Open Hearts International Children's Relief Mission
We are so very blessed by our friends, supporters and family who keep us in their prayers, donate to support our ministry, and love on us any time that you can. We want you to know that we are very thankful for that and do not take it for granted! Time flies sometimes and we let it pass without sharing updates on the different goings on, so in this blog post we want to catch up a little. Some might call it a mosaic, but we are ok to call it a scatter brained update on life in Nicaragua…Praise the Lord!
Teams have begun to return to Nicaragua in a post Covid world. We are so very thankful for that. The day to day of ministry can become a little bit overwhelming at times. Not just for us, but for all of our Nicaraguan partners as well. When we get to have visitors from overseas it brightens everyone’s day. The excitement of meeting new friends is delightful and the activities and projects the teams do add so much to our ongoing ministry!
This spring we had some special times out at Ruby Ranch with teams. Long time friends from Atlanta Georgia with Team Hungry came down and put on camp out at the ranch. This is such a cool organization, our friend Jeff is a public school teacher in the Atlanta area. He has a real burden for his students and created Team Hungry as a way to help his public school students have the chance to go out on missions. It was such a joy to have them back working hand in hand with us!
We also made some new friends with a group of college aged young adults from Louisiana. They are part of a camp in Louisiana and are looking to develop a long term partnership with a camp in Nicaragua…we pray for a great connection to Ruby Ranch. They also used their time with us to put together food packs for families at Club Esperanza. We had a great time delivering the packs and praying over the families that received them!
Spring Birthdays…Krista’s is actually tomorrow! Gigi turned 93 which is amazing. It is very fun for our children to have their great grandmother living here on the same farm in Nicaragua. Gigi moved down a few years after we did in 2005 and has been here in Nicaragua ever since. She joins the family for all our parties and gatherings with guests, and one of the sweetest things she does is write a personal encouraging birthday card to every one of us on our birthdays. Juliette turned 11 this spring and she got her card from Gigi as well as lots of gifts from friends and family. Check out the fruit plate gramma and papa had made for her!
This little house outside of the Managua city dump has been a place where thousands of people have received a special touch from the Lord. Miss Ruby’s house never closed its doors even after she passed away years ago. We miss her so much because she was such a powerful servant of Jesus and she let God use her to speak into so man lives. Imagine that. God meeting up with you in a little house right outside a dump. Our God is amazing.
We have had some amazing prayer times and worship times down at Miss Ruby’s House throughout the spring. We go by there with teams, we stop by with friends, we sometimes show up on our own to spend some time set apart in God’s presence. There is nothing quite like it in all of my Christian experience. Mr. Buzbee put together a facebook page where people can share encouraging stories…if you have one in your past that you remember, please share it here! We will all be encouraged, Praise the Lord!
We had a fun local happening down at Club Esperanza this spring as well. One of our long time friends teaches at a local school and they were planning a service day. So, he brought his group of high school boys down to serve at club esperanza. We had a good time sharing with these young men, praying with them for the area, and then they served. They packed up rice packs to be delivered, taught an English class that they came prepared to teach and then served lunch at our feeding program. Great work young men! God is with you!!!
Friends!!! Ah we so love having family and friends come down to visit…we had a wonderful wonderful time together and it is so encouraging. The airlines are opening back up, there are flights with American Airlines, United Airlines, and Spirit Air…along with Avianca who never stopped flying. So if you even have an inkling we would love to see you…we can also serve together too! There are so many ways we can put our hands to the plow down here and make a difference for the Kingdom of God!
Construction Zone!!! As we have a pause in teams for month here at Quinta Havilah it was time to pull the trigger on some major projects. We fixed the part of the fence that had fallen in the river bed, we replaced some pathways and driveways, we are always making improvements to the guest rooms with AC and hot water, and the most recent endeavor…raising the roof! Our giant dining hall ranchon is needing to have its palms replaced, it is quite the endeavor. But all will be finished up soon for the summer, so if you were thinking about coming down with a missions team….Send it!!! (that is what the kids say). We promise the kitchen will have a roof by the time you arrive!
We will finish with a little family update. Our little girls are getting so big, I got to have a daddy daughter time with them at a new coffee shop that has the fun drinks like they have in the States. We also splurged on some macaroons. Krista is doing well, though still recovering from the long covid that has effected her this past year. She so so so appreciates your prayers and really feels like she will be back to 100% soon. It has been a trying year, but Jesus has held her close and we have all drawn closer to the Lord with her. But she is ready to be better…please keep praying for Krista!
Aliyah and Mason are both getting so big and there are some fun plans ahead this summer for them. Aliyah will be working this summer at a camp in Pennsylvania and Mason will be going to camp in Maine. Mom and dad think we are ok with them being gone…but we really aren’t LOL! It will be the longest we have ever been apart, but these opportunities are so so fun for both of them!
If you have read this far we love you and want to pray peace over your life! Please know as often as we feel so blessed and covered by the support of others, we try to do the same! May your weekend be blessed with peace, fun and the presence of God!
Our family does live by faith as missionaries with the generous support of people like you. If you would like to support us please email any time and we can set something up. We would love to hear from you. losfarringtons@gmail.com is our email.
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Chris & Krista Farrington