A Generation that Does Not Work

It has been a busy couple of months balancing normal workload of the ministry and trying to help Mario start his business. Recently we saw a pattern developing in Mario's behavior toward his work. Every week there was a reason for him to take one day off from work.

Communicating with the local people is a very difficult process.  Believe me, it is a process trying to piece together bits of all communication to finally draw a conclusion of the true intent.  They NEVER tell you what you need to hear.  It is hard to read between the dialogue as to what they are really trying to say.  This was the case talking with Mario.  He was saying all the right things but never what was on his mind.

It seems he was growing tired of making the trip into Leon every day.  He'd leave home at 7am and return at 5pm five days a week.  Typical hours for the American culture - 10 hours including travel time.   Mario told us he did not think it was necessary for the shop to be open all day every day.   He said we do things differently in Nicaragua than the United States.  (yes, they do; in reality they work 12-16 hours a day, 7 days a week). He also began to complain about not having power tools.  It was always understood that as a business owner that he would be responsible for buying the bulk of his tools. The ministry might donate a tool or two, but it was always the owner's responsibility to acquire tools.  He did not like that he never had time for his friends, work consumed much of his time.

Mario told us that his sister had returned from Spain with money in savings and she would help him buy tools.  He wanted to begin to work in his community.  We are spending our final days with Mario preparing him to be on his own.   It's only a matter of a phone call if he ever needs our assistance and of course we will continue to work in El Paraiso to develop the economy.

We have been in Nicaragua long enough to know that if missionaries do not hand deliver everything to a person they will not take the initiative to run with an opportunity.  

Last November, the cabinet shop was moved into Leon from El Paraiso because of several reasons. One in particular was to gauge the interest of Mario in how much he was willing to invest of himself to have his own business.    Due to Mario's recent lack of interest, our analysis is that he did not want to buy his own tools and playing soccer with his friends was more important than building toward a stable future.

El Paraiso is a community that was birthed out of the devastation of Hurricane Mitch.  Several villages had been buried because the wall of a water filled volcano crater collapsed.  More than 2000 people lost their lives.  The survivors were relocated to a plot of land, homes were built and El Paraiso came into existence.

The displaced people were farmers who now were living on small lots with no work available in their surroundings.  It's been almost 20 years and the new generation is growing up not knowing what it means to work a regular job. Some young men might take a part time job working in the sugar cane fields during the harvest season. The majority of the community depends on government help, extended family members working in other countries who send money home each month or the kindness of missionaries.

Such is the case of Mario's mother and sister.  They live in Spain 11 months of the year and return at Christmas for a visit.  Mario has siblings that have lived their entire short lives without the presence of their mother.

The family unit is so broken, that it is acceptable in this culture for the women to work hard while the men do whatever men like to do: hang in groups, gamble, drink and chase women.

Our purpose in Nicaragua is to teach a generation how to work so that they do not have to depend on the assistance of others.  It is Biblical that a man shall work if he wants to eat and he is responsible to care for his family.

Gabineteria Mario

Last November, we moved the work of the cabinet shop from El Paraiso to Leon.  For a time we have had the training and work done in our home. We have finally found a small little space around the corner from our house.  And we chose to name the new business Gabinteria Mario.

Moving into the space has been easy, we are minus machines and tools because of last month's theft. From the very beginning in 2010, we taught the guys how to work with hand tools.  If the guys would ever want to start their own business, it would be cheaper to buy hand tools. Many times power outages is common even in the city which makes power tools useless.

It goes without saying that they always preferred to work with power tools, it's easier and faster.  The younger generation and this culture love to see results immediately.  If it takes too long, they lose interest and walk away.  So, we allowed them to graduate from using hand tools to power tools as soon as they had proven they had mastered the techniques of hand tools.

Mario is happy about the new space but not about going back to "the stone ages" of using hand tools. We told him that until we can generate sales to save money for new power tools, hand tools would have to do.

