Hurricane Relief…our continued efforts.

As Hurricane season is just around the corner I know many of our friends and family back home in Florida will be getting ready as we do every year. You may remember that last Hurricane season Nicaragua was struck by two Category Four Hurricanes back to back in the same community of Puerto Cabezas.

We mobilized with a group of other missionaries and friends here in Managua and went to work. We wrote about some of our efforts in immediate relief and in the recovery here on our blog. There was so much severe devastation and the scenes were tragic, but the Lord is good and the people were not left to suffer on their own. Thank you for your generous help in that! We have made a huge impact together. Today we want to share about some of the continued work that is going on….it was such a massive destructive event and even 10 months later there is still much to be done.

We want to send a special thank you to our home church, Christ Journey Church in Miami. They have been a great support in this relief effort. When the word went out that we would start building homes in Wawa Bar and Hallover, our church immediately stepped up. These two communities on the coast of Puerto Cabezas were nearly entirely destroyed. Hundreds of houses gone in one night. Little by little we are part of a large effort to bebuild. Early in the summer, we had a team in Wawa Bar building two new homes.

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After those two homes were built we joined in helping Verbo Church with the efforts to build six more homes. The houses were funded but there was an unanticipated need to transport materials. There are many many complicating factors in getting this work done, but God is with us! It is a several hour long boat ride to each community, so that makes transporting materials costly and laborious. If you forget a tool, you are in trouble and you just have to make do. There is no safe drinking water yet in the communities and there is no electricity, so all of those things need to be brought in. With all of that said, it is happening….people are receiving new homes! Just last week we bagan construction on three more homes…Praise the Lord!!!

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In addition to the construction needs we are also focused in two other areas. First we continue to work to provide food relief to families. We have been doing this from the beginning delivering hundreds of tons of food. But, as food runs out and jobs are still not available the people continue to suffer. Whenever a food need arises and the communities contact Pastor Earl, we make efforts to help. Most recently we sent 205 food packs that should last one family close to a month. These packs calculate out to $50 each.

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The second area of focus is getting clean water to the communities. We are still at work on the details of a master plan to instal new wells in the seven communities most devestated by the Hurricanes. We have done initial site studies and then extensive scientific studies to find the best places for water. Hopefully soon, we will be able to mobilize and fund a team to work to install three to five wells in each community depending on the size. Our initial estimate of the cost of each well is $10,000. The total project will be pretty huge, so we would ask that you set this before the Lord with us and ask Him to provide the funding. If you know of any large organizations that may be able to help, please let us know via email at losfarringtons@gmail.com

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Jesus calls us to give hope to the hurting and be a light in dark times. We are incredibly thankful to all of the support that has poured in…let’s keep pushing the limits of what we can do! God is with us…Amen!

Chris & Krista