Living Grace Ministry November/ December 2017

Inside this issue

Bible Studies ............................... …….2

Skills Classes ............................... …….2

Celebrations…………..………………………..2
Meet Azucena Castillo ................ …….3

God’s Grace in November & December

Latest Projects...…………………….………..3

Co-Op House .............................. …….3

2017 Business Info............................... …….4

Personal News ............................ …….4

Greetings to all!
Sofia & Victoria ........................... …….5
It’s the end of the year and we can’t believe how fast time has flown! Calling All Chickens………………………..…5
God has blessed us immensely and challenged us strategically this past Partner With Us……………….………………6
year.
We have met new people, started new classes, expanded our outreach, Prayer Reqeusts:
reconnected with old friends, started new relationships, and experi- • Safety & Health for all
enced many opportunities to trust God and glorify Him through our testi-
• Continued Obedience &
monies. seeking God’s will in every
Like most people, we get nostalgic at this time of year. It’s been heart decision
warming to share the memories of 2017. And we are so excited about • Financial Support & Stew-
what God has in store for us and the ministry in 2018. Moving to a new ardship for LGM House
house and expanding the ministry! Stay tuned and keep praying!! • A growing walk with God
for every person who
We hope you are enjoying wonderful times with family and friends over comes through the doors of
these months of Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. Living Grace Ministry House
Glory to Him in ALL things! Celebrate Him! He is Worthy! • Continual praises for our
awesome God and King!
PRAISES:
Weather report- • for the women who are
We are now in the beginning of the other season here, summer. The temps will growing in their Walk with
start to rise over the next months as the sun gets bolder. And there will be no the King!
rain until May. We will miss the lower temps (70s overnight). We don’t take • New salvations!!!
that for granted! We always have fans going 24/7. It’s also very dry and dusty.
• God’s provision for each of
Dust and dirt get into the houses just like outside. Constant cleaning and keep-
us in classes & ministry
ing everything covered is very important. The temps inside our house are the
same as outside. We take lots of (cold) showers in summer! And we thank God • Network of fellow mission-
for the beautiful sunshine! God is good in all times. aries in Leon
 Bible Studies
We love studying God’s Word and sharing it with others. There are so many great studies out there to
guide us to a deeper relationship with God. As I mentioned before, one of our favorite studies is “The
Call to Follow Christ”. We have it in English and Spanish. We have witnessed another salvation as a re-
sult of this study! God is faithful! We plan to continue this study, in both languages, all year long. And
we are always seeking other studies to follow. Please let us know if you have any suggestions for our fu-
ture classes!

Skills Classes

Our Skills Classes continue to draw new ladies. God is opening doors for us to
keep growing and offering more. We continue to teach the basics and will start
new specialty classes in 2018. It’s exciting!

Our current ministry house provided great area for our Christmas lunch. About half of our ladies were able to
come and we had a great time. We’ll be on Christmas vacation until January 9.

We will be moving to another ministry house when our lease is up in February.

Keep that in your prayers! We are looking for God’s pick of location for us!! He is Faithful!

Celebrations...
Shopping, Shipping, & November and December are filled with holidays, parades, special
Handling foods, religious ceremonies, cultural traditions, family and much more!
The Gigantona (giant lady) and Pepe Cabezon (short Nica man) are
We take advantage of every characters that you see performing for tips in the streets a lot during
opportunity to send the these months. A few drummers accompany them around town telling
ladies’ products to the stories of when the Nica men first encountered the ladies of Spain.

