He SEES His Future

4 years, 4 long years and there have been times when we ask ourselves "Do they understand why we are here,  Do they get what we are trying to teach?"

We came here to educate a generation that has been abandoned or rejected by their families, overlooked by their own society and not recognized by other visiting ministry organizations.  They are the young men of Third World Nations that no one wants to devote time with or spend the energy trying to educate them about life and life's principles in order to inherit a life that would be more abundant.

Working with the orphan and addict has unique challenges, so can working with a youth from a household with both mother and father.  Maybe the family is so poor that the child was never allowed the privilege to go to school or he might live in a remote area far from opportunities.

Such is the case of Mario Perez.  He comes from a loving family with mother, father, siblings all intact.  He lives way out in what we all would call the boonies.   He has had some education, but opportunities for work and career are beyond his grasp because of his location.  We met him when he joined our carpentry class to learn a skill.  It became apparent very quickly that Mario was serious about learning.  He was faithful in his attendance, precise in his work and very interested in more.

Our desire was to bring to the community (El P on left side of road) along with the vocational school an opportunity for work; an opportunity to begin to grow the economy within the community and the small surrounding towns. So we shared our vision with Mario and the other classmates about a carpentry shop - a business that would allow them to earn income. You could see it in their expressions that it made sense to them and excitement began to build.

We searched for a building to house the carpentry shop and entered into an agreement with the locals on 2 buildings.   One for the school and finishing work; the other for woodworking and assembly.  There were improvements that needed to be made.  The guys pitched in with gusto.  Through the weeks of work to fix and repair the buildings, participation was spotty.  But there was always one constant, Mario.

During one of many conversations, Mario shared that the guys don't see the future, they think only of today.  We had structured a schedule that would allow the guys to continue to work in the cane fields for income and allow them to participate in the work of building the carpentry business until it would sustain them all.  Mario's comment was the confirmation that we needed as to who would ultimately own the business.  The other guys were not willing to do the work necessary to build their future.

God has opened doors of opportunity for the new business which has yet to have a name.There is a church that has undertaken a huge remodel project and needs work for wood flooring to cover the steps to their platform/altar. There is a developer that is building a new community right outside of Leon that is very interested in having the cabinets in their model furnished by the carpentry shop. This ultimately would lead to supplying the future homes with cabinetry.

Mario has worked with Preston learning the process of estimating.  They are also setting up the policies and procedures of owning and operating a business.  He is seeing first hand the importance of reliable help and will not allow friendship to influence his decisions when hiring future employees.   Not one time have we shared our apparent choice with the other guys as to whom the owner would be. In the beginning stages, they had talked about a 3 way partnership amongst themselves.  However, people have a way of showing where their priorities lie and without knowing, they seal their own fate.

This young man, can see his future and he is doing everything to make it a reality.  Encourage him in your prayers.

If you desire to help with the costs of completion of the repairs to the building that will house Mario's carpentry business, donations can be made securely online at:  https://connect.egiving.com/carpentry-building-fund/restoration-of-the-nations

Material Deliveries, Nica Style

We are in the process of refurbishing 2 small dwellings for the carpentry shop in the community of El Paraiso.  There are no stores in that area, so all supplies need to be transported 30 miles from Leon.

One lesson we learned, NEVER shop and transport on Mondays.  The buses are already loaded down with supplies.  

After doing the necessary shopping for the supplies we needed to take out to El P., Preston spoke to the bus driver about stopping at the Ferreteria to pick up the materials.  He showed the driver the bill of sale and the driver, said "not today, there is not enough room".

So, home he went to salvage the day with a list of "honey dos".   You know that list - honey do this, honey do that.  I needed the office moved within our home.

On Tuesday morning, Preston along with our "son" Noel and other "adopted" older son, Nelson, went back out to the terminal.  Preston had conversation with the bus driver, the supplies would be picked up that morning and taken out to El P.  The guys helped load the bus for the 1 1/2 hour trip to El Paraiso.  

Once at El P., the supplies were unloaded and placed at the edge of the road.  One board at a time, the boys walked everything 2 blocks down the road to the dwellings.

Work to install new rafters was accomplished in 3 days.  3 days, you say?  Well, the trip to the village takes 1 1/2 hours.   IF the bus is on schedule and the guys arrive out at the village, they have only 4 hours to work before having to catch the last bus back into Leon at 1:30pm.  There were plenty of delays during this work week; continue reading.

