Making Christmas Dreams Come True in Liberia Africa:
Have you ever been asked to carry children to an orphanage? There are very few things in life that will get my attention quicker than being asked that question. Please take a good look at the children in my car. These 5 children and their 6 siblings were orphaned when their mother died 2 years ago. At that time, the children were split in three directions. My friend Elizabeth took 3 children, Elizabeth's sister took 5 children, and 3 children were sent to the orphanage. Two weeks ago, Elizabeth was crying as she told me that her sister was no loner able to care for the 5 children since her new husband no longer wanted them. Elizabeth asked me if I would go pick up the children and carry them to the orphanage.
Our mission tries by all means to keep families united. The best solution for orphaned children is their extended family members. After meeting with Elizabeth and her husband, Rufus, it became clear that they love these children but cannot afford to raise them.
I need your help. Liberia is one of the poorest nations in the world. Jobs are almost nonexistent. Though Rufus and Elizabeth are educated, they are unemployed. Currently, Rufus and Elizabeth have taken in 8 of the 11 children. My heart breaks for the 3 children who still live at the orphanage. I am doing everything in my power to raise the money needed to reunite these children with the rest of their family. Will you please help me find sponsors for all 11 of these children? This need is too large for our family or mission to meet without your help.
Sponsorship is $40 a month. As I spoke to Rufus and Elizabeth about child sponsorship, Rufus said, "I would walk 200 miles and back if that is what it took to express my gratitude." Elizabeth is a trained Physician Assistant. Elizabeth does not want to receive help without working for it. Elizabeth has offered to work full-time for our mission in exchange for the children's sponsorship. That means that your sponsorship will not only change your sponsored child's life but it will also touch numerous lives through Elizabeth's hands as she serves in our mobile medical clinics in remote towns and villages where there is no medical care and as she helps keep all 168 of our other sponsored children healthy.
If you and your family are looking for a Christmas project to do together, will you consider helping me find sponsors for these children?
Elizabeth's Children who have been Sponsored:
Have you ever been asked to carry children to an orphanage? There are very few things in life that will get my attention quicker than being asked that question. Please take a good look at the children in my car. These 5 children and their 6 siblings were orphaned when their mother died 2 years ago. At that time, the children were split in three directions. My friend Elizabeth took 3 children, Elizabeth's sister took 5 children, and 3 children were sent to the orphanage. Two weeks ago, Elizabeth was crying as she told me that her sister was no loner able to care for the 5 children since her new husband no longer wanted them. Elizabeth asked me if I would go pick up the children and carry them to the orphanage.
Our mission tries by all means to keep families united. The best solution for orphaned children is their extended family members. After meeting with Elizabeth and her husband, Rufus, it became clear that they love these children but cannot afford to raise them.
I need your help. Liberia is one of the poorest nations in the world. Jobs are almost nonexistent. Though Rufus and Elizabeth are educated, they are unemployed. Currently, Rufus and Elizabeth have taken in 8 of the 11 children. My heart breaks for the 3 children who still live at the orphanage. I am doing everything in my power to raise the money needed to reunite these children with the rest of their family. Will you please help me find sponsors for all 11 of these children? This need is too large for our family or mission to meet without your help.
Sponsorship is $40 a month. As I spoke to Rufus and Elizabeth about child sponsorship, Rufus said, "I would walk 200 miles and back if that is what it took to express my gratitude." Elizabeth is a trained Physician Assistant. Elizabeth does not want to receive help without working for it. Elizabeth has offered to work full-time for our mission in exchange for the children's sponsorship. That means that your sponsorship will not only change your sponsored child's life but it will also touch numerous lives through Elizabeth's hands as she serves in our mobile medical clinics in remote towns and villages where there is no medical care and as she helps keep all 168 of our other sponsored children healthy.
If you and your family are looking for a Christmas project to do together, will you consider helping me find sponsors for these children?
