People Who Make A Difference

Here is the latest newsletter from friends Corrie and Chris Harris who are the Directors of La Villa (The Village) an orphanage just outside of Managua, Nicaragua. Someone who I think are making a difference for Christ in our world today.

"Please pass the bean soup." I about dropped my spoon. We were dining at the Albrecht’s house one Saturday. "What? Stanton, I thought you did not like beans." Without a second thought Stanton answered, "Yes, but I would like to try Mr. David’s soup today." Not wanting to waste any delicious food I responded with, "Oh, ok, well, here, have a bite of mine and see if you like it before we pour you your own bowl." I leaned over the table with a tiny bit of soup on my spoon and my other hand hovering under it to keep any spills from happening.

"Hmm, yes, I think I like that. May I have my own bowl please?" I stared at Stanton in disbelief. I froze still leaning over the table, my jaw dropped, the spoon in mid-air. "Uh, ok. Wow, Stanton, what changed your mind?" Chris looked at Stanton and nodded his head with a wink and a smile and said, "Stanton learned the value of a bean yesterday."

Two days earlier, Chris had come up with a solution for the massive containers of beans we had in storage. Even though the children eat beans every day at VFN, we had not been able to make a dent in the pile of beans that was so generously donated. Some of the beans had already begun to be infested with rats. Chris had a plan to teach the teenagers about the importance of giving to others. With the bed of the truck filled with beans and some eager young teenagers (including our eight year old son, Stanton) they headed out.

Chilamatillo is a very poor town about one mile from Villa Familiar Nicaragua. The average family lives on only a few dollars a day. Discarded pieces of wood and metal make up the construction materials for most of the 150 houses (photo of typical house in Chilamatillo shown on right). There are no paved roads and no sewage system. In fact, they have very little plumbing, if any, and use a hodge podge of plastic containers to hold their water. (Pretty much what you or I would throw away makes up most of their household possessions). Ever so often you see a section of one of the houses painted. They have dirt floors, a tin roof, no glass in the windows, and old tattered wood or cloth for the doors.

You can imagine what a bucket full of beans meant to each household. "Mom, when we would drop some of the beans while we were shoveling them into those buckets, the people would run behind the truck, with cups or bowls and stuff, to pick the beans out of the dirt." Stanton could not understand why they would crawl on their hands and knees in the middle of the dirt road for barely a handful of beans! "Daddy, these people must really like beans." Stanton said. "No, son, they are starving and each and every bean makes the difference of how hungry they are when they go to bed". Somehow when he got up from that table he looked a little bit taller to me.

Later that night when I tucked him into bed I asked him, "Do you think all of those people are happy right now?" "Oh, yeah, Mom, you should have seen how happy they were when we were giving them those beans. Some of them chased the truck and wanted more. I don’t think they will be hungry tonight." I kissed him good night and while praying together for his dreams, we lifted up the poor of Nicaragua. Grateful for the experience my son had to open his eyes and his heart to life less privileged, I gently closed the door to his room and walked to mine. Suddenly, the unbearable heat was bearable, the mosquito buzzing by my ear just got a passing swat, and the hopeless state of the people I face everyday seemed hopeful. It takes a child sometimes to show us. Making a difference just takes each and every one of us helping our neighbor like Christ said to do. Maybe it is a bucket of beans, maybe it is a much needed hug from a dear friend, or it could even be something as simple as a kind word to a complete stranger.

Let’s not forget Erica… She continues to do wonderful in school and is learning Spanish rapidly. She is also full of great faith. She challenges me with her simplistic trust in God. I hear her angelic little voice saying her catch all solution to any problem, "Well, let’s just pray right now, Momma."

Prayer Requests at VFN… Out of the four new little children two are in good health but the youngest two are still struggling. We continue to watch Josué (2 years old) as we treat him for mal-nourishment and parasites. Alex (shown in photo on the left) has had a lot of problems and was hospitalized with double pneumonia but is now home recovering nicely, thanks to all the prayers! We just got a new Social Worker, and he is GREAT! We need a 24 hour nurse on site and a qualified Doctor to come in weekly to monitor the children. We need a full time Christian psychologist, an English teacher/missionary and more house parents called to the ministry. Thank you to those who already traveled to Nicaragua to be part of this work!