On Wednesday morning, all was well, the bus was making good time going out to El P.  Just as the bus was turning left on to the final road to take them another 30 minutes to the village, a pickup truck  decided to pass the bus; there was impact.  The pickup while trying to gain control as it swerved  wildly out of control down the highway, ejected one of 3 men riding in the back pickup bed. The man hit a metal road sign and landed on the road. He was a grotesque sight and there was no clear evidence that he was still alive while waiting for an ambulance.

The bus was delayed an additional 2 hours; all passengers waited on the dusty, sunny, HOT road for another bus to arrive to pick them up.   It is beyond anyone's imagination as to how it is possible to pack an additional bus load of people into another already overcrowded bus.  Once they got everyone shoved into the bus, Preston and the passengers had to wait still another 20 minutes while both bus drivers discussed the details of the accident.  Visualize human "sardines" packed into a hot, stuffy bus.  If Preston's cell phone had rung, he said there is no way he would have been able to get to his pockets to answer it.  

Once at El P, they had just 2 hours to work before catching the return bus of the day.  That was the first week of installing a new roof on one of the dwellings.

The next week, there was roofing tin to buy and transport to El P.   There was a problem with one of the buses needing to change out the drive shaft before being able to leave the terminal, there again yet another delay.   Preston arrived at the village shortly before 11am, only to have to leave at 1:30pm.   Later in the week, everyone was offloaded from the bus at the turnoff and shuffled onto another bus; something about the bus needing repairs.   Each week has it's own unique events that prevent a full days work.  

The final cap on this 2 week adventure, was Preston being hit by a taxi that ran a stop sign.  He was riding his bike to the hardware store to buy his supplies for the next day's work.  A very scared young taxi driver jumped out of his vehicle and ran to help Preston who was laying on the pavement after being thrown from his bike.  There were some scraped knees and nothing that seemed too terribly wrong.  So, Preston righted his bike, put the chain back on and rode home.  Once home, he discovered that he had more pain that he originally felt; some very sore ribs.

For the last year, the other ministry that we have been working alongside in El Paraiso has been very generous to allow us to accompany them in their vehicle.  The problem now is their work schedule is different from ours.   We want full work days, 4 days a week and a visit on Sunday mornings.  Which leads me to say, we need our own means of transportation.   Each day Preston leaves the house at 6:15am to catch the 7:00 bus.  If there are no delays,  once he arrives at El Paraiso he has 4 hours to do the work for that day.  He arrives home at 3:30 each afternoon.  That's 9 hours out of his day to accomplish 4 hours (if he's lucky) of work.  It is time for our ministry to have a vehicle.  Can you help?  We are dreaming big,  we are wanting a new, trustworthy, very efficient vehicle to handle all of our needs - room for passengers and plenty of room to haul materials.




Donations can be made securely online by check or debit card: 

https://connect.egiving.com/diesel-vehicle/restoration-of-the-nations

The dreams and future of several young men in El Paraiso depend on our continued work in their community.  We are there for the long haul, years are in our future at El Paraiso........

He's Finding His Way

It's been 4 years of ups and downs, sharing and separation, hope and disappointments, laughter and heartache.  I think, at long last, our spiritual son and prodigal is finally coming to his end of running.

I remember back to when I first met Aroldo, our hearts connected instantly.  He was staying at a facility to deal with his drug and alcohol problem at the age of 20.  In that first year, he left the facility at least 3 times and since that time he has been in 2 other facilities outside of our area.  We have visited him on Christmas Day twice; once in rehab and most recently while he was in jail.

He has lived in our home a number of times, only to walk away unexpectedly.  One year it was on Thanksgiving Day.  We had a wonderful day of celebration. While Aroldo was sitting on our front step alone watching his friends play soccer, he got up and walked away - with one of his friend's iPod which he ended up selling for drugs.   Fast forward a year, to another time when he was living in our home.  I was in my office and he came in to say he was going to visit his ailing father for the afternoon, which he had been doing for over a week.  He said good by, stood and looked at me.  Then he walked across the room, came to where I was sitting and slipped his arms around my neck, gave me a strong hug, a kiss and left.  He never returned that night.  

