September ’14 Highlights (Photo Blog)

I cannot believe that September has already come to an end. This has been a month full of so much beauty and joy. There has been so much to celebrate in the last 30 days. Here are the highlights… 

    The highlight of every September is being a part of Central American Independence Day celebrations. Every year the schools perform parades, marching band competitions, and honor their top students as they celebrate their heritage. I love to be at these marches to stand alongside my kids and to support them. I love to see them succeed! (Pictured above with some of my Sunday school teachers during the Independence Day march). 

 

    On a related note, it's been so much fun during each of the numerous marches to run around with these lovely ladies being "proud moms" together and embarrassing our youth by our endless photo taking. I'm thankful for the consistent community that we've had in the house this past year and absolutely love living life with these ladies. 

 

    I cannot believe that my beautiful goddaughter, Lisa Margarita, celebrated her first birthday this month. (Pictured above in her new birthday outfit). I have absolutely loved being a part of this little lady's life for the past year and I'm excited to see what the Lord has in store for her. 

 

    This month we were blessed with some really great visitors here at New Song. Don, Derek, and Adam all visited with us this month. Don and Derek came to continue testing water samples and looking for a cause of the kidney disease that plagues our area. While they were here, they were also able to set-up an irrigation system for our moringa fields (pictured above). Adam was here checking out our ministry at New Song, teaching classes on our sound system, and serving in any capacity possible. We were so blessed by these men who work selflessly and with such joy. Thanks guys for coming and serving alongside of us this month.  

 

    September is always a difficult month in our village because it is the end of a six-month season of unemployment for many sugar cane workers. We are always facing a great deal of hunger in our area during this time. This year has been particularly difficult because June-August have been very dry months. This drought has caused food prices to soar. This month New Song Mission did a fundraising campaign called Feed the Hungry to help us provide food provisions to struggling families in our church to sustain them until work starts again in November. We had a goal to raise $2000 to feed the hungry. Thanks to incredible generous donors, like you, we were able to raise more than $8000 in less than 48 hours. This is enough to provide food provisions to our neighbors in need as well as supply a fund for benevolence needs of the sick and widows during the coming year. We are so overwhelmed with gratitude for the help that has been given to families in our area. Thank you! 

 

    On a similar topic… this month I posted about our feeding program in our Sunday school in Candelaria. We have been feeding our kids every other week with moringa-enriched meals. This program was a three-month trial based on money that had been given directly to our children's programs. We have been so excited to see our Sunday school program grow, see more women in our community with a ministry outlet to the children, and to see a need met through this program. We knew that the fund would end at the conclusion of this month. After seeing a photo that I posted on facebook, a friend from Journey at The Place in Beckley contacted me and their church was interested in helping with this program. They have now decided to fund our children's feeding program in Candelaria through the end of 2014 and all of 2015. We are incredibly thankful for their generosity and excited to continuing serving our kids through the feeding program. 

 

   I started the month spending an afternoon visiting with Pastor Jose and Benita. I listened as they and Linda shared incredible testimonies of New Song's beginnings. I was amazed at their faith. I loved visiting with them and reliving my own New Song beginnings that I shared with this beautiful family, but it also made me so thankful to work for a ministry that walks in such a legacy of faith. You can read more about this story here: A Legacy of Faith

 

    These two precious girls are Crismalda Junieth and Katalin Adaya. I have been so close to these girls since they were born, but haven't gotten to spend as much time with them recently as I would like as my job gets spread to each of our four villages rather than just being in Candelaria every day. However, my favorite part of arriving to Candelaria is hearing them yell, "Lisa, Lisa Lisa!" as they come sprinting from their yards and running into my arms. I'm thankful for the joy they bring to my heart and for moments each Candelaria day to pour into these two little cuddle bugs. 

 

    Cadence, Emily, and I ended the month spending an entire day with these beautiful girls! Lydia has been fighting sickness since mid-March and we needed to take her to have some lab work done before we could take her to the specialist in Leon. We decided to make a whole fun day of it for her and her sisters. We knocked the lab work out first thing in the morning and then spent the rest of the afternoon at our house watching movies, painting nails, eating together, playing corn hole, and laughing a lot. It was such a beautiful day and we had a great time pouring into sweet Anayesi, Alicia, Lydia, and Johanna. 

 

    The Abide foster home is continuing to move forward. We are still raising money to be able to break ground in buidling the home in early 2015. If you would like to give toward this home, you can make a tax-deductible donation at http://abideinlove.org. Also this month I've been out at the land with some of my wonderful Nicaraguan community machete cutting the grass after all the crazy growth from the rains. We have also been using weed killer so that the can begin clearing the land for building. I met with my contractor this past week and we are working on a timeline for construction. It's so excited to see this dream moving forward. Please keep praying for the Abide home and consider making a donation to our construction fund.