Without a wheelchair, life can be very hard for those with limited mobility, but some are reaching out to them with a gift that will open new doors and opportunities.

Imagine having to crawl to get anywhere in your home.

Imagine most business owners taking one look at you and shaking their heads, no matter how qualified you were. “No. We don’t have any work for you.”

Imagine needing to have a family member carry you—if they could, if they were even around in the first place—so you could go to the grocery store or just to visit a friend.

Imagine a world where about 70 million people are in need of a wheelchair but cannot afford one.

Life With New Possibilities

World Challenge partners with Metanoia Missions International, which has worked to distribute more than 10,200 wheelchairs throughout Nicaragua.

They believe that those with a disability that prevents them from walking need to know Christ’s love for them in a way that honors their worth as God’s children and enables them to be part of their community with dignity.

This past summer, the team was working in Jalapa, Nueva Segovia. The town is primarily an agricultural one with major exports of maize, coffee and lumber. Farming families have to work long, hard days.

Closely attending to the needs of a child or grandparent who’s unable to walk is difficult, if not outright impossible, for many families.

While in the town, the team talked to church leaders and residents around the area, making sure they were able to accurately assess the needs of potential recipients. After that, they ordered the wheelchairs.

Excited family and friends gathered a few weeks later to watch as their loved ones were carefully lifted into each wheelchair and helped to adjust the straps and footrests.

The team was able to bless 50 people with the gift of mobility that day.

Hope for the Hopeless

Eric and Shanna Ferguson founded Metanoia Missions International with a heart for seeing lives transformed in Central America.

Originally from Pittsburgh, Eric served as a Marine and then a state trooper before becoming a pastor. Shanna was born in Managua, Nicaragua and is a pediatric nurse, fifth generation minister, and third generation missionary.

Together, they believe that God brings spiritual and physical change to his children. Our Father wants those who may have felt that their future had no hope to see new possibilities and purpose.

We are called to be the hands and feet of this mission as God brings hope to the hopeless.