Casa de Nueva Esperanza, Los Cedros, Nicaragua.

May/June 2008

James 1:27: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

My dear and precious family and friends:

I have found A quiet moment in between hospital visits and dressing changes. Please forgive my tardiness in reporting to you these past couple of months. There have been many changes, and the challenges that come with it. Every picture tells a story, so I have included a slideshow so you can see what has been happening here lately.

The rainy season began with tropical storm Alma, on May 29th, bringing power outages and road blocks with it. However, the landscape is now a lush green once again, and the evenings are a little cooler, (Thank you Lord!)

Xochilt was transferred up to our home in Jinotega to be with the 6 – 12 year olds. She is doing well, but we miss her and hope to see her soon for a visit. We are working with her 3 year old brother, Jose, who is still with us here at Los Cedros.

Celeste and Juanita are making amazing progress. Celeste copies almost everything you say and do, she is a very quick learner. She is already using some English words with a perfect accent! Cute! Juanita is so different from the fragile, sick, 9lb, 3 month old baby she was when she first arrived. She is now a chunky monkey at a little over 15 lbs at 5 months! A picture of health! When the local authorities came to visit they did not recognize her and could not believe it was the same baby! Thank you Father! They both have such sweet spirits and are usually smiling and happy.

We haven’t been able to start our teacher training classes yet, but hope to begin in the fall. Of course we meet regularly to discuss what is best for our babies, and train daily, moment by moment. We have fun learning together as a team.

Joseling is potty trained, hooray!!! One less in diapers!! Well done Joseling!!!

Mother’s Day is always on May 30th here in Nicaragua, different to the States, and in England it is in March! So I get to celebrate it 3 times.

18 month old Pedro was brought to us in the afternoon of June 2nd, with a doctors’ appointment for the next day at 7 am. Little did we know he was scheduled for surgery that day, and has had to go to the hospital almost every day since. He was badly burned when his crib caught fire at his home in March. He is so brave and such a trooper, he is my little Super Hero!  Taking care of him and his special needs has been one of the hardest things I have had to face, both physically and emotionally. I have learned a lot about humility, patience and perseverance. Thank you Lord for walking me through those days (and nights!!) and for promising to be there right by our side in the days to come.

Hebrews 13:5b: “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.”

I would like to share an excerpt from an email sent by a dear sister in Christ:

“I believe the Lord’s intentions in these times is to “conform us to the image of His son” (Romans 8:29) for His glory and our good.  When you emerge on the other side of this, you will have yielded yourself to a place in the Lord that comes only through this type of emotionally, physically and spiritually exhausting trial.  Remember that “You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.” (Phil 4:13)  It will be His love, His strength, His good intentions for you and Pedro that will bring the victory in whatever form it comes.”

Thank you my dear friend for your prayers and words of encouragement, I pass them on to encourage others also.

Pedro will need many more surgeries and has an extensive physical therapy program for recovery ahead of him. Please lift Pedrito up in prayer, along with our other children and workers

Again, I cannot thank you all enough for your continued support and encouragement, I honestly could not do this without you. Thank you for holding up my arms when I get tired. (Exodus 17) Thank you for your faithfulness, you are always there for me, even when you don’t hear from me in a while. Thank you for that! With more frequent power cuts and long days at the hospital, it has been hard to keep in touch, I will try to write more often, and I thank you for your patience.

With so much love in Christ, blessings and smiles,

Andrea JJJ XXXX

Please remember that I love hearing all your news too! Do write to me at andreagburgess@hotmail.com

Delhi Vineyard Citywide Leaders

Mukesh Joseph, Shamim, Elisha, Rocky, Ramesh and Prashensha, Simon, Blessy and John, Mukesh Paul and Jaya. Amy, Lovey, and Ellen. Simeon and Rick.

JUNE 2008

Well, we put Amy on the plane this morning, and Ellen and I leave late Tuesday night for six weeks in the U.S. It’s been a hard year in some ways; several close friends from the U.S. passed away and our parents health has continued to concern us. And like any new church plant we had some ups and downs. But the good news is that when we look back, we see God’s hand faithfully at work.

