Washed away...

Just got word from Day Felix that there were homes that were washed away last night in his barrio.  He lives in a canyon and lots of people have built on the hillside.  He told me that instead of coming here this morning, his wife & Freddy's family are doing their laundry with the rain water they've captured.  He said there is a lot of damage back in his neighborhood.  We haven't heard yet of any injuries. 
Every day brings a new challenge to these people. Their local school has been closed for 2 weeks due to various things and with the additional problems of gangs, drugs, robberies in broad daylight, crop failures, fires, floods, lack of dependable utilities, police refusing to help...it just goes on and on for them.  I'm amazed by the resilience of these friends of ours.
Day Felix lives far enough back in the canyon that the paved road ends about a kilometer before his house.  Even in good weather, we don't drive back there due to the terrible condition of the road...lots of really deep holes, big rocks, muddy spots.  During the rainy season, Felix can't even ride his bicycle down that road.  I can only imagine how it must look this morning.  We need to add good roads to our list for which to thank God...I would suspect that even the worst road in Barry County is better than some of the road conditions many are facing here this morning.

Stormy weather...

There are so many things I want to write about…big things, little things, current things: the building project, the kids at CINAFE, our visit to some friends in another town. All are things that I want to share but God has put something else on my heart tonight. I’m supposed to be getting the kids’ English lesson ready for tomorrow in Tipitapa but God won’t let up.

It has been raining hard off and on for 4 hours now. We have numerous wet spots on our ceilings throughout our house. We just had workmen here a few weeks ago who were supposed to have repaired the roof…obviously, they didn’t. I have towels down in front of the bathtub as the water is now seeping in around it. Jim and night Felix have been taking turns sweeping the water away from the front door so it doesn’t come on in to the house. That happened yesterday.

The rains have been tremendous at times the last few weeks. We’ve not only had torrential rains, we’ve had some of the most magnificent lightning and thunder that I’ve ever witnessed. It has been both beautiful and frightening at the same time. The wind the other night was so strong that it blew down one of our platano trees…that usually only happens in the dry season as well as blowing the rain in around our window frames. The phrase, “God’s fury unleashed” comes to mind…but I know that this couldn’t even compare to what that would be like.

The heavy rains and the problems they are bringing with them for us are minimal. But we have friends who are on my heart tonight. Our employees all live in homes that are most likely flooded tonight. Several have dirt floors. I can’t imagine what they are dealing with as I write this. Day Felix has a roof that leaks when it rains and so do Danelia & Arturo, Miguel & Elizabeth, (yes, Elizabeth is back…that’s another story for another day), Teresa, Esmereyda, Margarita, Myrna, Claudia, Martin, our students in Tipitapa, our neighbors out back and on the hillside…so many.

A leaky roof in the houses of Felix, Danelia and Arturo (and the others) is far worse than our leaky roof. They will be having water running in through the holes in their roofs. All have old zinc roofs on their houses and have numerous rusted through places. I just can’t imagine what tonight must be like in their homes and I’m worried for them.

Life is so hard here for so many people…actually, for just about everybody. It’s just a matter of degree. The neighborhood where Freddy and Felix live is without water and electricity. The water company said it will be 5 more days before they get the well repaired. The electric company said they might be able to repair the blown transformer on Monday. Meanwhile, we’re loaning 5 gallon jugs filled with water for them to have drinking water. Tomorrow morning, I have no idea how many people will descend upon our house as I told Freddy and Felix that their families could come here and do laundry. We will do another water run tomorrow afternoon when we get back from Tipitapa.

This kind of weather is very hard on the elderly and children as they are the most vulnerable for respiratory illnesses and right now, that’s running rampant. Even some of the kids at CINAFE are experiencing bronchial problems. I know that next week, we’ll have folks who are sick with fever, cough and sore throats. It’s a tough cycle.

The rain is letting up some now. I don’t know if it’s over or if it’s just a period of rest between the tempests. So, I think I’m going to go to bed now that the sound of rain is not quite so deafening on our roof. But before I do, I would like to ask you for a favor. When you get ready to retire for the evening and you are able to walk across a clean, dry floor and can crawl in to a nice, clean, comfy, dry bed, please thank God for such a blessing. If you’re reading this, you obviously have electricity wherever you are, thank God for such a luxury. When you turn on your tap and you fill your glass with clean, uncontaminated drinking water, please take a moment and thank God for that ability. If you should have a cough and you take something to alleviate the discomfort from it, thank our heavenly Father for His provision of medicine.

And finally, please take a minute to pray for our friends who don’t have the same luxuries that you and I have and that we so often take for granted. Please pray that God would protect them, their families, their homes and their belongings. Not everyone will sleep as well as you and I will tonight.

There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm.

Willa Cather

Dog Day Afternoon...

I started this Saturday night but didn’t get it posted until Sunday morning…

It was so hot at Danelia’s this afternoon! We were missing five kids in class today as there’s still so much sickness going around. But the 20 kids who came to class ensured that it was nice and toasty in her living room. Danelia’s little ceiling mounted fan wasn’t on and without any air moving, it was like an oven. I was so hot that the “glisten” just poured off of me, often running in to my eyes! Yuk! When we get the addition built for the kids, we are buying a pedestal fan that can blow at hurricane force and I’m going to park myself in front of it every Saturday afternoon! Not really…we’ll make sure it’s an oscillating fan and I’ll share the goodness with my little cohorts.

The heat today didn’t seem to bother the kids much though. They were all ready for class and they love sharing what they’ve learned. Most of them now know basic greetings, basic good manners, several introductory phrases, eleven colors, numbers to twelve, several emotions, the parts of the face, plus their vocabulary words of apple, arm, ant, banana, ball, bear, clown, cat, carrot and today, they learned dog, duck and dinosaur. They are so much fun and I think we’re all having a ball!

