We have broken ground on the new sewing center! The sewing center will be a modest building that we will establish as a business (as opposed to a ministry). We will continue to hide our ministry and try to produce income inside the country for the women from the trash dump that we are helping. While the sewing center is being built, our team hauls the sewing machines to the community each week so the women can learn and practice.
As the Nicaraguan government continues to make harmful decisions that affect the livelihood of their own people, we keep our eyes on Jesus and our ears in tune with His Spirit. When uncertainties seem to swirl around us, one thing is always certain, Jesus! The Nicaraguan government continues to close down humanitarian and aid organizations throughout the country as well as many churches. This month, 1,500 additional NGO’s and churches were shut down, including The Red Cross. We are thankful that last year, we heard from the Lord to move our ministry underground and we made many changes to hide ourselves and our work. At this point, we continue to preach the gospel, feed the poor, train pastors and missionaries, and work towards building our sewing center. Getting funds into Nicaragua has also proven to be more difficult at this stage. The government is monitoring everything and they have wrongfully imprisoned pastors and thrown out missionaries who they falsely accuse of money laundering. But in the midst of persecution we celebrate that Jesus is moving mightily in Nicaragua and nothing can stop the message of the cross and His Spirit from radically setting the captives free!
“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.”
James 1:2-4
I write this update from my home in Fort Smith, Arkansas where my husband and I now serve as fulltime ministers and missionaries. I am aware that I am far removed from the issues happening in Nicaragua but at the same time, my heart and prayers stay with our Nicaraguan brothers and sisters. As you known from my last update, gringos (white people), would bring too much attention to our ministry in Nicaragua right now and our presence would hurt them more than help them. But our team and our leaders in Nicaragua are more than equipped to continue our vision and our mission. They have been called by God and they serve with great love, wisdom, conviction, and humility everyday.
Please keep them in your prayers and all of Nicaragua in your prayers. Persecution will bring great revival in the land, unity in the body of Christ, and it will cause the gospel to spread far and wide. We praise the Lord for that!! Thank you all for your continued support throughout so many seasons of plowing the land of Nicaragua. It is a great joy to serve the Lord and to serve His precious Nicaraguan people for over a decade! And the best is yet to come!
With love and hope in Christ alone,
Kara