We’ve been back almost a week now and the battles have resumed! But I want to assure you that our God is so merciful and we have seen how He freely pours out His grace and His blessings upon His children! We not only continue to see His loving hand upon us here, we were blessed beyond measure during our brief time in the States. Some of the ways we have recently experienced the Lord working:
• He gave us safe travel both to and from the States as well as all the times we were on the road to go see friends and family. We flew in between tropical storms which inundated Nicaragua with torrential rains that resulted in lots of damage and loss of life for too many of the already impoverished people here. We returned to find our home dry and intact…nothing short of a miracle with all the rains the country experienced in our absence.
• We were astounded and humbled by the generosity of so many of our brothers and sisters in Christ during our visit home. Because of this giving, we are moving forward on getting bars for the school in Tipitapa and will be able to have the concrete floor and walls smoothed out. We will also be able to buy tables and chairs for the kids and a desk and locked cabinet for Danelia… and a fan for me! Whoo-hoo! I was also able to bring back some Spanish Christian books for the children which I ordered before going to the States plus I hope to be going to a book sale Wednesday afternoon at the Nicaragua Christian Academy to see if I can find some other books for the children at Rayitas de Luz. Jim and I just can’t thank you all enough for supporting the Rayitas de Luz school like this.
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| The septic is ready for the top |
• Speaking of the Rayitas de Luz school…the heavy rains prevented the completion of the septic but it is so close to being done! The large concrete top has been made – and will be placed on top of the septic in 3 sections as soon as the ground is dry enough, to be moved in to place. Thankfully, they had covered the huge pit with black plastic during the rains so that Danelia didn’t end up with a 2-compartment in-ground swimming pool! I’m pretty sure that the children are anxious to begin the flushing marathon! Plus, I’m also quite sure that Danelia and Arturo will be extremely thankful to be able to use their newly constructed shower instead of having to bathe from a bucket. I marvel at Danelia’s acceptance of the mess the construction process has made of her yard and her home…I don’t know that I could have been nearly so patient or so gracious.
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| Our first class in the new building |
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| Serghi is the little boy on the left in the red shirt |
• Even if there are still a few things in the works, we know the school is making a difference in the neighborhood. One of the little boys, Serghi, told Danelia that his mother doesn’t want him to come there anymore because he’s learning things about Jesus and she doesn’t believe that he should do that there. Serghi is about 6 years old and wants to continue to come to the school even though his mother thinks we are of the devil and have come to disrupt their lives. If she means the disrupting of selling and using drugs, the disrupting of being unfaithful to spouses, the disrupting of physical, sexual and emotional abuse, the disrupting of lying, stealing, and slandering etc….she’s right! We have come to disrupt that life and bring to her and others in the neighborhood, the hope of a transformed life in Jesus Christ! The mother told Danelia that Serghi can’t sit at the same table as Kenneth or in any chair where he’s been sitting as Kenneth’s cancer is a punishment from God. Danelia told me she doesn’t want this woman to be part of the school or even for Serghi to come to class but I told her that we know that what the woman said isn’t true and that if Satan weren’t afraid of what was going on, then he wouldn’t be stirring up trouble. After we talked a little bit, Danelia acknowledged that she knows that Serghi needs to be in class and that we have to show his mother who Jesus is by the way we react to her hateful tirades. We KNOW even more so now than ever before that this is exactly where we’re supposed to be working and it is because of all of you who support us in this that we can continue in this. The spiritual war appears to be ramping up there and so we would ask for your continued prayers as we are called to show Christ to those who want to oppose His work there.
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| Kenneth & Lindsay enjoying their gifts |
• God continues to be faithful to Kenneth and gives him the strength each day to get up and even go out and play with his friends. The x-rays still don’t show any tumors but Kenneth has been experiencing more and more pain which has migrated down his legs and into his knees again. The doctors gave Danelia two options…put him back on the stronger chemo regimen in spite of his allergic reaction to it and in spite of the potential for more damage to his internal organs or continue with the current regimen and “hope” for the best. She has chosen a third option in continuing with the current regimen and praying God’s will for Kenneth and the family. I’m pretty sure God has put His stamp of approval on #3. Kenneth is to go back in November for more testing. I would ask you to continue to pray for our special little guy. • Not only did our home stay dry and intact during our time away, neither did we suffer any break-ins, which unfortunately, several of our neighbors did. I often pray that God will camp His angels all around our wall and I don’t doubt for a moment that they do indeed stand guard and at the ready to intervene, if necessary. God also used the recent break-ins to motivate me to get on board mentally and emotionally with the advice of so many who have urged us to go ahead and plan on moving the first of December. So, move we will. An added note to these break-ins is that we found out it was one of our former employees (who worked for us for a short stint as our night guard) and that he and a friend used a gun to enter a home during the day, beating the maid and robbing that house and the one next door to it. We are giving thanks to God for protecting our employees and our home from this situation.
