We have a problem. Our church's walls are literally falling apart.
We need to build permanent walls.
Two Sundays ago, our church took a special offering to construct block walls. Our church's members are among the the poorest in the world. Our church's weekly offering is normally between $15 to $20. I am very proud of our church as I heard our members say again and again, "We are not too poor to give." The special offering totaled close to $250. I know many people gave all they had out of their deep love for the Lord and for our church.
Currently, our church and school have two needs. First, we need 3 additional classrooms for our school to make room for next year's growth. Second, we need additional space for our growing church. We are looking at this building project as a one year solution for both these needs. During the week, we will set up portable walls to divide the church house into 3 classrooms. We also plan to extend the building to make more room for people on Sunday.
One year from now, we hope to construct a large sanctuary and additional classrooms to meet our long-term needs. At that time, our current church house will become our children's church.
Do you want to help me bless our church? $2,000 is all that is still needed to construct permanent walls. If you are interested in helping our church, please send me an email letting me know your intent. My email address is don@hopeforhome.org.
His Safe Haven Village:
Thank you for helping us build His Safe Haven's village for special needs orphaned children.
This year we hope to build 7 group homes, a training center, a kitchen and a dinning hall.
Next month, we hope to break ground on our first group home.
Last month, we prepared the ground for construction. Here is a picture of our new driveway.
We dug this fish pond to help control water levels during rainy season. In the future, 5 additional ponds will be dug.
We started digging a ditch across our property to help control water.
Progress was made one shovel at at time.
It is important for us to put in place a means of controlling water due to the large volume of rain we receive during rainy season.
While digging, we found an abundant supply of sand.
We used this sand to begin molding cement blocks for our foundations.
As of today, we have made nearly 1,000 blocks.
Our corner posts have been installed. Fence posts are being placed every 100 feet along our property line. This is important since property lines are often disputed in Liberia.
God gave us an abundant supply of termite hills. These hills are perfect for making mud bricks. Last week, we broke down a few of these hills in preparation for making mud bricks this week.
These children are why we do what we do! Many people in Liberia call special needs children "demons" or "devils". They believe these children have participated in the dark, demonic world and bear on their bodies the mark of their wickedness. Special needs children are viewed as a curse on a family. Families who choose to keep special needs children are viewed as a curse on a community. The community fears that the demons in these children will spread throughout the community and cause other children to be born with the same special needs. As a result, many of these children are "destroyed."
We pray that our mission will be God's (His) Safe Haven for these children. We want to rescue as many children as we can and place them with loving foster parents who oversee our group homes. We pray that our mission will be Liberia's go to mission when it comes to caring for special needs children. Through our training center, we want to educate God's church, parents and community leaders about the needs of special needs children. Please keep this ministry in your prayers as we lavish love on children.
Meet our Team:
A few months ago, we placed before you our dream team of staff members. As we looked at the mission God called us to, we believed these staff positions were essential for our ministry to move forward. Thank you for your generous giving. Last week, we were able to hire the last staff member of our dream team! Thank you for giving us the tools and resources we need to accomplish our mission! Here are our full-time staff members.
Church Planting Team:
Pastor Cyrus
- Hope for Home Liberia, Assistant Country Director
- Director of Church Planting
Artist: Prince
- Translates the Bible into pictures for the illiterate
- Draws pictures for every area of our ministry to assist in training the illiterate
Missionary Medical Team:
P.A. Susan
- Head Missionary Physician Assistant
- Medically treats all our sponsored children
- Leads mobile medical clinics
P.A. Elizabeth
- Missionary Physician Assistant
- Oversees Physical Therapist in our group homes
- Helps medically treats all our sponsored children
- Helps leads mobile medical clinics
Liberty Elementary School Team:
Pastor Matthew
- Principal of Liberty Elementary School
K1 Teacher: Joseph
K1 Teacher: Morris
K2 Teacher: James
K2 Teacher: James
1st Grade Teacher: Matthew
1st Grade Teacher: Cyrus
His Safe Haven's Team:
Chef Dennis
- Cooks nutritious meals for our group homes
Orpah
- Assistant Cook for our group homes
Foster Mom: Esther
Foster Mom: Betty
Foster Mom: Vivian
Foster Mom: Korto
Foster Mom: Beatrice
Foster Mom: Gorma
Foster Mom: Lucy
Thank you for providing for the salaries of all our staff members!
People you recently helped:
When Gorma learned that someone from the States had paid to treat her eyes, she broke into spontaneous worship. After seeing the eye doctor, Gorma kept repeating again and again, "Thank You!"
I once was blind now I am beginning to see... Little Solomon had a bad case of cataracts that caused him to be blind in both eyes. Thank you for paying for Solomon's surgery. The doctor said Solomon's eyes looked good so he should regain his sight. It is still too early to tell how much sight Solomon has gained.
Pastor Matthew was having a hard time reading his Bible. Thank you for paying for his eye exam and reading glasses.
A few months ago, our missionary community came together to care for a paralyzed woman named Titi. We flew Titi to our neighborhood and took care of all her needs while she awaited the birth of her son. A few days before Baby Steve was born, the doctor told Titi that Steve would die at birth because his lungs had not developed. We all started praying and God gave us a miracle baby. Last week, Baby Steve's grandfather made a special trip to our town to say "Thank you." He brought Steve with him. Thank you again for all you have done to save this child's life!
We are in the process of treating Christian's skin disease. Thank you for paying for his treatment.
Aiwajiyah Sumo is 51 years old and is in the 11th grade. When I asked him why he decided to return to school, he told me that he could not get a job without an education. Aiwajiyah's school threatened to kick him out because he was unable to pay his school fees. Thank you for keeping Aiwajiayah in school!
Prayer Requests:
1. Please pray that we will see healthy churches started on Kokoyah Road.
2. Please pray that God will provide all the resources that are needed to build His Safe Haven's Village.
3. Please pray for my wife as she adds our 3 new children to her homeschool.
4. Please pray for our new children Annie, Abigail, and Abraham as they adjust to life at our house and for us as we adjust too.
