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Ps. Sarah Anderson: Sermon June 18, 2010

Isaiah 65:1-9; Psalm 22:19-28; Galatians 3:23-29; Luke 8:26-39

Bethlehem Lutheran Church

I imagine that many of you are like me and have had times in your life where you just want to freeze time.  You don’t want to leave certain moments or experiences – you just want to stay with them. 

I’ve repeatedly had those types of experiences while at Bible camp.  They first started when I was a camper, enjoying the fun-loving counselors, the new activities and meeting new people, and it continued when I worked at camp.  Each summer it was hard to say good-bye campers and fellow counselors who had become like family and head back to school because I wanted to freeze those moments – I just didn’t want to let them go.  YET, at some point the ‘real’ world calls us back in and we must go.

So what do we do with the powerful moments that we would love to freeze in time?  Jesus makes it clear in today’s gospel – “Return home and tell how much God has done for you.”  This was his response to the man who had been plagued with demons for a long time.  The demons had seized hold of him, led him to be chained, and ultimately sent him to live in solitude for quite some time.  The man was so relieved that Jesus has helped him and wanted to travel with him.  But Jesus said, “No – go back and tell others.”

Just a few days ago I heard those words as well.  You see, I just returned with a group of 15 people who traveled to Nicaragua.  During our 10 days, many in our group shared powerful experiences and moments that we wanted to ‘freeze’ in time and not leave.  But as the end our trip approached, we repeatedly heard the same words that we hear Jesus say today –   “Go back home and tell others what God has done and how you have experienced while here in Nicaragua.

Now you may be thinking our time in Nicaragua was not the same as the demons cast out and that is true in one regard – none of us were part of an exorcism.  Yet even though the demons in Nicaragua may not have looked and acted like the same as the demon in the man of the Gerasene region, we were casting out demons. 

As Jesus said go back and tell others, listen and experience with me how God was present in casting out demons and how much God has done for me and the people of Nicaragua.

One of the demons we cast out happened repeatedly in our medical clinics.  During our medical clinics, I translated for one of the nurses and experienced first-hand what the demons are.  Person after person suffered from neck, back, and shoulder pain because of the labor intensive jobs they do.  In the places we visited, there wasn’t quick and easy access to a nearby drugstore.  So with our combination of ibuprofen, various stretching exercises, and laughter, the demons of pain were subdued.  Another common medical demon was the worms in people’s stomachs.  I recall feeling one of the boy’s belly which was bulging and very hard and through 2 simple pills the worms would be gone.  Without basic medicine like antacids, ibuprofen, de-worm pills, vitamins, or antibiotics people suffer from easily preventable diseases, but those demons can and were cast out.

Another demon – a lack of education – is being cast out by the work of the children’s project. Those children are receiving basic education about hygiene and exercise as well as learning songs and stories about God.  The continued support from Bethlehem provides a safe, nurturing, and loving environment for children.

And just as is the case in our communities here in the U.S., there is a demon of unemployment in Nicaragua, but in Nicaragua it is much higher.   I saw this demon being cast out by distribution of micro-loans.  Cooperatives are being set up and through the donations on sewing machines and fabric, many women will be able to have work and be part of a trade that will earn them income.

While there are many other demons which I will willingly tell you about in the coming weeks, there is one more which I wish to share with you, and that is casting out the demon of bad water.  Nowhere in the country of Nicaragua is it safe to drink the water from the tap, yet people do because they cannot afford the expense of purified water.  But it was a special day when 50 water filters were brought to a small community.  We worked alongside local firefighters and being part of the process to get rid of bad water.  Through the use of a simple plastic bucket, a clay filter, and a brush for cleaning, 50 households now have clean water.  And another thing that made it so special was that those filters all say “In Memory of Ken Harris,” who saw the demon of bad water and cast it out.

And like the man of the Gerasenes people were repeatedly thankful for the help they are given.  The tears showed the pain and sadness for the demons they live with but the laughter and smiles showed the gratitude and exuberance for when those demons are cast out. 