Each week, we review what we learned the week before plus random parts of other previous lessons. The kids love this part as it’s become a game as to how fast they can respond with the correct answer. There’s no doubt the kids learn much more quickly with oral review versus the written word. We have found that correct spelling is not a priority in this culture. Information is still passed on orally much more frequently than through the written word. And even though Spanish is a phonetic language which makes spelling much easier to learn than in English, I’ve had to learn that if we can get down the oral skills first, we can work on the spelling later as many of these kids still struggle to read simple words in their own language.

Working on their dictionary page

We recently began making a bilingual “picture dictionary” and each week, we have a new letter that’s our focus. Obviously today, we studied words that began with the letter “D”. The kids have their dictionary page which always has 15 pictures with both the English and Spanish descriptive words. The kids color those pictures and then on the other side of the dictionary page, I have some sort of corresponding exercise for the kids to do. It may be a word find, a choose-the-right-word, a fill-in-the-blank or a dot-to-dot but it’s always something that requires the kids to work with some of their new words. They have to turn their dictionary page back in to me as I’m saving them to make a booklet out of their pages when we’ve completed the alphabet. We also usually have at least one other type of coloring or worksheet page that goes along with that day’s theme, whether it’s the letter of the day or another subject that we’re studying and those, they get to take home at the end of class time.

Creativity!

And a "howling" good time was had by all!

Proudly showing their puppets!

Today, we made lunch bag dog puppets as “dog” was one of our “D” words. The kids had so much fun making them and each one’s dog looked a little different than their neighbor’s …just like in real life. Some ears went up, some out and some down. Some tongues were hanging straight down, some cocked to the left and some to the right. Some had close set eyes and some had a dog that had one eye higher than the other. All were beautiful in the eyes of their maker…much like we are in our Father’s eyes. It really was such a fun activity that it made last night’s late-night cutting out the parts well worthwhile. The kids were so excited to be able to take these puppets home with them.

While we were working on the puppets, a little boy who looked to be about 10 years old or so, came to Danelia’s door and just stood. She went to talk to him and then called me to the doorway. She asked me if I still had any packets of the antibiotic cream she knows that we keep in our first aid kit. I told her I did and asked Jim if he would please go out to the car and bring some packets in. Jim went out and I asked Danelia why she wanted the packets. Evidently, the little boy had come to see if the gringos had any medicine for his hurt leg. I looked down and saw on the inside of his calf, two large, really nasty looking burns that already looked to be infected. It almost made me sick to look at it. I asked Danelia if he had been to the doctor. She smiled a sad little smile and shook her head “no”. She said that his mother probably wasn’t at home enough to take him.

Jim came back with the packets of ointment and Danelia took them and told the little boy he needed to wash the burns out really well. I felt queasy even hearing her say that. I asked if he burned his leg on a cooking fire and he told me that he burnt it while riding on a motorcycle. It looked to be a really bad burn. I reiterated that he needed to go to the clinic as soon as possible and be treated because his leg was infected and the infection was going to spread. I told Danelia and him that the cream was not powerful enough to heal the burns on his leg. He nodded his head okay and left with the antibiotic ointment.

I wished I could have tried the burn cream that Karen and Dwane had brought with them from Honduras but the little kid wouldn’t have anyone to be able to help him clean and change the dressing in the manner and on the regimen that it needs to be changed. He’s pretty much on his own and wanders the neighborhood. I can hardly bear thinking about how badly his leg will become infected before someone will do something with it. These kinds of things continue to be the things that bother me so much.

Back to the kids at school…last week, we studied the parts of the mouth and also talked about how important it is to brush their teeth every day at least twice a day. They all know that but the reality is that toothpaste is a costly item here as are toothbrushes. Some of these kids didn’t have brushes of their own. We had bought enough tubes of toothpaste at Pali (a small box type grocery store chain) to give each child a tube plus a new toothbrush. It was really something to see how pleased the kids were to get these things. One of the little boys, Serghi, seemed to be especially happy with his new possessions. He hurried out after class to his father who was waiting in the road and eagerly showed him his new toothbrush and toothpaste. His dad smiled and lifted his hand in a wave of thanks.

Jim forgot to take pictures that day but let me assure you that every child was just as excited as Serghi. I thought about how something that most kids in the States take for granted, these kids viewed as a gift of value. Those kinds of moments are so humbling.

I’m sure you can tell that I love being with the kids in that little neighborhood. They are so precious and are such a delight to teach. I can’t help but think about how wonderful it is going to be when we are able to move the Rayitas de Luz Ministry in to the new addition. And each day brings us even closer to making that a reality. We have been praying for wisdom and guidance with this project and God has been so faithful to clearly confirm that this is the direction He wants us to go. We know that unless the completion of this building is in God’s will, then it won’t happen. And this is what we’re making clear to Danelia and the parents. We want them to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it’s not “Jim and Lynne” who are building the addition, but rather that it is God who is working through the giving from so many of His children to build it.

We have 3 parents so far who have committed to help with the building of the addition. That’s not a great number but it’s something. We’re praying more will come forward and help in one way or another as the building actually progresses. They had asked if we would provide food for them if they worked. We told them “no, we’re providing a place for your children to come to be safe, to learn about Jesus and to help with their education.” At first, I was annoyed that they would ask but then I realized that this country’s culture is all about asking. I wondered what message God had in that for me…

We are planning on breaking ground next week. Jim is supposed to have the final figures on the building by the middle of this week and if it gets a thumbs-up on our end, then we are asking the contractor to get started on it. Our plan is to get it finished before we return to the States in September and we’re trusting God to finish providing the funds to do so.

We will almost double the current space we are in which will seem almost luxurious to all of us. The new addition will be 23’ x 11’, long and narrow like the side yard it will sit in, but still much bigger than our existing space. I am so looking forward to the day that we can actually walk around a “classroom” without having to ask someone else move out of the way. Currently, Jim can’t be helping one child without me having to ask him to move to the side so I can get to the end of the table to help another. One day soon, we will be thinking our classroom is so spacious!

Crunching numbers...

