Almost a week ago I came back from a week long Samaritan’s Purse,
Canada conference on Agro-Ecology held in Nicaragua to showcase the
work of the CHE ministry there. The attendees, from El Salvador, Costa
Rica, Peru, Venezuela, the US, Colombia, and Canada, presented and
exchanged experiences in their work to increase food security, as well as
help communities diversify their crops and vegetables in order to improve
nutrition.

Cactus-like Pithaya. Flower and herb garden. Rosemary,oregano. Celery,rue.Pithaya is like dragon fruit, and is very marketable.

Samaritan’s Purse, Canada, (SPC) sponsors the animals, pigs and chickens, that are provided to applicants in the communities. Those people will give a pig or chickens to another family when the animals reproduce. The familes continue this chain through the community, creating economic opportunity as young pigs are sold, and increasing protein consumption as eggs are readily available for the family, and for sale.The participants visited the CHE ministry communities, and were very impressed by the families’ care of the animals, and their testimonies regarding the importance of the animals, and their appreciation of the SPC program.

SPC sponsors the animal program, and sponsors facilitators, in this case, CHE trainers, Pastor Chico and Andres working with SPC, as well as CHE. SPC funds a year in the community. This funding helps CHE to enter the community, and begin their ministry. The CHE cycle of ministry is 3 years. Partnership in Hope, that is, all of you, funds the rest of the cycle. I’ll be honest, we are struggling, hence, so is the ministry, financially.

Santa Teresa and Enredado are extraordinary communities of subsistence farmers.

The only things they have to buy, other than clothes, are rice, soap, sugar
and oil. No-one works outside the community. As a result of Pastor
Chico’s work, they now grow tomatoes, peppers, onions, squash, mint, rue, celery, oregano, in addition to their corn and beans. Andres faciltates trainings on, for example, developing their ability to present and sell their products.

Men harvesting beans. The bean harvest was in full swing while we were there. See photo below- beans were drying outside all the houses.

I asked what CHE minstry was bringing to these well-organized communities, where teenagers are organized to provide homework coaching for young children, and the elderly are watched
over. As we would expect, CHE ministry brings a spiritual dimension
that was lacking: the Word of God, and consistent study and teaching, which is provided by pastor Chico. When we visited the communities with Pastor Chico and Andres, the warm relationship between them and the people was very apparent. As they say, the 3 most important words in CHE are : relationships, relationships, relationships!

It is wonderful to see that Chico, a protestant pastor, has a good relationship with the Catholic priest, and, in fact, the monthly trainings are held in the Catholic church. This kind of cooperation is very rare in Nicaragua. I can only think of one other example, close to 20 years ago.

Thank you for your faithful support, and your prayers. We are giving
thanks for the conference, and for the Holy Spirit being at work in the
communities. Please pray for the Bible studies, that people would come to know and love Jesus.
Blessings,

Anne Thompson, PiH
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