These are the demons I experience in the last 10 days.  Many are not unlike our own and we could surely add to this list.  With demons locally, some may wonder why we travel the distance and cross national borders when there are some of the same demons within a closer proximity.  Well, did not Jesus also travel throughout his ministry?  In fact, didn’t his mission often include the ‘foreigner’?  Yes, in fact, our gospel story today clearly says Jesus sailed across the Sea of Galilee, into a place where he was not from, and continued his mission there.

And besides, it’s not about regions, borders, or any other labels anyway – it’s about where our true identity lies.  It’s about helping our brothers and sisters in Christ because that’s where our true identity lies.  For “there is neither Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female,” American or Nicaraguan as we are all one in Christ.

Those who call themselves children of God experience a transformation that removes prejudices of race, social class, or gender in favor of true unity in Christ – and that is moving beyond wanting to free time and go back to our communities to “go and tell”. 

That’s why we go and cast out demons all over the world, because it’s not about the boundaries, it’s about sharing in Christ’s missions for all the people of God. 

Sunday, June 20, 2010 12:16 AM

Hi

Okay, it is not really Saturday night.  We all attempted to sleep Saturday night, and my attempt replaced E-mailing.  We had to leave the hotel at 4:45 AM to get to the airport across the street!  We all made it home safe and sound even if many of us did not sleep a wink! 

But let's pretend it is Saturday night.  This was the E-mailed planned in my head, but not written:

Short Subject #1:  Baseball uniforms-the symbol of being part of a team and a raiser of self esteem-were needed by a team whose members live in a very poor barrio and have special needs- twenty five of them at 10 dollars a piece.  Marcio Rivas, who we thoroughly trust to sort out true needs from wants, brought the coach Anotonio Salizar to us.  He explained that the sports keep youth out of gangs and off of drugs, both huge and growing problems in Somoto.  Many of the parents are gone or have emigrated to other countries to try to find work, and the students and team have no resources.   I presented the need to all our participants.  "Done", Melissa, one of our vibrant youth who brought so much life to our group and who knows the healing and positive effect of sports on young people announced as she shot up her hand.  And do it she did.  She encouraged each of us to donate, and by the time she left, the uniforms had been purchased and a gracious thank you speech had been delivered to us by the excellent, devoted teacher and coach.  Something that is taken for granted here, something that is so treasured there...... bringing pride and self esteem and a positive direction to at risk, impoverished youth.

Short Subject #2:  E-mail solicitation:  "Help we need 1 1/2 more scholarships", "Help, we need $150 in micro loans".  Messages sent by me from there through E-mail.  Guilt edging in, jabbing at me.  I had asked for so much and received so much from many of you already.  Joy!  Excitement!  I opened one E-mail, "My mother and I will provide the micro-loan."  I opened another, "I will provide the 1 1/2 scholarships, tell me how."  Blessings.  That night the two scholarship recipients were at the project to meet with me with smiling, relieved faces.

They can continue to be fed in the morning and go to school for another year.   The children's project will start working with the aunt who cannot even provide clothes for her orphaned niece to start a business with the micro loan, a gift that keeps on giving.  Bless you, E-mail angels!

Short Subject #3: School: We take it for granted.  It is a right.  Every child in Nicaragua has a right to go to school as well.  But is there a school to go to?  In El Higo, the site of our last clinic, many children do not learn to read.  There is a not a school they can go to, even if they walk far.  As a result, at the eye glass clinic in El Higo, the majority of the adults could not read, while at the others we had had, the majority could.  School. 

Something we take for granted.  School.  Something they long for.

Short Subject #4:   Gratitude:  "Thank you John and Cathy."  "Thank you Abe."  Ninos y Ninas del Futuro members say this often for the help through all our projects, seeing us as representatives of the help they receive.   Both Pastor Abe and we have told them more than once that the help comes from the giving of moral and prayer support, the donations of goods, time and money, and all the participants willing to come..all this from numerous others, too many to count.  And so you were acknowledged as well at the scholarship meeting.  Since you were not there to hear it, I pass this onto you.  "Thank you angels!"  (Yes, they called us angels.)  And, I will add, thanks from all the board members of the Interfaith Nicaragua Project.    None of this could happen without you!

