Brent!

On our dry and dusty ride back to Casa de Shelly, we all had the ability to reflect on our days. If we are Christ’s body, we should always be reaching, preaching, and showing the world His love—not solely in Nicaragua. We are all on fire for the Lord in Nicaragua, and there is no reason for us to stop when we return to the United States. It is a constant passion that all Christians should have deep in their hearts—to serve God by loving His people.

P.S.—The Naval Academy group apparently wasn’t tired enough from the day and were caught doing pull-ups outside Casa de Shelly. Hooyah!

Our day started much like any other day at Casa de Shelly. Don shook, bang, and wrestled with the doors to our bunkrooms like a mad man. Needless to say, he got the job done separating us from our beds! Once we all brushed our teeth and reintroduced ourselves to the stiffness in our muscles from shoveling dirt yesterday, our morning devotional commenced in the living room. Andrew Flegge shared a message about identity and the struggle that many young people have with it. Andrew referenced Romans 6 and the need to find our identity through serving God’s kingdom, and realizing that we are His children first and foremost.

Next on the agenda was the radio telecast. Megan, Daniel, Kerri, Kyle, and Jackson all headed over to the radio station to share their testimonies, along with our dynamic duo worship team—Jordan and Andrew! The radio station reaches areas of El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Rumor has it that the station also reaches parts of Florida…so tune in North America!

While the radio station group was sharing their testimonies, the rest of us stuffed three donation bags full of clothing items and shoes. The three teams then proceeded to split into their respective work assignments and head out. Today Team A had the privilege to go to the Baptist School of Somotillo and share our testimonies with the school children. Tears were shed as each of us opened up to the children and shared the ways in which Jesus changed our lives. There were many heartwarming moments this morning. Team A then left the school and witnessed to the local community about Jesus. The majority (~88%) of Nicaraguans are Catholics. As opposed to North American Catholicism, Catholics in Latin America worship Mary, and believe that good deeds will get them into Heaven, not Jesus. The remaining 12% of Nicaraguans are mostly strong Christians.

Teams B and C continued to haul, sweat, and dig for the construction project. Sunburns are starting to make their marks–no amount of sunscreen can protect these gringos!

All three teams met up at Casa de Shelly again at noon for lunch. The smell of hot, fresh chimichangas hung in the air as we all dug into a delicious meal. We are truly blessed beyond measure with the quality of food at Casa de Shelly. The majority of the people in the villages we visited have only a palm of rice to eat every day, along with a few beans and a tortilla if they are lucky.

After lunch, we all headed to San Francisco village past El Laredo village that we visited yesterday. A hot meal was cooked for the people, and they all gathered around the missionaries to listen to our Bible stories and run and play with us. Worries melted away for a while as little girls played jump rope, young boys played with balloons, and mothers had their nails painted. A large game of baseball and soccer with a majority of the village adolescents also ensued.

Men, women, and children again lined the roads as we left the village waiting for the clothes and shoes that we threw out of the trucks at them. It was difficult to pace ourselves with the amount of donations we threw at the hundreds of people waiting for us—seeing the looks of desperation and pleading on so many faces makes it hard to slow down the pace.

As we rode back to Casa de Shelly with empty bags and full hearts, the sun began to recede once again. Jesus will always satisfy, and is always watching over the people in the Villages, even when we aren’t there. This simple fact gives us all peace in our hearts knowing that all of us are looked after by one Mighty King.

The sharp cry of a rooster and the howling of Don woke all of us up at 0600 sharp. The words, “Wake up Gringos, time to go and be missionaries!” penetrated every wall. All of us proceeded to gather for a devotional about faith by Jackson Niketas. Jackson referenced Hebrews 11 and God’s ability to call each and every one of us to be His workers.

As the sun stretched higher into the clear, crisp Nicaraguan sky, a group of us all went to the radio station. Molly, Beau, David, Sierra, and Alex rode in the back of Don’s truck in order to share their testimonies with a large portion of Nicaragua. Jordan and Andrew came along as well to sing live; they both did a fantastic job!

Our group was then divided into Team Alpha, Team Bravo, and Team Charlie. Team Alpha had a delightful time in the sunshine digging trenches at the ministry headquarters in order to make room for a pump. Stories were shared, roots and rocks were uprooted, and blisters were formed. Water was certainly a necessity for all!

Team Bravo went with a dump truck to a nearby riverbed to gather gravel. There was no shade to find at the dig site, so they enjoyed the breeze driving to and from the dig site. They used shovels and buckets to fill up the dump truck while locals did the laundry in the river and their horses ate the grass growing near the riverbed. It was great to see progress made via heaping piles of gravel.