Rick and Ellen Coffin

Delhi Vineyard News

It really has been a good year overall. In September a house church joined our cluster of ministries, bringing lots of new friends and a number of strong leaders. Their pastor, Simon has begun to take on more and more leadership in our citywide fellowship, and will be helping to oversee our downtown gathering while we are in the U.S.
Read more

Amy’s Blog: Memoirs of a Foreigner

As a foreigner I often feel overwhelmed in Delhi. It can be something as simple as men staring at me or something as profound as my friends being forced out of their home with less than a weeks notice. I could make a list of the things that make me ask if I can really do this or rather declare I cannot do this, but last week I experienced something that I can never forget. I visited a village within the city of Delhi otherwise known as a slum which has no water.
Read more

June Prayer Requests

From time to time our believers experience significant opposition. Usually this comes from family and neighbors. Please be praying for several of the new believers in Northwest Delhi who are being threatened by their community. Read more

Would you like to help?

Dear Friends,

If you would like to help support the work in India and Nepal, you can contribute to our efforts by sending a check to the Marietta Vineyard, 2060 Roswell Rd. #300, Marietta, GA, 30068 Please make checks out to the Marietta Vineyard and write DelhiCP in the memo section.

With love and friendship,

Rick and Ellen Coffin

Delhi Vineyard
Isaiah 43

Deuteronomy 15 v.11: “There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.”

What a wonderful month April was! I was thrilled to have my youngest Granddaughter, Faith with me for 6 weeks, which was a rich gift to my heart. And if that wasn’t blessings enough, the Lord sent Kathy Bolton to visit for 2 weeks to share her talents and smiles. I wrote this at the airport in Ft Lauderdale waiting for my flight back to Managua, Nicaragua. Many thanks to Kathy and Faith for the impact you had on our ministry. I am grateful for the time we had together, and will miss you tons. I could write a book about Faith and her time in Los Cedros, (not now of course!) and Kathy, may God richly bless you as you continue to be such an inspiration to me and others in many ways.

I had the pleasure of working with a team of nurses who came to stay in Managua from Texas for a week. They initiated 2 feeding programs in an underprivileged neighborhood, Los Braziles, about 20 minutes away from our orphanage. The first time we served over 300 meals of arroz con pollo, typico Nicaraguan cuisine, (chicken and rice). The second time we served over 500 hot dogs, typical USA style! (Without the mayo and mustard!) For the first meal I stayed up late the night before prepping all the veggies, it was a great time to listen to and enjoy praise and worship music! I asked the people which meal they preferred, the general response was the hot dogs, but they were concerned that it cost more to serve, (which it does, but less manual labor!) After serving the meals we visited the local health clinic, and 2 hospitals in town with the team so they could assess the best way they may be able to help them. All the public health facilities are basic and in great need. And as if all that wasn’t enough work for a week, these amazing ladies asked if there was a project at the orphanage they could help with. Since many of our children are celebrating birthdays in April and May, they threw a huge birthday party in our dining room. They went all out with decorations on the walls and ceilings, tables, chairs, balloons, gifts, you name it, they thought of it, complete with piñata!! The children’s expressions as they opened gifts, demolished the cake and joined the fun was priceless, I took lots of photos to keep the children’s personal albums up to date, and hope to be able to share some with you soon. Many thanks to all the hard working nurses on that team, for everything they did, and for all they are going to do. I hope I have the honor of working with them again soon.

Last week we were blessed with 2 new arrivals. We are not sure of their ages, but we believe Juanita is about 8 weeks old, and her big sister, Celeste is about 18 months old. They seem to have settled in extremely well. Juanita gained 2 lbs in her first week and went up from 9 lbs to 11lbs, and Celeste is eating well and seems happy most of the time. She displays a spirit of contentment, and it is a joy to watch her play. So we now have 13 children in our infant orphanage.

We are planning to start teacher training classes soon, to provide all our childcare workers with a basic 40 hour certification. This will be a challenge, but I feel the time is right and it is much needed.

Gabriel passed his medical exam with flying colors and only has to go every 2 months for check ups now. It was decided that no further action should be taken at this time. He will be one on May 9th!! Happy Birthday to you Gabriel!!

