Hola from Nicaragua, Sunday Dec. 18, 2011

Hola from Nicaragua, 

Our group arrived Thursday safe and sound and were excited about providing Christmas for all of the kids at the Remar Orphanage and the refuge homes of the children from the dump.  We purchased 600 pounds of rice and beans and Thursday evening the group packaged them for distribution which was scheduled for Saturday morning. 

Friday morning the team traveled to a school outside of town to have a Christmas party for the kids. They discovered this area didn’t have electricity or water.  They decided this would be a good place to pass out the rice and beans.  While the team was doing their activities, Len Rogers and I purchased the materials to redo the kitchen at Hoblas Robles, the home for the little boys rescued from the dump.  We purchased a big double sink and all of the lumber, cinder blocks and tile to build in the sink and build new counter tops and base cabinets.  They have very nice tile down here but me being an accountant and Len a plumbing supply person, picking out tile is not our forte.   We must have done a pretty good job since the woman in charge of this house was very pleased with our selections.  The person we hired to do this work did all of the measuring for us and started the job on Saturday.   

On Friday afternoon the boys and girls from both refuge houses came to the camp where we are staying for their Christmas party and to receive their Christmas gifts.  They all had a wonderful time….at least that is what we were told because Len and I went to Vera Cruz to plan the Christmas party at the New Jerusalem Church for the 92 kids there.  This is the seventh year I have had a Christmas party for these kids.  The gifts these kids receive at the party, which was scheduled for Sunday (today) will be the only Christmas presents some of these kids will receive.  Len and I also purchased another 600 pounds of beans and rice to be distributed in Vera Cruz as originally planned.   

Saturday morning we all went to the Remar Orphanage to take the children to the market on their annual trip to buy their Christmas gifts and school clothes.  Part of our group took the kids shopping, in two trips, and the rest of our group past out rice and beans in the community.  We all gathered back at the orphanage for their annual Christmas party that evening.  We have done this every Christmas since we began coming to Nicaragua in 2003.  They provided entertainment, doing skits and native folk dances for us and also provided everyone a real “American” meal of hamburgers and french fries.  After spending the day with about 60 kids ages 1 to 15 and passing out beans and rice, we headed back to our camp for a much needed rest.

This morning (Sunday), we joined the Children at the Remar Church for two hours of Worshiping our Father God.  Their Service includes an hour of singing and dancing and a 45 minute Sermon, in Spanish.  After Church our group took the Remar children out for pizza while Len and I went to the New Jerusalem Church in Vera Cruz for their Christmas party.  This party starts out with the children singing their Sunday School songs and various kids reciting Bible Verses for us.  One of these days I am going to have to learn Spanish!  After the kids busted their piñata, Len and I passed out all of the Christmas presents and everyone had a wonderful time.  During the party someone brought a cow to donate to the Church. The Pastor and Deacons of the New Jerusalem Church asked Len and I to Bless the cow for them.  I have to say I have been asked to do many things in Nicaragua, but this is the first time I have been asked to bless a cow. 

Afterwards we met back up with our group and had a nice dinner and recounted our days here together.  Len and I have been here for ten days and the rest of our group have been here for four days.  We then went back to our camp to pack for our return trip home tomorrow.  Our group that arrived on Thursday consisted of ten women and two men.  For five of our group this is their first visit to Nicaragua.  The great thing for the children we work with here, they know we will be back every year. 

I talked to Enrique today and was told the house being built was started yesterday and will be finished next Thursday.  Because of the Christmas nature of this trip and the short period of stay, we didn’t do any hands on work but hired local friends to do the actual construction on both projects.  I also picked up two additional children to sponsor in school this year.  Their school starts in February and runs through November.  One beautiful little girl is starting in first grade and one very intelligent boy is going into the sixed grade.  The boy’s name is Jordy and he has been taking English class on Saturday’s.   It is remarkable how well he is speaking English in only seven months.

I want to say God Bless You to every one of you who make all of this possible.  Without you, many of these Children would not get anything for Christmas and some of the kids we sponsor in school would not be able to go.  This is the 27^th home we have built and without you, these families would still be living in there tin or cardboard shakes.  Thank you and God Bless you all!

Merry Christmas and I Pray that you and your Families have a very happy and prosperous New Years! 