The purpose of the cabinet shop is to build wall cabinets, pantries and wardrobes.   We are taking the concept of Lowes and Home Depot;  individual cabinets that can be purchased as needed, carried home and installed.  The community is growing, modern homes are being built that require cabinets. People are beginning to be able to afford to fix up their homes after years of neglect and cabinets are needed.  Buy 1 or 2 as they can afford them.

Nicaragua is dry, windy and dirty six months of every year.  It is common to sweep up one cup of dirt from each room and wipe tables every half hour of dark dirt.  Typically houses do not have cabinets or closets. There needs to be storage for dishes and clothes.

Our desire is to work with Mario in Leon to continue to build his carpentry skills and teach him the fundamentals of business.  In the future, we hope to have a factory out at El Paraiso.  Mario goes to college on Saturdays to study industrial engineering.   How appropriate is that for the future?   In the meantime, we want to build the business in the metropolis of Leon.

This month, Mario has been learning how to figure the pricing for the materials used in each size of cabinet.  After the costs are determined, he is taught about markup and profit.  Seeing the sale prices in black and white on paper made him uncomfortable.  Too high, he kept saying!

In this culture, a product is made and usually not much thought is put into the sale price.  The price might be determined by whatever sounds good or whatever is needed that day to buy the day's groceries or maybe it's time to pay the rent or definitely the price is based on the color of one's skin or their prosperous background.

We spoke to Mario about how was he going to buy sand paper, a new saw blade, pay the salary of a helper. What about the rent, the lights?   Well, it takes the proper markup to pay all the expenses. He started to see that pricing was important to keep a business thriving.

This month, we are working on cabinet prices and business fundamentals.  Tune in for upcoming news on how the business is developing.

Seventy times Seven

It's hard to believe that we have experienced theft, yet again.

Last month, we moved to a smaller residence since we no longer had youth living in our home.   We needed space to store the machines and tools used in the carpentry shop.   There were two rooms in renovation in the building that is now being occupied by the church of Pastor Santiago.  He gave permission for us to store the tools while we were completing the work on the building.

One day when Preston went to the building to do some work he discovered that all the machines and tools were gone.   The planer, the table saw, circular saws, sanders, plate joiner, drills, and other smaller tools.  Everything that was not in a tool box in our home was gone.

We talked to the neighbors but everyone had the same story, they saw nothing.  Even the neighbors living across the street, gave the same story; they saw nothing.   What makes this so unbelievable is that the thefts were happening during THE DAY.  How do we know this?  It's way too dark to work at night.  The thieves had to scale a 12 foot wall to get the goods out of the building and a week later, on a Sunday there was another theft.  This time chairs were stolen between the time the morning church service ended at noon and the afternoon service began at 4.

Back in December, we had many tools stolen by someone staying in our home.   It took weeks to assess all the things that were missing because Preston has so many small, medium and large tools.  He would need something for a particular job and when he couldn't find it, we knew that it must have been included in the December heist.   When we took a final count, the tools were valued at over $800.   This latest heist will cost more than $2000 to replace what was taken, not including the chairs.

Theft is an ongoing hazard for the missionaries living and working in Nicaragua.  We've experienced a dozen different incidents of theft in the years we have lived here.  We hear stories all the time from others from a whole house being emptied out while the family was home for the holidays to a pet being poisoned while the family was away so that the thieves could enter the compound.

We tell people, the nation is not violent, it's just a nation of thieves.

We have since cut away the shrubs and overgrown weeds from around the building.  We had our friend, Wilber, weld the razor wire to metal rebar at the top of the wall.

So, seventy time seven, that's what the Bible says.   That's a hard one when the offense is repeated over and over again.  Forgiveness has no limits.   I don't know if it's unforgiveness that we struggle with or cynicism.  

We were privileged to have grown up in the most wonderful country in the world and never in our years did we personally ever experience discrimination.  We encounter on a weekly basis behavior that could be considered modern day persecution; extreme rudeness because we are Americans and they know we won't retaliate, we are laughed at, sneered at, lied to, stolen from.

