Club Esperanza: Spring Happenings…

Isandra is a part of our “Juntos Para Una Inclusion” program at Club Esperanza. She is from a wonderful family that lives in a neighborhood surrounding the Managua Municipal Dump (formerly La Chureca). Her parents Daniel and Mercedes have actually been the family responsible for keeping Miss Ruby’s home and the Prayer Upper Room in good order for the last three years. Isandra is one of their five daughters.

We got a pretty scary call from Daniel telling us that Isandra was severely ill with abdominal pain and a fever. On their first visit to the clinic they were told she would be fine. But, as her parents, Daniel and Mercedes knew something was wrong. They went to the hospital and Isandra was taken in for emergency surgery for a ruptured Appendix! Appendicitis can be life threatening in cases where it ruptures. Daniel asked us to prayer and we passed on word to all of you through social media. Wow their family was so deeply touched by all of your prayers!

Daniel even reflected with me when I visited him while Isandra was in recovery. He said over the last few years his wife and one of his other daughters had been hospitalized and they just sort of felt like they were in a desert by themselves. But with Isandra just by happenstance of seeing us recently and reaching out for prayer there was such a movement of people who hit their knees…and he said he could feel it! They didn’t feel alone. He went on to say with tears in his eyes how he thinks Isandra is special, how the grace of God seems to settle on some in powerful ways. As he was crying Daniel said Isandra has a special anointing of God’s grace on her life.

We say amen to that! Here is a special video from Daniel and Isandra….

Isandra’s Story is Amazing! Praise the Lord! Daniel told me as they left the hospital after only five days, there were two others in the Intensive Care that had been there for a long time after surgery for ruptured appendices…one for over 20 days and another for over a month. Wow! So encouraging how the Lord brought Isandra back to health so quickly! And also an encouragement for all of us to pray for those other two people as well….amen amen amen!

Some of you have reached out to us asking if you can help Isandra and her family in some way. You can do so by donating below and we will make sure to take care of them! Here is a short list of some of the things we can help with: Pampers, toiletries, wet wipes, fruits and vegetables, dietary supplements, a bed that reclines for her special needs.

Thanks for your prayers everyone! A beautiful testimony!!!

This month we had a special guest come to the Club and give a presentation to all of our students at Ileana’s School! Sergio Bustamante is a Nicaraguan children’s author who has created original characters and brings them to life in his stories….Baky, Jimmy, Tito y Rayo…all with an intentional message of helping children in Nicaragua see the world as bigger than what is in front of them.

We happened to meet Sergio randomly at Pop’s Ice Cream Shop when we were there celebrating Gigi’s 92nd Birthday. Krista’s sister Hope recognized Sergio from videos she watched with her daughter Sofia. We took some pictures and Mr. Buzbee prayed for him there in the middle of ice cream shop. It was one of those fun random God moments and you could feel the presence of the Lord blessing this young man.

Sergio got in touch with us later and asked if he could come to Club Esperanza and present his books in real life. He is a story teller and he has his own speakers, microphone and life size cutouts of his characters. We said yes of course and knew it would be awesome! Needless to say this was a HUGE treat for our kiddos. It was such a cool event to be able to do for them! Here are some photos from the day!

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Our feeding program continues to have a huge impact on the community surrounding Club Esperanza. As we have said in the past we serve meals twice a day to every one of our students at all age levels from preschool all the way up to our High School Scholarship students and the University students that are a recipients of college scholarships from of our Enmannuel College Scholarship Fund.

Beyond the daily reach to our kids, the worldwide pandemic has made life very very very difficult in Nicaragua. As a world economy slows, it has a dominoe effect on very poor countries like Nicaragua which is the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. We could see the affect of this, especially in some of the elderly in our neighborhood…so we opened up the feeding program to them as well. It is very sweet. After all the children have been served, they show up a little later and are served in a very dignified way. God is good….we are His hands and feet…we worship His holy name as we serve!

One of our major partners in Nicargua for our feeding program is Orphan Network. We got a call just this past week to come and pick up a load of about two tons of rice, beans, soy, and powdered eggs. There was a little urgency for us, but we were able to use our new pickup to stack it high and get the shipment with no problem! Of course, having the help of our awesome staff at the Club is what really makes all of this possible!

God is sooooo good and we love serving Him! Club Esperanza is an amazing beacon of light for the Gospel of Jesus Christ lived out in every hand held, meal served, student getting educated, family being restored, child being protected and allowed to live a “normal” life where they can see the world as bigger than what is in front of them. God has great purposes for everyone person we serve every day…we know it!!!

Please be in continued prayers for Club Esperanza. So much good happens, but at the same time there are constant battles against sin and darkness. We have to make hard decisions, we have to shine light on difficult things, it is hard at times. We press on.

Your prayers sustain us….thank you!!!