This is Wilmer and his family who live just down the road from us on Ometepe Island. They are standing by their new house we helped build them. The shack they used to live in was so bad they asked for help and we did just that. We even had a sign put up on the house that says, "This house is a gift from God to Wilmer." God did in fact supply the manpower and finances so He should get the glory, Right?
We have built three houses since 1999, these being very simple cinder block, tin roof, dirt floor homes that have no electric and burn wood for cooking as do most of the 45,000 inhabitants on the island. We also give out donated clothes, provide tin for roofs as well as help the poorest families with uniforms and school needs.
In most of Central America you have to have a uniform to go to public school. To outfit one child with all he needs to attend school is nearly $50. That may not seem like a lot to us but the average wage on the island is $4 a day!!! When a family has many school-aged children it's almost impossible to provide for all of them to attend school. Many go without an education and enter a cycle of poverty that is hard to escape.
Esther and I felt called to move to the island thereby having greater opportunities to minister. With our recently purchased 4 acres on Ometepe Island we can build our simple home as well as our Community Outreach Center/ Vo-Tech School.
The local community is very excited about our planned Center and school. What we envision is living among the people and being a blessing, showing mercy and love to them in many ways as Jesus did, our best example. We know many pastors on the island and want to work closely with them to reach out to the community. Our invitation is the whole community to come take advantage of our Center and school built to be a blessing for them.
Through our Vo-Tech school we will offer classes, free of charge, in vocational trades such as carpentry, arts and crafts, computers, as well as English classes. We also will have a special outreach to the younger children through puppets, films, skits, and computer programs. With our video projector we will show many animated Bible films each month and will draw many, since there are no theaters on the island.
We invite any and all church building teams, youth groups, individuals as well as skilled professionals, retired or not, to come down part-time to Ometepe to reach out to the poor, teach, build, experience the many opportunities to be a blessing and just love the children. A guest house will be built that can house the many church groups and individuals that we hope will be coming throughout the years to get exposure to missions in a developing country and experience a mission trip they will never forget! We want this place to be a beehive of activity, all for the glory of God.
Our home church as well as a few friends and family make up our financial support base, giving monthly to enable us to minister. We receive no regular salary. Our income is by faith and varies month to month. Our mission agency, "Commission to Every Nation" in Kerrville, Texas, helps us in many ways and gives tax-deductible receipts to our supporters as well as good pastoral care to us. If you have any questions or would like to send a team or partner with us, just e-mail us at tomfritz@cten.org or contact our friendly mission pastor at jackrothenflue@cten.org
Be a blessing today,
Tom & Esther Fritz