November 29, 2013
Dear Family and Friends,
On
December 7th Len Rogers and I will leave on another trip to
Nicaragua and will return on December 17th. This
will be my 16th trip and Len’s 15th. Our
plans are to build two houses, have a Christmas party at the New Jerusalem
Church for approximately 80 kids, and a Christmas party at Pastor Enrique’s new
Church for about 30 kids. All this is
contingent upon raising enough money. I
want to thank God and all my family and friends who have made our past trips
very successful.
This
past year we sponsored 23 kids in school and all did well. Dennis finished his 5th year in
medical college and starts his internship next year! Dina
finished her first year of medical college and Luis and Daniel finished their
first year in college. We have one young
lady, Selena, who will graduate from high school this year, and has asked me to
escort her at her graduation ceremony.
We have sponsored Selena since she started school.
Over the
past 10 years, with the help of family and friends and Barboursville Rotary, we
have built 30 homes for families with children.
We have sponsored numerous kids in school and, due to this sponsorship;
there will be a total of 6 kids attending college beginning when their school
starts in February 2014. Several
children are now learning English, which makes it possible to communicate
throughout the year by email and telephone.
This will be the 8th year that we have had the Christmas
party for the children at the New Jerusalem Church. We give all kids a Christmas gift and, for
some of the children, it will be the only gift they receive. We always play games, have something to eat,
and, of course, we have a piñata. If I
raise enough money I want to buy chairs for the children’s’ Sunday School
Class. I received a couple calls and
emails during this past year asking for chairs.
One of the emails had pictures of the children sitting on the hillside
next to their Church conducting their class.
This
year we have two houses to build as long as we raise the money. The houses we build are 18’ x 18’ cinder
block, with a tin roof. Paying friends
we know to work, it costs us around $3,500 to build a house. One house is for a mother and her two
children whom we have known for several years.
This house will be very close to the New Jerusalem Church. The other house will actually be the
parsonage for Pastor Enrique at the Presbyterian Church in Maysiah. This house will be bigger and will cost more
than $3,500, but we will use Church members for labor.
We will
work a couple of days with a group from Fifth Avenue Baptist Church taking the
kids from Remar Orphanage to the market Christmas shopping and buy their school
clothes. The group from Church gets
there the day before we do and will be staying for four days.
Angelica
monitors all of the children’s grades throughout the year and makes sure all
are doing well. While we are in
Nicaragua we will meet with Angelica and the parents and kids whom we sponsor
in school to check on all their grades.
Because of rising costs, I think we will stay at 23 children this year
and not add any on this trip. My belief
is the more children we can help get educated, the better off everyone in Nicaragua
will be. The past few years have been
very successful and growing for our work in Nicaragua. Because of the various things we are now
doing, we have moved some of the projects out of the Fifth Avenue Baptist
Church and four years ago started a 501(c)3 non-profit organization called
Nicaragua Education, Shelter and Health Fund, Inc. (“NESH”). We did this in order to help with fundraising
and because of all of 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 the two houses, pay for the children’s Christmas party, and pay for
school clothes and fees for the upcoming year in school, which 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 30 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 come with me sometime to 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. If you have any
interest in ever going to Nicaragua, please let me know.
I know
the economy has been bad and everyone’s budget is tight, but if you could find
it in your hearts to help me and all the people I just talked about, I, and
they, would be truly grateful. You can
make a tax deductible check
payable to “NESH” and send it to NESH, Post Office Box 731, Barboursville, West
Virginia 25504. You will receive a
letter confirming your contribution.
100% or your contribution will go to work in Nicaragua. All administrative cost of Nicaragua
Education, Shelter and Health Fund, Inc. are paid by the Kroger Company.
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 the coming of our Lord for several
hours on Christmas Eve, set off fireworks at midnight, go to bed, and wake up
to few, if any, presents on Christmas morning.
You can
see pictures and follow our trip and read about past trips at http://jackmease.blogspot.com.
GOD
BLESS YOU ALL,
Jack
Mease
No comments:
Post a Comment