Jack 

Jack W. Mease, CPA

Nicaragua Education, Shelter and Health Fund, Inc.  (NESH)

P.O. Box 731

Barboursville, WV 25504

Hola From Nicaragua

Hola from Nicaragua,

     Things are going very well so far!  I have seen many of my friends and projects are starting to come together.  As always there are so many things that we are ask to do and only so many that are possible.  All we can do is Pray and hope that we choose the correct ones.  If I could only win the Lottery, this would make these trips a whole lot easier! Thank goodness they have ATM’s down here and many places take credit cards. 

     Tomorrow we will make the decision who we are going to build a house for.  Since we only have a small group getting here on Thursday, I will be hiring out the labor to build the house.  A house usually cost us about $3,500.00 to build, but I am trying to pull some strings and get this cut a little.  We have added one project to our list and need the additional money.  I mentioned in my earlier post that we were going to do some work at the girl’s refuge house for the abused girls that were rescued from the city dump.  Well now they have started a boy’s house also and we want to do some things there.  This is a new house that the Buzbies (the family that have the school in the dump) have recently started.  Currently that have six of the cutesiest little boys you have ever seen.  They all want to hug on you and feel your arms around them.  They all say to you in English “God Bless You”.  They are the ones that need God’s Blessing, I have already been blessed by God more than I deserve.   

     When the rest of our group gets here they will be concentrating on Christmas for children at Remar Orphanage and the children in the school at the dump.  We will have a Christmas party for the kids at the school and take the kids from the orphanage Christmas shopping and getting their school clothes and supplies for their upcoming school year which starts in February.  We will have a Christmas party at the orphanage on Saturday night.  The Christmas party I have every year for the children at the New Jerusalem Church will be Sunday afternoon and the Christmas party for the kids at the Presbyterian Church will take place after we leave.  I will have someone here take pictures and send back to me.   

     Until a couple years ago I never ask for help with what I am involved in here in Nicaragua.  Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and the people here are very needy and the Children have virtually no opportunities at all.  But I can no longer afford to do all of this on my own and I have no choice but to ask for your help.  God says you will never receive unless you ask.  So again I am asking for your help!  All of the Children that we sponsor in school are all closely monitored by a Pastor friend I have here on a monthly basis.  All of the work we do here is all closely monitored.  So I know all of the money we spend here goes 100 percent for its intended purpose.  The Pastor I mentioned has a son Dennis who just finished his third year in the Medical College here.  He could never have done this without OUR help.  Dennis’s sister just graduated from high school and she also wants to be a Doctor.  The youngest in this family has one more year in high school and he wants to be a Dentist.  This is a wonderful family with very intelligent, driven children.  There is no way this Pastor on his $150.00 a month salary could ever afford any of this.  The other Children we help in school could never afford what they are doing without OUR help.  I send money down here 4 times a months, 12 months out of the year, to do this Mission. 

     If you can find it in your heart to help me with this you can send a TAX DEDUCTABLE check to our 501(c)3 Non-Profit Corporation, the Nicarguaian Education, Shelter and Heath Fund, Inc. (NESH).  I guarantee to you we have -0- administrative cost.  What little administrative cost we do have is for government fees and they are all paid for by the Kroger Corporation through the use of reusable Kroger Gift Cards that they give us a 5% donation on all the money used on them.

     Please send anything you can to “NESH”, P.O. Box 731, Barboursville, WV  25504.  You have no idea how much I appreciate your help.  Also anyone that would like to accompany me on one of our trips, I would love for you to join us and you will truly understand why we are doing what we do.

     Merry Christmas and I would love to personally thank everyone who reads this. 

GOD BLESS YOU

Jack

Nicaragua December 2011 trip.

On December 10^th we leave on yet another trip to Nicaragua.  Please keep us in your Prayers.  I want to thank God, and all my Family and Friends, which have made all of our past trips very successful.  This will be my 14^th trip, and going at Christmas is always a wonderful time to be there.  Over the past 8 years, through our Mission work at Fifth Avenue Baptist Church and your help, we have put a roof on and a floor in the New Jerusalem Church, which didn’t have either when we first got there.  We have drastically increased the health and education of all of the children that have lived in the Remar orphanage.  With the help of friends and several members of the Barboursville Rotary Club, we sponsor over 13 children in the community of Veracruz, with school fees, books and school cloths so they may have a better education.  And since I helped a wonderful family 7 years ago to rebuild their falling down house, we have built a total of 26 homes.  Again, I want to thank you for all of your help and prayers!!!!

