Nicaragua Women's Project

Men, the title says it all. You are welcome to read on or feel free to forward this to a woman. Ladies, have you ever thought what it would be like to have been raised in the beginning of civilization? You know during Eve's time?

I have thought about it and I just don't think I would have fit in very well during that time. No lotions, no nice smelling soaps, no fingernail polish ( I don't even wear it but I like it) no girl stuff at all. Just survival things.

Well the ladies I deal with in Nicaragua almost live this way. They live without the personal hygiene items we can not live without. They don't even get to take a bath everyday or every other day and they live in a very sandy environment. Can you imagine going to bed at night with sand on you from one end to the other?

While I was there in December I had the opportunity to speak to the ladies of Ceibeta about their monthly cycles. It was embarrassing to them to talk to me because of their circumstances. They felt ashamed.

Most of the older women use torn up t-shirts so their daughters can have pads. They live with the feeling of being unclean and won't even go to the market or church during that week.

I came home and started discussing with a friend what it would take to provide them with cloth pads. Yes, cloth. Don't roll your eyes just yet.

I have worked with a person who has created a very nice holder with 3 pads. All triple lined and water absorbent.

I took them to  show the ladies in March and you would have thought I brought them a new house. They were so excited. They shared with me that this idea was the most practical way I could help them and they thought it was a brilliant idea.

Nicaragua has a cleaning powder that is not allowed in the US that will clean anything. Even the ladies said the pads will be a breeze to wash. We will give them a holder, with 3 pads. One stronger for night and two for the day. This way they will be able to rotate them out. We are testing this with 8 women now to make sure we are correct.

This is a great project, ladies. Only we can understand what it would be like to not have pads during that week. The cost of pads for one cycle is the cost of a weeks wages. The men won't allow the older women to purchase pads unless they have extra income. Only the teen girls get to have them and even still it is a weeks wages every month to purchase them for most families.

The cost of the pads we have created is $6. This includes the holder and 3 pads. This is a great deal.A $6 dollar investment not only gives them pads for a very long time, it saves them a weeks wages every month for EVERY person in the home that needs them.

Please consider being a part of this project. I am taking donations until May 7th. I hope to you will consider joining me in giving these women some dignity and an opportunity to no feel UNCLEAN.

To donate toward this project you can give by PayPal/Credit/Debit cards at this  link or you can send a check to the following address: Just mark it Women's Project.

Let me know if you have any questions and please consider praying about how you can forward this to other women who would like to get involved.

God Bless and thanks so much,

Angie

The Power of One Ministry 198 Mellwood Drive Charlotte, NC  28214

Hot enough to fry an EGG...

Well I finally made it to Somotillo after much saga which I won´t share here stictly due to time but let me tell you I can write a book about this trip already. I unfortantly am sick as can be. I had to spend the entire afternoon in bed. I have a major sinus infection AGAIN.

I was able to get an antibotic today and some sinus releif medicine and as of this minute I am a 100% better but no where near perfect. The heat is killing me for the first time. It is truely unbareable...

I spent the morning in a meeting in Ceibeta with the men. It was a great meeting and I have a huge project to pray about. It was good to see the men, some for the very first time.

I also had a long meeting with my helper Evert to discuss the vision and future of Ceibeta.

Please pray for a family in Ceibeta who lost there husband, brother and father yesterday. He was only 39 and left behind two beautiful boys. He died of cancer.

I will write soon more about my advertures but for now as it is 8 o´clock where I am and is still in the high 90´s and the heat is making me more conjested not to mention we are leaving out in the morning again to Ceibeta at 7.

I will be discussing a couple of projects with the families and giving out clothes that I brought. Pray for me.

Until then I would appreciate lifting me up in prayers every day. I am under some serious attack. I cán´t wait to see what God has in store for me.

God Bless and talk to you soon.

Angie

God's working things out

I have had several online meetings with my contact in Somotillo and I am starting to get so excited. I leave next Thursday and by Friday afternoon I will be knee deep in meetings with business owners in other cities near Somotillo learning how they make tile for their roofs. They are like the Spanish tiles you see in Spain or other countries.

Here is a picture of them:

The goal is to provide the resources to them to start the business through a micro-loan and they will have to repay the loan back as they make money. It is the best way to teach them about finances, making money and the business way of doing things. It makes them accountable for their success.

Of course, I will not just take the money back, instead we will reinvest it into another community, at least that is the plan.

