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Ministry Opportunities for 2006 

2006 will provide mission teams with the opportunity to build upon the ministry of previous teams who have served in Leon and expand ministry to Matagalpa. The ministry of coordinated mission teams is changing lives, repartos, and cities! It will eventually change the nation! To bring to fruition the following opportunities will require financial and human resource from mission teams.     

Humanitarian

1. Meeting Nutritional Needs

• Leon Landfill/The Mercy Ministry—partnering with Jericho Baptist Church to meet nutritional needs of those who live from the landfill—150-250 men, women and children weekly.

• Preschool Breakfast Programs—most children in Nicaragua come to school hungry. Breakfast programs are funded for: City of Leon: Ruben Dario (120 children), Fountain of Life Church (45 children), Majada (150 children), El Jardincito (45 children); City of Matagalpa: Oasis of Hope (110 children). Opportunities exist to assist in continuing these programs.  Funding is needed for implementing a breakfast program for First Baptist Church of Matagalpa’s preschool (75 children).

• Coffee Plantation Workers and Families—meeting the nutritional needs of families of coffee plantation workers in an area where chronic malnutrition among children is 40%; enhanced opportunities available during the harvest season (late October-mid-February).

• Providing Nutritious Meals during Ministry—anytime mission teams gather men, women, and children for ministry is a great time to provide a nutritious meal.

    2.   Caring for the Fatherless

• Hogar Cristiano Nicaraguense—ministry to the children of El Ayudante’s child protection center includes child sponsorship and supplementing their education at the center through extended classroom sessions on various subjects. Computers are also needed for the children along with educational programs in Spanish (encyclopedia on CD).

• Child Protection Centers/Leon---providing meals, school supplies, and computers with educational programs is a blessing for other child protection centers in Leon which are severely under funded!  A special relationship has been established with the Catholic child protection center, Casa Francisco y Jacinta.

     3.   Providing Medical Care

• HEODRA Regional Hospital, Leon—Surgeons are needed to serve through this 400 bed hospital that serves 400,000. Teams of biomedical engineers from the US are serving here to repair equipment with additional equipment in great need! There is also need for provision of food and personal hygiene items in “care packages” for patients and their families.

• Ceasar Amador Molina Regional Hospital, Matagalpa—Surgeons are needed to serve through this regional hospital which serves the Department of Matagalpa. Biomedical engineers are also serving here to repair equipment with additional equipment in great need! Patients and their families who oversee their care have need for food and hygiene items in “care packages.” The pediatric ward needs renovation and equipping and there is a vision for an area designated as a women’s clinic.

• Ruben Dario Public Medical Clinic, Leon—serves El Ayudante’s neighbors, the 6,500 in the “Repartos of the Poets.” The clinic, which will be enlarged by mission teams, needs medicines and medical personnel to partner with Dr. Alonso Medina and staff. (CLICK HERE FOR MEDICAL ASSESSMENT)

• El Ayudante’s Medical Clinic---with completion of the construction of the clinic, the focus turns to its equipping. Dental, eye care, women’s care and basic diagnostic equipment are needed.

• General Medical Clinics—medical clinics in the various repartos in partnership with Nicaraguan doctors treats those who would otherwise receive no treatment.

Educational

1. Capital Improvements
   • Ruben Dario School/Preschool (pre-K-12, 1750 students)—previous improvements include construction of a library with computer center, classrooms, and the preschool with bathrooms on a secondary campus. Concrete walks and new floors in two classrooms have been poured along with the painting of classrooms. The preschool classrooms need painting after the walls have been smoothed and electrical hook-up. Plans have been developed for two additional classrooms on the main campus. (CLICK HERE FOR FLOOR PLANS OF CLASSROOMS) Desks need repair and new desk purchased at $14 each.
   • Majada School (K-6, 160 students)—previous improvements include the construction of two classrooms and two temporary classrooms. There is need to complete a third classroom which will complete the space necessary for K-6.
   • El Jardincito/Pablo Morales (K-6, 120 students)—previous improvements include construction of El Jardincito preschool/community center and renovation of Pablo Morales School including new roof. Living Water International drilled wells providing clean water for both campuses. An additional classroom is needed for Pablo Morales.
   • San Jeronimo (K-6, 120 students)—previous improvements include complete renovation of the school including electrical hook-up/lighting, window installation, painting and bathroom construction.
   • Oasis of Hope, Matagalpa (K-1, 100 children)—A classroom is needed for this community run school in Reparto Sor Maria Romero. Sor Maria Romero is without electricity or clean water. Of its 2,000 inhabitants, over 1,000 are children who live in homes where 80% are without a man.
   • First Baptist Church of Matagalpa Preschool (45 Children)—First Baptist will begin providing for preschool education in 2006 and is in need of furnishings to include desks and tables.
   • Special Needs School, Leon (120 children)—Statistics indicate that less than 10% of special needs children in Nicaragua receive adequate care and education. (CLICK HERE FOR A FULL REPORT ON THE SPECIAL NEEDS SCHOOL).