• While in the States, we received word that there were so many “bad” things happening at CINAFE and it caused us both concern and frustration. I expressed that frustration to Mandy, our daughter, with tears and more tears. Upon our return, we discovered that what we had learned was just the tip of the iceberg. At some point between the time we left and the time we returned, I realized it is not my job to be the “fix-it” person (an impossible task anyway) but it is my job to carry those needs before the throne of our Lord. We continue to see Satan attacking in every way he can think but we are not willing to relinquish these children or this work to him and so we continue to pray and see God’s guidance and we praise God for His faithfulness in keeping our children safe there. Of course, we would welcome anyone who wants to join us in praying for CINAFE…we need all the bent knees we can get!
• And now…I want to tell you how remarkably God provides for our needs here. I have told you that we will be going ahead and moving to a condominium in a gated community the first of December. And I’ve also told you (and anyone who would listen!) that I didn’t want to make this move. I have been so worried about our employees and our pets as we can’t take them with us. We will probably keep Margarita but most likely cut her down to just 2 days a week after we move. But I’ve been worried about our security guards…Day and Night Felixes and our gardener, Freddy. Jobs are so hard to find and I’ve been crying to the Lord, “What are our employees going to do?” “How can we feel good about moving and knowing that these people are going to lose their jobs?” “What about our dog, Xander? Who will take care of him? Who will love him?” God has begun to give me His answers. When we got back from the States, we learned that one of the security guards was dismissed and that there was going to be a job opening up this Friday. Although we were both very sad and disappointed at losing the guard there, we also immediately thought about Day Felix. He’s dependable and honest and we think the world of him. He takes such good care of us and is always looking out for our safety…he even said himself that he thought we needed to look at moving! He’s also one of the primary people we’ve been concerned about not having a job so we were overjoyed that this opportunity presented itself. We talked to Karen and Dwane and asked them what they thought about us recommending Felix to our director and they were very supportive of that. So, on Monday, we did that and then talked to Felix. He was so sad when he found out that we would be moving to the condo as he knew immediately that he would no longer be needed. We explained the situation to him about CINAFE and he was so appreciative that we had recommended him for the job. On Tuesday, he interviewed for the position and Raquel agreed that he would be a good fit there. Today was his last day with us. I have to tell you that although we are thrilled that Day Felix will have continued employment, we are beyond sad that he will no longer be working for us. We hadn’t planned on losing him so soon but when we saw this opportunity for Felix, we told him we thought that he needed to go ahead and take advantage of it. He was very worried about what we were going to do for a day guard for the next 7 weeks (and so were we!) but I told him that we thought he needed to worry about taking care of his family first and he reluctantly agreed. Although we all know that this is the wisest decision for him to make and is obviously a provision from the Lord, today has been a day filled with tears. I know we’ll see him at CINAFE, but there was just something about giving him his final pay and telling him good bye that brought us all to tears. He thanked us over and over again for everything and we did the same. I hate good-byes. Always have and always will.
So, God took care of seeing that Day Felix had work…but what were we going to do about our own security for the next month and a half? God had that already taken care of for us, also. Miguel (in Tipitapa) still doesn’t have steady work so we drove over there late Monday afternoon after we initially talked to Felix. We told Miguel about the situation and asked if he wanted to work for the next 7 weeks for us as our day security guard. He said he would think about it and let us know today. I was somewhat taken aback by his reaction but also realized that it is a long distance for him to travel by bus each day. Felix had already told us that if Miguel didn’t want to do it, that there was a “brother” in his church that Felix thought would help us and Felix said he was a very honest man. We had asked him about his own flesh and blood brother and Felix said he didn’t want to trust us to him! But, I heard from Miguel late this morning and he said he would work so he is to be here at 8:00 Friday morning. God has provided yet again so that we won’t even be one day without a security guard.
Oh, yeah…this part is so good, too! Don’t ever think for a moment that God doesn’t care about the perceived “little” things in your life…He does. Felix was thrilled when we asked him if he would take Xander! That was the only smile we saw from him in regards to this whole thing! He and Xander have become such good buddies and Felix’s little boys love playing with him. I cried again when Felix said that he wanted him…he knows how much I love that goofy dog. He said he would take good care of him. I told him I wanted to keep him until it was time to move and he said that was fine. So, we have Xander the Wonder Dog for a little while longer.
Felix also told us that there are several other people who have asked Freddy to come to work for them but he’s not wanted to do so because of working for us. We will talk to him tomorrow and tell him about what’s happening and even though we’ll go through the sadness thing again, I will feel better knowing that he already has two other people that he works for and can easily pick up other work if he wants it.
So, that leaves Night Felix and the cats. We will talk to Night Felix tonight about the upcoming move and we are praying he will stay with us until it’s time for us to move. We are also praying for him…that although he’s not nearly as dependable as Day Felix, we do want him to be able to provide for his family.
The cats…this is going to take another work of the Lord to take care of them. I know nothing is too big OR too small for our God and so the prayers continue…both petitions and praises. It’s true that the battles here have resumed but it’s also true that we are so encouraged to see how He’s at work in all these situations.
So…what’s He doing on your end?