We are also putting in a septic system so that the kids will have a sink and a toilet…again, a wonderful luxury for this neighborhood that has only outhouses. We do not have to do this according to the mayor’s office but since the laws tend to change from day to day - especially with a gringo project - if the city should ever decide to come check out the facility, we will be ahead of the game in already having an enclosed bathroom with running water and a flush toilet. Plus, we are going to have to redo Arturo and Danelia’s outside concrete shower as the new addition will take that space.

We were hoping to be able to build this for not much more than what it cost to build the little house in Los Cedros last year, which measured about 14’ x 14’, but material costs have skyrocketed this past year and we’re also wanting the addition built to withstand the frequent tremors in the area. We have had various local people who have quite a bit of construction experience to give us pricing estimates and all are very close with the cost. So I guess it is what it is. What that amounts to is we are now hoping to be able to build the addition for about $2500.00 (including labor) plus another $500 for furnishings – such as tables, chairs, shelves, a teacher’s desk and assorted supplies.

A few years ago, with a monthly paycheck coming in, that would have sounded pretty cheap but living here now on faith, that figure can some days seem like an impossibility to attain.  Still, we believe…no, we know, that with God, all things are possible. As a matter of fact, He has already shown us His faithfulness to provide in some of the most extraordinary ways. In the last few weeks, we received word that a very generous donation was made to Deep Water Ministries which we will apply towards this building fund. Plus, the Lone Star VBS kids donated their offering to us which is also going to the building fund. Then, we had some high school and young college-aged girls here who had the opportunity to visit the kids in Tipitapa and several of the girls also made donations. We even had someone who gave us their Nica change as she was leaving to return to the States…this change amounted to a little over $3.00. I have to say that I was as excited and as thankful for that $3 as I was with each of the other donations. Each “cordoba” we receive, is another sign that God has this well within His control. Those recent donations mean we have now reached almost half of our goal and that’s a week before we are to break ground!

Some would panic about that…I think it’s exciting to see God working in this way and I know that God’s timing is perfect. Because we have accumulated ½ the money, Adrian, the contractor, is willing to build the building ½ way and then wait until we have the remaining funds to complete it. It’s a benefit to us to go ahead and buy as many of the materials as soon as possible in order to try to keep the material costs down. So, the way I see it, when God sees fit to finish the funding, it will be the right time to finish the building!

Of course, Jim and I talk about this opportunity a lot. We are both so excited about the potential uses this new concrete “box” will provide for the families in that neighborhood: Bible studies, the classes for the kids, neighborhood events, and so on.   We truly believe this is going to be a concrete sign of change and hope for a people who have seemed to have lost the ability to have either. 

One of the things I’ve been thinking about is a way to provide some storage capabilities for materials for Danelia. Jim and I stopped at PriceSmart today on our way back from Tipitapa and I found a really cute plastic cubby set which will be perfect for Danelia to keep supplies in. Initially, I thought about buying two of them so that each one of the kids could have their own cubby but that would only give us 24 cubbies and we usually have more students than that on Saturdays. I also wrestled about going ahead and buying an “interior” thing when we don’t even have an “exterior” built but there were only three of these cubby sets left so I decided I better get it while the getting was good. I have been almost giddy all night just thinking about how great this colorful little piece of plastic is going to look in that new classroom! Who knew I would ever be so excited over plastic?!! The kids will love it…and so will Danelia!!!

All in all, today was a wonderful day. The kids were so much fun with their dog puppets and the finding of the cubby rack was a great surprise. I absolutely delight in how God shows us His faithfulness and His love like He has today. I also am reminded of how God works in so many ways and through so many people to accomplish His plans. It really is very humbling and at the same time, very exciting to be on this end.

I’ve never become comfortable in asking for help but I am asking that if this project is something that God puts on your heart to support, we would be deeply grateful. We also want to stress that when we receive a donation that is earmarked for a specific use, we honor that request. Otherwise, if we receive a donation that is not necessarily designated for anything specifically, we then direct those funds to the area where we happen to see the most need or where we feel they can best be used. I want to be very up front with you about this. Right now, this addition is very much a priority with us. That’s not to say we no longer give in other areas, as we do and some of those recipients will be mentioned in this month’s newsletter, but for right now, the addition is an area where we will be directing much of our “unmarked” funds. If you would like to help specifically with the building addition, you can indicate that to Mandy, our daughter who handles our finances on that end (address on the right) and if you should choose to do so, please know that you are making an investment in the future of these children and the local community of Danelia's neighborhood. We are praying God will multiply His blessings upon you for your giving and that He will stretch the funds to cover all that is necessary. We’re excited!!!

Emily's Team in Tipitapa...

