Our church has been performing mission work in Central America for several years. In 2013, a Pastor from Nicaragua visited our church in Oklahoma and explained God’s vision for the Somotillo, Nicaragua area. His name is Pastor Santos Diomedes Santeliz (Diomedes). In 2014, our Mission Team Leader indicated a spot had opened up for the upcoming mission trip to Nicaragua set for June 2014; he asked if I was interested in going. My heart said yes, but my bank account said no. So I asked if I could do some after church “meal fundraisers” to raise money for my trip. At the time, no one had ever asked the question about such an activity. Our Pastor said “yes” and I began to raise the money. Time passed and $1400 of the $1600 was raised. Then a gift of the remaining $200 came in from friends so I knew I was supposed to go. I went to Nicaragua with no expectations and had no idea what I would be doing – I just knew I was supposed to go.

Pastor Diomedes is a man of great vision. He started his ministry in the 1990’s in Somotillo. In short, the people of Somotillo told him his vision was too big for the Somotillo area; however, Diomedes would not listen to them. To me, Pastor Santeliz is the Billy Graham of Nicaragua and Honduras. He has an amazing testimony. If you ever met him, you would understand that he is truly a man of God and “on fire” to spread the gospel.

In October 1998, Hurricane Mitch destroyed Northern Nicaragua and Southern Honduras. It was at that point, God began to work thru Pastor Diomedes with the Christian missionaries that would come to help the people in this area – many missionaries still come today, over 20 years later.

Pastor Diomedes explained God’s Vision to the missionaries. Today, because the Pastor listened to God and would not listen to the naysayers, this ministry has grown to the following:

There are literally hundreds of opportunities to share the gospel, start new churches, etc. The harvest is ripe in this area of the world!

Since 2015, our church has provided vegetable and citrus training to the farmers in Northern Nicaragua. We established a “loan/grant” program whereby we give a local farmer $600 worth of equipment, fencing material, tools, etc. They are required to repay half of the money within three years. This program allows the farmers to learn better techniques for raising crops, and by putting the practices into action, the farmers can increase their crop yields, provide better crops for their family and are able to sell the remaining crops. Over time, the program will become financially self-sustaining. Local Village Pastors are asked about the best persons for the loan/grant program, and ten are selected each year. The goal of this project is to help the farmers become (agriculturally) “self-sufficient” and to improve the overall health and welfare of the people in this region.  We will be giving goats to the local farmers once the main goat herds are developed and the managers and farmers are properly trained.