Hello Friends & Supporters of Partnership in HOPE, 

We don’t communicate much with our supporters and for this we apologize. We are an all-volunteer organization and our lives have been disrupted by the COVID- 19 pandemic. However, we have not been nearly as affected as our friends in Nicaragua. They recently lost a CHE hero, actually one of God’s heroes, Pastor Antonio Viva (on the right in the photo) to Covid 19. He has been a wise, gentle mentor to so many, and a faithful, humble minister of the gospel. Many have come to know Christ through his tender ministry, and he has discipled CHE members for 20 years. It has been a great blessing, and privilege, to have counted him a friend, and to have benefited from his counsel and spiritual guidance. We pray for his family and friends and thank God for allowing us to know Pastor Antonio.

Nicaragua has been hugely affected by COVID-19 and the CHE communities have organized their neighbors to fight the virus. The stories below will highlight many of the ways our CHE friends are loving their neighbors during this difficult season—they are an inspiration to us all.

CHE Skills Helping Communities During Pandemic 

Women in Nicaraguan CHE communities have been learning to sew and forming small businesses. When the CHE virus hit Nicaragua, these hardworking women went to work making over 35,000 masks for the health workers and vulnerable people in their communities. Juanita, a local CHE leader, formed a small business that hired five other women to make masks and is now providing a valuable service while also helping grow the local economy.

Program That Helps Feed Families 

Thanks to our generous donors many familes now own pigs, iguanas and/or chickens. They must give the first piglet or baby chick to another family and then that family does the same so eventually most families have either pigs or chickens. This has proven very advantageous during the Covid crisis to provide food for families.

Providing Food, Pastor Chico Leads By Example 

Pastor Chico, the CHE leader responsible for helping families achieve greater food security, must be approaching a record for growing the most food in the smallest space! He and his wife have a small, corner lot in a development. Every year they raise chickens, both for eggs and for meat. They sell the chickens at Christmas, when they can obtain the best price, and people make sure to get their orders in for these quality chickens.

The pastor’s new venture is raising rabbits for food. One difficulty is that people think of rabbits as pets rather than potential food. Maybe if they get hungry enough….?

His patio has eggplants the size of a shrub, a worm farm, all kinds of vegetables, lemons by the dozen, herbs and ginger and all kinds of other crops. His small “farm” serves as a model of what is possible.

Pastor Chico works hard to challenge and teach CHE members to produce more food for their families, especially with the disruption due to Covid.

Pray for a good harvest this year both for the small home gardens and the Nicaraguan farmers.

Finding Ways to Become More Self-Sufficient 

The CHE Association has the goal of becoming more financially independent each year. This year they’ve invested in raising beans on a farm where they will be sharing the profit with the farmer. They are working on making several similar arrangements in other communities. They also are partnering with another farmer who became a Christian through CHE ministry, to raise beef in order to become more self-sufficient. Please pray for these efforts to be successful for all concerned.

Maria Felix Centeno, CHE Association’s Director of Operations, has taken on the task of selling the coffee, honey, and hibiscus flower tea, produced by women of CHE. The profits are shared between the Association, and the women. This is one of the efforts that the Association is making to generate funds, and support women with micro-businesses selling quality products.

Supporting Other Non-Profits Yessenia, a CHE leader for some years, has always made her home available for meetings and trainings. Not only is she hospitable, she is also a visionary entrepreneur. This photo shows her with some of the masks she has made for the Nicaraguan CHE Association to give to organizations who have supported them, such as World Vision, the Rainbow Network and others.

The Nicaraguan CHE Association Publishing Nicaraguan Training Manuals 

Pastor Jorge and the Nicaraguan CHE leaders have created a valuable way to reach/teach communities in this time of difficult time. They’ve created lessons that are written in the Nicaraguan context-language, culture and special circumstances. For example, the lesson Walking with Christ covers the following topics:

1. A New Way of Life 2.
2. New Creatures in Christ
3. Spiritual Breathing 4.
4. Prepared for Spiritual Battle
5. Christ has Power and Authority

Of course, this is CHE, so there is a spiritual lesson, and a practical lesson. An example of a practical lesson would be the one on immunizations and what they can do prevent the different diseases that are commonly found in Nicaragua.

How You Can Support Our Brothers and Sisters 

Because of the economic crisis brought on by the pandemic, many organizations have been providing relief to the most affected communities. The CHE Association, thanks to many of your generous donations, has been able to provide food boxes to very needy families. For while CHE emphasizes community development rather than relief, there are times when we need to show the love of God through acts of mercy and kindness. However, we continue to focus on encouraging and teaching community members to plan for their own needs and do all they can to provide for their own families.

WAYS YOU CAN SUPPORT THE PEOPLE OF NICARAUGA 

1. Pay for a community to have the newly produced manual “Walking With Christ”. $26 will pay to have one printed and delivered to a community wanting to grow in their faith and provide for their families.
2. Buy an animal to help a family start raising meat or eggs to eat and milk to drink. Here is the cost of what you can donate:

• Pig-$58
• Chicken-$11
• Rabbit $7.50
• Goat $60 for female/$75 male
• Seeds-$4 an ounce

The Nicaragua CHE Association will send you a card with the photo of the animal you gave to a family or the garden your seeds sprouted. When you make your donation be sure to say what you are donating for and give your email address so our Nicaraguan friends can send you a photo. Maybe you can give a Nicaraguan family an animal for a present???