I believe most of you already have my letter of intention that I sent out via e-mail a few days ago, so I won’t repeat all that again. I am so grateful to have been presented this opportunity to serve the people of Nicaragua.

Around the middle of April I was called to the school to meet with the teacher of one of our young boys, Jose (3 years old), Xochilt’s brother. It was sad to learn of his serious behavioral problems at school. Apparently, neither his teacher, nor the Directora could keep him under control. After more than 2 hours of discussion, they agreed to allow him to stay in school, and they invited me to work with them to resolve the issues. I was so excited! I had wanted to work with them for a long time, but did not want to butt in and offend anyone. My prayers were answered, to be invited in to the classroom. They asked me if I could go in on a regular basis, so I told them I would go on Fridays. We didn’t agree on a time, but when Kathy and I arrived mid morning the following Friday, we were greeted immediately and taken directly to the classroom. “Do not pass GO, do not collect $200!!!” Boy were they ready for us. Ask Kathy to tell you more about that!!! She has a first hand update for you! Thanks Kathy. I am so thrilled to be invited to work alongside the teachers and share discipline strategies and teaching methods.

Well, I actually drove across town on my own for the first time to meet Kathy at the airport. No big deal you may think, but driving here in Nicaragua is challenging and very dangerous, especially after dark. I wondered why no-one was stopping at red lights, and was quite stubborn to the honking horns, as I exclaimed, “they’re just going to have to wait, the light is red!.” Since then I learned that after dark it is not safe to stop at a red light, you may get hi-jacked and/or robbed. Yikes! So now I know. Since that episode however, I have got braver and driven all over town! Hooray!

Wow, I could go on, and on, so much is happening here, so much progress is being made. All with The Lord’s provision and grace, mercy and love. I see His hand on everything. We have much to be thankful for! And much work left to do, better get back to it! Bye for now…

Feel free to write to me at my e-mail address posted above, I would love to keep in touch and hear what is happening in your life.

Check out the latest slide show (here)

Hot and happy in Nicaragua,
Andrea, Grandma, Mum XXXXXX

Let go and let God.

Yes, I was back in Gainesville, but just for a minute…. or so it seemed. I flew back to Nicaragua last Thursday for another 3 months. I have been volunteering at the orphanage for over a year now, since March 2007. I gave up full time work as a pre-school teacher last June to be available to commute back and forth more often, to take a more active role in the infant orphanage in Los Cedros. Each time I go I have no idea how the finances will work out, and each time the Lord provides. Praise God!!

I feel He has been walking with me, leading and guiding me every step of the way, one step at a time. Now I feel it is time to take a leap of Faith and make a deeper commitment. Fulfilling the desires of my heart, I have been offered a full time position with the children at Casa de Nueva Esperanza, (Home of New Hope). All my time there is on a volunteer basis so I am responsible for raising all the funds to be available. Again, when I look at this on paper, I have no idea how it will all work out. God uses money to teach us to trust Him. Lack of money is just as definitely from God as the provision of money. The lesson is to trust God for our small daily needs, as in The Lord’s prayer: “give us this day our daily bread.”

By Faith I intend to step out and trust in the Lord, for “My God shall supply all of my needs according to His riches in Glory by Christ Jesus.” Phil 4:19

I cannot thank you enough for all of your support thus far. There have been days when I just don’t know how I would have got through if it hadn’t been for the love and prayers I have felt from family back home. Many of you have been generous and faithful in financial contributions also, I thank you for your faithfulness and obedience to The Lord.

My prayer today is that you will continue to walk with me, and that we can press on together for the prize, as one body, one team working to advance God’s Kingdom. It is His work, it is His plan, it is His orphanage, they are His children, WE are His children. May ALL the Praise and Glory raise up to God our Heavenly Father.

I will continue to send updates on the children, with photos if possible! Look for April news soon!!!
Check out “Missions” on our Vineyard website for my news and pix

with a joyful heart overflowing with thanks,
Andrea

Please keep in touch via email at AndreaGBurgess@hotmail.com , I would LOVE to hear from you!