Additionally, since the women are the work-a-bees of the community I am going to introduce to them a way they can earn money for the community. The money raised will go directly toward fixing their homes, buying materials, pots, pans, chickens, etc. and not into their pockets necessarily. Can you imagine a family that only makes $30 a month getting an extra $20 or $30 dollars. They don't spend it wisely, they don't waist it but they don't spend it in a manner that will long term make a difference. Of course, only those who participate in the project will receive the benefits.

I will also be discussing with local business men a way to help the community of Ceibita get back and forth to church each Sunday. We may even at this point start having church under the big tree in Ceibita to save cost. It is now costing the church I work with $100 each month to bring them back and forth each week. That's a lot for one church to pay, however, the pastor feels it is crucial to do in order to truly disciple these families that accepted Christ in July. They are growing stronger in the Lord and can now possibly start on their own. It is my dream to build a church there. I am trusting God for the right connections who would like to team with me to do so.

We will also be discussing my July trip. We will be focusing on how my friend Flutter-By the clown can be a blessing to both children and adults on that trip. She and her family will be joining me and I can't wait to see her in action.

Remember the Pastor I met in Nicaragua last February from South Carolina? Well sure enough he and I will be there this trip at the same time. He and other church members will hopefully be able to with me to Ceibita to visit with the very families his church is praying for and blessing with farm equipment and seeds.  I'm so excited to show off my friends to them. Its great when I can say here are the people who have been praying for you and blessing you.

I will have the opportunity to see the school kids this trip and take them more school supplies. If you have any you want to give me I'll take them. Crayons, pencils, sharpeners, colored pencils, anything school related other than paper and notebooks. They are just too heavy.

As you can see many things are going on with me in Nicaragua. I have not even skimmed the service actually.

This will be a very busy "business trip".  Although I will be very business like the excitement for these families to possibly get to start a business will be a ministering time itself. What a way to show them Jesus. I will be speaking with the men and so far they have not accepted the Lord. What a witness to them this will be. I am trusting God to work out all the details.

As usual I am trusting God for the finances to make this trip. Since I am going my myself it will cost me about $1500 - $1600 for travel expenses only. That does not include any ministry needs. As of now I need all the help I can get so if you feel led to help financially please do so. Be a part of the beginning of a great success story.

Most importantly as always I need your prayers. I need people who will truly pray when they say they will. Please put my name on your churches prayer list, put my name on your refrigerator and every time you open the door simply pray, "Lord bless her, provide for her and protect her". That's all it will take. If everyone does that who reads this, I'll be more than covered.

Come and join me in Nicaragua. You don't even have to leave the comforts of your home. Just go in prayer with me.

God Bless and thanks for your support,

Angie

The Power of One Ministry 198 Mellwood Drive Charlotte, NC 28214 704-236-5550

My crazy dream..

Last night I had a very odd dream. One that has made me think, could it be real? Here's how it went. (Keep in mind this dream was based on the time frame of today) In the dream I had posted a comment on my Facebook page that I was headed to Nicaragua again and needed support from anyone who could help.

I soon got a response back from someone that said to me:

"Girl, you must really hate your husband, you're gone all the time." I'd love to help you but I don't believe in giving to help people get a divorce and anyway I can't afford to help myself much less help anyone body else. The cost of feeding my habits is going up every day, if you know what I mean."

Then a second response came that said, "Haven't you gone enough to that place, it sure seems like you are going on vacation a lot lately, didn't you just get back from Haiti".

Then a third response came that said, "Angie, I really think you are just asking way to much of your friends. You know in this day and time we can't just keep giving you money and you just keep asking all the time, don't you think you should let somebody else go?"

The fourth message read, Angie, I really appreciate what you do in Nicaragua but I can't afford to send myself on vacation much less you so please just stop asking for support, it makes me feel bad when I see it.

Many many more comments just like these came in.

Needless to say in my dream I was devastated. How could anyone think I was going to Nicaragua because I hate my husband and how could anyone who truly knows what I am doing feel that way.

These comments led to a great depression in my spirit and a feeling of rejection like no other.

In my dream I called everyone in Nicaragua that I work with and canceled all the meetings that were scheduled and told them I would never come back because people were accusing me of things that were not true and no one was helping me do anything so if I had no support I could not come and do what needed to be done.

The church I work with was devastated, the community of Ceibita was heartbroken and all the children cried. (It was so sad in my dream..)

I woke up in the middle of it and jumped up in bed, it took me 5 minutes to figure out if it was a dream or real. I began to cry, actually sob thinking oh my gosh, am I never going to work in Nicaragua again?