Short Subject # 5:  Unending answered prayers:  It was a half hour before boarding time on the flight back to Denver.  We ran into a glitch!  We had forgotten to plan for a ride back home for three of us.  Besides, we three were responsible for ALL the bags!  Text messages and calls to others had come up empty.  Discouragement was setting in.  What a way to end the trip, stuck in the Denver airport!  "If I only had a church directory"...... Brain flash.  "Let's call the church secretary Nancy!"  Nancy gave us the phone numbers of 5 people who may be willing to help.  "Paul Dorn.  Let's call him.  He has helped before."  Ring...one ring and he answers his home phone, a miracle in itself.  "Here is the situation, Paul, can you help?"  Sure.  "One thing, we have all the luggage."  Hmm, maybe I can get the church van.   And so he did.  Three of us and all the luggage fit perfectly.  Answered prayer, and I am sure the result of the prayers for a safe and successful trip sent up for us...Thank you prayer partners!  

And so,  A terrific trip with terrific people with terrific backing and support and with God watching over all and guiding.  Thanks be to God, Cathy 

Thursday, June 17, 2010 6:07 AM

Hello,

Some want to know more about the childrens project Ninos y Ninas del Futuro. Here is a long history and some about it.

It was four years ago and we could not start the Mothers House due to problems with the land.  Five women we knew approached us and said they had a dream to develop a childrens project that would serve the many impoverished children in their barrio suffering from malnutrition, deplorable living conditions, lack of education, and some from abuse and neglect.  Pastor Abe approached the then mayor Marcio Rivas who immediately offered a donation of land.  A man of action!  There were problems, though, getting the land title, so for a year, other land was sought.  The next year, we were asked to stand in front  of the equivalent of the city council and speak about our support of the project.  Afterwards, they donated another plot of land.  We donated money for the grading and main construction of it generously donated by our incredible donors!  Four months later, they had their basic building due to almost all donated labor, and donated equipment.  Programs developed for computer, English, and trade classes, therapy, Sunday school and spiritual growth, education in health and care of children.  It quickly grew to a group of 120 children.  Others donated for paint, a simple fence, electricity, outhouses, iron grills for security, etc.  It kept growing.

About 5 months ago, the local government agreed to help develop a preschool.  Many mothers were in a bind....leave your child at home and work to feed them, or stay at home and starve.  Children were malnourished, stunted in growth,  poorly tended to, and suffering from the necessary neglect.  And so a preschool of 90 5 year olds and under was started.  Two teachers are paid by the city. 

The mothers voted for the woman who will be a nutritionist, planning a meal a day.  She is paid $75 a month with money donated by the mothers.  Those that absolutely not pay do not.  The families bring much of the food , and donations of food sometimes come from other sources.  They just received a donation of a nutritous rice with soy and dried vegetables and vitamin additives from a local church, for example.  Soon, they will plant a garden of vegetables on their property, teaching families and children about nutrition and growing them as well.  The seeds were donated by another organization run in Colorado by Don Christianson.  Each day, they drink soy as well. 

The changes in the children due to this nutrition has been unbelievable.  Their growth is visible.  Children we know have shot up, their color and energy greatly improved.  One girl we know well, Fania, is like a new child.  Slow and sorrowful for the last two years, often dirty with unkempt hair.  Today is her 5th birthday and she is now a pistol!  Full of energy and gleeful life, she giggles and smiles, her beautiful curls and clean hair bouncing in the sun, and has she ever grown!  The project has worked with the mother to care for her, and the preschool and nutrition has given her life abundantly!

To be continued......

Thursday, June 17, 2010 5:41 AM

Hello!
We all arrived safe and sound in Managua and are letting down in the hotel.  Today we will go to the rim of an active volcano (their are nine in this country half the size of Nicaragua), will go to a large market, and then will go to a caldera with a beautiful lake, just as beautiful as Crater Lake.  Yes, this country has much beauty...The birds are chirping, beautiful flowers growing in the motel gardens, and most importantly, the people are beautiful.  Tomorrow we return home.  Thank you for your prayers.

