Milagro en La Palma

Esta es la Comunidad de la Palma , ubicada en la Isla de Ometepe , con unos 120 casas, donde la mayoría de las personas prefesan la religión católica , desde hace mas de 2 años hemos estado visitando esta comunidad y desde que iniciamos fueron jóvenes entre los 14 a 17 años las participantes la mayoría mujeres , al principio hubo bastante oposición con el Liderazgo Catolico el delegado de la Palabra el señor Salomon Alvarez fue quien nos dio el recibimiento y nos pregunto sobre nuestro propósito en la comunidad , le hablamos de las bases de ECS y que era ECS en la realización de un seminario de visión , se dieron los pasos correspondiente , para la certificación de l programa en la comunidad y que este contara con el apoyo de las fuerzas vivas en ella , y asi fue .

 Gracias a Dios hace algunos meses con los temas que hemos estado impartiendo tanto físicos como espirituales creemos que Dios ha venido realizando el trabajo en estas jovencitas . El dia 23 de mayo del corriente año impartimos , la lección de la Bendicion de Dios , pero además incluimos la cita de Juan 6: 35 , Dicho esto por el contexto que hibamos a realizar era la elaboración de pizza y queríamos darle un poco mas de propiedad espiritual a la enseñanza , fue entonces que hicimos el llamado a las jóvenes cuando le mencionamos que ( es muy lindo a prender hacer pan , repostería entre otras cosas , pero mas lindo era el saber que si creíamos en Cristo NUNCA mas tendríamos hambre , ni sed .

 Fue entonces que ocurrió el milagro de que estas jóvenes las 19 aceptaron a Dios en ese momento , la verdad la hermana Juanita Alvarado Lider de Zona en la Isla y Yo NO lo podíamos creer ,preguntamos 3 veces y fue la misma respuesta , inmediatamente proseguimos a orar con ellas y la profesión de Fe. 

Creemos que Dios esta en control de todas las cosas , ahí no mas llegaron los lideres cataolicos y dijeron que eso que ellas asian era normal ya que ah ellos les ahn dicho que ellos también tienen a Cristo en sus vidas , nosotros le dijemos que lo que se había hecho , hecho esta , asi que Dios sabra lo que pasara . ahora nosotras estamos muy concientes que daremos el seguimiento y discipulado a estas jóvenes con mucho cuidado , ya que sabemos de la oposcicion que tenemos .

Les pedimos sus oración por estas jóvenes . acontinuacion fotos y lista de nombres de ellas .

Dios les bendiga

Comunidad de la palma 23 de mayo de 2012

sewing patchwork bags, El Congo

Praying before the sewing class begins in the new church building.
It is unfinished at the moment, but was a lovely, airy space
for sewing.

 Our sewing project was a patchwork bag with a bit more style to it than the simple nine patch tote we started with last year.  


We do projects that women can make from scraps and remnants, so that the materials can be found in the home and community.  


Patchwork with a design is not a tradition in Nicaragua, although people will sew remnants together to make a curtain, and women have become inspired by the idea of saving scraps, or usable parts of worn clothing.                                                                         

Mirna, ready to teach in her new sewing apron

        

The idea of the patchwork bags is that you don't need a
machine to sew them..... however, since there was both a machine
and a seamstress.....! 

The women we've met love to work with what they call 'happy' fabrics.  We collect donated fabrics - using CHE principles, we look for the resources within our own communities.  Although, Heide is also always on the lookout for happy fabrics on sale!   As part of the sewing class at a local high school, girls make little draw- string bags which are filled with the necessary sewing notions, mostly donated by friends, and church members.  


  
At the end of the class, or soon after, the women have a bag they can use.  Later in our stay, we met several young girls carrying papers from an employment training in their bags.
The simple project is an introduction to sewing for some people, and the beginning of an idea for a sale-able item for others.


Darling, Nicaragua's Women of CHE trainer from the national team, says that the classes we offer give the CHE women in the communities something extra to attract women who haven't been involved in CHE,   and helps them make the initial connection with the other women.