Every day, we have to prepare ourselves physically, mentally and emotionally for the work we do and life we live in Nicaragua.  BUT, those of us that continue to stay, this is home and in spite of everything we love the people that God has brought into our lives.  The work is HARD, sometimes the rewards are few, but we get glimpses of breakthroughs and we know we are on the right path.

We Only Know in Part

When the door to opening the Academy seemed to have closed on the ministry, it was a very disappointing time for us.  We felt confident that the plan was still alive to open an academic education center, but the timing was being postponed.  We also felt very confident that renting and renovating the building was the right thing to do.   Now the question before us was "what is the purpose for the building?"

We were in preparations to host a team from Center City Church in Greensboro, NC.  As we met with a local pastor friend of ours to talk about some coordinated events with the team, he mentioned to us that he was seeking a building to rent.  He had been holding services in his home but needed more space.  He said the dwellings he looked at were $500 and more and needed lots work to make them usable.

Immediately, a knowing was inside of us.  Preston and I looked at each other and there was no question that God was putting the same thing on our hearts.  We had a building and it was a lot less than $500 a month.  As we presented the idea to Pastor Santiago and his wife, they saw it as a possible answer to their prayers.

After inspecting our building, they agreed that it would be perfect for their needs.  It had the common area for services along with separate rooms for classes and a kitchen for community functions.  The building was also located in an area of smaller, poor communities that the church had begun to reach out to.

Our first event for the building was to use it for the meetings with the visiting team from Center City. It was during this event that it became so clear that the building was being used for God's purposes.

Sometimes, we do not see the whole part of the plan in the beginning.  The Lord continually uses people to help others.  We had been chosen to prepare a space for a church for a local Nicaragua pastor.   The pastor did have the funds to renovate a building nor the skill level to do the work.   We had acquired the building for what we thought were our purposes, but God had other plans.      Romans 8:28 ERV says:  "We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love him. These are the people God chose, because that was his plan."

When God Closes a Door

It's difficult to put in words what I am about to write.

At the end of last month, our dreams for an academic education for the young men of this area were being assaulted.  We had felt confident about the decision to open the school because there was so much interest by young men in the community, and the building fit our needs and was affordable.  We began the renovation of the building, but we were not receiving the necessary funds needed to purchase the equipment for the classrooms.  The financial setback was small in comparison to the battle we were experiencing with the people that had said they wanted to be a part of what we were doing; who expressed a desire to teach and help at the academy.

In last month's post I explained that long time friends would be helping us with the administrative aspect of the school.  They had experience as part time educators.  It would take too long to explain everything in detail that had transpired. Because of lies and manipulation by one of the persons, we had to bring the project to an abrupt halt.   We needed time to assess what we were up against and how we would proceed; IF we would proceed.

This unexpected development shook us to our core.  These were people whom we considered close and trusted friends.  However, the integrity which we needed so badly had been challenged.  It's very difficult to live and work in Nicaragua.  You have to ask for information several different ways in order to piece together what you received to arrive at an honest, workable solution.   We depend on people to watch "our backs";  to help keep others honest in their dealings with us; and to inform us when we are being taken advantage of.

The boys that we have had relationships with during the years we have been here were very disappointed that the school opening was put on hold.  They saw the academy as an opportunity to complete their education.  Young men who were in their late teens to mid 30's would have to wait for another year because all other education facilities had already completed the enrollment process.

The only thing we are sure of at this point is that the building has a purpose and it's for us to discover what it is.  We will continue to complete the renovation as funds become available.

As we seek God's plan, we will "dress our wounds" and forgive those who had let greed get in the way of helping the youth of the nation.

We still feel strongly in the power of education.  We believe that those young men who did not have the choice earlier in life to pursue education deserve another opportunity no matter how old they are.

Hombres de Valor Academia

We have 2 months to remodel the building, hire teachers, and hold student registrations for the opening classes of Hombres de Valor. Our long time friends will be helping us with the administrative processes.  Guys who have been in past carpentry classes will be doing all the physical labor to remodel the building to get it prepared for first day of classes.