Blessings Cathy

Wednesday, June 16, 2010 8:26 AM

Hi Everyone,
This is from Rodney who runs the water filter project.  He is already thanking us.  Ralph is the coordinator of this project!  Our gratitude goes to Ralph Ponfick for organizing this wonderful project!

We are off to Managua this morning.  Thank you so much for keeping us in your prayers.  We are all well. 

Blessings, Cathy

Ralph:
It was great to have you along on the deliveries today. I enjoyed getting to know you a little better and appreciated the help with the GPS logs. Thank everyone that helped yesterday as well. It is such a treat to actually have the donors be able to come see the project in action.

See you later, Rodney

Tuesday, June 15, 2010 9:48 PM

Subject: Tuesday, the last day in Somoto 2010

Hello again! 
 
Subject, scholarships.
 
Last night I had the incredible privelege of meeting with all of the families and almost all the students who receive scholarships.  I have seen a number of them grow through the last several years, and the growth in the last year with the support of the children´s project and a scholarship to pay for food and for the things they need for school, as well as their ability to go to school, has made marvelous changes in them.  Luis served us food in the hotel last year and is now a student at the university here.  He works many hours now in a restaurant as well as attends his classes.   Douglas has had a very difficult life, with his mother dying three years ago and his father gone.  The children´s project provides therapy and support for him and those working to care for him at 15 years of age.  It was difficult for him to promise to work hard this year, but he did, and I will pass this on to his sponsor.  Deydra feels much love for her sponsor Tammy and considers her her God mother.  Out of a plastic sheet house, she emerges beaming with a lot of energy.  Rosmar is a university student who will teach English as a volunteer to the children at the project.  His father Marcio is so giving to others, he has very little.   Christian also lives in a house of sticks, but works very hard and helps the children in the project.  His sponsor is  going to be very proud of him.  And so it goes...through 16 of them, all of whom yearn to be students and get an education.  To have the honor of a scholarship, they will be working in the children´s project, even the little ones.  Those who go to school in the morning will volunteer hour of time to clean and work with the preschool in the afternoon, and those who go in the afternoon will volunteer their hour in the morning.  In this way, they both give to others and receive from others, as well as build their self esteem and knowledge that they are an important part of the project!  They all attend Sunday school and have to get good grades and have good behavior as well.  The parents as well as each child got up, one by one to express their most sincere gratitude in beautiful, poetic ways and many gave strong hugs.  I wish each of you could have been there to hear it.  It is wonderful the ways the children´s lives change through this process through their ability to not only go to school, but share in responsibility to do their part as well as they grow in faith and self esteem.  We wish to thank all of those who contribute to this most important program.  We are working on ways to improve the communication between those receiving scholarships and the sponsors.  We may try actual mail which is reported to work sometimes as well as E mail. Three of the teens receiving scholarships will help the younger ones to write.

Subject two...Roofs.  Ah, incredible.  A woman I have watched for the last several years suffer and who many of you have seen in front of her house made out of plastic sheeting came up to me.  Her daughter is Deydra.  She smiled and smiled and thanked me and thanked me.  For what?  For a few sheets of metal over what does not even deserve to be called a shack.  She said that because of the roof we gave her (a hundred dollar cost), she and her three children who squat and exist under it not longer get wet.  The water does not run under them plastic sheeting somehow.  She exclaimed with wide, beautiful eyes that she was afraid during the first torrential rain that her ¨house¨ would collapse due to the weight of the zinc sheets, but it did not!  She grinned and grinned and thanked us over and over.  Wow.  I get overwhelmed some times.  One small donation.  One very important change in someone´s life!

