The start of a new year always feels like a good moment to be in touch! 

As we look back on 2023, we’re once again amazed by God’s grace to us as a family and immensely thankful to you, our supporters, for enabling us to serve through your prayers, gifts, and friendship.

It’s now been 18 months since we arrived in Nicaragua. It’s fair to say the transition from Bolivia has been demanding, but we’ve been in no doubt that we are exactly where God wants us to be.

On arrival, we had a strong sense that our first phase here was a time to “consecrate ourselves” in readiness for what God has planned (Joshua 3:5) and focus on deepening our walk with God, our kids’ transition, the consolidation of Novō Bolivia, and steadily building new relationships beyond Bolivia.

We don’t know how well we did at all of that. We maybe should have “pushed” less and trusted more?! But, reflecting, we can see that God has been working. Our walk with Him has certainly deepened as our faith, patience, and resources (of all kinds) have been stretched far further than expected. Pioneering is hard!

With each new step forward, we have developed greater clarity about what we should be doing, how, and why. 

The what remains the pursuit of Novō’s vision of bringing freedom to individuals, peace to families, and hope to communities gripped by addiction.

The how takes our mission of empowering God’s people in developing nations to create transformational communities that offer healing, wholeness, and hope and sharpens the focus onto the creation of a family of transformational (recovery) communities who: 

• Unite around shared faith, vision, passion, and values
• Utilize Beyond Addiction, the Novō recovery programme
• Connect to encourage, help, and pray for each other
• Value the distinct history, convictions, and character of each community

The why has to do with three things:

Firstly, because countless lives being lost, directly and indirectly, to the death grip of addiction. There really is a global addiction epidemic, and it’s the cause of more suffering and sorrow than most of us can wrap our heads around.

Secondly, because those who have dedicated their lives to this cause are eager for encouragement, support, and recovery know-how. So many wonderful people are pouring themselves into the lives of the broken, often at great personal sacrifice, and they need our love and support!

Thirdly, because through Christ’s victory and the pouring out of His Spirit, God has opened up a way, not just out of addiction but into the freedom and peace (shalom) of life in His Kingdom.

We are excited to see how things develop and grow this year.

In Nicaragua, we look forward to seeing how our relationships with Quien Soy Yo, Centro Mahanaim, Campo Gonia, and a new addiction ministry here in Managua, develop. Elsewhere, we have full-of-potential relationships with ministries in Ecuador, South Africa, and Argentina. 

On the family front, we have an increasing sense of “home” and belonging in Managua. We’re incredibly thankful for our house, the kids’ school, and the international church community. 

For the kids, 2024 looks set to be a big year! 

Daniel is enjoying studying Law at Royal Holloway. He and Avery, his girlfriend, were able to visit us over the summer, and Daniel was also just with us over Christmas.

Jemimah graduates from High School this summer and is planning to study speech and language therapy in the US, where scholarships make the price of a university education comparable to the UK. 

Today is Phoebe’s 16^th birthday! We’re going to a lake with friends on Saturday to celebrate. She continues to enjoy youth group and being part of the school chapel worship team and benefits tremendously from the additional learning support she receives at school. 

JJ continues to enjoy school sports. Last semester was football season. Now it’s time for basketball season. He’s also a passionate gamer! A highlight of 2023 was a school trip which involved a big hike up and into the crater of a volcano.

Miah started school in August, which she took in her stride. She just turned 6 and is an absolute joy to us all.

Thanks for getting this far. We’re grateful for your love and support! Without you, we wouldn’t be where we are, and Novo wouldn’t be doing what it’s doing.

Wishing you God’s very best in 2024.

With much love,

Andy & Mickey

FINANCIAL SUPPORT

We don’t receive a salary from Novō and can serve through our supporters’ faithful generosity. While our monthly support is £1,200 below budget, over the years we’ve seen this shortfall met through one-off gifts. If you are able to support us in 2024, whether with a regular gift or a one-off donation, we’d be thrilled.

You can do this using this donation form (Donations Form) or at www.give.net/20171708

PRAYER GROUP

We have a WhatsApp group where we share monthly updates and prayer requests. We also use the group to coordinate a monthly Zoom prayer gathering. If you’d like to be added to the group, drop us an email at andy@novocommunities.org