The school will be located in a building at the edge of town on the main bus route.  The building is small but is perfect for the small class sizes.  We want to make sure the teachers are able to give each student the attention that he needs.

It's been awhile since the building was inhabited, so there is a lot of cosmetic work to be done along with minor repairs and the installation of new wiring for lighting and fans.  We want the building to be as fresh and new as we can make it; nothing but the best for brothers of the King of Kings.  All around them they are reminded of the poverty they live in; however, not in this school.  Because they are making the commitment to re-enter school to lay hold of a better life, they deserve surroundings to match their new ideals.

We made a decision early on that the school would be private so that we would have the freedom to educate with a Christian World view.  Like all the work we do, the focus will be on the young male. We felt that it was important that distractions be kept to a minimum, thus no co-ed.

Classes will be 4 evenings a week.  This allows for the men to work during the day.  Needing to work to provide for their basic needs has usually been the reason why they dropped out of school.   

The total program will be accelerated by combining some of the years and a stand alone final year. The school will begin with a combined 7th and 8th.  The next year, they will promote to a combined 9th and 10th as we receive new students for 7th and 8th. By the time the original class promotes to the final 11th year, the entire school will be in place.  The 11th year will prepare the student either for vocational or university.  

We have determined that we will need approximately $500 per room to remodel and furnish the classrooms for a total of $4000.   As you can see, we have already begun the work on the facility. We would appreciate you prayerfully consider to help us complete the project.  Your gift can be made safely using our online giving app.  https://connect.egiving.com/private-academy/restoration-of-the-nations 

We have been in the process of interviewing teachers as well as individuals who have a heart to see the youth become better educated.   It is important to us that the person who wants to teach at the Academy be more interested in the growth of the student than in their paycheck.  If the salary is their top concern,  they can apply at the local schools.  There is a program in South Carolina where 85% of the teaching staff are not certified teachers.  The school has the highest academic testing in the state.  

Registration for classes will begin the end of January.  

Dreams on Hold

Aside from injury or death, one of the worst pieces of news parents would hear is,  'I am going to be a dad.'   This bit of news was delivered to us the other day.

Immediately I thought about how all his dreams and hopes were going to be put aside, maybe forever. My next thought was, this boy in a man's body is continuing the cycle that plagues this nation,  "Children giving birth to children".

All the discussions about birth control, abstinence and the desire for their children to not grow up in a home with only one parent seemed to have fallen on deaf ears.  We're familiar with children growing up in fatherless houses, mom's abandoning their children, aunts and grandma's doing the best they can to feed the many mouths in their homes.  And because of all this, children, teens and young adults want so much for someone to love them.

Something we have discovered is that the Nica culture looks at sex differently than Americans or Christians do.   From the time they are born, children have been exposed to sexual relationships. There is no privacy in the typical poor Nica home.  Everyone shares what might be the one and only room in the house.  If they are lucky enough to have a piece of plastic on a line separating beds, little ears hear things.  And it's very common for adults and children to share beds.  Sexuality and nudity are as natural to them as breathing.

Americans are considered uptight because of our biblical views.  In the local churches it is so common to have the young girls pregnant more than once and it is celebrated.  I have yet to hear of a concern for the well being of the young pregnant mom or the future of the unborn child.

Right now, I am not very popular in our home.  I have asked that the young mother-to-be go back to her community and be with her mother.  She is only 16 years old, she needs her mother.  She ran away and she is afraid to return to her family.  I cannot help her, I do not know the language well enough, I do not know the customs well enough.

I have been insistent that as long as our Nica son wants our help, he will need to do as we request to talk his girl friend in to going home.  He will be financially responsible and the time apart will give them both the space they need to decide their future.

Our boy is in shock, he's concerned about the added responsibilities.  He is also determined to be an involved daddy.  He wants more for his child than the circumstances he endured of his own childhood.  Noel has been working hard to have his own business.  He has already purchased his first tricyclo taxi.  His goal is to own three taxis by March.