All of these schools would enjoy playground equipment. This can include jump ropes, balls, etc. with possibly mesh bags to store them. Swing sets can also be constructed. The following diagram is playground equipment installed at HCN which can be bought in Nicaragua by teams and constructed at any of these schools. Some accessories may need to be brought from the United States such as chains, hooks, and swings.

1. Providing Basic School Supplies
   All the previously mentioned schools are in great need of basic school supplies including pens, pencils, paper, notebooks, etc. Uniforms for children which include shoes can be purchased for $25 per uniform. Creation of small libraries at each location to include books and computers with various learning programs is vital. These learning programs should include encyclopedias on disk. (CLICK HERE FOR SUPPLY LIST)  

3. Teacher Training and Encouragement
   Seminars to provide for teacher training are welcomed in the local schools. It is an encouragement to provide luncheons and gifts for teachers who serve in environments with over 40 children in classrooms which are most often without electricity. Most teach for $60 a month or less.

4. Classroom Instruction
   Short-term missionaries are sharing about their vocations and hobbies. Pilots have given instruction on principles of flight. Surgeons have performed mock surgeries utilizing video aids. Science experiments have been performed in classrooms. Seminars for the community on various subjects including women’s and children’s issues are coordinated through community health clinics.

5. Universities
   This is a ministry that has been in our hearts for several years as we have seen the political influence college students have in Nicaragua. It is an opportunity to influence the influencers!  We believe that the Lord will raise up those who will champion and define this ministry! In 2006, four universities from the United States are scheduled to come to Leon to develop relationships with universities in Leon!

 Spiritual

1. Equipping the Local Church
   The greatest need of the local church in Nicaragua is to be equipped that it might be more effective. Equipping the local church includes seminars for pastors/lay leaders, sponsoring local pastors to attend seminary, partnering with various churches in their ministry, supporting church families, and providing funding for capital improvements. El Ayudante presently partners with the following churches: First Baptist in Matagalpa; Fountain of Life in Telica; Alcance United Methodist, Jericho Baptist, Hamburgo Baptist, Fountain of Life, Forth Baptist in Leon; and First Baptist in San Jacinto.

2. Bible Schools
   Working with groups of children ranging from 50 to 150 at ministry sites is an awesome experience and great blessing for the children. Truths are taught, games are played and meals/snacks are served all resulting in giving hope and brightening a child’s day.

3. Providing Bibles
   Thousands of Bibles have been distributed through the ministry of El Ayudante mission teams. Complete Bibles are requested by believers in Nicaragua who are hungry for the Truth! Study Bibles have been provided to some local pastors but many more are needed. There are several different Spanish translations of the Bible. The Nueva Version International (NVI) is one of the best combinations of accuracy and readability in the Spanish today. The Biblia de Estudio, LBLA is also an excellent study Bible and is widely respected. 

Other Opportunities

1. Rotary International
   US Rotaries are partnering with Leon Rotary International to serve Leon. Initial contacts are being made by Rotarians who come to Leon as mission team members. Service projects have included medical clinics and provision of medical supplies and equipment for local health care facilities.

2. The Nehemiah Project
   A perimeter wall is being constructed for El Ayudante’s facility. This wall is reinforced, concrete block and will provide a buffer for adjacent housing developments.

3. Hogar Cristiano Nicaraguense
   The finish work for four rooms located on the child protection center’s east wing needs completion. The rooms also need furnishing which will allow for the girls to move to that wing of the center. The total cost per room is $1,800.

4. Sports Ministry
   Sports ministry through local leagues, churches and communities is welcomed! Sports equipment is greatly needed. Strategies are being developed for a more effective sports ministry in Nicaragua in partnership with US, Christian Ministries that present the Gospel through sports.

5. Mission Team House, Matagalpa
   The Lord has expanded our territory to the repartos and coffee plantations in the Department of Matagalpa. A mission team house will be constructed in the mountains near Matagalpa on a coffee plantation to provide for a safe and comfortable environment for mission teams to lodge as they come to serve.

First floor

Second floor