Tomorrow we leave.  I have told you a lot, yet very little.  There is so much more...Cathy

Monday, June 14, 2010 4:43 PM

From Somoto number two, Monday, June 14

Subject...Water Filters
 
Last year I wrote about our watering our lawns with potable water while patients here were having to drink polluted water... getting cholera, parasites, hepititus, and frequent diarhea...among other things.  A man in my church read this and became passionate about helping people here get clean water.  He stopped me in the narthex upon my return and told me he wanted to donate to start a clean water project.  We did not have one, but God´s hand was in our project yet once again.  A woman who came last year, Doshia, knew Rodney, an ex Peace Corps volunteer who decided to stay and work to improve the lives of Nicaraguan people.   We watched and communicated about his water project for months, and others we knew reported their pleasure with his program.  Ralph arranged the filter project with him.  I have asked Ralph to write you upon his return about the details, but here are a few...

They like to cover an entire village for two reasons...as others filter their water, they are not made sick by those who do not...and  jealousy.  How do you give one out and not to the neighbor?  Each family gets a filter which helps in numerous ways.  1.  The pot that filters the water is made by potters in Managua, giving them work.  2.  The filters are distributed by the fire men in the area.  Many are volunteers.  The families get to see them as people who help.  The children get to learn about them and respect them.  The firemen get to inspect each house for hazards and fire danger in the process of filter delivery and follow up.  GPS coordinates are made for each house, giving the firemen an idea of where people might be in times of a natural disaster.... and let´s not forget ·3.  People can drink clean water.

In one village that has used them for a year, there has been no cholera or hepatitis and much less diarhea.

Some one has come here for a year to study their use.  People have to avoid using the precious bucket for other things or using the scrub brushes to clean the filters for other things, contaminating the water.  They have to keep water in them to keep them from cracking, and they have to get used to the water's taste.   The fire department follows up with all of this.

The ceramic is fired with sawdust and lined with some silver.  It is efficient in killing bacteria.

Sadly, Ken Harris who really started this project died just before Easter.  Today we went to the fire station, put stickers that said In Memory of Ken Harris on forty of the buckets he provided before his death, and took 25 of them to a school in the village of Chinchall to be delivered. (Rodney will deliver the others tomorrow.) The families came and received their instructions from the firemen.  The children observed and saw the fire truck.   In a few days, the firemen will visit each family to check their homes and check the set up of the filter.  Rodney´s group will check every six months, and the firemen will continue their involvement.  (Have you ever heard me write about helping Nicaraguans who then help themselves and other Nicaraguans??)    Our donors donated a total of 54 to cover the village.  As one donor said, ¨to think you can change a family´s life with a $50 water filter!

PS...The group is back and over 90 patients were seen today in a village near the Honduran border.  The clinic did not start until after the water filter project, around 11 30.  Some people had been waiting since six AM.  Marta said that that was okay.  The people are patient!!!!!  (If only I could develop such patience!)  Each clinic has been where there is no clinic.  Today´s was in a little restaurant, several have been in homes, and one in a small school-community building.  Each is a good distance from a clinic.  Dave and I stayed back as Dave checked out 10 desk top computers given to the children´s project by an organization in the country.  Sadly, two are garbage.  All the others need cables, hard drives, and memory cards.  Any one have some to donate?  The large computers would work be used by the smaller kids who are hard on lap tops.

Tonight is a meeting with the scholarship recipients.

More blessings from Somoto!  Cathy

Monday, June 14, 2010 4:04 PM
 
Hi Again!
 
Subject..Garbage.  Not the garbage here, the garbage in the US.  It is a treasure.  Have you ever thrown out a cardboard box?  Dumb question.  But we delivered water filters today, a story in itself.  The head of the project said they used to throw out the cardboard box the ceramic filter came in, but it is a treasure to the people receiving the water filters!  It reminds me of the pictures after Haiti of people grabbing the empty food boxes...

Cellophane wrappers...a quick throw into the garbage is their fate, right?  Not here.  Yesterday Dave and I were having a great eye clinic and distributed over 40 pair of glasses after testing each ¨patient´s¨ eyes.  Each pair comes in small, open ended cellophane bag.  One woman did not have one....She asked for one!  Dave had an extra.  Carol who trained him had warned him.  They treasure them!