Anyone wishing to make a contribution may send a check made out to The Vineyard, with NICA/AB in the memo section, attention Theresa Williams, 3536 NW 8th Avenue, Gainesville, FL 32605.
I am currently living in a room at the orphanage so my living expenses are minimal, however, I stilll need to raise around $500 per month to enable me to stay here.

I  got here finally.  We did not leave until 12:00.
Got to Managua at 2:35 our time.  We got 5 hours sleep in town at a friends house
and went to church at 8:00.  We are finally here at the orphanage and I have my room
in the dorm.  It is so beautiful here.    HOT! but beautiful.  The campus and dorms,
etc. are so nice.  It’s fairly cool if you sit in front of a fan and the electricity
does not go off.  If it goes off there is no fans, no water, etc.  So far, only 5
minutes off.  The babies are so beautiful.  Most were napping when we arrived.

Oh yes, Andrea had never driven to the airport by herself.  So going home it was
interesting because she had to backtrack.  There are traffic lights but no one stops
at night.  You just have to be sure you are the only one at the intersection then go
like…………..

God has been so good.  I met so many nice people on the plane, I was the
only ‘gringo’ on the plane, but those I met live in the US and helped me with customs, etc.
I was so worried about the luggage, you can only have 50 pounds in each.  I had
49.50 in one and 53 in the other and he just said, okay.  I knew He would take care
of everything, because I was covered in prayer.  I will share more later, I am
running on adrenalin.

Because of Him, love Kathy

I wanted to share something with my Vineyard family about Susan, a homeless woman I have met. I have shared with many of you my attitude about the homeless that I would get angry just seeing them down on the square and sitting in the Library, etc. I started going down to help feed the homeless Thanksgiving. Since then the Lord has opened my eyes to look at people with His eyes. Not mine, mine just judged and critized. Susan, I did not know her name at the time, always sat over to the side always by herself. Not talking and keeping her head down. She had a soft hat pulled down to her eyebrows, and she wore a coat. Still does even as warm as it is now. She had bags and bags she carried every where with her. I started going over to her and just chatting a little She never spoke a sentence. I asked her name. Then I got bolder and asked her did she live by herself and outside. Another time I asked what she had done for a living at one time. She was a Carnie. For you young people that might not know, she worked in the Carnival. I do not know what her job was, but she was waiting for a carnival to come to town. One night I said she needed a cart for all her bags, and she said it cost money. I told her I would look around to see if I could find one. I was at Rene’s and Gina’s helping them move and would you believe it, there it sat, waiting for me to take it to Susan with their generous blessing. I think Susan was really pleased when I gave it to her, because she had all her bags in it before I got back to the serving table.

I know this is long, but you needed to know her background. Yesterday I was in the library getting some books and CD’s. Susan was at one of the computers and I stopped and spoke to her. I said I had to go and get the CD’s. She kept following me up and own each isle and waiting at the end. She never spoke, I thought she was looking for one too. Soon she said, I am going outside and I will wait for you. When I got out, she was sitting on the sidewalk waiting. She got up and I told her that I was going to Managua and would not see her for a few weeks. As I was leaving she put her arms around me and hugged me and I put my arms around her and hugged her. Who knows how long it had been since someone hugged her. Cliff, you would have been proud of me. She followed me to my car and the security guard was coming over to keep her from harressing me. I told the guard that she was a friend of mine. As I drove out onto the street in front of the library, she kept waving to me. You just don’t know how full my heart is just in telling you. Jesus said to look at people with His eyes.

Love and I will see you in a few weeks with our own Andrea. Kathy

I had fun this Easter being Easter Bunny delivering and hiding eggs for our older children to hunt here on property at Los Cedros. The children were so eggsited to find the candy filled eggs on their first Easter Egg Hunt ever! Lots of smiles, Praise God!

We took baby Gabriel to the doctors again a few days ago, and his condition continues to be stable. His doctor, (a volunteer heart specialist from USA here for 2 years) is still facing many problems working at the hospitals here. She plans to have a team of Cardiac Specialists come out for two weeks at the end of April. However, they are running into “problems” with constantly changing paperwork requirements. Please pray for this team , that nothing will stand in their way of being able to come over here to do the Lord’s will. They plan to work with families who have children with serious heart defects. We are praying it will be possible for them to actually perform much needed surgeries while they are here. They want to examine Gabriel and decide as a team what will be the best course of action for him. Of course, he is already our star miracle baby, since doctors told us back in September he only had a week left to live! He continues to gain weight, and successfully achieve his developmental goals, and his 1st birthday is coming up soon, May 9th 2008! God is so good.