Two weeks ago, we had a terrific Saturday at Tipitapa…I’m just now getting time to finish this blog that I had started that night! That was a fun day from beginning to end, in spite of the rain which tried to dampen our spirits! We had the privilege of taking 4 teens (Kari, Eva, Andrea & Abbey) and 3 young women (Emily, Rhonda & Rachel) to Tipitapa with us to minister to the kids at Rayitas de Luz. Most of the girls on this team are members of various Mennonite churches who connected right before coming to Nicaragua to meet their team leader, Emily and a friend of hers from church, Rhonda. They have a full schedule with and we were so excited that they chose to include meeting the kids in Tipitapa as one of their days’ activities.
Our day started out with us dropping some things off at CINAFE before heading over to Huembes market to meet up with the girls. They wanted to get some shopping in first and it was a good location for us to meet them at to go on to Tipitapa. We were able to re-connect with some of our favorite vendors there as we hadn’t seen them for several months and at the same time, we were saddened to learn that Anna, our Christian friend who worked there, had left and no one seemed to know where she had gone. I was glad that I had gotten to pray with her before we had left for the States in March and I know that if we don’t get to see her again here, we will see her again someday in heaven.
Because we could only take 3 of the girls with us in our car, Emily hired Oscar for the day to transport the other 4 in the group. He is one of our Nica friends that we had met through Karen and CINAFE and is a taxi driver. Oscar is a little more expensive than taking a public taxi but he is worth the extra money as he is a safe and honest man and that peace of mind is well worth the additional cordobas.
We arrived at Danelia’s house shortly after 1:00 and stepped in to her small living room to be met by 30 children all packed in like sardines!!! Many of the kids were sharing little plastic chairs and stools that had been borrowed from various friends. After introductions were made and the welcome greeting issued, the kids sang several songs for us and then showed off their English skills. It wasn’t long before the smell of something yummy began to whet everyone’s appetite. We knew that Emily’s team had wanted to pay for lunch for all the kids, so we advanced the money to Danelia last week and she and several of her friends had been cooking over a wood fire since early morning in order to feed all of us some really delicious chicken, vegetables, rice and platanos.
All the kids were so excited and I’m sure it was the combination of having visitors and coupled with the anticipation of also having a great lunch. Plus, it was the 6th birthday of one of the children, a little girl named Wendy. So the mood was definitely celebratory. Danelia asked me to pray so that we could get started on lunch. We were so packed in the living room that we couldn’t even join hands but our hearts were definitely linked together.
I wish there was a way to adequately describe how close the quarters were there. Danelia had set up a cloth covered wooden prep table between the already bulging living area (ultimately holding 30 kids plus 10 adults including Danelia (a number I can’t even imagine ‘tho I was one of the 10) and their unbelievably cramped bedroom. They had moved their small television stand & tv plus one of the regular school tables in to their bedroom which greatly diminished the area of maneuverability in that room, as well.
Arturo was in charge of dispensing the drinks (Rojita – a red, syrupy sweet drink and Orange Fanta) and their neighbor lady, Myrna, was in charge of filling the small paper plates with food. They stood on one side of the table and I stood on the other. Abbey went around to the back of the house to put ice in the cups and then handed them to Arturo to fill. Arturo would hand me two cups at a time and I would then hand them to one of the several girls standing behind me. They would pass them on down the line making sure each child had a drink. We then repeated the “bucket brigade” move with the plates of food. It was so crowded that there was no other way to do it. We could barely turn around to hand the plates to the person behind us. But it was fun, nonetheless, to see the kids’ faces as they received their plates of piled-high food.
By the time everyone had finished their lunch, it had pretty much quit raining. Usually, the ground dries pretty quickly but there had been several days of heavy rains so the ground around Danelia’s house was saturated which created a slippery, mucky mud that would suck your shoes right off your feet. We had, for the briefest of moments, wondered how the team was going to be able to play with the kids with it being so muddy out. Silly us! A little mud never stopped any of these kids and it wasn’t going to do so that day, either.
The girls were amazing and so good-natured about just going along with playing games in the muddy mire. Several of the girls are members of a very conservative branch of the Mennonite church and so they always wear skirts or dresses and head coverings. I was concerned how they would fare with all the mud…they did fine! Their flip-flopped feet and legs were coated with the slimy stuff but it didn’t seem to bother any of them. If laughter was the gauge for a good time, there’s no question that the team and the kids all had a great time!
After about an hour and a half of bubbles, balloons, Frisbee, tag, hide and seek, etc., it was time for us to go. We had another time of prayer and then lots of hugs and some organized picture taking and then loaded up in Oscar’s taxi and our car and we headed back to Managua. If the conversation of the girls in our car was any indication of how good of a time they all had, I think the day was pretty successful in terms of encouragement and intercessory prayer.
There were lots of questions and we had the opportunity to share some of the ways we had been seeing God work. Just being able to share those stories with someone face-to-face is a faith-strengthener in itself. I think we all can sometimes be guilty of forgetting God’s faithfulness and focus instead on the challenges we are facing.
I’ve told you before that this is a very oral society and it is not at all uncommon for stories, directions or explanations to be repeated several times over. This is done to ensure that the teller and the listener are perfectly clear on all points. I used to find that a bit annoying…but now…I can see such great value in doing that. We need to tell and re-tell what Jesus has done for us. We need to be free in repeating how and where we have seen God move. It is of great benefit to those who are listening…but it is also of great benefit to the one who is doing the telling. Remember the hymn, “I Love to Tell the Story”? It’s true…I do.

I love to tell the story
of unseen things above,
of Jesus and his glory,
of Jesus and his love.
I love to tell the story,
because I know 'tis true;
it satisfies my longings
as nothing else can do.

I love to tell the story,
'twill be my theme in glory,
to tell the old, old story
of Jesus and his love.

I love to tell the story;
more wonderful it seems
than all the golden fancies
of all our golden dreams.
I love to tell the story,
it did so much for me;
and that is just the reason
I tell it now to thee.

I love to tell the story;
'tis pleasant to repeat
what seems, each time I tell it,
more wonderfully sweet.
I love to tell the story,
for some have never heard
the message of salvation
from God's own holy Word.

I love to tell the story,
for those who know it best
seem hungering and thirsting
to hear it like the rest.
And when, in scenes of glory,
I sing the new, new song,
'twill be the old, old story
that I have loved so long.

Yamuleith is dancing tonight...

We received a call a little bit ago from Erika, the woman who had been Yamuleith's foster mother, and the news that I've selfishly not been wanting to hear finally came - Yamuleith went home to be with Jesus tonight.
After my initial meltdown, God comforted me with a detailed image in my mind of Yamuleith, healthy, strong and dancing gracefully with her beautifully delicate face glowing as her once-blind eyes behold the unimaginable beauty of her Wonderful, Merciful Savior. That picture alone brings me more comfort than I can express. She is safe and can no longer be harmed. She once was blind but now she sees. She once was lame but now she dances. She once was lost but now she is found. She is completely healed in every way and she is seeing and experiencing the wonders at this very moment that "our hearts always hunger for."
I thought at first my tears were because of all she had to endure and suffer through in her brief life but I realized a little bit ago, after watching Yamuleith dance in worship to our King through the window of my imagination that my tears tonight are not for her but are for myself.

