The Month of Abundance

December is the month of abundance.  Everything is over the top; community celebrations, festivals, neighborhood parties till 2am, drums, drums and more drums, fireworks that are all hours of the night.  Our wonderful, exciting city is all about traditions and celebrations.  The tall ladies are out nightly in all the barrios starting in November.  And the festive atmosphere is strong in the air the entire month of December. 

December 1st, started with us receiving our business license for the vocational carpentry shop and making the final installment for the corporation process.  It was 7 long months of continuous requests and filing paper after paper of supposedly "necessary" documents.  If we had had children, we would probably have had to offer them up too.  Anyway, it is done and the vocational carpentry shop is officially a Nicaragua corporation called "El Taller Gabinete de Comunidad" or the Community Cabinet Workshop.

The second week, our local church headed to the beach for a day of fun and baptisms.  Two of the guys from the Restoration House along with Noel's wife were baptized.  It was our first time at this particular beach which was beautiful, and now that we have seen it, we'll stick to Las Peñitas which is closer to home.

We made a request for help with the year end festivities of our ministry and many of you responded.  We were able to provide gifts for the 7 of our guys living in the Restoration House.  We were able to buy NEW clothes consisting of 2 shirts, pants, 2 pairs of underwear and shoes for each one.   We told them that people

from the United States paid for the gifts and the boys were SO happy. 

You also made it possible for us to give a love offering to the Pastors, Ken and Wilber who give of their time to help with the bible studies for the boys and instruct them how to live life outside the walls of the Restoration House.

We just finished with our second annual outreach to the homeless.  This year, we also included the elderly in giving meals to them at their homes.  There were 19 of us that traveled by eight triciclos through various barrios in the city to give out a meal and be the hands and feet of Jesus to extend love to those in need, lonely or forgotten.   I'm not sure who receives the most blessing, those that receive, or us that have the privilege of giving. 




We love doing this and you, our partners and friends, are such a big part of this.










I know that you all have been inundated with requests and we really don't like having to add to that.  But we too need your help.  Someone told me once, that God has chosen some people to go out into the world to help and others he has chosen to stay home to provide for the sending.  Helping to send means providing for the needs to be able to carry out the work.  We are $700 a month, yes, I said a MONTH short in our funds right now.  This amounts to $8400 a year shortfall in funding.  It is really affecting what we are able to do.  If you feel led to help, we would appreciate you giving to the work in Nicaragua.  Our donation website is easy and very safe to use.

https://connect.egiving.com/general-fund169/restoration-of-the-nations

One of our biggest needs will be equipment for the vocational carpentry shop.  About 18 months ago we were robbed of EVERYTHING we had in the way of tools.  This past year, we were able to purchase a small table saw and planer.   The shop needs clamps, paint sprayer, a larger planer, drill press and various odd hand tools, not to mention an inventory of wood to get the shop started.

 https://connect.egiving.com/machinery-tools-for-carpentry-school/restoration-of-the-nations

We are blessed and privileged to be able to work in Nicaragua and you all make it happen.  Your prayers, your encouragement via calls and emails help to move us on.