Plastic buckets that kitty litter and laundry soap come in.  Garbage, right?  They are an amazing treasure.  Each year Dr. Nora Martin saves kitty litter buckets into which we pack medicine and glasses.  People beg for them...Even the less poor!  The water filters have a ceramic insert that goes into a tall plastic bucket.  The administrators work hard to try to get the people not to use the plastic bucket for other things!

Shredded paper.  Certainly THAT is garbage...but no.  I wrote two years ago about our great doctor Jeanne saving it, and a grandmother claiming it with great joy to make pillows for her grand children.

Garbage...Watching people here certainly makes me more conscious of what I am throwing away!

Blessings from Somoto, Cathy

Sunday, June 13, 2010 9:56 PM

Hi Everyone,
This one is short.  It is fifteen minutes until the internet cafe closes at 10 o clock.  It has been a long and wonderful day.  Each day we have had a clinic with 80 to 90 patients. They have all been very organized and have run very, very smoothly!  What a team!  And byteam, I mean the Nicaraguans as well.  To date, every clinic has been super organized by them in a way that all goes well.  They check people in, organize them, maintain organization and control in a very calm way because the people know them.  TEAM WORK INTERNATIONAL!  As I keep repeating, is us working WITH and not FOR them.  Today´s clinic was at the children´s project with 90 some patients, mostly children, and all in the span of  4 or 5 hours in the afternoon.  This morning we had a worship service and celebration with the kids and parents at the children´s project.  Abe gave two wonderful sermons, one in Spanish and one in English, and I wish I could write it....I was almost in tears going up for communion.  Janet, a friend and fellow worker, put her hands on my waist from behind and we held hands this way all the way up.  I was almost in tears still as was Terry looking at the building and the project, remembering when the women came to us and said they had a dream to build it..my thinking it was a pipe dream...and with donations that pale in light of the the work they do, here it is.  Tremendously helping children and families...in ways that improves their lives not just for this moment, but for years. Once again, the examples of the women who to date have worked for three years on and in the project, and who now work very, very long days well beyond an 8 hour day for free as volunteers, is incredible.  I have to ask myself, in similar circumstances, would I do the same, devote my life as a person with few means to help people poorer than myself...hour after hour, day after day, week after week, month after month, for three years and no pay.....

By the way, we did discuss the need to raise funds to pay two of the women as executive director and co-director.  ......Another project...And in the meantime, they keep working in the most beautiful, effective, and dedicated way...

As they say here, gracias a Dios...Thanks be to God ...for people such as these in our world....

Blessings to each of you from Somoto, Cathy

Friday, June 11, 2010 4:49PM

Hello everyone!
Wow.-  It is hard to describe.  The need here is so great.  I spent the day discussing the scholarships, micro loans, and children´s project with Marta, Candida, Janet, (three members of the board) and Johanna who is a therapist who runs a project for abused women, of whom there are many. Johanna showed me pictures of abused women and their injuries.  They come to the therapy center for abused women.  Many are sent by the children´s project.  Their injuries turned my stomach.  I am sure you can imagine the horrible breaks, bruises, and swelling on their bodies.  Abuse of women is a huge problem here.  What surprised me so much was how many of the women I recognized and know well.  I could have cried.  Johanna explained that many women die as a result of this abuse.  The men are rarely incarcerated, even though officially the law is against it.  A study in Nicaragua showed that the children who witness the murder of their mother during abuse on the average kill four other people in their life!!!!!  The children´s project is working in a variety of ways to change this situation. First, they teach the children that abuse is not okay and work hard to instill values of respecting all others, very much including women.  Very importantly, they  teach the women the cycle of abuse that grows,  that they do not need to stay with an abusive husband, that they have a human right not to be abused, are not responsible for the abuse, and how they can survive and provide for their family as a single mother.  They send the mothers for therapy with Johanna, a founder of the children´s project and now the head of the center for treatment and prevention, and her team.   For the last three months, some can stay if they need to in what is now a safe house...a new concept here.   Afterwards, the ¨graduates¨ go back to their barrios to teach other women the same.  A sad fact is that many of the very young mothers we see who are in their mid teens are the result of sexual abuse, making this work to change attitudes and abusive behavior even more important!  The quilts our quilting group made will go to this center!