Wonderful, merciful Savior
Precious Redeemer and friend
Who would have thought that a lamb could
Rescue the souls of men
Oh, You rescue the souls of men

Counselor, Comforter, Keeper
Spirit we long to embrace
You offer hope when our hearts have
Hopelessly lost the way
Oh, we hopelessly lost the way

You are the one that we praise
You are the one we adore
You give the healing and grace
Our hearts always hunger for
Oh, our hearts always hunger for

Almighty, infinite Father
Faithfully loving Your own
Here in our weakness You find us
Falling before Your throne
Oh, we're falling before Your throne

You are the one that we praise
You are the one we adore
You give the healing and grace
Our hearts always hunger for
Oh, our hearts always hunger for

Our CINAFE Kids...

No, we haven’t dropped off the face of the earth…but sometimes, it feels like we’re hanging on for all we’re worth to the edge of it! I find that when I get the time to actually sit down and write a blog, that I’m apologizing for allowing so much time to lapse between writings…this time is no different…I’m sorry!!! Remember when I used to bore you to tears with my musings on the incessant crazy Managua drivers or the simple beauty of the ox-pulled carts going to market in the early morning hours? I don’t know about you…but I miss those days! Life now is too hectic and too filled with worries and problems. My prayers of late have been that God would help me open my eyes again to the wonder that this place held for me when first we came to be aliens and strangers in this land.
So, you may be wondering what we’ve been doing lately. A lot. We are now the “official” overseers of CINAFE, the child’s protection center where we’ve been spending the majority of our time since the beginning of the year. This is also known as Fortress of Hope and if you are interested in knowing a bit more about our new “home away from home”, you can read their latest newsletter at www.fortressofhope.org.
There are so many changes taking place right now there…some we are implementing and some we are trying to maneuver through. The CINAFE board made some necessary changes in personnel at the beginning of the year, before we came on board, and as a result, some of the new people who were put in place have discovered that they are not necessarily a good fit with CINAFE. Because we are a government approved child protection center, we are also accountable to the Ministry of Families. With the ideas and the values of the current presidential administration being executed, the stress level of facilities like ours goes up incrementally. Working with these government agencies is not for the faint of heart! Consequently, we are once again, going through some personnel changes. This means our stress level is going up incrementally!!!
And talk about stress…right now, we are currently looking for a new physician, a new social worker and a new director! I have recently been speaking with other Americans who run facilities similar to ours and have found out that this kind of turnover is not unusual. Maybe not. But it is discouraging. We are a ministry-run facility and all of CINAFE’s financial support comes from donations just like most ministries. That means that we operate on faith and a shoestring budget. It also means that those who come there to work professing they want to be involved in growing God’s Kingdom but leave because they can make twice as much money at a call center makes us the rest of us scratch our head, try to somehow lengthen the shoestrings and remember our faith is what holds those shoestrings together!
The kids though are amazing! We still have fifteen children, ages 2 ½ to 16. I say “still” because that could change at any moment. There is now a government program that is designed to remove all children in child protection centers and reunite them with their families by the end of 2011, based on “the rights of the child”. In theory, this sounds great…but our fear is that these kids are going to be put back in to the same situations from which they had to be removed.
We’ve already received word that at least two and maybe another 4 might be leaving us soon. I just can’t even imagine what CINAFE will be like without them there…and I can’t imagine what their lives will be like if they’re not. For all the toils and troubles that we’re working through at CINAFE, it’s still a haven for these kids.
Let me tell you a little about these tough little survivors. Erika is our oldest…she just turned 16 and there is a possibility she might be leaving us soon to return to her family in El Salvador. She’s a quiet girl and is most comfortable when she’s got her friends around her. She is always watching and observing and she doesn’t easily trust but she has a great affection for Karen and Dwane, the couple in Ohio who were instrumental in starting CINAFE. I think she is torn about returning to her family and although she will miss the other kids at CINAFE, I truly believe she will miss seeing Karen and Dwane when they come back here for visits. When I first met Erika, I asked her what she thought she would like to be when she grew up and she told me a car mechanic. I was surprised at that answer and asked her why and she told me it was because they made a lot of money. I reminded her of that the other day and we both laughed about it.
Francela is also a pretty girl and a very smart girl when it comes to reading people. She is very sociable and does not like being alone. She will be 15 this year although she looks older than that. She has a beautiful smile and a determination to live a life different than the one she came from. That determination can work for her or as it sometimes now does, against her.
Selena is 13 and is also a girl who looks older than she is. She has such a friendly personality and there is no pretense with her. What you see is what you get with Selena. She has a head for business and already knows how to negotiate to get what she wants. I think one of the things I really enjoy about Selena is her ready smile. She is very childlike in so many ways and still loves to play games.
Sugeyling has to be one of the prettiest Nica girls I’ve ever seen. She is a natural beauty but she doesn’t see herself that way. She is a very quick learner and I’ve found she has an aptitude for English. She wants to travel to Russia some day. Sugeyling’s favorite color is black and she loves rock music. She is always polite and helpful and I love to be around her…but she doesn’t know Jesus and every time one of us try to talk to her about Him, she becomes very hard and quiet. She’s one I worry about a lot.