We too are in shock, but God says his mercies are new every morning.

Trust is Broken

One of the most difficult times we encounter is when the very people we help are the ones who choose to sabotage the relationships.  We deal a lot with dishonesty.  Most of the time it is in the telling lies.  We also have dealt with dishonesty in the form of stealing. But, never have we dealt with dishonesty when it was premeditated by those living in our home.

I will not use names because of the sensitivity of the issues.  One of our boys who has been in and out of our care for a couple of years was again living with us.  He came to us asking if a boy he had known for years who recently left Remar could stay with us for a little while until he could find a job and a place to rent.  We asked that he invite the boy over for us to meet and talk to.

When the young man came to visit, we explained what we were willing to do for him and exactly for how long.  He agreed and immediately moved in.  It's amazing how quickly someone will have amnesia.  After a couple of days we had to remind him that his time with us was limited and needed to find a job.  There are plenty of jobs out there, maybe not what you would prefer to have, but a job is a job right now and you had better have one when you come back this evening for supper.

He came back with a job washing dishes in one of the better restaurants.  His desire was to be a waiter, but I encouraged him with the idea that he has his foot in the door, now he could prove himself to the owner.  He quit the job after 4 days, it was too hard.  Long story short, in three weeks he had 3 jobs and all of them were beneath him.  The second job he was fired from because he wanted to go visit friends in Managua instead of going to work.  The last job was working in the hamburger stands for 16 hour days, now that is hard!

Everyone in our house knew that we were planning to go to Managua for our residency acceptance. When we returned home that evening, Preston saw that the door to our bodega was ajar.  He didn't think much of it, he assumed he had not closed it properly.  A day or two later he needed a power drill and could not find it. Noel had been the last one to put it away and Preston asked him about it.  Noel went into the bodega to look and it was not in its place.  After much search, we just assumed someone else had used it and we needed to wait until they returned home in the evening to ask. When the rest of the household had been questioned, it was the usual story, no one had seen it.

The next day, Preston was working on a project and needed another tool but couldn't find it.  He started taking inventory and discovered several things missing.

When we confronted everyone in the house, they all denied knowing anything about the missing tools. There had been 3 people in the house the day we went to Managua.  Two of the boys tried to convince us that someone came in to the house and stole them.  The house had never been vacant, so they tried to discredit the one person that had been in the house all day.   They said that maybe someone climbed over the wall when the other person was sleeping.  We reminded them that our dog Mordecai would never let a stranger in the house.

We had to ask the new young man to leave our home as well as the boy who brought him into our house.  It was difficult to turn one of our favorite sons away but we were convinced that he was involved.  As we thought about the events leading to the discovery of the robbery, we remembered that our boy had been starting to wear a backpack out of the house every day which he had not done before.  When he returned on one particular day it was not as padded as it had been that morning when he left to go to work.  There had been other telltale signs but we did not piece them all together until afterwards.

It's Christmas and the need for money and things is in great demand.  What is really troubling about this is that good tools were sold or pawned for pennies on the dollar.    Much of  the society here has the same mindset; foreigners, especially Americans are rich.  We can easily replace whatever is lost to us.  Also because of our supposed abundance, they think they can help themselves because we have so much.  We deal with this disrespect all the time.

What is troubling is that it was one of our boys who did not respect us.  But more troubling is that whatever trust we extended toward him, was broken.  We had experiences with him in the past with lies, but never, ever dreamed that stealing would be an issue.

This broken trust hurts!

Nicaragua Fails to Educate

Our purpose for coming to Nicaragua was to educate. Education takes on several forms: religious, academic, vocational, and social. All four of these components are necessary to the growth and maturity of a person.  We focused on the vocational while always including the religious and social. Our eyes were being opened as to the quality of academic education in Nicaragua when some of our boys were attending public schools.

During their first year living with us, the only school that would accept the boys was a small, private catholic school.   At their current age, they should have graduated from high school, not entering the last 2 years of elementary.   After a brief informal assessment by the school director, Noel was allowed to skip 2 grades and James was entered into the 6th year for the first time of his life to ever go to school. We are forever grateful to the staff at San Sebastian for taking a chance on our boys. They were always at the top of their class academically and socially.