Maritza is once again an example.  I found out today that her children are a result of sexual abuse.  She did not feel she could survive without a man, abusive or not.  Since being part of the children´s project and being in the abuse program, she has gained a lot of self esteem and an air of assertiveness that has given the message that she is no longer a great victim.  She has not been violated since.  Her children are in turn saved from experiencing the abuse and are emtionally safe from it.

Speaking of Maritza, I saw her small store where she sells more things than I can remember, chips, corn, bananas, wood for fires, baked items baked elsewhere, etc.  It is inside the 400 square foot space of the house we built her!  We did not know we were building micro women´s businesses!  Because she is now keeping everything clean, she has sufficient customers to keep her business running well.  I have to share just for fun that she told me that if a customer can´t pay, she just slams her door shut!  I´d say she is getting those assertiveness skills down quite well!

Someone wrote and asked about how they could help with a little money..Besides micro loans, another is with scholarships.  We have a fair amount less for them this year.    There are at least two children who desperately need a scholarship and who received one last year.   One is Luis, a ten dollar a month scholarship recipient who lives with a family who does not have their own house.  He desperately wants to finish high school...it is his dream...and needs the scholarship to do so.  The other is a ten year old girl (her name is not coming to me) whose father died when she was five and mother died a year ago.  She lives with her aunt who works selling enchiladas at fiestas, sporadic work at best.  The children´s project has been gathering clothes for her.   She needs twenty a month for clothes, food before school, and all her school necesities including a uniform. 

Well...The clinic is back, so I must end.  Please know that each of you are here helping...with donations of goods, money, prayers, encouragement...Bless you!  Cathy

Thursday, June 10, 2010 9:07 PM

Hi Again!

Today, my subject is vegetables.  Remember?  Those are the things your mother told you to eat.  But what if no mother told you eat them and if you were lucky, you got a tortilla or some beans or a little rice day after day.  That is the food of many children here.  The incredible children´s project we help support, NNF, is working to change that.  They have a very well planned nutrition program!  The mother of some of the 90 plus preschoolers voted to elect one of them to be the nutritionist to plan the meal they receive at the project five days a week.  She is doing a terrific job!  Every day of the week day, she cooks and prepares the meals as a volunteer with the help of some of the mothers who rotate the job. 

Mothers who can afford to bring food for the project do so.  Other food has been purchased from a donation.  And what is the food?  Vegetables, and not only vegetables, organic vegetables!  And soy. 
Each day, the children eat their vegetables and drink the soy drink made with powdered soy mixed in water.  Martha, one of the main workers, lit up and became so excited when I asked her if it did not help the children grow.  Incredible!  was her response.  They cannot believe the growth.  Not only that, the color in their face, their moods, their energy, and their ability to learn has greatly increased!  Remember last year when I talked about the children´s stunted growth?  The fact that some hardly grow an inch over a two year span? They are working hard to change that in a very successful way!  Yaaaa!

The story does not end there.  They are teaching the parents how to grow the vegetables at home as well as teaching them the key role vegetables and good nutrition play in their childrens´ health.  And they are teaching methods to grow them that require no chemicals!  They plan to cultivate a garden there at the children´s center as well, helping to feed the children and continue their nutrition and cultivation education as well.

Okay, now go eat your vegetables!  And give thanks for the very dedicated volunteers who teach others to eat them!

From Somoto, Blessings to all, Cathy

Thursday, June 10, 2010 8:49 PM

Hi Everyone!