Once I calmed myself down and realized it was just a dream I started thinking about the comments. You know how the devil will play with youy mind and tell you things. Well for an hour I laid and thought about the comments. Do people really feel that way? Do they really know what I do there? Do they understand the lives that are being changed and impacted for Christ? Do they know how many people have accepted Christ? Do they even care?

Many thoughts went through my head during that time and some still do. I know it was just a dream (a nightmare to me) but it did make me think about things and what it did was make me see I am doing exactly what I am suppose to be doing.

Yes I just went to Haiti and I ask for support and yes I am going again to Nicaragua on the 25th and I am asking again for anyone who can support this trip to please help me do so. I can't do this without support, I wished I could but I can't.

So for those who might think those crazy things that was in my dream know that I love my husband with all my heart and we are NOT getting a divorce and these trips are NOT a vacation from anyone. It is very hard work, long long days and nights of work in a very hot country and emotionally draining beyond what I can explain. No idiot would do this all the time if it was not of God.

I don't just go there to hang out with friends. I go there to encourage the families whose children went hungry today or whose house is falling apart and it's raining on everything they have or the single mom who has no idea how she is going to get her child who is burning up with fever a $2 antibiotic. I go because God tells me to Go and He always has a plan for me when I get there.

This trip I will be meeting with several businesses to learn how to set up a business for Ceibita. The men of this community have come to me with a proposal asking to receive help in starting a business to make tile for their roofs. They felt it was best to start the business so they can help the entire communities housees and then sell them to other communities. There  are no tile companies close by and they live on a main road. Looks like they have done their homework. The coolest part is they didn't ask for me to fix their houses, they asked me to help them earn an income and fix them their selves. This is huge breakthrough. Nicaraguans tend to just ask and ask for help but they want you to do all the work and give them the benefits. This community has learned how to ask God's way. I'd like to mention these men are not Christians but their wives are. I see this as a way to reach those men. A way to bring them to knowing the truth of God's love.

So yes I am going again, this trip was planned in December and yes it takes support to get there. I walk by faith that God will provide every time and for 19 times now he has . This will be my 20th trip to Nicaragua. It is a dream come true to serve God in this way.

I am encourage by my dream. I know the enemy would like for me to give up and stop but I can't until God says I can.

If you would like to be a part of what God is doing in Nicaragua and not have the attitudes of those who wrote on my Facebook, please do so.

We all can make a difference. If everyone on this distribution list gave me only $5 it would pay for my plane ticket or pay to start the business in Ceibita or something else. Every dollar counts and Every dollar adds up.

The last trip I went on, one of you, said to me they were so sorry they could not give me more than $5. Never be ashamed of giving. God says give as you have and let him do the rest. Trust him with your money. Trust him to use it as He desires. Never ever feel you can't support something because you can't give large amounts. That's the way the enemy keeps you from giving at all.

Please pray for me as I plan on going and while I am there. Pray God opens the doors that I need to walk through to help this community better themselves and in the same time find His love.

I seldom get any responses back from these emails so I hope that known of you feel the way the people in my dream did. If you do feel free to ask me to remove you from this list, I'll be happy to.

Thanks to everyone on this list that has sewed into my life. You have allowed God to use your finances in a mighty way. When you get to heaven you will see the lives you impacted and never even got on the plane. Know that every prayer you send up on my behalf, every dollar you sew, every word of encouragement you give, HE knows and will reward you for.

If you would like to sew into this ministry please know I use every penny for ministry things. I put every paycheck from my part-time job directly into it. I am invested into this ministry, I don't just want you to be.

The most important thing you can do for me is PRAY. Prayer makes things happen. Prayer puts me on God's to-do list and the more people prayer the higher up the list I go.

My friend Ashley shared this quote with me and I love it. "Relationships are the wings the Gospel flies on", that's what I'm doing in Nicaragua. Building Relationships.

God Bless,

Angie

The Power of One Ministry 198 Mellwood Drive Charlotte, NC  28214 704-236-5550

Ceibita Kids are off to school...

I feel like a mom on the first day of school for her first child. I was so excited to get the pictures of our sponsored kids in Ceibita. I hate I was not there to be a part of it and praise God my friend was. He said the kids were skipping around in their new clothes as the moms fussed at them to not get dirty. Sound familiar..

All the kids wanted everyone to know that they were so happy and excited to go to school.

It as been a month now that they have been in school (took a while to get the pictures) and all are doing great.

Enjoy the smiles as I did. Not all the kids could be present to participate but most were.

Click here to view the pictures.

God Bless and thanks again,

Angie