April 2025 report
Greetings and thanks: We warmly greet all our beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. We thank you for your participation in the task of discipleship. Together we are reaching more people with training, cognitive tools, and practice. April Activity Report. April 5, 8:00 am – 3:00 pm; Two individuals were given supplementary lessons on the History Makers Workshop (HH1) for the following individuals: Those who fail to follow the methodological guidelines are not entitled to access the digital platform or ILI materials.
The HH1 course contains 15 sessions. Students who miss classes for justifiable reasons have two options to make up the missed classes: (1) Take the missed classes on the day the teacher establishes, or (2) Wait until a new group starts and join on the day corresponding to the missed classes. In this case, Brother Carlos Betanco scheduled a 7-hour day to make up the missing classes for these students so they could graduate as HH1s.
March 18th; We traveled to Canada to do my taxes, renew my passport, and resolve some issues with my pension, etc.
April 2nd; We were invited to participate in a Networking Event for Church Planters in Milton. We shared our calling, what we are doing in Nicaragua under the Mija ministry, the opportunities to do missions in Nicaragua, and our willingness to support missionaries who wish to come.
April 6th in the morning; We were invited to share the word of God with the congregation of TABERKitchener Canada, where we shared the topic of God’s fellow workers. Based on 1 Corinthians 3:5-9, the church is responsible for preserving and proclaiming the good news of the gospel of Christ throughout the world. According to v. 9, church members are God’s fellow workers. According to v. 5. Each co-worker or servant of God has a role to fulfill within the body of Christ. According to v. 6, some have the role of planting (this is equivalent to evangelizing), others have the role of watering (this is equivalent to discipling). According to v. 7, God is the one who gives the growth.
April 6; We were invited to share our testimony with TABER Burlington. We talked about how we arrived in Canada and how the TABER Kitchener Canada planting began. We discussed how important the support of Central Baptist Church, the Eastern Conference, and the North American Baptist Conference was in this process.
We shared about how we obtained our registration and independence from Central Baptist Church, how we obtained the funds for the purchase and construction of our church. We discussed the reason why we left the pastoral ministry at TABER Kitchener to dedicate ourselves to training pastors and leaders in Nicaragua, what we did to obtain financial support to meet the needs of the ministry, and how we support ourselves personally. (with our pensions)
April 8; We returned to Nicaragua to resume leadership training.
April 9-14; We completed pending personal arrangements.
April 13; We provided support to Pastor Luis Gutiérrez of the Santa Elena Church in Managua. With them, we have shared several workshops, including HH1. It was a joy to greet the members and meet new members as a result of the church’s evangelistic work. The pastors continue to put the shared tools into practice, and it is a joy to know that our work is not in vain and that the leaders value it greatly.
April 15-19; We did not schedule training for Holy Week. Churches have activities, and transportation is difficult during this time. However, we took advantage of these days to make progress in preparing training materials.
April 26, 8:00 am – 11:45 pm; We held the workshop “Essential Strategies for Success in Christian Discipleship.” We will repeat this workshop soon at the request of those pastors and leaders who were unable to attend but are interested in the training. We discussed the importance of discipleship. We presented a one-year discipleship plan and some strategies for implementing this plan.
April 30; We held a WhatsApp meeting with a group of brothers and sisters to discuss online studies. Many approved the initiative, and two schedules were established: Monday, 6-7 pm and Wednesday, 7-8 pm. The same course will be held on both days, but with a different group of students each day. We will use the Leaders (EQUIP) courses, consisting of six booklets or 36 lessons.
Upcoming Events: May 3, 8:00 am – 11:45 am; Meeting with students of the Diploma in Pastoral Ministry. They will be submitting assignments for the Biblical Doctrines and Christian Counseling courses, and will be taking the Spiritual Leadership and A Brief History of the Bible courses for the next three months.
May 4, 10:00 am; Leadership workshop in Somoto, and at 4:00 pm, graduation for History Makers1 at the same location. This study group was led by Brother Carlos Betanco, one of our collaborators. We will help you with the HH1 workshop materials.
May 5, 6:00–7:00 pm and May 7, 7:00–8:00 pm; First meeting with online students.
Lessons from the first booklet: 1. The Call to Leadership. 2. The Heart of a Leader. 3. Leaders’ Dreams.
4. Strategic Planning. 5. People Skills. 6. Priorities and Decision-Making. The materials have been developed by Dr. John C. Maxwell’s EQUIP organization and are promoted and coordinated throughout Latin America by LIDERE (Lidere USA in the USA). They are used for the One Million Leaders training program.
May 8, 8:30–10:00 pm; Quarterly meeting of the MIJA Canada/Nicaragua team.
May 10, 8:00 am–11:45 am; Meeting with students of the diploma in pastoral ministry. They will be submitting their assignments for the courses Pastoral Ministry, Expository Preaching, and Proactive Evangelism and receiving course materials for Biblical Doctrines and Christian Counseling for the next three months.
May 12-20: We will be traveling to San Salvador to process personal documents to apply for residency in Nicaragua.
May 17, 8:00-11:45 am: The film “The Forge.” This film shows how to disciple people and turn them into mature Christians and disciple-makers.
The story challenges parishioners to find others with whom to share their faith and instruct them in the ways of the Christian life. Topics also include communication, compassion, and humility.
Prayer requests: We are gathering all the documents to apply for Nicaraguan residency so we don’t have to leave the country every three months. Martha will also apply for Canadian residency. We ask you to pray for both processes, so that everything goes well and we can achieve these two goals.
We are also looking for a vehicle that will allow us to enter places where our bond cannot reach. Please include these goals in your prayers.