Open Hearts Nicaragua - Farrington Family

This is a great opportunity to give for #GivingTuesday, we could use your help!!! In just a couple weeks, we will be having a Christmas party for over 300 kids at Club Esperanza ! For many of our students, getting a Christmas present at our annual Christmas party is the only present they will get this year…so we need your help!

Will you make a $50 donation to make Christmas happen for our amazing kiddos?

You can find donation info by clicking on this link here, or use one of the buttons below…

Thank you friends!!!

We all know that the language of children is FUN!!! If you don’t know that already…well this is your first lesson in the language of children LOL! This past week we had some exciting activity going on out in Los Brasiles. We partnered with amazing friends at Feed The Hungry and Kids Around the World to bring an amazing American style playground to Club Cristiana Los Brasiles.

We have hundreds of children coming to our Kids Club in Los Brasiles everyday and they all love to run around and have fun…we have always made due with what we can get locally but the availability of getting this kind of playground in country was just not possible for us. But God has bigger plans!

It took a great group of friends starting with disassembling and organizing the playground from its original site in the United States. Then the playground needed to be shipped in an organized fashion so it could be reassembled in Nicaragua. Then shipping it across the open seas to get it here and getting it through customs with all the paperwork in order. Then it was delivering it to the site and prepping the site….and then finally amazing group of men and women who came down to install!!!

There is a special thank you that we want to make to the Heines family. This playground was their Zaza Project for the year 2023. The Zaza Project is their very special way to honor the memory of their daughter Zaza who passed away. Every year their family picks a project to do around the world in her memory. I cannot think of anything more special than blessing an entire community of little kids with the joy of a new playground…there will be tons of laughter for decades to come in Los Brasiles…Praise Jesus! They put together a sweet video of the playground build which I hope you can watch below, but if not just click this link.

For our family this trip was also soooo exciting because Uncle Coburn came down to lead the project and brought some of the cousins with him! Everyone said that Cobbie worked just as hard if not harder than his Dad on the project. Uncle Chachi was trying to teach them all how to be supervisors hahahaha. We love when we get to spend time with family and cousins so this was an added bonus for us all! Another bonus was getting ice cream with Uncle Coburn after the playground dedication!

We praise the Lord for all the awesome things we get to be a part of here in Nicaragua!!!

What will happen next week? Only God knows!

We definitely have to start our little family update with this picture…Aliyah and Isabella lifted the championship trophy with the NCA Eagles in the annual Copa Bautista!!! The Lady Eagles hadn’t won a trophy in five years so they were so excited to play a part! Aliyah has been cemented as a starter at the right wing back position all season, and Isabella has gotten some solid substitute minutes as one of the youngest players on the team. For Aliyah this was her senior season, so it made it all the more special to bring home the trophy!!!

We are so very proud of Aliyah and want to let all of our friends and family who have watched her grow up over these years…she will be GRADUATING HIGH SCHOOL IN DECEMBER!!! Krista and I are still trying to figure out what you are supposed to do as a parent in this part of life, but we are so very proud of the young woman Aliyah has become and is still becoming. Keep an eye out for graduation announcements as we approach the end of the year!

We have had some birthdays over the last couple of months. Mason turned 16 years old in September. He is cranking through his Sophomore year of high school in the Farrington Family Home School Classrooms! He has also been starting on the NCA Varsity Men’s Soccer Team and his Club team Chiqui FC…he has a knack for tracking down players that get past him, never giving up on a play. Mason is a hard worker and pushes himself to be great at whatever he is doing. We are so proud of him and love watching him grow in the Lord.

We will only provide a picture below, but the old man in the house turned 45 in October. I find myself holding things a little bit further away to be able to read them, but I am trying to take on getting old with as much grace as possible. I definitely have nothing to complain about and always wanna say “Thank you Jesus!” for the many blessings in my life.

Isabella has a birthday as well…it is tomorrow, so wish her a happy birthday if you think of it! She will be 14 years old. She and Juliette are both doing great with their daily school routines and taking care of their puppy! They both have so much talent and are full of the good sweet things of God, so we enjoy being there parents and guiding them as they grow.