Minerva just turned 13. She’s entering that awkward stage and is not comfortable in her own skin. She’s very shy at times and yet she craves attention. She often seems much younger than her years and is struggling to find her place in this world. Sometimes, she does not do well with authority figures or her peers and yet she will bond very quickly to someone she is drawn to knowing.
Aida is 12 and is one who has a special place in my heart. She informed me the other day she wants to now be known as Elizabeth! When we first began at CINAFE, she was hard and closed off and refused to let me even put my hand on her shoulder. What a long way we’ve come in these few short months. Today, when she saw me after being gone to her grandmother’s for a week’s visit, she threw her arms around me and hugged me like it had been years since we had seen one another. Aida is very smart but she treats her school subjects like she does everything and everyone else…she does/accepts them on her own terms. She can quote numerous scriptures and has memorized long portions of Psalms.
Those girls all live together in one house called the Estrellas…the Stars…and they are.
Mariana is 11 and is another one who always seems to have a smile on her face. She is much lighter in complexion than the other children there. She even has freckles. She is another one who is quick to help and just beams when given words of praise. She has an ear for English and tries to mimic my words as closely as she can.
Wendy turns 10 this week. She loves to tease and is always up to something. She’s definitely a creative thinker and if not kept in check, can quickly find herself in some kind of mischief. She is always in motion and loves to participate in any kind of activity that involves movement of some kind.
Esmerelda is another one who is a very pretty young girl. She is 12 and is most comfortable in the role of tomboy. She can hold her own playing soccer and is tough as nails when she gets hurt. She’s just now starting to realize that it’s okay for her to enjoy nail polish and wearing dresses and she’s acquired a real affinity for cute earrings. I think we may be losing our “tomboy”! One of the most remarkable things about Esmerelda is her voice. She has a gravely low voice which is always a surprise to anyone who first hears her speak.
Fernando has only been with us since the beginning of the year. He’s a lovebug and is usually one of the first to come give us a hug when we arrive at CINAFE. He, too, always has a smile on his face which belies his quick temper that often gets him in hot water with others. But just as quickly as his temper flares, it’s gone and he’s back to his sweet smiling self. Fernando is 11.
Those four share a casita and are called the Delfines or the Dolphins. We just recently had a team in who helped us do some remodeling on one of the casitas so that Fernando could have his own room and the girls are sharing another room. I know they all are more comfortable with their new privacy.
Our last casita is called the Arco Iris…the Rainbow house. Reyna is 10 and loves to play games. She is the mancala champion and delights when she wins. She is another one who loves to be hugged but like the others, it’s taken us time to get to that point with her. Sometimes she’s all smiles and other times, a smile is hard to coax but either way, if the opportunity presents itself, she has her arms wrapped around me…sometimes making it difficult to even walk. Reyna and Esmerelda are sisters.
Daniella is bright eyed and as curious as they come. We don’t know exactly how old she is as she was found abandoned when she was smaller. We are guessing she is around 5 or 6 years old and her birthday is celebrated on the day she came to CINAFE…that really was a new “birth”day for her. She is another one who likes to tease and is often laughing and giggling. She also has a stubborn streak a mile long and the challenge lies in teaching her when it’s appropriate to use it and when it’s not.
Reynaldo is 9 years old and has such a great smile. He loves to jump out and scare us, laughing hysterically if he thinks he’s accomplished his goal. He is a typical little boy, scooping up bugs, playing with cars and just making noise for the sake of making noise. His glasses make him appear much more studious than he actually is. He is Reyna and Esmerelda’s brother and is often a favorite with teams as he’s just got such a great little personality.
Milagros is a child that everyone is drawn to as she has big beautiful brown eyes and is so petite and fragile looking. She often has a very serious look on her face and it can take her a very long time to warm up to someone. Once she has made that decision to be friends, she also loves to tease. It’s just that she is another one who communicates on her terms only. If Milagros is unhappy, everyone within earshot knows it. It’s amazing how someone so little can have such big lungs! Milagros is 6 and is Reyna’s, Esmerelda’s and Reynaldo’s sister.
Belen is last but not least…but she is the youngest. Again, we are guessing at her age and we estimate her to be about 2 ½ years old. She has the best little smile and pretty much runs the place. She really misses the kids while they’re at school and is always excited when they come home each day. She is Daniella’s sister and so we celebrate Belen’s birthday at the same time as Daniella.
So, now you know just a bit about the kids who help brighten our days here. I watch them play, study, do chores and fuss and I marvel at how well they function for the most part. I won’t share their individual stories but I will tell you that each one of these children has good cause not to laugh or to trust anyone and yet, almost every one of them is quick to flash their smiles and to hug and be hugged. Some may attribute that to the therapy they receive from the psychologist at CINAFE but I believe the reason they are flourishing there is because Jesus touches them through those who work there and who truly love these precious ones.
One of our daily prayers is that God would bind the enemy and keep him far from the children at CINAFE. We pray protection and healing for them. We pray that they will learn how to act and react in appropriate ways to the situations they will face in this life. We pray that when we talk to them about Jesus that He will soften their hearts and open their ears and most of all, we pray that there will come a time when we know these children not just as “our CINAFE kids” but also as our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Walking through the door...