Sobriety, peace and happiness is not something that comes easy to Aroldo.  He has had to fight for every minute of his sobriety.  Of all the boys that we have cared for and educated since our arrival in Nicaragua, he is the boy that has been the most hungry to know God and His Word.  He has experienced the presence of the Holy Spirit in his life.  Preston has had the privilege of baptizing Aroldo.  And yet, the demons still haunt and capture him; leading him to live a life that is destroying him physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

Recently, while Preston was in the States, Aroldo and I spent a day together.  He came over and fixed me breakfast; his passion is cooking! We talked about his life, past and future.  He said that he carries too much shame and he felt it was too late for him to have any hope for a future.  He also said that he was afraid that God would not forgive him.  I spoke to him about our friend Benjamin and his program of rehabilitation for addicts.  He promised that he would think about the possibility of spending time at Benjamin's farm.

A month later, I received an email from Aroldo saying he had spent 4 days in the hospital.  No mention of what the problem was, but in my heart I knew - he'd been beat up.  Why else would he not tell me what the problem was.  We exchanged notes and he promised to come see me soon.  It just gave me more of a confirming sense that he did not want me to see him in his condition.

A week ago, he came to our house for breakfast after a doctor visit.  When I opened our front door to him,  it was apparent that he had indeed been beat up.   After eating, we talked about what had happened and asked him if he was finally ready to go to Benjamin.  He asked "when", we said "now".  After a quick call to Benjamin to ask him to pick us up at the town square where he lives, we were out of the house in 10 minutes heading to the bus depot.

We spent the entire afternoon on Benjamin's farm tucked away amongst the sugar cane.  He spoke to Aroldo about his addiction, his sins and God's plan for his redemption.  There was a visiting pastor friend at the farm which was by God's divine appointment.  We all spent time praying over Aroldo; the pastor had a Seer gift and spoke against the secret sins.  Aroldo renewed his commitment to follow God and we saw a miracle.  One of the injuries that Aroldo sustained was to his eyes; his left eye had been hit repeatedly with a rock.  God in His Mercy restored the muscle coordination and the redness of the eyeball was fading.   Aroldo had 2 doctor appointments that were scheduled during the upcoming week and we all agreed that he needed to continue with his doctor visits because of internal injuries.   We left the farm with a promise that we would return in a week with Aroldo to begin his time of restoration.

Yesterday, we took Aroldo out to the farm to begin a 20 day stay.  Benjamin has a son named Ishmael who is involved in the work of rehabilitation and restoration;  he joined in the conversations.  It was important to talk about the nightmares that Aroldo had the night before;  the devil is not going to let go easily.

We left Aroldo knowing that he was comfortable about where he would be staying for the next 3 weeks. He was hopeful about what he would learn and said that he knew it was important for him to get a firm foundation in the Word.  He said he wanted to improve his relationship with God.  He's in very good hands with Benjamin and Ishmael;  God now has Aroldo's undivided attention to show Himself.

There Wasn't Enough Time

In September, we met a man named Marvin, relatively young only 34 years,  who lived in the village of El Paraiso.  He joined our carpentry class along with his brother Freddy.

It was refreshing to have him around.  He was dependable, conscientious, eager to learn, kind, and he was witty.  But, his presence in class was a mere 3 weeks.   He was beginning to get tired very easily and too weak to want to walk the short distance to the school.   We discovered that he had the disease that is dreaded in this country - renal failure. 

At first, Preston was able to stop by the house, that Marvin shared with his mother, to have brief conversations with him. All too soon, whenever Preston would stop by to check up on Marvin's progress, he found him asleep.

The family put up a hammock under the trees across the street from his house.  It was breezy and cooler to be out of the hot, stuffy house. However, because of Marvin's deteriorating health, he was cold at the same time.  

It was 12 short weeks from the first day of school to his passing.  His death hit us hard for several reasons.   He was the 2nd person that we knew in Nicaragua who had died.  He was young and there was so much life that he should have been able to live.  He died of a disease that hasn't been diagnosed as to the actual cause; lots of theories.  He died for lack of medical care that was beyond the means of his family.   He died and there wasn't enough time to spend with him; we are going to miss him.

Funerals in Nicaragua are fast.  A person is buried within 24 hours.  The body remains in the home until it is transported to the cemetery. Neighbors and extended relatives come quickly to the aid of the grieving family to offer assistance in so many ways.  They combine their money to help with the costs of buying a casket and other funeral expenses.  They sit with the family all night; the body is NEVER left unattended.  Through the night, friends dug the hole and poured concrete for a crypt to be the final resting place for the casket. 