We continue to be so thankful for each of you who lift up our family in prayer. We have been covered with safety, filled with contentment, satisfied with full stomachs while sleeping in comfortable beds--sheltered from the harsh weather here. Every day we see the hand of God move through the work we have an honor to be a part of.

God Bless You with His Peace!
Chris and Corrie Harris
Directors / La Villa Familiar Nicaragua

La Villa Familiar Nicaragua - VFN

Chris and Corrie are the new directors of La Villa (The Village) an orphanage just outside of Managua, Nicaragua. So many exciting things have been happening that I could not resist letting you in on some of the good news. The needs of La Villa are so great and God has answered so many prayers that we will have to narrow the field to only three areas.

Atmosphere and Attitude:
La Villa had been without a director for about nine months. Chris and Corrie found the buildings in disrepair, the children disorderly and aimless, and the employees basically fearful. They discovered locked buildings with needed supplies that had not been distributed; the school building was infested with angry red wasps; the “kitchen” was worse than dirty, and meals below nutritional needs.

Chris began getting order among the children, establishing boundaries, and meeting one-on-one with staff. Corrie focused on preparations for school to start in less than two weeks. They have 35 children, 10 go to a Christian secondary school and the rest attend school at La Villa.

Chris and Corrie are not challenging their culture; they are challenging using their culture as an excuse to be lazy, dishonest and without integrity. Last semester the teachers had to lock the doors to keep the kids in the classrooms. But on the first day of school, the children were in their seats working, and there was a pleasant hum all through the building. They were proud of their new uniforms and their “new” school—a repaired and freshly painted house next to the old school building. Order brings peace.

Reputation:
Because of some really bad things that happened in the past, the reputation of La Villa had deteriorated to that of being considered a hypocrite ministry by the people in a nearby town. Chris discovered this when trying to do business for the orphanage there.

On the road alongside La Villa’s property there is a strip of shanty houses, a squatter’s village of the poorest of the poor. Water and power are often turned off without warning in Nicaragua. When that happened the squatters would come to the guards of La Villa to get water. This was stopped by a former director and many people suffered needlessly. La Villa has a deep well with plenty of water. After checking out the story, Chris ran a water hose to the fence line and told the guards to give water to the people when theirs was turned off. That soon happened, the people came, and they were given water.

The next time Chris was in the town, he tried to buy some produce, but the farmer wouldn’t sell it to him. Instead, he started putting produce in the back of Chris’ truck and told him, “You’re the man who turned the water back on.”

Bonding with the children:
It is one thing to set rules in place, but it’s another to win hearts. More than 85% of the children have been abandoned, most by their mothers. Some of the teens know where their families are but they have been told that they are not wanted. Crushed is not the word for what they have experienced — devastation is a better one.

There has been heavy spiritual warfare to break through and win the children’s trust. It takes more than repairing buildings, clothing the children, and cleaning up where they live. Chris has made huge inroads, especially with the boys. Corrie sent out an urgent prayer request for one particular breakthrough that was needed. That same day, the breakthrough happened, and the next day an unexpected victory followed close behind. Here’s part of the story as Corrie wrote it:

“Yesterday a couple of the ‘tough kids’, the ones I have had to work with so hard, came to me. One of them is a little boy, seven years old that looks five because he’s so small. In his own eyes, he is the next heavyweight champion of the world! His name is Darwin. I have literally chased him to hug him. He has started to respond.

“He held a crumpled piece of paper with dirty little hands and read to me in Spanish (with one of his front teeth missing so it was really hard to understand him) his decision to Chris and me. He said he has decided to give me his entire heart, that he will love me forever, and that I am his Mama and Chris is his Papa. Soon after, other kids started running up to me with their papers and declarations. It is as if there had been a vote, and we won.”

Prayer moves the hand of God. Why He has chosen to wait for us to pray is a mystery only He understands, but He hears and answers when we ask. Two requests: a major need for La Villa right now is an interpreter with a heart for the ministry. And pray for Martha’s trip. This is more than a family visit—it’s missions.