Apologies (again) for the delay in writing. We have had several power cuts and multiple problems with Internet access. Also, we had to let some of our workers go, as well as giving the remaining staff their 4 days Easter Break, so things got a little crazy around here Easter week! Lianne , her mother and I decided to take ALL the children to church for Easter Sunday! We were up until midnight the night before, getting their clothes ready, and packing a mammoth diaper bag for all the babies. Then up again at 5am to be ready for an 8 am service. It was well worth it though, and once we arrived at church, there were many hands offering to hug our angels. Some of the ladies also volunteered to come out to work with us one day, which was very much appreciated. (God always provides, thank you Lord.) We have been interviewing and training some new staff, but so far, we have not filled the positions needed to complete our team. Please pray that God will send us the people He has already chosen to work with our Los Cedros family.

The weather continues to be hot, dry and windy. We made the most of it yesterday by making our own kites and flying them high in the sky!

I plan to take a trip to our other orphanage in Jinotega this Sunday, and stay for a couple of days. This home is for children ages 6-12 and we currently have 19 children living there. The drive is about 4 hours, on rough roads but the scenery is beautiful. It is much cooler there, up in the mountains of northern Nicaragua, I am looking forward to the change.

Xochilt had been doing well with her school work until yesterday, when we had a negative report from the teacher. Please lift her up in prayer. She will be having exams next Tuesday, and if she does well she can stay in 1st grade, if not, she will have to go back into preschool with 3 year olds. (There is no in between class, and Xochilt is almost 6 years old.)

Good news and bad news: I finally got a light installed in my room this afternoon! (I only had candle light until today, or a small, broken lamp.) Bad news is here in Nicaragua the light attracts bugs. Within 5 minutes I had bugs of every shape and size imaginable in here, no kidding. Some were large, but easy to catch, others were teeny ones that were hard to get! Where did they all come from? I just spent about 30 minutes chasing them all away, (OK, and swatting them.) So now I am sitting here by candle light once again, sometimes the basics are the best!!

Oh, and I also have HOT running water in my room now, what a luxury!

Well, Faith, my youngest Granddaughter is here with me and loving every minute. I will try to send photos of her, (our youngest missionary), to you! Faith, Kathy and I will be returning to the States at the end of April. I plan to return within a few days, God willing, to be with Gabriel for his next doctor’s appointment.

My heartfelt thanks to all, for your continued support. You are in my prayers and I would love to hear from you to keep up to date with your news: AndreaGBurgess @ Hotmail.com

Kathy Bolton leaves Gainesville to join me April 12th for 2 weeks. Please keep her in your prayers for safe travel and victory in all the Lord has for her to accomplish during her stay.

“May the Lord work out His plans for our lives.” Psalm 138 v.8,

And “May the Lord of peace Himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.” 2 Thes 3 v.16

Love and blessings galore, more than you could ever ask or imagine,

Andrea XXX

Celebrating Easter with our older children, L to R: Yelkin, Walter, Faith, Joseling, Xochilt, Jose and Joseph on Bunnys’ lap.

Faith, our youngest Missionary here, feeding baby Gabriel.

Children act out the Easter Story on Good Friday at a local Nican church

Xochilt outside her classroom on her first day in 1st Grade.

MARCH 2008

Dear Friends and Family,

A month or so ago, three different businessmen visited us on consecutive weeks.  What was so striking about Mark and Mike was that they were exploring creative ways of utilizing their business involvement to benefit the poor.  Their faith was driving them to integrate their beliefs with their daily lives.

Robert had a slightly different approach, but one that was equally refreshing.  While here speaking at a convention for local employees of Adobe, he made a point of visiting our Vineyard family whenever he could.  He even prepared by learning some basic Hindi and used it everywhere he went (to everyone’s delight!).  As the weekend approached he asked if instead of staying at the hotel he could spend the weekend with one of our leaders so that he could get to know him better.  I later found out that Robert has done this before, and becomes a faithful pen pal and prayer support.  Wow!

