Do you believe in miracles…

 Jesus miraculously fed more than 5,000 people with a little bit of bread and a few fish.

And in ten days the Lord has provided $26,000!

Jesus loves these little children!  Amen.

We are overwhelmed with joy and excitement and thankfulness to all of you who were able to give, who shared this need, and who shared our burden in prayer!  I smile because this has been such a wide reaching effort that we really could not have imagined happening the way it did! …Thank you everyone!

  I keep saying to myself, “I can’t believe it”….but its not true, I CAN BELIEVE IT!

I believe in miracles.

WOW!

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We are going to get things in order next week, and sign the papers for the Club.  The seller has given us a grace period to get the funds organized and sent down to Nicaragua.  But we are on the same page…Club Esperanza belongs to the Children from La Chureca!

God Bless You All!!!

Thank You Again.

10 days to raise $26,000 **UPDATED**

UPDATE:  What an encouraging outpouring of support!  We have less than $8,800 to go!!!  With five days to go we are more than half way there!  Thank you to all who have given and continue to pray for Club Esperanza.  Some may have not heard about our situation so please feel free to share over this weekend….we hope you all have a great weekend!

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Do you believe in Miracles?  I do.

The Lord provided a building miraculously last Spring for us to continue in ministry to the families from La Chureca (watch video).  We began raising the $75,000 to buy the new facility last year.  The fact that the owner cut the original price in half and was allowing us to “rent to own” was another miraculous moment.  The families lining up at the gate to sign up, before we even opened, was also great encouragement from God that we are moving in the direction he wants Club Esperanza to go.

We are now waiting for God to provide once more.  

Our deadline to pay off the building is March 20th.  

We have $26,000 left to raise.   

Club Esperanza is a beacon of Light in a dark place where poverty and the sinful behaviors of man have taken its toll on everyone.  Over 300 children and teenagers are ministered to on a daily basis with education, discipleship, sports, feeding program, safety inside the walls, fun with all their friends, love from all of us.  We know the Lord wants to keep pouring out his love and his presence into these children.

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Will you join with us financially?  God is doing something great!

Just this morning standing in front of the Rancho I had a brother pray for us for Club Esperanza…we then talked about other exciting ministry all around the world…then unexpectedly he came back to the Club and said he wanted to get the ball rolling for this $26,000.  He gave $1,000 and to quote him “it is a no brainer that God wants to do this, I am excited to see it happen, I want to plant the seed.”  Amen.  We are on our way!

How can you donate?  Here is the info…Thank you!  

Make Checks out to: “Open Hearts Ministries”  
Memo:  Club Esperanza Building
 
Mail Checks to: 
Open Hearts Minsitries
c/o Imagine Ministries
1308 Us Highway 70W
Garner, N.C.  27529
 
Donate using Paypal Here.  Please note “Club Esperanza Building” on donation
 

Update on what is happening this year…

We had a great year last year at Club Cristiano La Esperanza continuing to do ministry in the neighborhood where all of the people from La Chureca (the dump) were moved to.  The way the year started with our school being destroyed by the government (see part of that story here), we could not have imagined the great things the Lord was preparing.

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We received a great testimony to all that happened last year, when we had registration for the 2014 activities at Club Esperanza.  On the Monday of registration, parents were lined up at 5a.m. to get their children signed up for our programs.  When Sheyla arrived, there was a crowd and she spent the entire day signing children up!  It is a testimony to not only the need in the community, but also to the quality of our staff and reputation we have in the neighborhood.  God is so good, and we look forward to this year!  

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We have 341 students signed up for next year!  We tried not to turn anyone away, but there is a waiting list for the preschool.  Here is the list of the different programs that happen at Club Esperanza…. Community PreSchool, Elementary School tutoring program, High School Scholarship Program, Feeding & Nutrition Program, Lacrosse the Nations Sports Program, and Music & Art Classes.

Fundraising Update:

Our new location has been the amazing key to our ability to do ministry in the neighborhood.  You may remember we needed to raise $75,000 by January to completely pay off the new location.  We were unable to do that, but the seller has been gracious and granted us an extension on that deadline with a small penalty.

We have until March 2014 to raise the remaining $26,400

Please be in prayer for this money to come in, and if you or somebody you know would like to give to this great need, here is our donation information.

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Thank you for your interest and for your prayers!

God Bless You!

High School Scholarship Program

Club Esperanza is our ministry center down in the La Chureca neighborhood that is now called Villa de Guadalupe.  We are able to reach over 300 children every day at the Club.

One of the ministries is the High School Scholarship program.  We have a select group of High School students that are doing well in school but need the extra financial help to be able to cover the costs of attending school which includes mainly their uniforms, school supplies, and various expenses throughout the year.

What is great about this group is we have a real opportunity to reach each of these students personally.  It is almost like a small youth group, and we enjoy being able to spend time with them.  We plan to have weekly meetings and monthly outings.  We look forward to this year and seeing what God will do in each of their lives.

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Yesterday we took all of the students out to do some beginning of the year shopping.  It was lots of fun for all of them to pick out a new pair of shoes, to buy uniforms, to receive school supplies….but really it was fun to hang out together!  We stopped at the Eskimo ice cream shop for ice cream cones after we finished!

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We want to send a special thank you to our friends at Love Light & Melody who made it possible for us to have this fun day and buy al the uniforms, shoes and supplies!

¡Feliz Dia De Patria!

This weekend Nicaragua celebrates “Dia de Patria”.  Today schools all across the country had celebrations with marching bands, children dressed up, dances, food, fiestas, etc…It is a great celebration of national pride!

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At Club Esperanza we had a fun little party with the preschoolers.  They all came dressed up and we did some dances and games with them, followed up with some Nacatamales 🙂  A very fun morning, even cuter kids!!!

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Strong men visit Club Espernaza…fund raising update

IMG_7094A few weeks ago we had a visit from our friends in Houston at First United Methodist Church.  The youth group was down and their leader is actually a member of Team Impact.  You may remember from your childhood…these are the guys who rip phone books, bend metal bars, break bats and bricks…all with their bare hands, and then they share the Gospel.  I totally remembered them visiting my church as a kid.  So, it was a huge blessing to have them down and planing a visit to Club Esperanza!!!

The entire team spent the day at the club, hanging out a doing activities at the club with the kids from the neighborhood and then in the evening, we pulled in a big flat bed truck and had a “Strong Man Show”.  It was awesome!  The people loved it and were totally open to the Gospel message that was shared.  Many in the audience made decisions to follow Christ, more asked for prayer, and everyone received a copy of the Bible.

Krista had a sweet story of a little girl who came in and said her grandma was sick, and so they went and got her.  She came in and was prayed for and the Lord really touched her.  Her back was healed.  She had sever pain, and she felt it leave.  It was gone.  What more can you say?  Amen!  While they were praying Krista turned to the little girl and told her to pray for her grandma…she looked up and said, “I do, I prayed for her last night”.  Amen.

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Do you think these kids where a little nervous being pushed on the swing after the show?!?!?  Hahahahaha

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FUND RAISING UPDATE FOR THE CLUB

When the medical team visited from Christ Journey Church in Miami they brought a huge gift.  The Youth group had visited Club Esperanza during spring break, and we had a great time.  Well after hearing all that had happened with the demolition of the school and the new location…they went home with a purpose.  A member of that team was with the medical team and he brought a gift of $13,800 to give to the purchase of the new location!!!  Praise Jesus!  Can you believe that?  We were floored!

So now we are almost there.  Out of the $75,000 we have to raise, we only have $23,900 left to raise!  Absolutely amazing!  We know the Lord will do it!

Thank you for all of your prayers and support!