     All of the kids are doing well in school.  Dennis last week finished his third year of Medical College and is doing very well.  He is going to be a Doctor and in Nicaragua you start out as a “Medical Student”.  It is five years of studying and then two years of internship.  He speaks perfect English and after his Father became a Pastor at a Korean Presbyterian Church, he also speaks Korean.  It is great to get emails from him and talk to him on the phone and know what is going on down there.  He is just like our kids…..he is on Face book, but he post in three different languages.  Daniel, a boy (young man), that I previously sponsored at Remar Orphanage is doing well.  He graduated from High School in November a year ago and came to visit us for Christmas last year.  He went to Rotary with me all five weeks he was here and many of you met him.  He went back to Nicaragua and started college but his Father became ill so he went home to help on the farm.  He now has a couple acres of his own and is growing beans and coffee.  We paid for bean and coffee plants….so I guess we are now in the farming business.  Other Non-profits sell coffee in Nicaragua, so maybe we can do the same in the future.  Since Daniel finished level 14 in English, he is being considered to teach English part time at the High School in his little mountain community.  As you can tell….I am very proud of Daniel and Dennis.  The other 11 children we sponsor are in various grades and are doing well. 

     We have a small group going this trip, only 9 or 10 people.  In the last year or two we have started working with an American family, the Buzbees’, that run a school in the Managua city dump.  Yes…many people and children live inside the city dump of the capital of Nicaragua.  Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.  The Buzbees’ have also been building a “refuge house” for abused girls from the dump.  We are going to work on the kitchen of this home and also have a Christmas party for the kids at the school.  We will also take the children from Remar Orphanage Christmas shopping and school clothes and supply shopping.  As always we will have a Christmas party at the Orphanage for the kids.   I will be checking on the 13 community children we sponsor in school and have the annual Christmas party for close to 100 kids at the New Jerusalem Church.  This will be the 7^th year for the Christmas party.  We usually buy the children some article of clothing, and for some of them it will be the only Christmas present they receive.  We are also hoping to build our 27^th home in the community.  The houses we build are 18 x 18 foot cinder block with a tin roof.  I know it is not much, but better than they have now.  The New Jerusalem Church recommends a family from their Church that has small children.  With paying for some local labor, a house cost up about $3,500 to build. 

     The past few years have been very successful and growing for our work in Nicaragua.  Because of all of the different things we are now doing, we moved some of the projects out of the Fifth Avenue Baptist Church and two years ago started a new Non-profit Organization.  We have started a 501(c)3 organization called “Nicaragua Education, Shelter and Health Fund, Inc.”  “NESH” for short.  We did this to help with fundraising and because of all the people outside of our Church helping with our work. 

     Now comes the part where I ask for YOUR help.  God says you won’t receive if you don’t ask…..so I am asking!!  We haven’t raised all of the money yet to build a house and pay for the upcoming year in school.  Their school runs February through November.  Many of you have helped with our Nicaragua work in the past…..and I could never tell you how much I, the people in the 26 houses, the kids in school and especially Dennis appreciate it.  I already call him Dr. Dennis and every time I talk to him…..I can’t count how many times he says to me “God Bless You Jack and All Your Friends”.  I know he is going to make a very good doctor.  You are all invited and I wish you could all go with me sometime and see and experience how grateful these people are.  It really makes you realize just how Blessed we are to have been born in the United States. 

    I know the economy has been bad and everyone’s budget is tight.  But if you could find it in your hearts of help me and all the people I just talked about, I, and they, would be truly grateful.  You can make a Tax Deductable check to “NESH”; you will get a letter showing your deduction, and send to NESH, P.O. Box 731, Barboursville, WV  25504. 

      Again, I want to thank everyone for their past and present support and ask everyone to please Pray for our safety and our work.  I want to wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas and to remember what Christmas is all about.  In Nicaragua Christmas is quite different…..they Celebrate our Lord…..but there are not many presents.

GOD BLESS YOU ALL

Nicaragua December 2011 trip.