Sports Fans, Come One...Come All...

After returning from my scouting trip in February I felt strongly that God was pushing me to get more involved with sports ministry.  Sports is true to my heart so it all made since. Again I told God if you want me to do something, then you do your part. I need to learn to stop saying that.. Since I returned I have been planning a huge soccer tournament in addition to collecting soccer donations for 3 teams of youth that are gang members in Masatepe.

God has so SHOWN off Himself this time. I have been blessed to have Peace Passers and Passback give me soccer donations for the gangs. I will use some of the stuff for the soccer tournament and the rest for a group that God has laid on my heart.

Pastor Roberto, a new friend of mind, is ministering to 140 gang members each week. He has been blessed to lead some of the hardest ones to Christ. He uses sports to bring them together where each weak he shares the gospel with them.

These youth have no equipment or uniforms and if you know me at all you know this is something dear to my heart. They deserve to enjoy life just like we do.

I am still in need of more soccer stuff but mostly baseball uniforms.

I am seeking sponsors to sponsors teams for $45 per team. I have 10 teams that need a sponsor.  I have found a company that will sell me shirts with a name on them and a number on the back for $4 a shirt. So for $40 your family can sponsor a team. Pastor Roberto will do the hard work. He will minister to them week after week and give them an avenue to break away from the gang life.

I am shipping two large boxes of equipment to Nicaragua on Wednesday which will give me room to take the baseball equipment. I am also having a glove and cleat drive with one of my customers the first week of June. I can't wait to bless these boys. Just imagine if your child could never play the game of soccer or baseball just because they don't have a ball and you can't afford one for them.

If you would like to be a part of this great blessing, just send me your sponsorship for $45 to me by June 1st if possible or at least June 10th.

These are pictures of my Mother's Day. My kids and I spent most of the day counting and packing all the soccer equipment. It was great... God is so good...

Join me...Pray for me... Pray for the lost souls that will get this equipment.

God Bless,

Angie

 

I have 45 pairs of soccer cleats...

 

If you can't see the pictures above make sure you to check your downloads/attachements option or your "show pictures" option.

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

Hope for the Hopeless...

I had the pleasure of going to a Chris Tomlin concert on Thursday (Thanks again Karen..) and in one of his songs he sings about God giving Hope to the Hopeless. It says.. You're the Light in this darkness You're the Hope to the hopeless You're the Peace to the restless You are

There is no one like our God

I have found this statement to be so true in my life lately and I pray He is that to you also.

Hardly any of us here in the US know what it is to truly be Hopeless. We have so many opportunities to succeed. All we have to do is ask in most cases and there is some organization or some government office that will step in and help. (In most cases that is).

For my friends in Coffradia that is not the case at all. They have no options. No churches to lean on for help when things are tight, no United Way or Red Cross to step in when their homes are flooded out by the heaving rains and most importantly no Food Banks to help feed their hungry kids.

Sponsorships for the families are very low and I do understand why but then again I don't.

Here we are the month of April when for a Christian the time is most celebrated. Next Sunday we'll put on our new clothes, new shoes and go to church. We'll give our kids those precious new Easter baskets full of toys and candy and we'll remember that on that die Christ died for us so that we will HAVE eternal life and the blessings that come with that.

I do not want to offend anyone here by stating this but do you really think God wants us to commercialize the day Christ was risen? The world has turned Easter into nothing more than an big Pink Bunny...and we as Christians have bought into it. We spent lots of money on those new clothes and baskets when Jesus says come as you are..

Don't get me wrong there is nothing wrong with buying new clothes when they are needed. I will have to buy my own sons new shirts soon and they will most likely wear them to church but I won't buy them just because it's Easter.

What is Easter really all about? What are we teaching our children Easter is? Most kids only think it's time for the Easter Bunny to come and bring them candy. It is so much more than that.

It's a time to be thankful and give honor to the Lord. It's a time to share our faith with others and teach them what Easter really is all about.

I heard someone today on the TV say they won't be going to church this year at Easter because they can't afford new clothes.. How sad... How sad it is we have made the lost feel unwelcomed on Easter because they don't have money for new clothes.

So what does this have to do with Coffradia and the gardens. A Lot..

Instead of going shopping for new Easter clothes and a new Basket for the kids, have your kids count the change in the penny jar and roll it up and sponsor a family who needs the materials to be able to grow food that they will eat. It's only $22 for seeds and fertilizers.

What better way to show them who Jesus really is than to show them His greatest commandment. Love one another, as Christ loves you.

Just something to consider.

Please forgive me if it offends you, I promise the intent is only to challenge you to look at things a different way.

Angie

New plants growing in the second round of gardens.

Give a man a fish and he will eat for the day..

Give a man a fish and he will eat for the day, teach him  to fish and he will eat for a lifetime... I spent over an hour this morning researching online for what scripture reference this was, asked a pastor, asked several friends and no one knew. That's because its not in the bible. It's a Chinese proverb.. Don't you think it belongs in the Word for God? It is very powerful and it is a huge encouragement to me.

My visit to Coffradia was very rewarding. I had kinda fussed at the group before because they all came so late. I waited once for over an hour for them to arrive and explained to them that in the future if they really want people to believe they want help  then show up on time. This trip it was amazing. They were waiting on me.  It tickled my heart to see them not on time but early and it really made me see how much they want help.

I talked with them and ask if they felt it was successful. It was an overwhelming reaction by all that it was great.

I won't forget the smiles from moms who talked about how nice it was to go outside and pull off tomatoes from their gardens.

