History/Bios

The LORD called me (Daniel Bain) to move to Nicaragua in 2005.  After graduating from USC with a business administration degree, I served with Manna Project International-Nicaragua, leading various after-school programs and community development projects.  The LORD taught me a lot through MPI, including my introduction to La Chureca.

During my second year with Manna, I found the LORD planting my heart in La Chureca, the community of 200 families that lived in the Managua city trash dump. (In 2013 they were all given new housing outside the dump and better jobs, praise God!) When I first entered the dump, it was such a raw physical picture of what most of “life” looks like from a spiritual perspective, as people dug through garbage, trying to find value in the trash that surrounded them. They made their living by recycling and selling what they found in the rubbish.  It made me think of what U.S. culture would look like if you pulled back the spiritual veil behind which the American Dream hides–digging through superficial garbage, trying to find value in life. It also made me marvel at how much God loves us.  Little 3 year-old Reynaldo (a favorite friend) would be naked and absolutely filthy from head to toe, and yet I would joyfully pick him up and hug him and hold him when he would come running, desperate for love. Despite how filthy we get pursuing “the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, and lusts of other things”, God still loves us and longs to hold us, and clean us up, that we may have Life (Mark 4:19).

Also in that second year, I began a friendship with Brad Corrigan, who was in the process of starting a non-profit called Love, Light & Melody (LLM).  After much prayer, the LORD made it clear that we were called into His Work with the families in La Chureca together, though Brad was based in Denver. Some of the scripture He led us with was Isaiah 58 & 61, 1 Samuel 2:1-10, and Psalm 36:3-6. I also prayed and asked God for someone to walk with daily in this ministry, given that I didn’t think it best to minister alone.  Actually, God thought that first: “It is not good for man to be alone” (Gen 2:18).  Jessenia was the answer to that prayer, though neither of us understood in 2007 that it was a lifelong answer to that prayer.

Jessenia was born and raised here in Managua.  She was finishing her civil engineering degree when I met her, though her heart also quickly shifted the first time she stepped foot in the dump. Her first time in the dump she walked in alone, in a cute outfit, past the drug addicts and drunks, through the swirling gauntlet of trash trucks, right into Alejandra’s house (Reynaldo’s mom), where a drunk neighbor was threatening people with a knife. That’s a brave woman! God gave Jessenia a vivid dream to confirm His plans for her, and my spirit also witnessed to its message. Clearly, the LORD had gone before her to prepare the way.

After two years of being friends and serving together, in God’s timing He opened our eyes to see that we were made one for the other.  We knew from day one of our relationship that we would be married, and we did just that on the first of the year, 2010. We now have one daughter, Jeruahel, who was born in 2016.

Ministry

As we were walking alongside many families in La Chureca in 2009, the LORD put it on Jessenia’s heart to open a new phase of ministry. While parents struggled to make changes in their lives, the children suffered the consequences of the brokenness in the family and society. After a lot of prayer with the board of LLM and many steps of faith in response to God’s direction, we began a new ministry on April 1, 2010, providing a safe home environment and school sponsorship.

For the first two months, Jessenia and I dove in 24/7 to establish the rules, schedules and expectations for everyone’s new life together in the home. The children were unaccustomed to consistent rules, schedules and expectations, and we adults made many mistakes trying to establish consistency.  EdificaSion is now well-established, and while we continue to learn and grow, we thank the LORD for the peace and wisdom He has given to provide the children with the stability they need.

For the first 4 years (and the 2 before the home) God provided for Jessenia and I through Love Light & Melody, for which we are incredibly thankful. Since the start of 2014, we are independent missionaries, learning to trust more and more in His Hand of Provision.

While Jessenia and I supervise the ministry and handle all administrative affairs, we do not work alone.  Two Nicaraguan women, Victoria and Angela, are the current full-time care-givers. We are very thankful for them and to them for the sacrifice they make by ministering to and loving these children who are not their own.  In addition to loving, nurturing, and disciplining the children as part of the team, they do all the cooking and cleaning, freeing Jessenia and I to manage things like spiritual direction, teenage girls, grocery shopping, and homework.

The children all attend a Nicaraguan Christian school, and we are blessed to have them there. After school, they eat a snack and tackle their homework. EdificaSion provides tutoring along with everything they need to learn and do homework in this modern, technological world. When they have finished homework, they play. They like that part.

EdificaSion takes a break from our program during school vacations, ensuring the children have constant family ties. We also do monthly programs with the parents, seeking to raise them up in their identity in Christ as well as teach them to be more responsible parents.  We pray that they would know Jesus, their Rock, and establish their families’ lives in and on Him.