Satisfied Wages for Nicaragua

I woke up earlier than usual on Tuesday August, 22, to prepare for our big day! Our vision conference, or pitch for Finanzas para el Reino was here! I arrived at the Nehemiah Center to see the power was out. No electricity! No problem, the Nehemiah Center has a generator, but there was a problem, the generator was right next to the room were we planned to hold the vision conference. This generator is a loud diesel engine, so we started moving chairs and our tech equipment. Sign In We expected forty people to show up for the conference. We knew it was going to be hot so we turned on the fans, set up our tech and waited for our people to come. Our conference started at 8:30 and people were starting to file in. In total we held fifty-two  guests in the little conference room! How awesome is our God? Our presentation was received very well and the group was eager, maybe even hungry for God's Word on finance. In attendance were pastors, church leaders, ministry partners and bu...

We were invited by Roberto Armas to Leon, Nicargua. Roberto is working with some churches in this area with a Caja de Ahorros, savings box. There are many bureaucratic barriers to banking in Nicaragua. Many banks require a proof of a salary or job and high monthly minimum deposits.There are also fees that eat away at small accounts. Therefore a group of churches in Leon decided to start a community saving box. Members of the saving co-op have a minimum deposit of $20 Cordobas (.67 cents) a month. They can withdraw after a year. Since it was a group with a mind and goal for saving, we shared Paz Financiera, " Super Ahorros" . We had a large group and were blessed with eager minds and open hearts! Over 30 people came. Best part is the group requested two more sessions! During open discussion a pastor challenged them all to change their culture. To stop giving in to the poverty excuse and make saving a priority. We encouraged them in this effort, and reminded them the lack o...

"I have been waiting three years for this!" said Pastor Berrin. "You know I like to share a thought with you Jesse. The parable Jesus tells us about the man who hid the talents. (Mathew 25: 14-30) Well this man was worried when he hid that money. I like to ask what if that man had someone who could advise him? What if someone walked along side this man and helped discover what better options there were in the world beside burying the money in the ground?" Pastor Berrin inquired as he leaned forward, eyes wide open and excited. "What we need to do is walk side by side with people, the way Jesus walked with us, maybe this man would have heard better words!" I have been a financial coach and mentor for around 12 years now, and I learned something new this week. The last servant just needed a good mentor. Pastor Berrin has a long history of civil war and politics here in Nicaragua, 15 years ago the saving grace of Jesus Christ changed his heart. "Jesse,...

 Our second round of diabetes support group has started! We had a two month break so our patients can apply their lessons to their lives.We have planned many exciting activities for our class and I am very excited to see these plans in action. The last time we met we had a physical trainer, Mr. Mumford as a guest speaker. He showed the group some simple and easy exercises to help them improve mobility as well as build strength. Mr. Mumfurd left these great exercises for us to use for our class.  We’ve mentioned to our patients that we are going to be moving around a lot more, just to get them ready, and they seem to be alright with this. With time and God's help we will become a physical class too.  A great observation is more of these patients are monitoring their blood pressure and their blood sugar frequently. Many are getting into the habit of writing these results down for their records and to share with a health provider. Blood sugars for some have ...