New Logo/New Website The CHE Nicaragua Association has not only created a new logo, they have a new Spanish web site for their Association: https://asociacionecsnicaragua.com They’ve had a Facebook page in Spanish, Community Health Evangelism (CHE) Nicaragua, for quite awhile. It is so good to see the Spanish web site, which will continue to be further developed. Visit both and practice your Spanish.

Leadership And Prayer Pastor Jorge Rivera has asked each member of the CHE Association board to take turns in preparing a daily devotional. The board has also participated in daily times of prayer together on an app. As they spend time in God ́s presence together, and share the devotionals they have prepared, as a board and as individuals, God has strengthened them in their relationship with Him, and with each other. Please pray for all the leaders. This is a hard, hard time for everyone. All are coping with the economic stresses, and some have lost family members to Covid 19. Pastor Jorge is caring for their spiritual health and well-being. May God give them strength and grace to serve Him, the communities, and each other with loving kindness.

The National CHE training team continues to mentor and train community leaders by phone, and occasional visits during the crisis, praying with them, and encouraging them as they serve.

Prayer requests and praises: The Association thanks the Lord for trusted Nicaraguan farmers who help generate funds through crops and livestock projects.

We pray for:

• That our farmers get just the right amount of rain
• Sponsors to provide seed and small animals so that communities are helped, not only during this time of crisis, but for the years to come
• Protection from Covid 19 and hunger
• Success in the CHE micro-businesses so that parents can provide for their families
• For joy in difficult circumstances, so that CHE people reflect Jesus in their communities

 

We at Partnership in HOPE want to thank you for your prayers and support. We know it is difficult for many of us to donate money during these hard times, however we ask that you pray for our friends in Nicaragua and be open to sharing your blessings with those who have less. You can either donate on our website at http://www.partnershipinhope.org or send a check to Partnership in HOPE, 203 N Washington, Suite 202, Spokane, WA 99201 (the Paypal donation cost us about 3%). If you would like to make an EFT (Electronic Fund Transfer) contact us for how to do it. As always 100% of your donation goes to the recipient-our administrative costs are paid for by our board.

The CHE Association collaborates with Samaritan´s Purse, Canada, Saving Groups

The CHE Association  supports the Learn to Live savings group, a project of Samaritan´s Purse, Canada, in El Limonal, by sending their local leader, Fátima Medina, to give the devotional at the beginning of their meetings. She also helps with some craft lessons.

On an early March afternoon, Anne Thompson, from PiH, and her friend, Heide Miller, met with the women of the El Limonal savings group in       church. The women made table mats, which they feel will sell well at local craft fairs.The women began their group 2 years ago with $2300 capital seeded by Samaritan´s Purse, Canada, which they expect to pay back in June, 2020. The women receive applications for loans from people in the community, as well as members of the group itself. They charge 12% interest, which enables them to increase the funds, but is less than borrowers would pay elsewhere. We heard of a young, single mother of two, caring for her chronically unwell mother, who borrowed to make needed repairs to their house. She is faithfully paying back the loan, and joined the savings group two months ago.

17 of the women have accepted Jesus while attending the group, a truly wonderful outcome. In the group, the women find spiritual and social support, as well as training in managing the group’s money, and experience in decision-making for the group.

A woman who has been a member for two years borrowed money for repairs to the Roman Catholic chapel in the community. She is responsible for taking care of it. other women in her church have helped her raise money through raffles, selling handicrafts, and organizing excursions for which they sell tickets. In this way, they are keeping up the payments on the loan, and are happy to be able to take care of their church.

Fernanda

Fernanda is a 15 year old single mother of a beautiful 8 month old baby boy. He’s a very patient baby, sitting in a chair, enjoying the attention from the women and children in the sewing class where his mother was working on making table mats.

Fernanda has had a difficult life: her mother died when she was young, so her grandmother took care of her, until she died herself. Fernanda had a boyfriend who abandoned her. She now lives with a woman who has befriended her. Through the gospel teaching in the Savings Group, Fernanda recently accepted Jesus, who will never abandon her. Getting up before dawn every day, Fernanda makes tortillas to sell in the market, and directly from the house. In this way, she provides for herself and her baby. Thanks to a small scholarship, through the CHE Association, which enables her to buy school supplies, Fernanda attends high school on Saturdays – a common situation in Nicaragua, as this allows students to work during the week.She enjoys the Savings Group, which promotes micro-business, as well as savings. Fernanda told me that she would like to study business administration in the future.

 

Partnership in HOPE is sponsoring a panel discussion by local Christian organizations on wholistic ministries in East Africa and we would love to have you join us.  We will be learning how local ministries have grown the Kingdom of God through both word and deed in some of the poorest and most difficult parts of the world.  The following will be on a panel discussing wholistic ministry and how it is transforming East Africa:

• David Opap, Spring of Hope International
• Erik Larsen, New Covenant Missions
• Tirus Githaka, Medical Ambassadors
• Jamie Morrison, African Enterprise
• Partners International

A free lunch will be served.

When: Monday May 8th 11:30-1pm
Where: Life Center – Multi-Purpose Room
1202 W Government Way, Spokane, WA 99224

REGISTER HERE

Feel free to contact Shannon (509.385.2369 / shannonpahern@gmail.com) if you need any more information.