Light and Salt

Hi family and friends, my squad and I have arrived at our ministry host in our second country, Nicaragua! This month we are working with the full squad of 18 women rather than our broken-up teams. The ministry that we are partnered with is called Light and Salt Ministries and is located in the town of Ciudad Dario which is on the West side of the country in the foothills of the mountains.

The ministry here is doing amazing work that I would love to share about with you! The main goal of the ministry is to teach kids who do not have access to education to read, write and other life skills such as healthy relationships, finding jobs and other teachable trades. The goal of teaching kids in the community these skills is to attempt to help them break their own cycles of poverty through education and life skills. The kids sign up for five years of school through this program, and part of this teaching includes sending them home with food and the ministry taking a holistic approach to teaching these families about skills. They are also taught the Scriptures and what God says about love and who they are.

The other part of this ministry is women’s ministry! Many women do not have the option to work and are expected to have their husbands bring the income in for their families. While this is a common custom, it is also very common for men to abandon their families and women do not have a way to support themselves and their children. Light and Salt Ministries supplies sewing machines and projects to teach women how to create a living wage for themselves by selling handsewn goods. 

We arrived a week ago, and our host gave us the vision and overview of the ministry and the roles that she was giving to each one of us for the month. There are some people that are teaching this month, some that are working on construction projects, some doing jobs for the personal good of the ministry, and my team which will be painting and working on projects to put the finishing touches on the ministry site that has just recently been renovated. I am excited for the way that I can be of help to the ministry this month through these projects to put their new site together.

I would love continued prayers for my team as we navigate the best way to support this ministry with our time here, prayers for the community of Ciudad Dario as they are trying to navigate life during/after the pandemic, and for the children here at this school as they are learning about life skills for the world in such a difficult time.

Love,

Claire