Another community learning to grow a garden

While in Somotillo this trip I ask my assistant Evert to help us find a community that needed support but was willing to put in the work. He took us to one community and we met with them but the entire time I spoke to them I just did not feel led to work there. We let them know we would be praying about helping them but had other communities we were visiting and if God permitted we would be back, if not we knew that God had other plans for their community.

After leaving Evert went on a scouting trip. He visited four different communities and found Sa Bieta. It's about 20 minutes from Somotillo and right in the middle of two very popular communities. For several years both of those communities have had teams coming to them but they just pass by them. One lady told me she often wondered if there was something wrong with them and that's why no one wanted to help them. Needless to say they were very blessed to know that we had come and was in fact willing to help them.

The leader of the community is very open minded. Some leaders are set in their ways and feel they know everything and it's their way or else but not him. He was so grateful for our support. In the Somotillo area when a leader of a community gets people to help he is looked at as a power individual and it helps him to be more respected. This is to our advantage because then he is more willing to allow us to direct him.

He worked hard that day to get all the community together on a last minute notice to talk to Evert and get commitments from them. Instead of just showing up and giving out tools with no strings attached I am working with Evert who works with a national company that has taught him skills in getting communities to work together as a team. This program requires them to come to a bible study and hear about Jesus in order to receive additional help.

It sounds a little controlling but trust me it's working great in Coffradia. Now almost every household there has accepted Christ just through the weekly bible studies.

Sa Bieta is a very poor community like Coffradia and most of the men are out working each day and again the woman are responsible for the gardens. I think they actually like it because they are contributing in a different way and they can see how their contributions are affecting the household with each visit to the garden they make.

We purchased 10 hoes, 10 matics, 27 irrigation systems, seeds for each family (tomatoes, peppers, squash and cucumbers) fertilizers for all 27 families. They were excited to see the help. They only have a garden once a year because they have no way to irrigate them and the soil is just to bad for the crops to grow without water on a consistent basis.

During our distribution of the tools we also gave each family a set of clothes for their kids, a toy for each child, bracelets for each teenage girl and necklaces for the boys. After that distribution one of the team members Alisha, noticed we had enough gospel bracelets and recommended that we give them out. I had not considered talking to them specifically about salvation but felt if God was prompting Alisha maybe I should.

I took the bracelet and walked them through the gospel explaining that their decision needed to be based on their desire to live for eternity and not because they wanted my help. I would help them no matter what. I ask them to pray and to stand and show they made that commitment and over 50 people stood before each other confessing they had prayed to accept Christ. Way to Go Alisha for listening to the Holy Spirit..

Evert has been visiting each week and helping them get started with their gardens. I can't wait to get the first photos of this new communities gardens.

Check out the families of Sa Bieta in the photo gallery. Pray for their success.

Thanks again to all that has help with the garden projects.

A huge thank you goes out to Mechanicsville Baptist Church VBS kids. Their children raised $700 to help with this community.  It's great to see children working to help other children have a better life.

Stay tuned for more about Sa Bieta.

God Bless,

Angie

ps. Oscar and mom are still doing well. Keep praying over their immune systems.

Garden Project a huge success...

Every time I go to Nicaragua I come home wondering if what I just did mattered to anyone other than me. It is really hard to tell sometimes and the best intentions can be great in your mind and not be for those you are trying to reach.

This trip to Coffradia was amazing. God used those wonderful families to truly bless me instead of me blessing them.

I arrived to the entrance of the community to a "Rolling of the Red Carpet". They had used left over fertilizer and rocks to make a "red carpet" effect. On the side of the entrance is a brick wall they had cleaned and painted "Welcome Ally" on it . (ll says "G" in Spanish). They even wrote it on the big rocks that are at the corner of the school.

The leader of the community and some of the key people were waiting for me with homemade signs. This was a huge sacrifice for them. I am sure it cost them a days wages to buy the paper. I am hanging those signs in my house as a reminder of why I do what I do. Each sign basically said, "we the community of Coffradia want to say thank you for all that you are doing here in our community and for all the people who have helped you help us, we say thank you. Please continue to work in our community. We will pray that you are blessed for what you do and that you will always come back soon. We all love you very much."

Their kindness will forever be in my heart. For all of you who were the original ones that helped sponsor these families., those words are for you more than me. I have told them all about your kindness and your willingness to bless them. They are truly thankful. I have never seen or heard of a community doing anything like this before.

The school teacher allowed the students to have the morning off so we could have a meeting in the school. The kids were dressed in their best and had decorated the school. I am sure all the supplies were purchased by the teachers own personal money. I have visited the school many times and it always looked really bad. I often wondered why until the teacher shared with me that people are breaking into the school and damaging things all the time and the roof leaks really bad so during the school year it is hard for them to keep the school decorated and an exciting place to learn. Our kids are so blessed they have a comfortable place everyday to learn in.

As I talked to the families about their gardens I soon realized they were so proud of them. They were happy to show off their work and let me know they had been working hard. I keep asking if they want to stop and they keep telling me NO WAY. Some of them are on their 3rd or 4th gardens already. Others are having some problems with their soil that we hope will soon be resolved.

I was told again while I was there that this garden project should have never been a success. The soil is just not made to grow things. I continue to tell them that with God's assistance they can grow food in the worse conditions ever. God is showing off in Coffradia. He is showing them that He will provide for them. I don't have to be there to give God's testimony to them about His love for them, He's doing it every day all by Himself.

Check out the pictures of the Welcome, the School and the Gardens on my website by clicking here.

I can not thank all of you enough for what you are doing in this community. I also can't express to you the thankfulness of this community. They are working hard trying to learn the correct way to keep their gardens growing. They are meeting every week with the trainer who is not only teaching them about their gardens but about God and His love for them. Only because of YOU... this can be done.

