An earthquake flattens 80% of the buildings in Managua on December 23, leaving 10,000 dead and 200,000 homeless. Dr. Parajón, medical missionary for the American Baptist Churches, calls a meeting four days later, where members from eight denominations found the Evangelical Committee for Help for the Victims (CEPAD). For the next month, they serve 30,000 hot breakfasts a day to children. Within three months, they have built over a thousand houses, and grown from twenty persons to twenty denominations. Church World Service funnels its relief funds for Nicaragua through CEPAD. CEPAD members plan to disband the organization by April.

The denominations in CEPAD see that the need in Nicaraguan is ongoing and decide they will continue working together. The focus of the work shifts away from Managua to the countryside, where corruption has prevented foreign aid from reaching. CEPAD begins to develop its methodology of empowering people to make their own changes instead of depending on outsiders to help them. The political situation is getting steadily worse, as more and more of the population turns against Somoza. The assassination of La Prensa editor, Pedro Joaquin Chamorro, sets the business community against him (Somoza), marking the beginning of the end. The Sandinista Front for National Liberation (FSLN) takes one city after another, and Somoza's fall becomes inevitable.

The United States tries to negotiate a peaceful way to transition Somoza out of power. It fails, and on July 18th the insurrectionists take Managua. Somoza flies away into exile in Miami. The next day is remembered as The Triumph. The country is now run by the Board of National Reconstruction, which includes future Presidents Daniel Ortega and Violeta Chamorro. While the Board represents a cross-section of society, it is dominated by the leftist Sandinistas. Over time, conservative members begin to drop out in protest of the populist agenda, further consolidating the FSLN's hold on power. After considerable internal debate, CEPAD supports the programs proposed by the new government, though it stops short of endorsing the Sandinistas themselves.

Almost immediately upon taking office, US President Ronald Reagan begins to organize the remnants of Somoza's Guardia Nacional into a counter-revolutionary army. Their tactics include killing teachers, doctors, nurses, priests, and other non-combatants. The Sandinistas react by building an army from scratch, which prevents the Contras from ever gaining a permanent foothold in Nicaragua. At the same time, the government holds a literacy campaign, which in a period of five months, reduces illiteracy from 50% to 17%. CEPAD continues its programs, at times finding the government resistant, and at other times, finding it encouraging. Similarly, CEPAD is supportive of governmental education and health campaigns, but openly critical when the Sandinistas' military measures become excessive.

The conflict, known as "Reagan's war" in Nicaragua, worsens. Government programs are sharply hampered by the need to fund the war effort and by attacks against civilians and infrastructure. In 1984, Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega is overwhelmingly elected President. The Sandinistas begin breaking up properties of the large landowners who fled the country, giving it to cooperatives and small-scale farmers. The Sandinistas neglect to legalize these transactions, leaving a legacy of ambiguity which will plague the country for years to come. In Nueva Guinea, CEPAD guides the formation of Peace Commissions. These include both Catholics and Protestants, who repeatedly risk their lives protecting the rights of non-combatants, averting battles, defending prisoners, and protecting deserters.

The conflict continues to take its toll on Nicaragua, which is now in a spiraling economic crisis. At one point, the inflation rate reaches more than 30,000%. Illegal funding from the United States' government keeps the contra war effort going while the Sandinistas are forced to enact a draft so they will have enough soldiers to defend the nation. This (action) proves extremely unpopular. Public support for the war, and for the FSLN, is eroding steadily. The Vice-President attempts to build a National Reconciliation Commission, but it never approaches the effectiveness of the CEPAD's Peace Commissions, which continue to multiply. Aside from Nueva Guinea, the Peace Commissions are also a success on the Atlantic Coast, where they help end the fighting.

Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, widow of martyr Pedro Joaquin Chamorrro, wins the Presidential elections, despite all indicators pointing to the re-election of Daniel Ortega. The US has, in so many words, promised to stop its war effort against Nicaragua if the FSLN is voted out, and so it is does. The transition is peaceful, but before it takes place the FSLN distributes a hefty portion of the government's land and goods to its own leaders, in what becomes known as the "piñata." With the end of the revolutionary government and the FSLN's unscrupulous reaction to this fact, foreign aid to Nicaragua from solidarity organizations suddenly dwindles to a trickle. CEPAD is forced to make do with less.

Large-scale foreign investment begins to return to Nicaragua, and macroeconomic figures improve notably. This improvement is felt only by the upper class, many members of which return from exile. Most people agree that Chamorro has inherited an extremely difficult situation. Bands of Contras disarm after negotiating with the new government, but when the terms of the agreements are not met, they take up weapons again, becoming known as "re-Contras." Some Sandinistas also take up arms against the new government and the re-Contras. CEPAD is actively involved in trying to re-disarm both sides, and the number of Peace Commissions in rural areas actually increases.

Arnoldo Alemán, mayor of Managua, is elected President. This inaugurates a period of corruption that matches even the worst excesses of the Somoza dynasty. However, Alemán never develops a military force loyal to him and does not physically intimidate the people. Hurricane Mitch does untold damage to the country, setting back years of economic progress. Two villages near Posoltega are entirely buried in a massive mudslide, killing nearly 3,000 people; and bridges, roads, and tens of thousands of acres of farmland are ruined. One silver lining is that foreign aid increases, and a substantial portion of Nicaragua's foreign debt is written off (though it remains the highest per-capita in the world). CEPAD is central to both short-term and long-term relief efforts.

In both the 2000 and 2004 municipal elections, Sandinista mayors are elected in Managua and several other major cities, as the people react angrily to the corruption of the Liberal Party. However, Alemán and Ortega develop and implement a political pact that will further undermine public support for both their parties, while at the same time destroying other parties. Enrique Bolaños, Alemán's former Vice-President, defeats Ortega for the Presidency on a platform of honesty and austerity, but the pact puts both Alemán and Ortega in the National Assembly, protecting them from prosecution for their respective crimes. Together and separately, they work to block Bolaños' programs. Bolaños ends up governing the country without a political party to back him up, at odds with the PLC and FSLN-run National Assembly. The situation of weakened institutional democracy threatens to set Nicaragua back in its economic development. Meanwhile, the most impacted by the crisis are the 80% of Nicaraguans living on less than one US dollar a day. In the face of shrinking financial support, CEPAD programs are redesigned to become self-sustaining.