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.
Vineyard of Gainesville