Such was not the case when they attended secondary school (high school).   The report cards reflected a problem with academics.  We engaged a tutor for the boys so they would not fall behind.

We began to find that the problem was not so much with the boys learning but with the lack of teaching.  We moved across the street from the secondary school that one of our boys attended.  There were days that the classrooms had no teachers.  There was never any control over the students when the teacher was in attendance. There were many days that class or school would not be in attendance because of political rallies that were mandatory for the students to attend.

During the spring of  2014, there was no school for 2 months because of continuous earthquake activity. When school was reconvened, the boys came home to say that they needed 300 cords each for a particular class.  The shutdown had not allowed the teacher to finish the curriculum and it was time to move on to another.  He would give the boys a passing grade in exchange for the money so they would not have an incomplete on their report card.  Our tutor made a trip to the school to talk with the teacher to tell him that no money would be paid.

We were furious and it motivated us to action.  We had always talked about a deeper level of academia for the guys that we were involved with.  Now was the time to make it happen.

Let me share some statistics with you:

    1.  Only 51% of the students complete up to grade 5.

    2.   Less than 30% entering secondary school graduate.

    3.  94% of students fail the college entrance exams the first time.

    4.  The entrance exam passing score has been lowered to 54%.

    5.  The average teacher earns 60% less than other jobs.

    6.  If there are not enough educated Nicaragua teachers, the only requirement is to have completed                    primary school.   Only 26% of teachers have graduated in higher education.

    7.  There are no text books in the classroom.

We've spent over a year researching and talking to educators to gather information that we could use to form a school and build a curriculum.   Our program will be like no other because of the advanced years of those seeking to further their education.

Our tutor and her husband, who teaches math on weekends have shown a desire to be involved in the program.  We have known them since our very first visit to Nicaragua.   They've always shown a lot of interest in our work and the guys.

Our First Family Wedding

One of our own has gotten married.  James Israel is now a married man.  

At the beginning of the year, he was asking us questions like: how do you know if you're ready to get married?  What do you do to get ready?

We answered the questions the best we could and then we had one of our own:  "Are you trying to tell us something?"  He laughed and said 'no, he was just thinking'.   At the time we were relieved because James' girlfriend was only 16 years old.

The end of May, he came to us and said he had some news.  He was thinking about getting married. Really?  When?   "Soon" he said.  As with any parent who hears about a desire for a sudden wedding, our most logical question was, "Is she pregnant?"   James said that she was not, but they no longer wanted to wait.

We asked the question again, but this time "How soon",  he answered  'maybe next week'.   Whoa........   In my thoughts I'm thinking, let's talk about this more.  But what I said was, "Let's plan this out and do it right, have a real wedding".   When in actuality, I meant -  I need more time, I feel like I've been hit with a sledge hammer.

We have talked for years to the guys about responsibilities.  Finish your education, stabilize your finances, don't put the cart before the horse (no babies outside of marriage).   We were feeling like all the years of teaching were being ignored.

But, what do you do?  He's 21 years old, he's a legal adult who has been providing for himself for over a year.  We cannot interfere with his right to his own decisions.

The day before the wedding, we had all the boys and their girl friends gathered together one last time as family.   A time of preparation and enjoying each other company one last night.




We had one last discussion to let the others know the truth of what we felt, in case there was any more surprises to come our way.  We spoke to them what was on our hearts.

We told them that our original views did not change.  Marriage at their age was not something we agreed with.  Their backgrounds had been very challenging, their youth had been taken away from them.  We wanted them to experience life as a young adult without a lot of responsibilities.  We wanted them to finish their education, find good jobs, learn to handle finances all this before getting married.

We told everyone in the presence of James, that we did not agree with James decision; we felt it was premature.  But because we loved him and as our son, we were choosing to honor him.   We told them that our acceptance of his desire to marry was not the same as our approval.