We may have already put this up on the social medias in different places. But we have to put the girls new puppy here on our blog. Mema visited earlier in the fall and we had such a wonderful visit with her. It is such a joy to live close enough to be able to have family visit…getting two whole weeks with Mema was a huge blessing for us. The highlight of that visit was Isabella getting her new puppy. We have never been huge pet people, or the types that have dogs in the home. But the girls’ dream finally came true! We searched for a week or so until we found him…this is Sarge, and he is gonna be a very loved puppy!

Well that is a little update on our family happenings. Our life in ministry is always on going and we love all of the things the Lord has called us to invest in here in Nicaragua. Krista and I both covet more than anything your prayers and support for our family. There is always need for health and healing and encouragement and endurance…so thank you! God is with us and we are so blessed that you are too!!!

“May The LORD bless you and keep you; may the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; may the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.” -Numbers 6:24-26

Christopher & Krista Farrington

If you would like to support our family financially you can use one of the donation buttons above, or find information for donating via check by clicking here.

The month of September in Nicaragua is a month full of celebrations! We are so proud of all of our students and teachers as they go all out to join in the National Parades and Fiestas. If you knew where these kids come from…wow what a great great work the Lord has going on at Club Esperanza!!!

Nicaraguan Independence Day…our kiddos went out into the national parades and celebrated being Nicaraguan. These parades are held all over the nation in every neighborhood, and our kiddos from Club Esperanza took the lead in our neighborhood!

¡Día de Maíz!…just this past week there was a national celebration of corn! Yes I know it sounds corny ;-)…but this gives our kids a great time to celebrate and learn about some of the national culture in the more rural areas of Nicaragua. Farming culture keeps nations going all around the world, and it is worth celebrating.

Dia de La Biblia…last but certainly not least we celebrated Bible Day at the Club! The Word of God is a light to our paths and daily bread to keep us nourished spiritually. Our ministry is guided by Biblical principles and on this day the Bible came to life in classrooms! Look at all of these sweet kids, can you tell which characters they are?

We so thankful for all God is doing at the Clubs, hundreds of children are safe every day, excellent education in a very difficult neighborhood, thousands of meals a week, medical care, care for the elderly, programs for children with special needs, sports and lots and lots of Jesus!

Thank you for your continued prayers!

We are entering the final quarter and are short of meeting our annual fundraising.

We are lacking $16,400 to finish this school year.

If the Lord would move you to DONATE (click here for info) please do so as soon as you can! Please email us if you would like to become a consistent partner with Club Esperanza… losfarringtons@gmail.com

God Bless from the beautiful land of Nicaragua!

The culture is foreign, the terrain is difficult, the location is remote, the journey is grueling, the people are beautiful…there are souls crying out for their savior. The Miskito Indian communities along the Rio Coco in the North of Nicaragua are as remote as you can get and their way of life is one of a kind.

We have been supporting Pastor Victor and Verbo Church over the last decade to reach this region with Gospel of Jesus Christ. There are seventeen churches that have been planted! Amen Amen Amen.

The journey to Walakitang is “one day by car two days by boat” type of Journey. So, we do not get to visit in person very often. Pastor Victor (pictured in the center) came to Managua last month for medical attention and to visit his ailing mother along the way. It was a real joy to see him and hear the stories about the church. We shared stories of old friends and new friends, stories of healing and comforting, stories of God providing and stories of pushing forward in faith in some of the deepest valleys.

Cornelius was with Victor on this trip because his young daughter has a severe illness. His wife had come to know Jesus but Cornelius remained distant for many years. When their daughter got sick and they were so desperate, he saw the church gather around to pray for them, to help them, and to get closer to them at the hardest times…not push them at a distance like so many others did. Because the testimony of God’s people surrounding him in his most desperate hour, Cornelius gave his life to Jesus! He will be baptized soon and their large family is still praying for their baby girl’s complete healing!

These photos above are of some of the Pastors and leaders from the seventeen churches along the Rio Coco. The people are humble and do not have very much, most of the churches have dirt floors. But they love Jesus and have clung to His great commission…

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” – Matthew 28

As we met together in Managua, Pastor Victor expressed his desire to call together a gathering of all 60 pastors and leaders. He has felt himself to be absent from some and wanted to gather them all together for encouragement and to unite together under the same vision. So, in two weeks we will be sponsoring a Gathering of all the Verbo Pastors along the Rio Coco in Walakitang. We want to help these Men and Women to go and tell people about Jesus!!!