Let me know what you think about this project.

God Bless,

Angie

Divine Appointment #3

I have previously written about divine appointments that God has set for me and this past week he did it again. Check this out and tell me God is not the director of all things.

In February when I went to Nicaragua I had felt God's nudge to go and visit a very well known Pastor in Somotillo. I knew of him and he is well respected in the community but I had not had a need to work with him until now.

We tried to contact him to set up a meeting but had not had any luck. Out of no where the opportunity arose late one evening. Upon arriving to his house (which is also a mission house) I found another team from the US. Hearing English speaking people arose my interest. I immediately said Hi and carried on with my meeting.

To the back of me was a man who was busy writing I noticed him but only for a moment. I shared with the pastor the vision God has given me about not just coming to Nicaragua and helping families and then leaving. I truly feel we are doing things wrong. We are teaching these families to trust in the Americans and not God. We all have great intentions and great motives but we are truly not looking at the big picture.

After several minutes the American group left the area and went on to bed but before they left the man behind us passed me a note. I put it away and thought I'd just read it later. That note was from Pastor Frankie Tanner the pastor of Mechanicsville Baptist Church in Darlington, SC.

He had tuned into our conversation and heard my vision about the garden project in Coffradia. Being a garden growing lover and a talented one at that this peaked his interest.

When I returned to the states I called Pastor Tanner and shared my heart with him and found that we both have the same vision of how we should work to grow the kingdom of God. I shared with him the financial need to get the gardens up and running for the village and that money was truly the biggest need I had right now. It was going to take at least $700 to help them get started.

He shared there was man in his congregation that he wanted to share my needs for the garden project with and he would get back to me. Many days passed until we spoke again until last week.

About a month ago God really spoke to me and told me he was going to open doors no man could close for me and since then I have been waiting and expecting those doors to open so after my conversation with Pastor Tanner I thought this may be the beginning of many more doors to open.

Last Thursday Pastor Tanner called me to say that the man in his church had called and told him that he wanted to help me with the garden project.

Apparently this man has and I quote Pastor Tanner, "Has gone through Hell and back last year" and has seen the harvest of his faith and Gods blessings. He not only wanted to bless one village but he sent me enough money to bless two villages. I received a check today for $1500 to help Coffradia and another village.

Can you believe that? Just think how appointed that meeting I had was. I was so tired that night. I wanted so bad to go on to bed but knew it might be my only chance to meet with him. I could have missed God's blessings. I could have missed out on this opportunity all because I was tired.

God has opened every door I will ever walk through but it is my place to walk. Faith is an action verb. We must ACT on it. Not just SIT and wait.

I am so humbled to see what God has in store for me in the months to come. I have many other divine appointments to tell you about. It's amazing what God will do when you are Willing to be Willing..

Allow God to make Divine Appointments for you.. He will if He knows you will go to that appointment..

Oh that you would bless me indeed and enlarge my territory That your hand would be with me and You would keep me from evil That I may not cause pain so God granted him what he requested.

Prayer of Jabez - Ist Corin. 4:10

Tell me about your divine appointments.. Give testimony to what God is doing in your life. Don't just smile and say that's amazing. Tell people. Encourage others.

A great thanks for those who help with the families and now I have enough to take care of all of them. I had a meeting yesterday and all of the families are so excited to know they will eat their own food again soon.

God Bless all of you,

Angie

Final update on Adopt-A-Family Garden Project

I was not able to return to the village of Coffradia as planned in December but God supplied a wonderful friend named Jennifer to help me out by getting me some updated pictures.

I have talked to several of the families and the man that did the training and this project has been more than a success.

Comments I received are:

The whole community is thankful to you and those who helped make this happen. We have learned how to feed ourselves and grow our own food. Without the tools this could have never happen for me.

Everyone worked hard and now they are seeing the food come in and its wonderful.

Thank you so much. Thank all of the people who helped us. This did not just help us now it changed our lives.

Pastors from neighboring villages have to come see the success and are asking if I will do this in their village. They can see how it has changed the lives of all the families that participated.

Families are excited that they can walk outside and pick fresh vegetables for their dinner. They have already taken seeds from the plants and started the next harvest.

I am so thankful to all of you that help make this successful. It has been a blessing to see all the families come together to help each other. Some Christians and some not.  Each family was taught that God is the ground they need to sew into and He is their future.

Check out the pictures of the vegetables and plants. The new pictures are near the end.

God Bless all of you and I hope that if I do this project again in another village you will be willing to help again.

Angie

Adopt-A-Family Garden Project Photos

I have finally got all the photos edited and loaded on the site. I am sorry I am slow getting them done but I have little time on my hands lately.

I spoke with Pastor Jorge who is the man doing the training and he is very pleased with the progress being made.

Unfortunately, a tropical storm hit Somotillo last week or the week before and a lot of the crops were lost due to the heavy rain. This is one of the biggest challenges this area faces. Just when things are going well it pours down the rain.

Three families have been able to grow plants and now transfer them into their gardens with the irrigation systems installed.

There are 36 families total and all are working hard to make this successful.

In the photos you will not see all the tools. The hardware store had to order them but I assure you they have be purchased and delivered including 5 wheel barrows.

The pictures of the black pipes are the irrigation systems and the white bags are the seeds. We also bought fertilizer, a pump, lime and other items needed.

For those of you who sponsored a family I will be printing photos of your families with their names and information as soon as I can. For now you can see them by clicking on the photo link.

Thanks so much for making this project successful. I can't wait until December to see the harvest and find out who's lives were changed through this process.

Click here to view the photos

God Bless,

Angie