So…what do you do when you ask God to open a door and a door opens…but it’s not the door you thought it would be? This door looks like it leads to a direction unknown. Unknown is scary. Do you gently close that door, turn your back on it and rationalize that it must have been the wind that blew it open…and wait for God to open a door that is expected? Or, do you view the door as a divine portal to see God do something amazing? This door definitely leads to a direction unknown. Maybe, unknown is adventurous…and maybe a little scary.
Jim and I’ve opted to go through this door. We made the commitment several years back to follow God wherever it is He wants to take us and to do whatever it is we believe He’s calling us to do. As a result, He’s taken us through plenty of doors that we wouldn’t have gone through otherwise. There’s no doubt that we’ve stepped way out of our comfort zone and there’s no doubt that it has cost us on so many levels. But, even at the few times I’ve felt like I was at my lowest here, I don’t think I could have ever walked away from the challenge He’s put before us. Rest assured, that has absolutely nothing to do with who we are…it has everything to do with who God is. We just happen to believe Him and trust Him and so we have been blessed to see Him work in ways I believe we would never have witnessed otherwise.
We know that His plans that include us are bigger than us. Reminding ourselves of that often helps us to walk through those adventurous doors. But don’t think for a minute that they still aren’t scary…they are. We question as much as anyone else… “Is this the right thing to do?” “Is this what God wants?” “What if we didn’t hear Him right?” “What if we fail?” I think the last question is often what it actually all boils down to…no one wants to fail. I guess that fear is what makes us ask all those questions. But really, when I think about it, the only way we can fail is to not be obedient to what God is calling us to do. What the world views as success or failure is no longer the measurement we want to use. God’s pleasure and displeasure are far more powerful motivators these days.
So, saying all that, I want to share with you that we have stepped through yet another door…another scary, adventurous door. We are going to build a school!!!! And the reason we are doing that is God has shut every other door and has flung this one wide open. We have done all the analyzing, the questioning and lots and lots of praying. They all led back to this door.
I’ve told you about Ministerio Rayitas de Luz…Danelia’s twice-weekly after-school school which she started in her home as a direct result of our being “evicted” from the church where we were holding English classes and Bible study. I’ve also told you how we’re busting at the seams in her little living room. (Forgive the poor grammar…it just fits here.) The door for renting another place wasn’t just shut, it was slammed shut and securely bolted! Every place we looked at or asked about, the answer was “no” or the price was ridiculously high.
We began to question if this was something God wanted us to continue with or not. Silly question. Of course God wants His Word shared, with adults and children. God really impressed on me that just because we were being met with opposition to find a place to teach His Word and to show His love did not mean His answer was “no”…it meant that the need was great. And it meant that He had something else planned.
About a year and a half ago, Jim and I first began going to Danelia’s house to visit Kenneth. This was when he was so terribly sick. At that time, Jim and I began discussing the possibility of adding an additional bedroom on the side of their little 2 room house but I have to admit that was me wanting to do that and not a leading from God. But I believe God used that desire of mine to start laying the groundwork for what was to come.
I am sure I’ve probably told you about Arturo and Danelia’s house before. They are blessed to live in a little block house with a concrete floor. The front room is their living room. It has one window and a wooden front door which leads out to a tiny little front yard. The living room is where they receive guests and it reveals they once experienced more prosperous days when they both worked before Kenneth became sick.
There is a television stand which holds a small television and some small knick knacks. There usually several plastic chairs in the living room plus they now also boast three rocking chairs which were gifts from some people in the church. The sewing machine bought for Danelia used to sit in front of the window but she has moved it to a corner to make better use of the space for the students. There is also a short wooden table which Kenneth would use as his bed during the day when he was too weak to sit upright for any length of time.
The house originally was one larger room but Arturo divided off the sleeping area with sheets of plywood. He left an entryway which is defined with a hanging curtain. The bedroom is a dark room. It has a window in it but it’s covered with material for privacy. This room has two beds in it, a matrimonial (which is a double bed) and what looks to be like a ¾ size bed. Lindsay and Kenneth share this bed except when Kenneth is sick and then all four are in Arturo and Danelia’s bed. The two beds but up each other. There is no closet…there’s no room for one. Most of the clothes seem to be neatly stacked on a box of some sort and If I remember right, there is a small shelf unit which holds food, pans and perhaps some other clothing. There is also a box which holds the few toys the kids have…most of which we have bought for them.
One corner of the bedroom also serves as an indoor kitchen. There is a two-burner propane stove top, similar to a camping type stove…again, a reminder of better days. Danelia uses this when the weather is bad or she is fixing something that doesn’t require a lengthy cooking time. Propane is a costly expense for them these days…but so is buying wood or charcoal.
The wooden back door opens out to the covered “porch” area which is actually used as an extension to the house. Their pila (a concrete washstand pictured to the left) is there so that’s where dishes are washed and clothes are laundered. There is also a makeshift shower that Arturo made some years back. The porch contains an outdoor cooking area where Danelia cooks over an open fire. The back yard is fairly large by Nica standards. Their outhouse is out by the back fence.
There is a fence made of sheets of rusty tin that separate the side yard from the back yard. Their lot is long and narrow and as a result, the side yard is also very narrow although Danelia has made good use of the space filling it with flowers and shrubs. It is this place that Jim and I had once thought would be a good place to build another room.
It hasn’t taken long for us to realize that the Rayitas de Luz school is definitely filling a need in the neighborhood. Within just a few weeks, Danelia has had to say that she can’t take any more students. Her eighteen students more than fill up her living room twice a week. The kids are sitting on borrowed chairs and stools. That number is up to 22 on Saturdays for our English class. There absolutely is no more room in her living room and I’ve noticed the last few Saturdays, we’ve had children standing out in the yard, listening to our lesson.
We have discussed the various options available for having a larger space for both Danelia’s classes and for ours. Renting a building or house in the immediate neighborhood has not panned out. The answer has consistently been “no” which I have to say has been a bit discouraging. We were so sure that we were going to be able to find something.
A large ministry in Managua has a branch in Tipitapa and they have actually heard about what we’re doing in this little living room. They offered us the use of their very nice, large facility in Tipitapa and supposedly, at no cost. The problem is that they are located on the opposite end of the city. This makes it virtually impossible for the children to attend either Danelia’s classes or ours. They would have to take a bus or taxi to get there as it’s too far for them to walk. That’s an expense they can’t afford. Moving the school out of the neighborhood would set up a situation that would exclude the very children we are trying to reach.
We were all flattered that this ministry would offer their building to us even though we knew that it wasn’t a viable alternative. But the temptation was there. Danelia and I sat and talked about it that day. It obviously was a very attractive offer and the truth is that no matter where we established the school, there would be children who would come, but as I told Danelia that afternoon, I feel that it is important that we remember why she wanted to do the school in the first place and to remember who it was she wanted to minister to through it. I told her that I just didn’t believe that bigger was always better and that we needed to be faithful to do the work God put before us and let Him worry about growing it later on. We talked about being salt and light in her neighborhood. I told her I believed God would bless her for being faithful to His work. She told me she believed He already had…she still had Kenneth.
