Help Feed and Educate 300 Nicaraguan Children

This fall we had some friends down from Heritage Baptist Church in Alabama and spent most of our time ministering to the students at Club Esperanza. They brought down Bible studies for children accompanied with a felt story board that allowed the stories to be communicated clearly in a fun way.  They also worked the grounds a good bit fixing some of the areas around the wash basins and drinking fountains.

At Club Esperanza we have a group of teenagers that we help scholarship into local High Schools. Our scholarship funds - made possible with your donations - makes it possible for these teens to stay in school. Without these funds they would drop out because their families can’t afford the basics -- uniforms, supplies, fees, etc.  When the group from Alabama was down we took 15 of the scholarshipped teens out to a national site in Managua and Scott, a member of HBC, shared with them about the importance of sexual purity. It was awesome to have a Bible study with them on a topic that is very relevant to teenagers, especially here in a country where too many impoverished teenagers are having babies of their own and perpetuating the cycle of poverty into which they were born. These students need to know there is hope for them and a better way.

In early September we enjoyed all of our beautiful Club Esperanza preschoolers dressing up to celebrate Dia del Patria. Schoolchildren all over Nicaragua dressed for events at their school including traditional singing, plays, and dancing...it was a great to see children and their families celebrate their national pride.

On a personal note - as some of you may have heard, we had an attempted armed robberty at our home. We were not injured but it was a very harrowing event involving exchanges of gunfire. We are thankful to all of you who have been praying for us and whom we know will not be praying for us, if this is the first you have heard. The Lord has comforted us but as you can imagine there have been difficult emotional moments...however in the midst of dark, fearful times we are able to say God is good, we know He is with us. We are now trying to make security upgrades, please be praying for these things as they do cost money. We need to hire a guard for our house, install field lighting, put bars on our children's windows, and build a high perimeter fence that cannot be cut through. Our family is our priority...please keep praying for all of us.