Our December trip was amazing but the enemy was working overtime to cause problems for us. The biggest problem was our hotel. It has always been an issue for me but this trip it was much worse. In Somotillo there are 4 hotels. 2 of the hotels are primarily used as hour by hour hotels for the prostitutes and one has only 3 rooms and no showers and the 4th one is our Hotel Puma that I have been staying at for years.
It has horrible conditions compared to our way of life but it is livable. The showers are a little ruff but at least we have water most of the time. This trip we didn't have water several days and our commodes didn't flush or when they did water backed up into the shower making it impossible to shower. Needless to say it is ruff conditions sometimes compared to our life here in the US.
This past trip we learned that the original owners had sold the hotel to a family from the states. The wife is from Somotillo and the husband is from Alaska. I thought since they were from the states that improvements would be made to the hotel but I was wrong about that. Instead of improvements there were tons of additional problems.
The biggest problem was the managers of the hotel were some party people. Each night we found them drunk as can be. They were drinking beer right outside my door every night and playing music so loud I had to yell for Terry to hear me inside my room.
I spoke to the manager and asked them to lower the music and they did but not by much. Even one morning after an all night party they were playing the music even louder than the night before at 6:00am in the morning. It was even worse because we were sick in bed with fever.
By the end of the week I had had enough. The past two days we had no water, no sleep and loud music playing all night so I asked to speak to the owner before I paid hoping to get some kind of help from her only to be told there has never been any problems with people until we came. We were the problem.. Really?
Needless to say I will not be returning to that hotel which makes this is huge problem. The next hotel we can stay at is 30 minutes up a long mountain. It's a nice place but it is really an inconvenience because our cook lives in Somotillo which means we have to drive 30 minutes just to eat each day and 30 minutes back at night. More gas and time that we normally have to pay and we would have to travel after dark which is not safe.
The lady who cooks for us has a nice house and has offered for us to stay there when I come. She has two rooms not being used in her house which with some work could be a "hotel" for myself and my teams. I have been praying about taking her up on the offer for two years and now I am faced with making a decision.
In order to stay at the house I would need to make some expensive electrical changes to her home. buy beds, fix her shower, put in a water tank and many other things (towels, bedding, pillows, table, mirror, etc.)
This would cost between $2,000 - $3,000. This is a huge investment for me and not one I can do easily on my own so I am reaching out to all of you.
Everyone receiving this email knows that I have invested my life into this ministry not to mention the personal finances I have put into the people of Somotillo. I would not change a thing and I believe it is God's plan for me to continue for much longer but I want to do it with a safe place to stay and at least a place to sleep and shower. Without sufficient accommodations I can not continue taking others with me. I can sponge bath and sleep on the floor with no problems but most can't handle that.
In the 12 years I have rarely asked for financial support to help me directly. I have always raised all my money for all the 37 trips I have taken and I have been blessed to have raised a lot of the ministry money needed as well for each trip but this project is much greater than the typical. I now this project does not help the people of Nicaragua directly as other projects I have done but it will help them indirectly.
Would you be willing to sow into this project with me? I promise to use every dollar to enhance my friends house so that she can provide the rooms for us to stay in. I will be able to house up to 4 women in one room and 4 men in the other.
If you feel led to help me with this project please send any donations to:
The Power of One Ministry 198 Mellwood Drive Charlotte, NC 28214
or you can donate online at http://www.thepowerofoneministry.org/donate/
I will be collecting this money from now until mid February. My next trip is in March when I hope to have the house ready or at least enough for me to stay there.
Please pray for this project. Pray we get the best prices to make this happen.
If every person on this mailing list gave only $10 each I would have enough. Thank you for allowing me to ask without feeling like I am just wanting money, instead I want to share the Gospel of Jesus with the lost souls of Nicaragua.
God Bless each of you,
Angie