One thing these guys are good at, they tell us what they know we want to hear - No, mom, the rest of us are not planning on getting married any time soon.

In Nicaragua the majority of the people have only a civil ceremony which is required by law.  If a couple chooses to have a Christian ceremony it is usually done a day after the civil.   In some instances, a civil ceremony and Christian are done the same day with the attorney in attendance.   In James' case, they wanted both the civil and Christian ceremonies to be on the same day.  

Nicaraguenses have a unique attitude towards time - it doesn't matter.  Regardless of what the start time is for ANY event, it's an accepted practice for guests to arrive a half hour, one hour or more after the stated time.   At the wedding, we waited for a very long time in a small, crowded, hot house used as a church for the attorney to arrive.    Finally, the decision was made to have the Christian ceremony first and follow with the civil ceremony when the attorney showed up.  James asked Preston and I if we would be his witnesses during the civil ceremony.

When I think about the alternative that James could have made, I am proud that he chose to marry.  I stated earlier that the majority of the people have only a civil ceremony, those are the people who choose to get married.   In reality, the nation is full of couples who choose not to marry at all, they want the freedom to abandon the relationship if it is not to their liking.   Many times, they give the excuse that it is too expensive to have a civil ceremony; but they manage to find the money to have cell phones, tv and cable.   Some do not have a Christian ceremony because then they would be considered married in the eyes of God.

Graduation - Masters

For the last nine months, we scaled back some of our activities in order to give Preston the time he needed to pursue his Master's degree in Theology.  It's been a busy and demanding time for him.  Our work and duties in Nicaragua never cease and there are always interruptions to our schedule and personal time.

He had 16 books that needed to be read along with other reading materials and of course an intense study of the Bible.  We were fortunate that many of the books were available as a Kindle download. There were at least 6 books plus the workbooks that needed to be hand delivered to us.  When I talk about books, I'm not talking about 200 page books, some of them had 400 plus pages.

Writing his thesis was time consuming as any one that has done this can attest to.  But study is something that comes so easy to Preston.  I like to tease him to say that he is "a freak of nature". (Who in their right mind finds entertainment in reading a book on calculus?  Some of his reading materials of the past are bizarre.)

Preston was able to hand deliver his thesis to MorningStar University during our early spring visit. This meant that he needed to have it completed 2 months before it was actually due.

Graduation day was exciting even though we were not in attendance.  Thanks again to webstream, we were able to be a part of all that was taking place.

I'm still amazed at the mind that God has given man.  Look at the technology available to us today!   A person can video call to someone on the other side of the world; which we have done since living in Nica.  What's not to love about livestream; it is the next best thing to being at any event.  Even better, pass the popcorn please!

I am super proud of my husband!  He stayed focused and accomplished a dream of his life.

Now, he's talking about beginning studies for his doctorate.  I've told him that he needed to put the brakes on.  Back to back studies puts a lot of demand on the ministry.    We were able to have a payment plan for his tuition but it was a big personal sacrifice to our all ready overly tight budget.  I'd prefer to try to save some money before the next study.

One question I have had for him which he has not answered yet.  When he receives his doctorate, will he expect me to call him Dr.  

Helping the Poor

In Nicaragua, all improvements and necessary changes are the responsibility of the renter.  At the end of the lease, the renter can remove and take with him all materials used in any improvements.  We however, leave all improvements in place.

In the community of El Paraiso, two days prior to our finding the rental for the carpentry school and cabinet shop, a woman's husband had committed suicide. She was reluctant to rent us a building she owned because the roof was collapsing.  She said she had no money to fix the roof.  In the case of the new roof for one of our landlords, we were following scripture to look after the widows.  We made an agreement to rent the building and make the necessary repairs.  She blessed the ministry with free rent until all repairs were completed.

The ministry installed new electrical wiring, receptacles, lights, replaced block, installed new roof, replaced fencing and built an outhouse.

When the time comes for us to end our lease with her, she will have a fully functional dwelling to rent out in order to generate income for herself and her children.