As many of you know, in 2014, a group of Jon’s high school friends prayed about what it could look like to help local pastors in Diriamba, Nicaragua brainstorm a solution to the significant problem they were seeing for children in this region. The local pastors all agreed that a high-quality Christian school was what this community was lacking. 18ten (the name of the ministry is after Matthew 18:10) prayerfully considered this idea, but at the time was not in a financial position to be able to build a school. Therefore, the group decided to start with a before/after school program they named “Oasis de la Gracia” – the Oasis of Grace. It’s a place that meets their spiritual and physical needs and is representative of the overwhelming grace of God.  The four main objectives of the program are to provide needy children with the gospel, tutoring, meals, and life skills.

 It was so humbling to be able to go there in person this summer, for the FIRST time, after several years of prayer, vision trips by the board, then the hard work of building a school in the middle of a of civil unrest and Covid.  Since it’s inception, the after-school program has flourished and is now a 5 day a week, 1st-6th grade elementary school, with over 120 students that provide a place of relief and safety to children.

 Many of you have followed us on this journey and have prayerfully and financially supported this ministry. We just wanted to say THANK YOU and give God the glory to be able to testify to His faithfulness. Words can’t express how humbling it was to see these children receiving two meals a day (for some of these children it is their major source of nutrition), opening the word of God together, and being given an education that will serve as a way to elevate them out of poverty.  I walked into this school have no expectations and to see with my own eyes how important this work is to these children and their families was overwhelming.

-Erin Minor