Elizabeth's Children who have been Sponsored:
Praise God, Emily is sponsored!
Praise God, Vera is sponsored!
Praise God! Joanna is sponsored!
Praise God! Prince is Sponsored!
Praise God! Michael is Sponsored!
Elizabeth's Children who are not sponsored but are living at her house:
Marthaline is 11 years old.
Princess is 12 years old.
Vera D. S. is 13 years old.
Elizabeth's children who are still living at the orphanage:
Hannah is 8 years old.
Seneta is 9 years old.
Lincoln is 12 years old.
Please send me an email if you are interested in sponsoring any of these children. My email address is don@hopeforhome.org.
Bible Institute:
Preparations are being made to reopen the two Bible Institutes on Kokoyah Road. Since returning to Liberia, my time has been consumed with opening our new elementary school, overseeing our special needs group homes, and overseeing our child sponsorship program. Sometime between January and March there will be two missionary families joining us in Liberia. Their coming will free me up to begin training pastors again.
The Remote Bible Institute trains pastors and church leaders who live in remote towns and villages. One of the greatest challenges we face is Liberia's high illiteracy rate. To help overcome this problem, we have a full-time artist who helps us translate the Bible into pictures. Last year, we taught the book of Romans. This year we plan to teach the 4 Gospels.
The Garden of Eden
We will start this year's teaching by giving a brief overview of the Old Testament. We want to our students to understand how the Gospels fit into God's overall redemptive plan. During this overview, attention will be given to Jesus' work throughout the Old Testament and the various Old Testament prophesies about Jesus.
After giving an overview of the Old Testament, we will teach an introduction to the Gospels. Have you ever wondered why there are four books in the Bible that tell the story of Jesus' life (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John)? Wouldn't one book have been sufficient? Look at the above picture. Notice there are four people who witnessed the accident. Each of these people observed the accident from a different perspective therefore their testimonies will be slightly different. If you listen to all four testimonies, you will have a clear understanding of what took place.
The same is true regarding the Gospels. Matthew wrote his gospel to the Jews and portrayed Jesus as their Messiah. John Mark wrote his gospel to the Romans and portrayed Jesus as a suffering servant. Luke wrote his gospel to the Greeks and portrayed Jesus as a perfect man. John wrote his gospel to all the citizens of the world and portrayed Jesus as God. By studying all four gospels you come to understand that Jesus that was our promised messiah who lived as a servant while being fully God and fully man.
One of the greatest challenges we face as we draw the Gospels is determining what the characters should look like.
Our artist naturally draws every character to look Liberian. For example, compare the picture he drew of Mary to the picture he drew of Jesus. As much as possible, I am encouraging Prince to draw the characters to look historically accurate rather than Liberian. We are in the process of editing Mary so she will look more like the picture the picture of Jesus. If we are successful at drawing the Gospels to look historically accurate, we can post our lessons online and other missionaries from various cultures around the world can use them in their context. Please keep this project in your prayers.
Pictures from Last Week:
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School uniforms arrived last week! |
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Our teachers are doing an excellent job training your sponsored children! |
Thank you again for sponsoring all the children in our school!
The sign for our school was completed last week.
This picture was taken on the way to church last Sunday. Grace, Tommy, Melanie and I sit in the front. Christian and Don sit in the back. See if you can find Christian and Don.
Sunday morning worship.
Cyrus has been leading a team of 5 men to clear our land.
We own 10 acres. When the land is cleared, we will build a small road leading to the future location of our special needs group homes and training center.
The moms at our special needs group home are doing a great job raising our children.
Patience is learning to walk.
Prayer Requests:
1. Please remember Liberia's presidential elections in your prayers. Everything is still held up on the court system. Please pray for a peaceful transition of power.
2. Please pray that we are able to find sponsors for all 11 of Elizabeth's children.
3. Please pray the Lord gives us wisdom as we write lessons for the Bible Institute.
4. Please pray for my wife as she home schools our children.
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