So, this is where we’re at. We’ll soon be tearing up Danelia’s side yard and begin construction of a 5 meter x 8 meter addition to her house which will serve as the new Rayitas de Luz school building! This equates to about a 16 ft. x 26 ft. space. The picture at the right shows the side yard now and this is where we will build the addition. Of course, usable floor space will be a little less as that’s the measurement from outer wall to outer wall. It will be a one-room classroom with three doors and two windows. We are attaching the school to the side of Arturo and Danelia’s house and so we are going to go ahead and put in a passageway door in their living room to connect to the classroom. That way, in the future, if the school grows to the point we need to expand again, and the opportunity opens up for us to move to a larger facility, the addition will become usable space for the family.
We are most likely going to build a block construction addition. This will match the existing structure, is the cheapest type of permanent structure and is the one that will work best in this climate. We will probably also go with a concrete floor – again, the most cost effective. Our roof structure will be made of the corrugated zinc that is so popular here. Again, this is a cost effective decision and will also match the existing roof on Danelia and Arturo’s house...hopefully, minus the holes! Those roofs are so hot with the sun beating down on them but they are also much cheaper than the clay tile roofs. We will have iron bars installed on all the doors and the windows as the school will not only be a beacon of light in the barrio, it will also be a target for thieves.
We are setting the addition back a little bit from the front edge of Danelia’s house. This is to leave a small “green” area where she can still have a few bushes and flowers. We will put in a small walkway and a step that goes down to the front yard of Danelia’s and continue the walkway to the edge of her yard where the dirt road begins. This is really a very short distance. We are also discussing the possibility of replacing the rusty little strands of barbed wire that currently goes across the front of her property with a fence of some sort and a gate that can be locked.
We will need to put in a small septic system for the latrine. The city won’t let us use the existing outhouse for the school. This was not an expense we planned on but one we understand that we must have. We will also wire the building for electricity. That’s a decision we’re making based on our own comfort as well as hopeful thinking. I would love to have a fan going on Saturdays and who knows? Perhaps someday, the barrio will have electricity in the afternoons again! And of course, we’ll need paint for both inside and out. Danelia and I both want to make the school a welcoming place for the kids.
We have prices now on enough tables ($30 each for tables that seat 8 children) and chairs ($5 each) for twenty-four children and I’ve been scouring the city, looking for teaching materials and school supply bargains. I have even had dreams about bulletin boards! I do think I better understand now why most schools don’t have the very things I would think would be standard items. What is available is costly, so we are keeping our eyes open for used items that could be utilized in the classroom.
Last week, we had a guy come and measure and is supposed to give us an estimate this coming weekend on the cost of materials and labor. We thought his preliminary bid of $3000 to be awfully high, especially since the extra $400 latrine cost was not included in that number. We made it clear that we thought that was out of line and asked for him to look at it again, get some actual prices and get back to us this coming weekend with some tighter numbers. Unfortunately, that’s what happens when someone finds out that Americans are involved…their greed overtakes their good sense. Hopefully, we’ll get a much better figure from him this weekend.
As a precaution, we’re taking a Nicaraguan friend of ours to Tipitapa with us this weekend. He has years of construction experience and has built numerous churches and schools in conjunction with American teams. He is a good Christian man and volunteered to go with us as a favor to us. He is going to look at the sight and then give us an itemized list of current realistic costs for each step so that we can be both better prepared and better educated in this process. We do believe God will provide for this school but we also believe that we need to be both wise and good stewards of His resources.
I have to tell you we are so excited about this. Of course the planning stage is always the “fun” part but honestly, I think we’re all really excited to see how God’s going to make this all come together and we’re already seeing Him work. We have been trying to come up with ideas of fund-raisers that would be practical for the neighborhood. Just one look around is enough to make one discouraged. It would be so easy to think that there just is no way that anyone there would ever be able to contribute to the building fund. But God has already opened the door for us with several ways to get the community involved.
There was recently a group from South Carolina who left enough shoes to fill several totes. Some are used and some are new. Most are children’s sizes but there are a few adult sizes. They had wanted them to go to a poor community in…of all places…Tipitapa!!! We had the shoes donated to us from someone who knows we are working in this area and told we could do whatever we wanted to do with them. We took them to Danelia’s house and I explained what I wanted to do with them. Danelia became so excited and could hardly wait to get going on this project.
We decided to sell the shoes at an extremely reasonable price with all the proceeds to go to the building fund. She is selling the shoes for 10 to 20 cord a pair which equates to about 50 cents to a dollar a pair. I know that is ridiculously cheap for a brand new pair of shoes…but being able to buy a new pair of shoes for a child for less than a dollar will be such a blessing in that barrio! Plus, we know that God can make that dollar go further than we could if it were 20 times that amount
Our other fundraiser is going to be our Money Plant project. There is a group that we will be working with that is coming from Ohio this Thursday. They had asked what they could bring us and we asked for vegetable seeds. We told the pastor that we would reimburse the team for the seeds they buy as we asked for quite a few. We are going to have the kids plant the seeds in paper cups and after the veggies germinate and begin to grow, the kids will go out and try to sell the veggie cups. Again, we are hoping this to be a win-win situation…the families will be able to grow veggies and we will grow our building fund. We’re going to be investing in this particular project as we’ll be buying the seeds, the cups and the dirt but we’re just considering it a ministry expense…we want the kids and their families to have some ownership in raising the funds for the school.
So, that’s pretty much where we are right now. I’m sure we’re in over our heads. In some respects, I’m a little scared about taking this step. I am sure this won’t materialize unless God makes it happen but I’m also sure that this is something God has called us to undertake.
Of course, for every person who thinks this is God’s leading, I am quite sure there is one (or possibly more!) who thinks that it’s a bad idea. We have heard it said that this type of thing is an “ambitious project” and that usually, it’s bigger ministries who undertake such things. It would be easy to buy in to that if our God wasn’t so big. Our ministry doesn’t have to be mega-sized… our God is. The picture on the left is some of the children praying as we finished up our English class last week. The fact they are so precious makes this project even more dear to our hearts.
Maybe our view sounds simplistic but honestly, we’re approaching this in much the same way that we approached moving here. It’s scary but it would be scarier to not be obedient. If this is what God wants, He’ll make it happen with us or without us. We just happen to want to be part of it! I remember Henry Blackaby said in Experiencing God that we are to see where God is at work and join Him in it. There’s no doubt in our minds that God’s at work in this little barrio and we definitely want to be a part of it. I’ll keep you posted on what we find on the other side of the door!