The clinic today went beautifully.  We were in a beautiful location called Sonis, one of the 76 villages surrounding Somoto.  Johanna and Cristel (age 13) from the children´s project, NNF, go there every Saturday to hold a Sunday school.  They have formed a children´s choir there that we will get to hear Sunday!  We have a great team here.  Christian and Dave ran a great Lens Crafters pequeno, distributing forty some pair of glasses.  Their high light of the day was watching a man´s face light up with sheer delight when he put on glasses and could see clearly when handed something to read!  The nurses, EMT, our good doctor Jeannie, and Jennifer who taught physical therapy exercises treated 87 people and we all saw God´s face through both the patients and the very kind medical team.  A physical therapy high light was when an older man had had a bulging disk for years and was in pain.  He told the team that the exercises would not work because he already exercised so much with his work in the field, but tried them non-the-less.  Jessica, one of our wonderful young people, got on the ground to demonstrate exercises that would help...and he was very pleasantly surprised!  They did help!  A man was crippled because a year ago, he broke his leg.  He needed to pay the doctor and pay for what the doctor used to mend the bone to be treated, but he did not have the funds and could not receive the medical care.  As a result, the bones grew together wrong and he can no longer work.  He sat peacefully with us a we made God´s eyes with the children and carefully crafted his own beautiful God´s eyes all day.  The children were delighted with their coloring pages and could not color enough.  It is such a delight to see their smiles as they show off their pictures!

Pastor Abe came to me tonight to see how much money we had available for medication.  Due to your wonderful donations, we do not have to skimp at all!  He talked to a worker at our hotel whose extended family has had considerable diarhea among the children.  Very sadly, one of her nephews died recently from it.  Diarhea is a killer of many children world wide, and we are encountering it here this year.

Tomorrow, we will be adding it to our pharmacy.  For very little, some children´s lives may literally be saved!

Since I never know when I will have access to a computer, I am writing twice tonight.  Tomorrow we leave very early in the morning.

God bless you all for your support!
Cathy

Thursday, June 10, 2010 8:30 AM

Hello Everyone,

The subject today is leaky roofs. Have you ever had a leaky roof?..We have. A few years ago a small drip started. Water dribbled into a closet, and after three rains, spread a small puddle onto our kitchen floor. We threw a towel over the puddle and called the roofer.

But have you ever had a gushing roof? Here, it rains in not only buckets, but barrels. There is no such thing as a rain drop. Rain comes down in barrels at a time. Onto plastic sheeting and scraps of wood that make up what little roof people have. People do not get wet, they get DRENCHED! While they try to cook over their tiny wood stove. While they try to sleep on their dirt floor. While they try to exist.

Yesterday, people talked to us about the roofs we have put over their shacks and thanked us for not getting as wet. Many who have received scholarships, homes, and loans for cottage industries spoke, and I will write more about them over time. However, one sobbed...and sobbed...and sobbed. And then she came over to give Terry, a woman who has been coming with us for three years, a huge, long, sobbing embrace. A long, sobbing embrace for receiving some sheets of zinc thrown over sticks and cardboard and plastic sheets... to make a roof, of sorts.

Pastor Abe Gonzalez gave a devotion last night in which he talked about how much a small thing (to us) can make a tremendous difference in a life.... For $100 for a roof, this woman and her several children are living a slightly better life. It is not everything, but to her, it is like gold.

Today we are going to run a clinic at Sonis. Sonis does not have their own clinic, so people have to walk to other villages to get a modicum of medical care, which is poor at best. Because of the heavy rains here lately, they have been unable to do even that. Today, they will get some care from our great medical team that came along.

Bless each and everyone of you for making differences in so many ways...

From Somoto, Cathy

Wednesday, June 09, 2010 7:31 AM

We are here safe and sound after a good nights rest in Managua! Thank you so much for your prayers. Yesterday in the Managua airport went like a miracle. Due to one of our two groups coming in later than expected, we arrived and went through luggage pick up and customs together. Every other mission group (at least 3 others) and individual was having to have their luggage scanned through the huge X-ray machines.

For some reason not even Pastor Abe knows, we were waved by without a screen...the only ones! With a number of computers, three new sewing machines, 350 new glasses, and a lot of medication, we could have been charged exhorbiant customs fees or had these items confiscated.....but..... It reminded me of a story I read about a man smuggling Bibles into Russia. Everyone at the road block was having their car dismantled and he prayed continually. He was mysteriously waved through!

Please keep praying for us!
and Thanks be to God!

Cathy