This boy was great with the machine.  Heide is reviewing his work.

From that point, the CHE women will visit the new women, and encourage them with friendship, and the Good News.

Some of the women who come are very young, and we even have some children - 10 and over, who love to participate.

 

CHE ministry, Ometepe 2012

The old FIEMCA church, El Congo, Ometepe

Interior of the old church

Our first stop in El Congo was at this lovely, little church.

You will see the new one, next door, later, but this is where we were welcomed to the community by the Community Health Evangelism women,  their pastor, Edin, and his wife, Juanita.
Juanita is the Regional Leader for Women of CHE on Ometepe island.  She heads a team of 10 community leaders.  Edin rides his bike many kilometers a week to pastor the people of El Congo.  While we went about our activities, he cared for the people who came, calling various people over to pray for a boy who accepted Christ one morning, and 2 women who reconciled with Jesus one afternoon.

Pastor Edin and Pastora Juanita

We go to Nicaragua under the leadership of the Nicaragua National CHE Team; we offer activities, planned with them, in support of their ministry in communities. Darling's work with Women of CHE, Ometepe, is funded by Samaritan's Purse, Canada.  We brought  sewing and baking projects, Fatima taught jewelry-making, as well as helping Kelly and Darling with baking.  Tania and Darling also led devotionals.

                                                          


We all stayed in nearby houses, Bill and I stayed with Marta, right next to the church, and all of the classes: jewelry, sewing, and baking were held in her patio, as Nicaraguans call the part of their property that immediately surrounds the house.  Everyone ate all our delicious meals there, too.  Brother Antonio gave spiritual leadership, and his wife, Mirna, an accomplished seamstress, worked with Heide on the sewing project.
                                                            

Marta is keeping an eye on her grandchildren
 while doing embroidery with me

The best thing about these last 2 trips has
been being part of an integrated team.
Below, Fatima, Tania, Anne, and Kelly enjoy
dangling their feet in the water, each other's company,
and the Lord's exquisite creation.

                                                      Marta suggested we all go down to the dock, a few hundred yards away, to    watch the sunset.  We watched a magical sunset turn the cap of cloud over the volcano a rosy pink, and listened to the Congo monkeys passing on their nightly patrol through the enormous mango trees hanging over the edge of the lake.  They make an echoing, roaring sound that I would never have connected with monkeys.  Marta led us into the twilight under the mangoes to watch a mother and baby.                    


   

Don Chico, San Buenaventura, Boaco

Cacao fruit, growing amongst the coffee bushes - it's almost ready to pick

Don Chico in his coffee beneficio

Cacao fruit - inside are white pods, like lima beans, covered with a sweet syrup (delicious to suck!), which contain the makings of a chocolate bar

Don Chico on his reforested hillside.  He says, "When I stand here, I am looking at the future".

Francisco Aguilar Guido  (Don Chico)

Don Chico is a CHE leader, community leader, coffee cooperative leader, coffee farmer, husband to Dona Lidia, and father of 8.  Only one child remains in high school; almost all the others are in some form of higher education.  Don Chico’s sons who work on the farm with him enable him to take the time necessary for his CHE work.   He lives in San Buenaventura

San Buenaventura is 14 kilometers from Boaco, in the central part of the country.  It has a population of 1200.

It is a farming community where people keep cattle, grow coffee, or basic grains, such as corn and beans.

I’ve lived here for 19 years, and when I came I had very little experience with different crops.  My parents only taught me to cut corn.  I trained with various organizations and projects so now I have a few cattle, grow organic coffee, and I work on the reforestation of my land planting a total of 1800 trees that are highly valued for wood.  I have cerro real, pochote, and teca, amongst others.

Natural reforestation is very important, too.  We take care of the trees that sprout in the woods.   I have 4,000 small trees that are growing naturally here.  

