Satisfied Wages for Nicaragua

When Abram heard that  his  relative had been taken captive, he  led out his trained men,  born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and went in pursuit as far as  Dan. - Gen 14:14 This is a short verse in Genesis that describes the size of Abraham's household. He had 318 trained men, born in his household, to fight as soldiers! That is a big family! When I read about this verse and its significance towards business in a book by Dave Kahle, "The Good Book on Business" it illustrated the size of Abraham's household, or business as the book explains. If there were 318 trained men to fight, born in Abraham's household, how many more people where part of his household. The families of those men. The cooks to prepare food for them. The care takers of the cattle those men were responsible to protect, and on and on!  A huge enterprise! I have used this example as an illustration of business in the Bible to coach pastors and entrepreneurs in our mini...

 It is coffee season here in Jinotega! The city streets have filled with people who work in the coffee industry again. The season lasts from November through January, but December is peak time. Coffee is one of the top exports, so the industry employs a lot of people here in the mountains.  In the past year I have learned so much about coffee and its economy living here, and have learned to appreciate the sweet smelling, brown drink that is in my cup every morning. From planting coffee seedlings on steep mountain sides to roasting 50 pound sacks of beans, there is a lot of hard work being done. Jari and I are spoiled by great cups of coffee everywhere we go! I never thought I would write a sentence like that, I didn't even drink coffee while I lived in the USA. It was too bitter and didn't taste good at all! However, Nicaraguan coffee is smooth and sweet!  Coffee Plants at our favorite farm On the farm we frequently visit, we have been able to see the changes in plants, c...

 Nicaraguan's trust in the Church!  A recent article came out in the press here in Nicaragua. It headlines caught my attention, as it read "Nicaraguans put their trust in the church above any other institution."  Here is an excerpt from the news article: The church is the most trusted institution in Nicaragua, according to the Latinobarometro 2021 report. The Latin Barometer measures the level of trust of institutions in 18 Latin American countries The church: The region's trust in the church reached 61 percent in 2020, the report indicates. However, the church reached its highest level of trust in 2000, (77%) to fall in 2017 to its lowest level of confidence with 58 percent, in a fluctuation of 19 percentage points in 25 years of measurements.  For us working with businesses through the church this is great confirmation for what we already believe as a ministry. The Church is the crucial element in society for economic, social, missional and...

  Cerro  Cubulcán   One of the things we enjoy about living in the northern part of Nicaragua, apart from the cooler temperatures and the beautiful mountain views, is that we are able to see pine trees right outside our backyard. They are on a small hill called el Cubulcán, behind our house. We have climbed this hill several times by ourselves and with friends and its one of the few places within the city of Jinotega where there are still pine trees left. It reminds us of Michigan. Recently we learned that there are oaks trees here in Nicaragua, in Spanish these are called Robles. So far, we have only seen oaks and pines in a few places, sadly many have been cut down for “leña”  or firewood, and very few, if any are replanted. One day we traveled past a small town called San Rafael del Norte. We stopped to have lunch at a diner on the side of the road, behind the diner was an opened field with many pine trees, after our meal we went for a walk around the property. Je...

We finally did it! The Discipling Marketplace Leaders training and workshop materials have been translated from English into Spanish! Yes! Thank you to all our prayer partners who helped us stay motivated and determined to see the work get done! Thanks to our friends in Michigan who helped us with the translation work! A special thank you to my wonderful and hard working wife Jari! She has spent many hours working on power points and revising the translations that we have received from our team.  Since we are not translators this task took almost six months, but we were able to get the foundational materials done. This sets us up to start planning dates for our awareness conferences. We will start with the churches and pastors we have build relationships with in our finance ministry using Buen Sentido. A good personal financial foundation allows a person to build a God honoring business.  In a few weeks we will set up a small review workshop with friends here in Jinotega to ge...

Rumbo a El Salvador!  We finally made it to El Salvador! After over a year of postponement, we visited our neighbor two borders to the north of Nicaragua. Traveling by bus was complicated this time. I had to journey back to the capital of Managua to take a COVID test. One specific clinic in Nicaragua is approved to give the test in the whole country, and it costs $150, (yes, dollars)! I made several copies of several types of documents in order to leave Nicaragua and enter and leave Honduras. This was something new since the last time I journeyed to El Salvador.   Gerardo, Freddy and myself We were invited by Gerardo, Executive Director of Seeds of a New Creation , located in San Salvador, El Salvador. This organization is a 'sister' organization of the Nehemiah Center in Managua, Nicaragua. They share many common themes and methods of outreach to strengthen the local church. Gerardo was hearing from pastors of the challenges they were having brought on by the COVID pande...

After lunch we decided it was time to return to Managua. Pastor David and Tania wanted to pray for us and our return trip to Managua. After our prayer time Pastor David revealed what he saw, and it was amazing! What he saw where two objects in my hands. In my left hand was map, and in both of our hands were keys. Golden, bright keys. We were on a journey and God was going to show us the way.  Wow! The Holy Spirit was speaking in that moment. We just met pastor David that day in person, and we still had not shared with anyone about our dreams or what we were feeling. We were still praying and discerning about a place in northern Nicaragua to bring Satisfied Wages. He also told us a word to pray about, Restitution . Then Tania gave us a word to pray about, Restoration . She said this was a time of restoration in our lives. She gave us a few Bible verses to read and reflect on.  So we left Jinotega feeling great, but also thinking about what these words and verses meant for us. I...

Our dreams started in the first week of July. Jari had three specific dreams and she told them to me: 1st day, she had a box of things packed leaving the Nehemiah Center.  2nd day, she was observing a narrow field of golden wheat with only one person working the field.  3rd and final day, was she went on a trip and forgot many things in her suitcases, (she knows how to pack a suitcase so that was a good one!)  We prayed about these dreams. Then I had two dreams the next week.  1st day, I was welding steel with a missionary who had more than 25 years living in Nicaragua, who knew some people wouldn't last here in Nicaragua.  2nd day, we joined a team in an old quinta style house in that needed lots of repairs, and it was very outdated. It needed to be torn down and rebuilt. On the otherside of a canal was construction of high rise buildings.   An old quinta in Managua With these very clear messages and we continued to pray. Our time with Dunamis has tau...

We are sleeping with blankets now. Our fans are stored away in a corner and haven't been used in two months. I wear pants more often. One night, I had a flashback to Michigan, feeling like the heat should be coming on? Am I still in Nicaragua? Then the afternoon sky opens up and the angry tropical sun smacks my face, yes, you are still in Nicaragua! After four years in hot western Managua, we have now moved into the mountains in the department of Jinotega. The air is cool and fresh. The weather so far has been misty winds. January and February are always windy in Nicaragua, apparently no matter where you are.  Jari and I have followed the Holy Spirit's lead to continue our ministry here in the Jinotega, a much smaller city than Managua. A different climate and a slightly different culture than what we have grown accustomed to. It feels like we are starting new again, and we look forward to seeing how God works in the region. So How did we get here? It a long story, but I'll...