Restoring Hope in Nicaragua

You are helping restore broken families

Salustiano is a heavily built, broad-shouldered man with short black hair. His facial features reflect his earnest approach to ministry. His unpretentious and simple outfit communicates his conviction that ministry isn’t about him. “I started serving Christ eight years ago,” the 57-year-old pastor says. “It was during a tough time in my life when I suffered from cancer.”

“I thought my days were numbered. But after prayer, God healed me. I saw His glory!”

After recovering from cancer, Salustiano prayed to God to open opportunities to serve Him. Three months later, he received a call to become a pastor.

Jasmina

He and his wife, Jasmina, passionately serve a church in central Nicaragua. Jasmina sits at his side and, like her husband, she maintains a serious look on her face when speaking.

Initially, Jasmina went to church merely to be with Salustiano. “I didn’t feel like I was in a hurry to know God,” she recalls. But when her only son encountered a problem, she gave her life to Christ. She doesn’t disclose the nature of her son’s issue.

Broken Families

The couple were married 16 years ago, but both had previous marriages. Sadly, broken families are an everyday reality in Nicaraguan society. “One of the reasons is that many men want to dominate their wives and subject them to physical violence,” Jasmina explains.

The people here profoundly crave hope and meaning from God’s Word. Salustiano and Jasmina’s broken past fuels their service to the community. They serve the Lord passionately so that the people know Christ. “People need to know God. If a father doesn’t know God, he won’t treat his family well,” Salustiano stresses.

“We want to reach this entire community. We do all of it out of love for the Lord,” he says.

Jasmina serves women and girls and identifies with their woes. God has laid it on her heart to pray for other marriages, especially for the women suffering violence and mistreatment. She prays for God to break the chains and end their grief.

Restoring Hope

After Salustiano accepted God’s call, he didn’t anticipate that serving God would be so challenging.

“In the first month of our ministry, we gathered under a tree. We had to search for wood to build a church.”

The church began under a tree with four adults. Now, they meet under an open-air shed, sharing the Gospel nearby. Salustiano just completed the second module of Bible League’s Church Planter Training. “With this method, the work is so easy! We wish to train more leaders to plant new churches here.”

The hunger for God’s Word has grown the church to 45. Sometimes, during the church service, a hummingbird flutters through the hall to feed on a flower.

“Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God.” (Psalm 84:3 ESV).

On weekends, their soup kitchen serves 47 desperate children with the Gospel and food. Jasmina gave the children the Bible League booklets you donated. Seated at a table on one side of the church, the little ones concentrate on coloring the beautiful drawings in the book.

“Many children in Nicaragua are abandoned by their fathers,” Jasmina explains. “It is so important to introduce them to the heavenly Father!”

“With Bible League’s children’s materials, we can help them know God.”

Your Support

The couple really appreciate your support. “It’s extraordinary work to put Bibles in people’s hands.”

Your gift is filling the hunger for God’s Word.

Pastor Salustiano thanks you and all Bible League donors for supporting people who hunger for God and His Word.

“We are reaching more people with the materials you provide.”