states.
LGM has booth #15 at
Abundant Treasures Flea
Market in Rogers to show a
small portion of our items.
We do a lot of custom or-
ders and get them back to
the states, too.
Personal shipping and han-
dling with each order!!!!
2
December 8th is the Day of Mary. The night before, it’s kind of a combination of Christ-
mas (celebrating the conception of Mary), Halloween (walking around house to house
getting goodies at the door) and July 4th in the states (LOTS of fireworks, for HOURS).
Central Park is filled with people and festivities. It’s a crazy night. Then you go to family
dinners of special foods. The 8th is a federal holiday, so everyone stays home and recu-
perates. I’ve been told that even the chickens don’t lay eggs that day!
The main celebration for Christmas here happens on Buena Noche (Christmas Eve). Spe-
cial church services, then special time spent with family. Lots of special foods and love
and laughter. And of course FIREWORKS!!!!! Christmas Day is spent at home relaxing.
Sofi and Victoria spend Buena Noche with her Nica family and then we
celebrate Christmas Day at our house like north Americans (but with
less presents and more love). We have a tree decorated with hand-
made ornaments and birthday pancakes for Jesus for breakfast.
It’s nice to have both cultures in our home.
 Meet Azucena Castillo Co-Op House God’s Vision

God has brought us a dream of

Azucena has been coming to classes at Living Grace
since almost the beginning. She has learned how
to embroidery and does some really nice work.
She helps some of the newer embroidery students
when needed. She also loves to sew. She is getting
better and better as she takes on more complicat-
ed projects. She is not afraid to try new things.
She is such a blessing to us here at Living Grace.
having a separate location,
(currently referred to as the Co-Op
House). Please pray with us!!!!
LGM and other partners will assist
financially in getting the location
secured and operational. The goal

Azucena is married with grown children. She works hard at home is for the Co-Op House to be self-
and brings us some of the ‘fruits of her labor’ like corn and other supporting through income from
produce. She is very loving and encourages us a lot. We’re so proud teaching specialized classes for a
to have her in our ministry. small fee and selling handmade
items from the included storefront.

This location will allow for skills

classes to be taught 6 days a week,

Latest Projects & Custom Orders which will open up a whole new
realm of skills (including basic Eng-
lish classes). It will also allow more
teachers to earn a small salary
from teaching each class.

Our embroidery students made lots of ornaments out of felt for Christmas. LGM will continue to teach basic
They are also learning more advanced techniques for making decorations for skills classes on Tuesdays and
year round. About 300 Christmas ornaments were sent to the states for sale.
Thursdays.
The proceeds have blessed the homes of these ladies.
Another benefit, is that it allows
for Living Grace House to be more
Clothes for themselves and family members (including school
available for Bible Study Classes
uniforms) continues to be a popular thing for the ladies to
throughout the week.
make. Working on variations of styles. A few ladies are also
starting a class to learn how to use the sewing patterns We have a written, detailed pro-
brought from the states. So many choices!!! posal that we would love to share
with anyone interested in sup-
Five of our signature totebags were sent to the states for Christ- porting this special endeavor.
mas orders. We are sending another 11 bags the first week of Please contact Vickie to be put in
January. We will continue to custom make these bags all year touch with Veronica Torres, Direc-
long to send to the states. So, get the word out! tor of the Co-Op.

Keep this exciting opportunity in

We are also working on ideas for other special order items., and your prayers!!
we take suggestions!!! Thankful for the opportunities to support
the ministries and the artisans!
3
Board of Directors
LGM Business News
Vickie Cline, Director Living Grace Ministry started in
Leon Nicaragua Leon Nicaragua in January 2014,
and was incorporated as a non-
Cathy Krupka, profit organization in May of
Rogers AR 2015.
Zandra Mangrum Living Grace Ministry is regis-
Garfield AR tered with the IRS as a 501(c)(3)
We are proud to represent God’s
Oliver Martinez
Ft Worth TX plan of salvation as we minister
“How can they go if they are not
to the people of Leon Nicaragua
sent? How beautiful are the feet
Beth Sevey and surrounding areas. that bring the Good News.”
Bentonville AR Romans 10:15

Nica Co-Director
Veronica Torres “Concern yourself with the depth of your ministry
and God will take care of the breadth.”
Nica Assistant
Sofia Roque