The climate has improved since the trees have grown, and Also the animals have come back - before there were no animals to hunt.  You see and hear the monkeys, and sloths.   These improvements help us take care of the family - there are 10 of us.  Helps us keep the children in school: 7 of the 8 are studying.  My children are working on the farm, fishing, studying medicine (1 son has 1 more year in medical school in Cuba), studying engineering, studying English to be a translator, studying law.

In CHE I work with the communities, and the neighbours.

From the spiritual point of view, I have seen changed lives.  Other projects only deal with the material, the physical - CHE brings the spiritual.

In San Buenaventura we work a lot with the families, people are converted to Christ.

I’ve learned about preventive health work, I led the project to get running water to our community. Now we are working on getting latrines for the 60 families here who don’t have them.  We are submitting a proposal to the regional government of Boaco asking for latrines.

Another 15 houses need electricity.

CHE helps us organize ourselves to work together.  For example, in El Capitan (a small community, 7 km up the mountain) they’ve made a 6 km road.

CHE groups have aquaducts for water, bringing water by gravity to more than 50 families; 15 beneficios (processing buildings) for small producers of coffee.  These beneficios enable the farmers to ferment and wash the beans in hygienic conditions, which improves the quality of the coffee.  Then, of course, they can get a better price.

Our coffee cooperative is working in 15 communities.  The members understand the importance of crop diversification, the importance of having fruit trees for the family, so that the children are eating fruit instead of junk food.  They can drink fruit drinks, instead of soda.  The members learn about farm administration in the co-op

They learn a lot through the co-op and through CHE.

Another great thing in our area is El Banco de Tierra (Land Bank), and working with David and Wendy vanKlinken.  There are many farmers who are almost out of debt, thanks to the Land Bank.

The neighbours notice the changes for the better.

And, for a year now, thanks to friends of David and Wendy,  

we have the little pharmacy right at my house.  They gave us $1000 for construction, later after we went over the accounts with them, they gave us $2000 to stock it with medicines.  The Ministry of Health partnered in this venture.  This pharmacy does not exist to make money, but to serve.  It has been a great blessing - it’s right here in the community, and it is cheaper than other pharmacies.

The people see what CHE does, so then they want to be involved.

We’ve also got families and individuals involved in repujado (decorative metal work) which they have sold in Managua, as well as to Nicamade.  (Don Chico’s son is a talented artist).  The women are doing crocheted  bags.

Another thing is carpentry workshops.

Esneyda's Story

Esneyda at her sewing machine

Esneyda is a CHE community leader, in Balgue, Ometepe island, Nicaragua. This is her story of how she became involved in CHE, as she told it to us.
It will be good to hear the updates in a couple of weeks when we are in Balgue again.

Esneyda Morales

Vice-president of the church Women’s Group, and of CHE in Balgue.

Aged 33, married, with 2 children.

It all started with an invitation to church.

Then I was chosen to go to a training in another community.  Pastor Cecilio and I went.  Then at the next training we learned to make ear-rings.  This sewig class to make bags is the third training I have had.

I like CHE - it helps people.  It attracts people who like to learn, and motivates them. A lot of women don’t work, and they don’t have any skills.  Their day-to-day work is boring.  So the CHE classes give them new opportunities.

I work as a dressmaker, and I have my clientele - that’s important.

I came to know Jesus in Sunday School, when I was 12 years old.  My father is a pastor.  

We have our own house, but we rent it out, and live here with my parents to help them.  Otherwise, they’d be on their own here.

Balgue is not very developed.  There are 4 small hotels.  people like the work that comes along with the tourism, for example, in the hotels.  There is a secondary school, a primary school.  There is a project, Hand of Friendship, and my mother is the community coordinator.  There is money from the UK and Germany to teach women to cook things, like bread, that they can sell.

God always helps me, blesses me.  My vision, or what I am most interested in, is that women learn so that they can get ahead in life - that they become friends of the gospel, and are converted.

The following photo shows Esneyda, and another CHE worker, with the draw string bags that are made by girls at Cheltenham High School, Pa.  They contain sewing kits for the women to use to make the bags in the class.  The girls also include messages, and many of the women send notes back to the girls.