In September they were hit with a tropical storm that destroyed a lot of their crops. Some of the seeds I purchased and took there never even growed and they were short on fertilizer that was much needed.

I learned a lot from these families and they do learned a lot from the Lord. They learned He will provide for them.

The ground in Coffradia has no top soil and is mostly sand. The pastor who taught them how to grow the gardens was told by many in Somotillo that gardens would not grow there and he was waisting his time. He pushed on, prayed over the ground and got the families to trust in God for the first time in their lives and in December all most every family had a nice garden to show from their efforts.

During the harvest time, peppers were $20 cents each in the market. Just imagine, could you afford a pepper a day if you only made $1 or $2 a day? I doubt it. You would not bother with that kind of luxury. These families were blessed to eat vegetables with their beans and rice and it didn't cost them an arm and a leg.

You did this.. Those of you who donated to this project brought life to these families and I am representing them when I say thanks to each of you. Those who could not help financially did so with prayer and together we were able to please God and bless so very needy families.

I also asked what went wrong other than the rain. What can we do different going forward and it all comes down to the fertilzers and anti-bug which I didn't account for the first round.

I hope to have a video soon of the families giving of their first fruits to the local church pastor. Remember, the large majority of these families do not go to church. They are seeing Jesus for the first time.

The best garden time starts in May. Some of the families have all ready took seeds and planted their second gardens and the rest are hoping for support to help with the next round.

God has really laid it on my heart about how to correctly bless people. We as missionaries have the right hearts when we give them food, clothes, shoes, etc. but what are we teaching them? To depend on man, that's what we are teaching them. We go and give which is biblical but I think God wants us to disciple them and teach them to work for their food as his word tells us, "If a man will not work, he shall not eat."  II Thes. 3:10.

My goal is to help this community learn to help themselves and we are off to a great start. I have discussed with them that they need to put money to the side each month so that when April comes each year they can buy the needed fertilizers but to be honest, it's expensive to them. The much needed fertilizers are costly so it will take more than just saving, it will take God to supernaturally provide extra income for them and a little help from us from time to time.

I have done a cost analysis on how we can all pitch in and help.

Seeds (tomato, cucumber, peppers and carrots) for each family will cost $5.20 per family

Fertilizer, anti-bug killer, vitamins and disinfectant will cost about $16.70 for each family.

I have 36 families so the total cost needed is $788.00.

This is a great time to show God that we are not focused on the economy issues and we are not trusting in the world but we have a much larger purpose in life to fulfill. We are his servants and we will give to others in His name as He gave to us with His son.

I have already made arrangements with the pastor to see that each family gets the materials needed but I must raise the funds to do so. Will you sponsor a family? Maybe it's only for the seeds that's only $5.20 cents. The cost of a coffee at Starbucks...

The total cost for a family is $21.90.

This is a great project to get involved in, it's everlasting. It's a opportunity to feed families. Starving kids who would will not get vegetables any other way.

Can I count of you today to help or at least pray and ask God to provide it through other ways. You have already seen Him do a miracle once in this village already.. Now watch again as we show the entire community and surrounding communities that God can grow food in a dry desert.. He is the creator of Gardens...

My deadline is April 18th. Please consider putting $21 extra dollars in your budget for the next month.

Check out pictures of the second gardens. This family is fighting off bugs using their used dishwater that coats the leaves and makes it hard for the bugs to stay on it makes them slippery.

Together we can change lives for the Kingdom of God.. Will you join me?

Churches, Ministry groups, Sunday School groups; Heres a great project for you to get involved with...

God Bless,

Angie

Back in the USA...

After another long day, and a very long night Thursday/Friday I found myself in Florida at 7:20am PRAISING GOD there are 60 available seats on the first flight to Charlotte. We made it home around 11:30. Thanks for praying me home. Sitting in the airport listening to praise music and reflecting on the week made me realize how wonderful God is. He did so many things to confirm this trip. At a time when I was questioning everything He showed up and let me know He is the God of All. He is the everlasting Prince of Peace and He has called me to help His people if I will just let Him.

During the past several months I have not mentioned what a struggle I have had with the Lord. I truly was at a point of giving up and stopping this "Missions" thing. The night before I booked the tickets to come on this trip I wept many tears of frustration to the Lord. I imagine it was a lot like Paul during his frustrating times but on a much smaller scale.

God will show you what He wants out of you at the moment He knows it's time to reveal it and when it will make the biggest impact. This impact will stay with me for a while.

On the day I booked the tickets we had no idea how in the world we would pay for this trip. We were walking by faith in a major way. For me, it was my cry to God to show me what He really wants out of me. Now we are home and not only did God provide the money for this trip our online business made in 7 days almost as much as we have been making in an entire month. God didn't just want to show us he could provide for this trip but also for our business to help get us through the coming month when we have no work.

We had the privilege to see the girls this trip which was bitter sweet, we visited the garden project and saw a miracle. We met a Red Power Ranger and was blessed to visit a new orphange with 40 beautiful kids. Many things happen and many things need to happen going forward.

I have a video that I need to put on a DVD. Does anyone have a 8 mm camera I can borrow for a couple of hours? I just need to play the video and record it on a my DVD player. I will return it in the same day so if you have one please let me know as soon as you can I need to get the 8 mm tape back to Nicaragua.

I am going to write on each topic so that you are not reading a book in this email so stay tune to updates on each major area.

 God bless all of you for your prayers and financial support.

Stay tuned for more to come..

Angie