The country of Nicaragua has been in the news since April with its violent protests and political upheaval. Approximately 300 people have been killed and thousands of people fleeing to neighboring Costa Rica as civil war is looming.

In the middle of such deep unrest, there is still a light that shines. ORPHANetwork, a partner of The Compass Church, is seeing the Gospel radiate through to the most vulnerable. They serve around 360 children through six children’s homes across Nicaragua, supporting ministries that have rescued children who have been abandoned, abused, socially orphaned or truly orphaned.

I was encouraged by their recent update and hope you are too.

One of the children’s homes, Casa Bernebè, recently celebrated 18 of their children choosing to be baptized. In celebration of this, I loved what Bertha Solorzano, a staff member had to say.

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“This has been a time when we have seen the love and faithfulness of God. The situation that we are living in has touched our hearts a lot and has been an opportunity for constant meetings to be united, praying for the Lord. Everyday there is one more reason to pray.
Although our hearts are sad, we get up every day remembering that God always has control and purpose over things. Our faith has been developed and strengthened through this new path that we did not know we should encounter. We are teaching the children to put their gaze on God, the author of everything created and our faith.”

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Please pray for the staff and children of ORPHANetwork that they would continue to see God’s hope and protection during this difficult time in Nicaragua. For more information on ORPHANetwork and all they are doing, visit orphanetwork.org.

“Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair.”– Nelson Mandela

Matt and Laura Pheneger, missionary partners of The Compass Church, are reaching youth and their families through a unique way: soccer. Matt serves as the Director of  Ambassodors Football Latin America. They use soccer as a platform to communicate the Good News to the marginalized children of Latin and South America.

Recently, The Compass Church donated 125 soccer shoes for teams in Peru. “There is a girls’ soccer team from Lima that qualified to play in a tournament in Paraguay against teams from around South America,” Matt said. “Many of the players had shoes that were falling apart and didn’t have money to replace them. We gave the girl’s the donated shoes. Our daughter, Claire’s team, played against them and several of the parents thanked me. Please pray this will open doors for the Gospel to be shared with this team in the future.”

 

Over the weekends of May 26/27 and June 2/3, The Compass Church will be having a drive for used soccer shoes, balls and equipment for at-risk kids in Nicaragua. There will be white bins at Compass Central that donations can be dropped off. Join us in sharing the joy of soccer!

For questions, please email compassglobal@thecompass.net.
For more about Matt and Ambassodors Football, please visit https://latam.ambassadorsfootball.org/ and https://vimeo.com/aflatam.