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ALL THE BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN! |
Dear Family and Friends,
Len
Rogers and I will be leaving on December 8th for our annual
Christmas trip to Nicaragua. We will
return on December 20th from our 19th trip to the second
poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.
Joining us on December 13th will be Dr. Kevin Yingling and
his two sons, Dylan and Charlton. We
will be visiting our old friends and meeting new ones, to share God and celebrate
the Birth of His Son, Jesus Christ. Dr.
Yingling and his sons will be building a house with Pastor Enrique, for one of
his Parishioners. Our plans are to build a total of three houses, have a
Christmas party at the New Jerusalem Church for approximately 70 kids, and a
Christmas party at Pastor Enrique’s Church, Holy Mountain Presbyterian Church, for
about 40 kids. All of this is contingent
upon raising enough money. I want to
thank God and all my family and friends who have made our past trips
successful.
This
has been a fantastic year for our work with the kids. Dennis is a Doctor and in March will finish
his two years of public service in the hills outside of Matagalpa. He is trying to come to the US to learn his specialty;
he wants to become a Gynecologist. That
is difficult to get into in Nicaragua because there is so few of them. Dina, Dennis’ sister, is finishing her fourth
year of medical college and has been working in the Hospital most of the
year. And she loves it! Donnie, Dennis’ brother, is finishing his third
year of Dental College and is number 2 in his class. Daniel Moraga is finishing his fourth year in Engineering
College this month and has one more year to go.
Two young ladies are in Nursing School.
Rachelle and Osmund, who graduated from high school in Dec. 2015, are
finishing their first year in college.
We don’t have anyone graduating from high school this year.
Angelica Moraga, Jordy’s mother and Junior’s wife, monitors all of the
children’s grades throughout the year and makes sure all are doing well. Jordy speaks and writes very good English. Jordy sends me emails after every grading
period listing all the grades. The
children are all doing well this year. While
there, we will meet with Angelica and the parents and kids whom we sponsor in
school and find out how everyone is doing.
All of the children are meeting our grade requirements so we shouldn’t
be losing anyone. Because of rising
costs, I think we will stay at 28 children again this year and not add any on
this trip. I said we would stay at 25
last year, but circumstances raised that to 28.
My belief is the more children we can help educate, the better off
everyone in Nicaragua will be.
Over
the past 13 years, with the help of family and friends and Barboursville
Rotary, we have built 37 homes for families with children. We have sponsored numerous kids in school. Several children are now learning English,
which makes it possible to communicate throughout the year by email and
telephone. This will be the 11th
year we have had our 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 piƱata or two.
Last year was the second year for the Christmas party at the Holy
Mountain Presbyterian Church for 30 kids.
This is Pastor Enrique’s Church and is in Masaya. This Church has about doubled since last year
so I don’t know how many kids there will be this year. Pastor Enrique is the father of Dr. Dennis,
Dina and Donnie.
This
year we have three houses to build, as long as we raise the money. Currently we have funds for two houses. 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 will be for Selena, her husband and
new little baby. The baby was born a few
days after we left last year. Last year
we built her older sister Alianna and Family a house on the same property. Their Parents own the property and will live
next to them. It is just up the road
from the New Jerusalem Church. I have known
and helped this Family the entire 14 years we have been going to Nicaragua. The
second house in Vera Cruz is for a young lady named Lillian Rojas and her
Children. She has been asking me for a
few years, and after some investigation, we decided to help her. We have been supporting two of her Children
for a couple years. I met Lillian at the
Jesus Heart Elementary School. I was
there to pay tuition a few years ago and so was she. It was the day before everything was due and
she was a few dollars short. I saw her
crying and asked the Director about her.
The Director is an American Missionary that started the school about 15
years ago. It is a very good
school. He told me her Children were
straight A students but she was having trouble coming up with the money. I talked to Lillian and since then we have
been supporting her Children, who are still straight A students. Lillian is different, but one of the biggest
problems is convincing the Parents, usually only a Mother, the importance of
working with their Children to get an education. Usually when the kids are old enough, they
want them to find some kind of a job to help the Family.
GOD BLESS YOU ALL!
Jack Mease
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We built a house for Marcos and Family in Dec. 2014 |
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Lillian and her Family will hopefully get a new HOME this trip! |
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Daniel translating for me |
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All kids Love ice cream. |
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I escorted Selena when she graduated in Dec. 2014. |
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Selena and Husband's first child was born Dec. 2015 |
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Going over grades with Angelica |
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Talking to Mothers and Fathers of students we support |
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Demo translating |
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A few of our 28 students |
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The two best students win a bicycle. |
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Dr. Dennis in blue, Dina and Donnie. |
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Rachelle |
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Rachelle |
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Our three Graduates in Dec. 2015 |
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Rachelle and Father |
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Jordy and Mother Angelica |
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Osmund and Mother |
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Jaqueline Alexandra Graduates from Kindergarten! |
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With Proud Godfather! |
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Walter.....former Remar Boy with some college and a good job. |
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Ramiro...former Remar Boy with some college, currently in Nicaragua Military. |
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Daniel (in Big Brothers Big Sisters shirt)....former Remar Boy with some college and is farming coffee. Our Friend Luis from Vera Cruz and speaks English |
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Christmas Party at Enrique's Church, Holy Mountain Presbyterian Church. |
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All parties have to have a pinata |
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And a good meal. |
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We built a house for this Lady, her Daughter, in red, and Granddaughter. |
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Christmas Party at New Jerusalem Church |
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Anyone know where the yellow shirts came from? |
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Materials for the new HOME! |
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Lining everything out. |
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You had better make my HOME good! |
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That's more like it! |
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Almost ready to move into their new HOME! |
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Feliz Navidad from Len, Micky and Santa! |
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Rotary is Everywhere in the World |