Please be in prayer for this Gathering…encouragement, unity of vision, power of God’s Holy Presence!

If you would like to assist financially we would appreciate any donations towards this gathering. We will send boats in both directions to gather all the pastors and their spouses, provide shelter in homes of church members, provide meals for everyone, and all the materials for the gathering…This is outside of our monthly support for Walakitang so we are thankful for any help you can give!

The Gathering is expected to cost $1,770

Please click here for information to donate via check, or use a button below…Thank You!

This past weekend we had a little pool party/video game party/birthday party…it was just a big party day! We were excited to have our Casa Robles crew over for a visit, the boys love to spend hours in the pool and then immediately play video games together! Elery’s 13th birthday gave us the excuse to get together…oh yeah we had pizza too!!!

God is so good and we are so proud of Elery. He is only thirteen but if you ever sit with him, he certainly seems wise beyond his years. He is on the honor roll every semester at school and often the top student of his class! We are thankful God brought him into our lives and are honored to be his extended family as he grows up in a home that is safe and full of God’s love.

Now since these are young men, Papa Yuri and I had to put them to work before we started to party…above is video evidence of Maryel working hard with all the other boys…he wanted to make sure Mama Angelica saw it. One of our neighbors asked for the fire wood from a tree we recently cleared…so the boys were the perfect delivery crew. They did a great job…I might have simply been the driver and supervisor LOL!

Of course when one is working outside with piles of wood you encounter some interesting creatures. We found a grub that was huge, definitely bigger than my thumb! Since we know that Toucan Sam doesn’t only eat fruit, we all decided that Elery would have to feed the grub to the Toucan for his birthday, he was a willing assistant! Watch the video at your own risk…actually it is not that gross, and pretty wild to see a toucan eat a giant grub. There is always something fun going on down here in Nicaragua!

We appreciate your prayers and support for all of the kiddos in our ministry here…God is doing great things in their lives! It is nothing that happens over night, but we are definitely committed to being involved for the long hall! To read more about Robles and support this ministry you can find more info here.

God Bless from Nicaragua!

We have some amazing news! We’ve had an 1800 square foot wood shop donated to Ruby Ranch! The shop is fully equipped and ready to roll…we just need to move it…all the equipment, and the building! Our dream and vision for the Ranch is to be a place that has a life long impact for the Kingdom of God, this development fits right in! There are so many possibilities…can’t you see an operating shop at the Ranch, producing top quality furniture distributed all over Nicaragua, produced by the hands of young men and women coming out of poverty and creating a future for themselves? We love that dream! Discipling these young men and women is always going to be the top priority of our hearts, and we know God will take care of the rest…and we know Jesus loved carpenters!!!

Here is Krista’s brother Brinson with a short video…no that isn’t snow in the video, it is saw dust! We can only dream of snow down here LOL!

We would love to have your help to move the shop! Maybe you can make this part of your year end giving or something that is part of a legacy impact around the word…or even if you just love the idea and want to give a little…please do! Everything that happens down here is because of the generosity of people like you all around the world! Praise the Lord!

The cost to move the shop is $8,000

You can find the info for donating via check here, or use one of the buttons below…Thank you!

As the summer comes to an end and everyone heads back to school back home we wanted to take some time here on our blog to share about some of the happenings down here in Nicaragua this summer. It was a summer full of friends from North Carolina, Colorado, Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, California and many cities in between! The past few years of a global pandemic made travel to Nicaragua very difficult, but this summer we were so blessed to have friends return and serve with us! Quinta Havilah was busy again and we loved every minute of it!

The global pandemic and downturn in the US economy has certainly had an effect on life down here. Nicaraguan people are amazing, resilient, and hard working. Everyone is doing their best to make ends meet, but living in poverty is very difficult. One of the ways we have found to be God’s hands and feet is to pack up a months worth of food supplies and deliver them to families…it was an amazing way for groups to help the families we serve!

When a family would invite us into their homes to deliver the food packs, the Lord always used that time to minister to them in a special way. We know that our physical needs are only temporary, but the needs of our souls are eternal. At each home, we took time to listen to the families tell their stories, often through tears. We shared the Good News of Jesus, and individuals from the teams shared testimonies of how God moved in their hearts to bring them to a place to serve like this. Then, most importantly we laid our hands on the families we were visiting and we prayed for them…any need or concern or heaviness on their hearts, we lifted up to the Lord and asked Him to take care of it. These home visits were some of the sweetest moments of the summer.