US Vol Admin Asst

Personal News...
US Vol Mdsg Asst I (Vickie) am so excited to announce that my application for resi-
dency has been accepted at the Nica Immigration Department.
Now I am waiting on the phone call to schedule the interview
and home visit. After that, it’s just waiting for the cedula (Nica ID
card) to be ready. This will happen sometime in 2018. It’s ok.
It’s all in God’s timing. The good thing is that now that I have a
receipt showing that my application is in process, I can pay for
visa extensions monthly and stay in Nica. (not have to travel to
states every 3 months any more)
Once I receive my cedula, I will renew annually for two years un-
til I apply for US Social Security. At that time, I can apply for a
Pensioner residency here that is renewable every 5 years. I am
so thankful for how God has worked it out for me to have resi-
dency as a missionary through my work with a friend’s NGO here.
He placed us all where we need to be. He is faithful.
I will remain a US citizen (I get asked about that a lot). Thank you
for your prayers and keep them coming!!!
4
 Sofi & Victoria

Sofi is on vacation from school until February. Next year, as she completes high-
school, she will be diligently studying English. Then the next 3 years will be tech-
nical school for Business Administration. More about that in future newsletters.
I still marvel at what a special young lady is. What a wonderful Mom, Daughter,
Christian, student, mentor and co-worker in the LGM ministry! She is a testa-
ment to God’s redeeming power in all of our lives. I am blessed to call her my
daughter.
Victoria will be 3 years old in January. She is continuing to learn in both English and Spanish and can be
quite funny! She talks ALL THE TIME!! We can’t wait to see how she (and the school) will respond to
her preschool classes (starting in Feb). She loves to dance, try gymnastics moves, play any kind of
sports, and mimics everything she sees. V has a very vivid imagination and strong curiosity. It’s fun to
watch her explore the world! Thank you for praying over our little family. We want to love and sup-
port each other, as well as share Jesus’ love with everyone we encounter. HE is the head of our home.

Calling All Chickens!!!

You’ve heard the story about breakfast… The Chicken participates, but the Pig is committed!
I’m so thankful that God allows me (and Sofi and Veronica) to be the ‘pigs’ of Living Grace Ministry, and to
commit our lives entirely to serving fulltime to run the ministry. We wouldn’t have it any other way. It can
be difficult and challenging at times, but what better way to learn to trust God and to live out our testimo-
ny to His great love and provision and faithfulness!
We are looking for those whom God has called to be the ‘Chickens’ of the ministry… Those who will par-
ticipate in providing the outreach of this ministry to the women here in Leon Nicaragua. Participation is
easy. You get to stay in your country/state/town/house/lifestyle. All we are prayerfully asking is that you
‘participate’ in the ministry by giving a financial donation to Living Grace Ministry.
The one-time large donations are wonderful to help us with projects and to carry us through various time
periods. We appreciate them and put them to good use. And we thank God for those who give!
We also feel God nudging us to encourage others of you to participate in the ministry by giving ‘eggs’ on a
more scheduled basis. Like maybe $10 a month, $20 a month, etc.
So, please PRAY first, and ask God if He wants you to participate in the sharing of Jesus with Living Grace
Ministry. Then visit our website (livinggrace.us) or text your $ amount to 479-282-3114 to set up a
monthly or quarterly giving plan. Or you can mail your checks to Living Grace Ministry, PO Box 567, Rogers
AR 72757. All donations are tax deductible and you will receive an end of year donation record.
We’ll be the committed ‘Pigs’. Would you be a ‘Chicken’ for LGM and give us a few of your ‘eggs’?
Please pray about it. And God bless you and your family and your chicken coop!

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Ministerio Gracia Viva
Partner With Us:
Calletano Mungia
Visit our website: livinggrace.us
2 1/2 cuadras al sur
We’re on facebook: Living Grace Ministry
Leon Nicaragua

89493842 claro
PLEASE ADD US TO YOUR PERSONAL & CHURCH PRAYER LISTS

Support LGM financially by:

Checks to Living Grace Ministry, PO Box 567, Rogers AR 72757
Online giving at livinggrace.us (use donor portal button)
Text giving at 479-282-3114

Living Grace Ministry PLEASE

PLACE
PO Box 567 STAMP
Rogers AR 72757 HERE

Phone: 479-270-0727

E-mail: vickiejocline@yahoo.com