Depending on the length of the journey from the home to the cemetery, the casket is either walked through the streets or carried on a cart or vehicle to the cemetery.   In Marvin's case, the casket was carried to the church for a final service.  Afterwards it was put in the back of a truck while family and friends boarded a bus to take them to the cemetery some distance from El Paraiso.

It was no surprise that Marvin was going to die, but his death came much too quickly.  His mother and his brother grieved for him; they weren't ready to lose him.  As I said, he was young, he was kind, he was witty and I'm sure so very loving.  There are no words to speak to them to ease their pain right now.  

We all know that he is in a better place.  Jesus has welcomed him to his eternal home. Never again will Marvin be in pain. We are told that there is no sorrow in Heaven, so I have to believe that he doesn't miss his family but anticipates the day when they will be reunited.  

Vocational Training in the Rural Areas

In July, we began a program of vocational training to young adults in remote rural areas. We have joined forces with fellow missionary friends who share the same vision as we do - to see individuals, families and communities become self-sustaining and break out of the welfare mindset that keeps them in bondage to poverty.  They have had a presence in a community called El Paraiso for a couple of years, building a church and teaching the women various skills. They were delighted to have us approach them with the idea of reaching the men in the community, as well.

We began our journey to visit the community of El Paraiso and talk with the local young men to determine their needs for training and desire for education in vocational skills.  This community was not new to us, we did an outreach back in March 2012 with a visiting US mission team. El Paraiso is very small with a population of about 400 people and is located in the middle of "no where" about an hour plus drive from Leon.The men in the community are mostly farm hands and 6 months out of each year they have no work.

When we met with various young men in the community to talk with them about spending 2 days each week learning carpentry and other skills, we were met with a lot of enthusiasm. The young men wanted an opportunity to learn skills that would help them to improve their chances of employment or make items to sell in the market place or commissioned by others.  Many of them have only a second grade education.

This  concept of taking the vocational training out to the remote rural areas has exceeded our expectations.   It is a rare thing to find a commitment to education among the people of Nicaragua.  These men show up each and every session eager to learn.  Not only do we teach them vocational skills, but we disciple them in biblical principles and life skills.  Most of the students in the class do not attend the church that was built in the community.  

We were greatly surprised at the start of our first class, when we began our class in the usual way - with prayer.  Each of the men said they did not know how to pray.  We never would have dreamed that this would be our first hurdle to overcome.  We came up with the concept of each man uttering one sentence of a need or thankfulness and they did so one by one in group rotation.  When they were done, we said "Now you have prayed".  Just this last week, we had the guys break up in teams of 2 and ask their partner how they could pray for him.   They have come a long way in a short time and are getting very comfortable with prayer.

The guys are being taught math, carpentry and most recently, electrical.  They were taught how to build a circuit board consisting of a switch, a light and receptacle. Each of the guys had a turn at assembling the board and then disassembling it so that each of them could learn to run the circuit.










When the switch was flipped, the light came on and when the drill was plugged in, there was power.  

An upcoming project for the guys will be to wire a new building in the community that will be used to house a bakery and classroom space.

The use of fractions was very intimidating in the early days of class.  James Israel assured them that he knew nothing of math and in time he learned  fractions and how to add and subtract with them.  The "pizza pie" example is very useful in getting them to understand the basics of fractions.  Aha moments came as the guys grasped that 5/8 of a pie was left over after 3 pieces had been "eaten" from a pie divided into 8 equal slices.

Speaking of James Israel, he was in our beginning carpentry class over 3 years ago. He has since taught himself how to speak English and is used as our translator.  He is also an apprentice instructor and helps to monitor the work of the guys.    We are beyond proud and excited to have a former student join us in educating the young men of his country. It's been our hearts desire that the young men we teach would in turn give back to others what they themselves have learned.



We spend 3 hours total travel time in order to spend 3 short hours with the guys.  In recent days, when we start packing up our supplies to get ready for the return trip home, the guys pull up chairs wanting to talk and just continue to have fellowship with us.  As much as we love spending time with them, the heat has worn us out and our brains are on overload trying to keep up with the Spanish.  We wish that we did not have the distance between our house and theirs and we could visit more often.  It's awesome the way that the friendships are developing between us and them.  This is the part of what we do that has us captivated, loving every moment of being used by God to help others learn to help themselves.

Maynor

Marvin

       

Freddy

 

Eduardo

          

David

     


   



  

Lenin

Yadir

        

      Elix

       

Ulysses