Speaking of prayer…we had some amazing times of prayer together with the teams that visited. God is so good, that even when we come to serve others He always shows up in our lives personally and gives a special touch of encouragement, edification, or consolation to us while others pray and prophesy over us. Mrs. Ruby’s House of Prayer is one of the sweetest places in Nicaragua and it was such a blessing to be there with so many friends this summer. We worshiped the Lord, prayed for each other in the upper room and God showed Himself to be real and always present with us. Such great times!

Our times of prayer were not limited to Mrs. Ruby’s house though. We had our friends from PA down praying for a building down at Club Esperanza. We are asking for it to be donated to us so that we can use it as the permanent home for our church there. It was pretty wild…as we prayed ants attacked our feet, some construction work started and the walls were shaking, and then a giant transformer blew up at the power plant next door…God was at work in the heavenly realms!!!

We also had some amazing times of prayer out at Ruby Ranch on Chapel Hill! Gathering together under the wide open sky and worshiping God up there is such a beautiful experience. It is almost like your can hear God whispering to you in the wind!

Speaking of Ruby Ranch…these teams came down and gave the children from our ministry centers some of the greatest experiences of their lives! Our first camp of the summer was with the sixth graders from Club Esperanza. This was the first time for our kids to have a sleep away camp, they had so much fun! Every amazing thing at Ruby Ranch was at their disposal…the horses, the playground, the bonfire pit, the futsala court, the baseball field, the giant water slide…it was so amazing! Even more amazing was the friendships they built with the team from Colorado that put the camp together for them.

Camp can be such a special time for kids. I know my life was changed forever when I accepted Jesus at Camp University in Miami thirty years ago this year. I have been walking with Jesus ever since. That is what makes these camps worth it, we get to see God move into a young person’s life and change them forever!

Throughout the summer we had many more camps with local ministry partners. It was so amazing! If you would like to sponsor camps for the future you can check out rubyranch.org and make a camp happen!

The teams got a really amazing cultural experience at Ruby Ranch too. Henry is the manager of the ranch and on the last day with the teams he picked them up on his ox cart and took them to his home. His wife taught them how to make tortillas by hand and then they got to listen to Henry’s father tell the story about digging their well. Decades ago when no water was found, his dad started digging. He dug by hand until he hit water. It took him several months, everyone thought he was crazy. But 300 feet later he hit water!

The teams also did some good manual labor at the ranch. They built the pathway out to the new bonfire area and built some new benches as well. This was important work for one of the best gathering areas at the ranch…it is so cool to have a giant bonfire under a billion stars!

Speaking of work projects…one of the biggest blessings you can ever do for someone is to build them a home of their own. The team from Florida came down to serve with us in the Club Esperanza community. We had the idea of helping families that needed their roofs replaced. We often have young mothers write to us and ask for help because during the rain their house floods. We went into action for a young family of four. When we visited the house we realized quickly the structure of wood and old tin with a dirt floor was not going to handle new roof tin…so the team build an entire new house!

We were so blessed by the time spend with Crisbel and her family. There was lots of sweat and lots of labor, but thankfully nobody got hurt even though we may have had a chainsaw on top of a ladder once or twice to level off the roof beams! This is the type of projects that teams can do year round so if you want to get a group of friends together and make it happen….Let’s goooooooo! You can email us and we can start putting the trip together losfarringtons@gmail.com

We are so thankful for all of you who visited this summer! We are also so thankful for everyone who prays for us and supports us in our mission here in Nicaragua! If you would like to support our family and our work down here you can find donation information by clicking this link.

God Bless you this Fall Season…may the Lord shine brightly into your life!

Los Farringtons

Can you help us send our teachers and staff on a weekend retreat to Ruby Ranch?

We have an absolutely amazing group of women and men who work and serve at Club Esperanza. They make great sacrifices to get there every day, their hearts are full of God’s love for the most vulnerable, they are skilled in both intellect and street smarts, they love Jesus first…and are committed to seeing God’s Kingdom come and His Will be done, on earth in this La Chureca community, as it is in Heaven.