Then, our National Director, Bert Waggoner and his wife Evelyn visited India and Nepal for a week.  Bert and Evelyn have always been extremely kind whenever our paths have crossed, so I knew they would connect relationally with the pastors, but I wasn’t too sure how the messages would go over.  We have so many come and speak in a way that people can’t connect with.  The longer I live here, the more I am personally challenged by this.

But I must say, session after session, in many different contexts Bert shared profound truths in an incredibly simple way that helped explain the core of who we are as the Vineyard Family.  Time and again, he shared life stories that not only illustrated his points but were also Spirit initiated.  I watched as particular stories were the perfect key to unlocking someone’s heart.  I have to say it was the greatest example of Spirit-led cross-cultural communication I have ever seen.  Thank you so much Bert and Evelyn.

And then came Easter.  For the last six months, here in Delhi we have increasingly become a close network of two Sunday fellowships and four House churches (plus several regular home groups).  Two months ago we got together for our first city-wide celebration, and for Easter we decided to rent a local Baptist church to use after their service.  About 140 people participated, including some who had come to see their older brothers and sisters go through a public ceremony to commit their lives to Jesus.  Sixteen people professed their faith. For several of the house church pastors who have joined our team, this was their first opportunity to do anything like this. It was very special for all of us. We are really proud of these guys; they are doing such a great job while facing so many challenges.

As always we thank you for your ongoing love, support and prayers.  May God lead all of us to serve him as faithfully as each of these servants who have touched our lives.

Love, Rick and Ellen

I Peter 4:10

Prayer Requests

Please pray the new believers, that they will continue to grow in Jesus, share with their friends, and have strength to face the challenges of being a minority even in their own families.

Please pray for our pastors and leaders as they learn how to financially support their families and ministries.

Please pray for pastor Simon and his wife Blessy as they try to gain admission for their son into a Christian school.

Please pray for the Discipleship School which Amy will be launching in August. Amy is continuing to recruit students and instructors, and raise the necessary funds.

Please pray for God’s favor and wisdom as we begin the process of moving forward in establishing a children’s home in Delhi.

Please pray for Ellen, Amy and I for perseverance as we are stretched by cultural challenges.

It has been so hot here, and dusty and windy, and BUSY!!! No more fires close to home, but plenty in the surrounding neighborhoods.

A quick update on baby Gabriel: his condition is stable, and he is still scheduled to have a check up every month. We have been taking him to see a Volunteer American Cardiologist at a local public hospital , however, she is no longer able to practice there. She is at a private hospital now, but has only a table and chair in her office so far. She had to borrow equipment to check Gabriel’s oxygen level. We would like to help her get re-established, by donating equipment and writing letters to the authorities on her behalf.

We have had a lot going on here in Los Cedros over the past couple of weeks. We had a medical team here this week and we held a free clinic here yesterday for all our staff and their families. It was a huge success and I thank God for making it all possible.

We have had a few health problems with our babies too, respiratory and ear infections, so that has kept us busy also. (sleepless nights!) Praise God for having the medical team here to help us with the medicines and so on.

Our five year old Xochilt graduated from pre-school last year, cap and gown, the whole works, yet she was put back in the same grade when school went back at the beginning of the month. We went to speak with the Directora of the school and she did not feel that Xochilt was ready to move up. We had 2 of our three year olds just starting in pre school and I couldn’t bear to see Xochilt still in the same class with the beginners, so I offered to work with Xochilt to do whatever it takes to move her up to 1st grade. The Directora agreed, with a promise that I would be at the school every day to meet with the teacher and discuss Xochilt’s progress. So much of my time has been spent working with her at home and at school, (add on about 1 and 1/2 hours in travel time every day!)

All in all, the children are doing well, they are making rapid progress, thank you Lord!

I have to return to USA for a family emergency, but hope to come back to Los Cedros as soon as possible. I will keep you updated on the progress.

Please keep the children of Los Cedros in your prayers, as well as my angels back in Florida.

Thank you from my heart,

more soon,
abundant blessings, peace and joy,

Andrea, Mum, Grandma XX