Charlie platoon advanced through a local neighborhood in Somotillo. Along the way the members, with the help of a local pastor and several translators, spoke with the residents door to door. Every person that was visited listened intently to what we had to say. They listened to the testimonies of the missionaries, and heard the gospel from Pastor Ronaldo, a local pastor in Somotillo. The greatest moment for Charlie platoon was when a group of young women accepted Christ as their savior! The young girls, as well as most of the town folk, knew about Jesus, but did not have a personal relationship with Him. It was a wonderful encouragement to see be truly desire a close relationship with Jesus!

The three teams returned to Casa de Shelly (the compound that houses the missionaries) for some much needed rest and food. Donation bags were meanwhile stuffed with items such as shoes, shirts, hats, toys, and candy to throw out to the hundreds of Nicaraguan people waiting on the side of the road. Smiles, frowns, and looks of desperation were all tattooed on each of their faces. Unclothed children walked through the streets and ran when they saw our mission trucks approaching. We all yelled “Christo te amo!” (Christ loves you!) with every item that we threw at them. One of the most encouraging things to see was the respect that the people had for young children and the elderly. Mothers were ecstatic to receive small shirts because they knew that one of their children or other children needed it. Adolescent boys were equally excited to receive dolls because they equally knew that somewhere there was a sister, daughter, or friend that needed the doll. The lack of greed demonstrated by all of the people was heartwarming.

Our trucks pulled into the El Laredo Village and were quickly surrounded by smiling and giggling faces. The villagers knew that a hot meal and abundant love was going to be given to them by all of the missionaries. Nails were painted, games were played, and Bible stories were shared. Most importantly, though, Christ’s love was exemplified through all of our actions. Concepts of poverty, hunger, and desperation were replaced with compassion, friendship, and kindness. We spent three hours in the village and then had to return to Casa de Shelly. On our way back, hundreds of people again lined the streets begging for the items we were throwing out of our trucks. As the sun started to lessen its intensity in the sky, we looked back at the frowns that we had the privilege to turn into smiles, even if they were only for a short while. Items can satisfy for a moment, but the love of Christ and memories made will stay in all of our hearts forever.

Greetings from Nicaragua,

This has been a week full of serving the people of Nicaragua and sharing the life changing truth of the Gospel. So far, our team has had the opportunity to share our testimonies on the radio broadcast and provide words of encouragement in truth from Scripture. We also spent each day going door-to-door in the neighborhoods surrounding the church. Our goal has been to share the Gospel and to invite these families to the church Principe de Paz. If they choose to visit Principe de Paz, we know that the believers will grow in God’s Word and the non-believers will be presented the Gospel. Praise God that several individuals prayed to accept Christ this week and others agreed to visit the church.

In the afternoons this week, we have visited several villages to love on the people, share God’s Word, give medical treatment, and provide them a meal. So far, we have visited Villa Esperanza, Las Mesas, Jinocuaito, and Madrono. We have been able to share the love of God through simple things such as giving out gifts, playing soccer, throwing water-balloons, making balloon animals, sharing the story of Jesus through making Gospel bracelets and telling stories from God’s Word that magnify the name of Jesus, serving them food, and simply spending time with them. While we have been visiting these villages, others have been training local pastors and encouraging them in their ministries. Truly, many disciples are being developed through the power of the Holy Spirit in this ministry.

May all praise go to our Father!

There are two very easy ways that you can support BWCM. One is to register your Kroger Card to Because We Care Ministries. All you have to do is go to www.kroger.com/communityrewards and Create An Account (takes less than a minute) so you can assign your existing Kroger Plus Shopper’s Card to BWCM. Once you are registered, every time you scan your Kroger card when making a Kroger purchase, BWCM gets a percentage of your purchase. It doesn’t cost you anything and you never have to do anything after your initial sign-up. The second way is at http://smile.amazon.com/ where you can select Because We Care Ministry Inc (Roanoke, VA) as the charity that you want to support. After you sign-up, it works just like Kroger… when you make a purchase on Amazon, BWCM gets a percentage of your purchase.

John 4:35
Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.

What an amazing past couple weeks of Kingdom building. Our Mission teams have been working in the areas around the new church plant, (Prince of Peace 2). Each day the team members have gone out with folks from the church just to knock on doors and pray with the families in the surrounding neighborhoods. Daily we have seen people pray to receive Christ and the team has been able to pray with hundreds. Its hard to explain the joy of just loving on people and being there for them in a time of need. Praying for God to continue to open doors.
Its also a great joy to hear team members talk about sharing their stories in these neighborhoods and never dreaming they could do such a thing. Praying as we Proceed…..