At the same time, we know life can be hard and just because we are serving the Lord, we are not immune from the hurts of the world. Sometimes we need some rest. So, we want to bless them next week and send the whole team off on a retreat where they don’t have to think about anything, they can rest in the great outdoors, attend teachings to grow closer to Jesus, have all their meals hot and ready, ride horses, go down a slip and slide…and just swing on the swings on the playground!

This will be our time to serve those who serve everyday in ministry down here.

The cost of the retreat is $2,900. We have already received a donation of $1,000…Boom! We really feel like this is something the Lord wants us to do, so thank you in advance for helping us make this happen!

Click here for donation info to help us raise the remaining $1,900…

…Or donate using one of these buttons below

Aliyah and Mason will be spending this summer in the good ol’ United States of America. I just got home from our adventure for the big drop off while Krista kept the home front in Nicaragua under control with Isabella and Juliette. It was a great trip together, but you all must know that our daddy and mommy hearts are pretty sad to do this for the first time. Saying goodbye for two month was a little emotional for both of us, but we know God has so much in store for them! Will you please keep our babies in your prayers this summer…ask God to keep them safe, but also give them great times and great memories!

Aliyah will be spending the summer at Mt. Gilead Camp in Pennsylvania. The Directors of the camp are long time friends who lived in Nicaragua for a number of years directing Campo Alegria. The Todd family is so wonderful, just great people. When we were with them at a wedding last summer they invited Aliyah to come up and work for the summer. She is really excited to have as summer job at a place she loves (she went to camp there two years ago). She will be working in the Kitchen all summer and we have already laughed about how amazing America is…she can make 100 cookies at once, or butter 200 hundred grilled cheeses with a roller…then put all the dirty dishes in a big box, pull a handle and they are clean like magic!!! She will be working six different week long camp sessions, so she will also have the time to be used by God to bless campers as they come through. We are very proud of the young woman she has become!

Mason will be spending the summer as a camper at Chop Point Camp in Maine. The Willards and Wilkinsons are long time friends in Nicaragua, they are the founders of Campo Alegria. When they were visiting us here in Nicaragua this past Spring they invited Mason up to camp. We talked about it, prayed about it and pulled the trigger…such a generous offer by them, and a cool adventure for Mason. Our boy is only 15 and seeing him off on an adventure is a big deal for us. We are so excited for him, he makes us so proud. As he grows taller and taller and bigger and bigger, we are excited to think about what God has in store for him. An adventure camp on the waters in Maine is right up his ally and he is gonna learn so many new things, like wind surfing and wake boarding! Along with new friends and moments with the Lord!

Aliyah is turning 18 this coming week on July 5th!!! This was probably one of the sadder things to think about, to not be together on her big birthday. But you know her momma and gramma wouldn’t let her leave without a big party…so we celebrated together before she left. We also had a fun little cake and cookies with Mema in Miami as we passed through on the way up to Pennsylvania.

Aliyah’s email address is aliyahkfarrington@icloud.com if you would like to send her a message. I’m sure she would love to have her inbox flooded with birthday messages! We also set her up with US banking while home so if you wanted to send her a little 18th birthday gift, she has Zelle with that same email address. Aliyah is such a blessing…we are very proud of her…Happy Birthday Aliyah!!!

Mason and I got to have a fun Father and Son adventure as we drove up to Maine! Road tripping is always fun and we may have watched the movie Flaming Hot while we drove and laughed together (I only listened…audio only!!!). We stopped in Boston and explored the city on the Freedom Trail which was so cool. We took mommy and the girls with us by taking a photo at every important site along the trail….and we may have talked a little smack as we passed the Arena where the Celtics and Bruins play. Go Heat, Go Panthers! God gave us some great memories together…I love my boy!

Aliyah and Mason will be coming home with Mema at the end of the summer…we look forward to that, having Mema in Nicaragua! Mason will be spending the last couple weeks of the summer with his cousins in North Carolina and Florida…so if you see him around don’t be confused!

It was such a special trip dropping them off. We are so thankful to family and friends who love on us and care for us along the way, having us in your homes and blessing us on our journeys! We even remembered to take selfies a few times…and forgot so many more times!

Please keep our babies in your prayers…love you fam, love you friends!

Chris & Krista Farrington