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.

A Journey to His Past

Every orphaned/abandoned child and adult are curious about their past. Where did they come from, who are their relatives, are they still around? These were questions that were on the mind of our spiritual son, Jack Noel Martinez Diaz.  After we successfully obtained for him a "manufactured birth certificate" a couple of months back, his past has been weighing on his mind.

He has a brother, Freddy, whom we have written about often in our blogs.  About 10 years ago, together they left the home they once shared with Freddy's father - Jack Noel's stepfather.  Their mother had passed away and they lived in the home with the father/stepdad and younger sister.  The father was prone to drinking and not able to properly care for the boys; so the boys left and left behind their little sister.  The details of their leaving are still sketchy to me.  The boys spent time on the streets and eventually ended up in a rehab facility that also rescued orphans.  The facility was miles from their home and the boys were never reunited with family.  They virtually just became a statistic to the governing body that "tracks" homeless and orphaned youth.

It was while Jack Noel was attending our carpentry class, known then as Noel, that we first met him.  He bonded with us immediately and often would make comments about how he would love to live with us.  He eventually ran from the facility where he lived and was gone for 6 months.  Our hearts were broken until one day he showed up on our doorstep.  His time with us has not been without incident, but fast forward to present day and he is very comfortable with his life and in our home.  He really believes that he will live with us forever; that is the Nicaragua way.  However, we have told him that our purpose is to teach him how to live on his own - that is the American way.

Having laid all the ground work, let's get on with the story.  On a recent Sunday morning, we took our boy to the terminal station to board a microbus to travel to the interior of Nicaragua. To get to his destination required him to change buses 2 more times.  With each bus change we received phone calls from him detailing the events and reassuring us that he was fine.  I think he just wanted to hear our voice for assurance because he did not know where he would be going once he got to the town of his birthplace.

He called us when he got off the bus in Rio Blanco, 7 hours after he left Leon, to say he didn't know where he would be staying the night.  That was unsettling to us but there was nothing we could do but trust him to the Lord.  After the call, Jack Noel walked the streets of the small town praying to God to refresh his memory and hoped that he would find someone he knew.  We were relieved and overjoyed when he called us within an hour to say that he had found is birth father's house.   His father, Natividad, was not home but there was a step mother, 2 stepsisters and they invited him to stay.  

Jack Noel spent 2 nights with his family catching up on the years.  They had been convinced that he was no longer alive.  They were grateful for the goodness that accompanied Jack's life and the educated young man that he was growing into.  He loved to dazzle them with his English that he used whenever he called home.   It was also a way for him to communicate with us without them knowing what he was saying.   The poverty that his family lived was painful to him.    The phrase "they are so poor" would be echoed many times to us in each conversation.

Then it was on to another much smaller community a 3 hour bus ride to try to find the only father he had ever known, his stepdad, Pedro - his brother Freddy's father.  The home he had once known was no longer in the family and Jack had to ask around for information to find Pedro.  When he found him, he was shocked and very sad, but happy too.  The home he found Pedro in was made of black plastic, it was small and he lived alone.  The little sister that Jack remembered was no longer around. She had left home a couple years before and lived in Rio Blanco - the town he had left earlier in the day.  His happiness was because Pedro had quit drinking; he was a couple of years sober and trying to regain his life.   Pedro was so overwhelmed to see Jack, he too had been sure that he and Freddy had died.   

When Jack called us that evening he was sad because of the terrible conditions that his stepdad lived in.   He said he had wanted to help him do some repair work on the house, but he was not allowed.   It was raining; mud was everywhere and Pedro did not want Jack to get his shoes and clothes dirty. They talked a lot about the past and the future.  Pedro is concerned about Freddy and wants to talk to him.  Jack spent one night with Pedro because his desire was to get back to Rio Blanco to find his younger sister, Mirian.  

Jack was able to find his sister living and working in an old bar as a cook.  She had a one month old baby with no one to help her.  When we talked he was very concerned that he had 2 sisters who had children.  He kept repeating "they (his sisters) are so young".  We've spent many conversations in the past years talking about the difficulties and consequences of having children while young and out of wedlock.  Now the conversations were hitting home in a real way.  

He cut his trip short by a day because of the upcoming national independence day festivities that could disrupt travel AND he was ready to come home.  Home to his dry warm house, home to "civilization", home to a life that he embraced. He came home with lots of pictures and lots of stories.  Unfortunately the pictures are on an old cell phone that we cannot download to our computers, so we have nothing to show you.  He came home full of gratitude and love for his life.  

He understood more clearly what our purpose as a ministry is about in Nicaragua - to change the destiny of a man and his family.  He senses the responsibility on his life to become the best man possible so that he can help his family.   He said he was treated like a king by his family and felt "shame"; that was the term he used.   We told him to not feel shame nor guilt.  God had protected him all the years that he had been wandering and separated from his family. His unique life was a gift from God and there is a purpose in it.  We love the 2 photos (above & to the right).   We added no special affects; just evidence of God's love for him.

The family wants him to visit at Christmas for a week.  Jack has assured us that he will be back for New Years Eve because we are his family too.  He is conflicted about wanting to help his family but burdened by the fact that they perceive him as wealthy living with Americans.   He has had to work hard to get to the place he is at in his life with us.  We have instilled in him that we are here to help, guide and counsel, not to give welfare.  He needs to carry that same principle with him as he goes forth in his relationship with his family.  It will be difficult for him, just as it has been for us.  Our natural human instinct is to give, give, give to those in need.   We've had to hold back more times than we can count.   But, the giving would never end if individuals are not expected and/or taught how to do for themselves.  There are older brothers by another father and also an aunt who have been calling our home frequently since Jack's return; he was not able to see them.  No matter the poverty, everyone has a cellphone.  He is understandably excited by all the attention that he is getting.

In the short time of Jack's return we have had to put some requests and expectations back on to him. When he asks if there are ways that we can help his family.  We turn the question to him - "What are you willing to do for your family?"  The purpose of the ministry is to change one man and that man is the one who is to bring about change in his family.  Together we will help him come up with a plan for his future and hopefully that of his family.   

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........