Happy New Year from Somotillo, Nicaragua! The New Year’s Eve celebration in the adjacent neighborhoods must have been subdued…. or more likely, the team was tired enough that we slept through the fireworks which were going off like mortar rounds!

The first day of 2015 was clear, hot and beautiful in Nicaragua. We started off our day together with breakfast and the morning devotional and then headed into the fields of the training center. The team continued where we left off yesterday; pruning and trimming the lemon, lime and orange trees, clearing brush, and mowing back growth to open up the area and make it more favorable to growing. The limes that we recovered while pruning and trimming yesterday were taken to the market and sold for 400 cordoba. This will provide a day’s wage for one of the workers. As hard and hot as the work was, the team labored under Christ’s yoke (ref. Matt 11.28-30) and not a single whine or complaint was heard by anyone! Praise God…

After lunch, we loaded up in the truck and headed for Confradia. This village is near the town dump. It is extremely impoverished. Our three vehicle caravan pulled off the dusty street and we quickly set up and went to work. The stew pot was started, the medical table set up and the engagement with the children began. While this was most likely the poorest village that the team visited this week , the faces of the children were no less beautiful. The med team distributed more antibiotic in this village than all of the rest this week. It indeed, was heartbreaking to see such beautiful children living in such squalor. Even so, the love of Christ was shown to these villagers and there was at least one adult male who received Christ into his heart.

After the food was eaten and everyone who wanted to see the doctor was able to do so, the team packed up and headed out. On the way out, we threw every last toy, piece of candy and bit of clothing that we had to those villagers running after the truck.

We finished the day by taking a short but steep hike up to the radio tower. This hill was actually the high ground held by the Sandinistas during the revolution. Now it is held by Christ. This is the location of our radio station’s broadcast antenna, which reaches into three countries.

Most of the team will begin the return journey tomorrow. Pray for our safe travels and once again, thank you for your prayer support along the way!

There could be no better way to end 2014 than to spend it in the mission field in Nicaragua. After another great morning devotion and breakfast, we invested a couple hours of hard work on the land around the training center. In 2 short hours, a large portion of the land around the fruit trees had been cleared and trimmed and the debris had been burned, leaving a much more manageable orchard that should lead to a more bountiful harvest over the long term. We also picked 3 large buckets of lemons and limes to eat and take to market. After refilling our water bottles and getting a great lunch (chimichangas!), we headed out to Pascuala to spend some time with our friends there. Many were blessed by the doctor, many were fed by the big pot of chicken and rice stew, many kids laughed at us as played games and showed our lack of soccer skills… and most importantly, several kids prayed to receive Christ after a time of sharing the Good News. As we prepare for a restful night of sleep (that definitely does not include staying up until midnight to bring in the New Year), we pray that we can start 2015 with another great day in the mission field as this trip draws to a close.

Greetings from Casa de Shelly,

Matthew 11:28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Life in Somotillo Nicaragua for the North American is relatively stress free. Unlike life at home, here we are quicker to see our relevance in the kingdom of God. As Christians we often slip into our comfort zones and with that, we take on our "yolk" which often becomes a burden. We were reminded that each day we need to wake up, trust what the Lord has in store for us and take on His yolk so that we can rest. After the devotional we divided into small teams and set out on foot to visit local villages. Our initial conversations with the neighbors was simply to remind them of the new church plant, Prince of Peace II, and invite them to Sunday service. However, each team quickly took this opportunity to share the Gospel when possible and pray with each household. Many relationships have blossomed in these last 2 days as we have traveled on foot to be the hands and feet of Jesus. It has been such a sweet time of fellowship as we have hugged, prayed, and cried with these families and lifted up their burdens to the Lord. We shared food with the parents and small toys with the children.

This afternoon we headed to El Chaguite, which is a village beyond the gold mines. The doctor saw 37 families while the remainder of the team engaged with frisbee, soccer, toy airplanes, told stories, shared the Gospel message, and fed the village from the pot of chicken stew that we prepared. It was a blessing to the team to see how something so small could bring so much delight to the children. To literally see bunches of children run after our truck in hopes of getting a piece of candy or T-shirt was simply precious.

To sum up our day, we will leave you with this bible verse:

Isaiah 61:1 "The spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.