Weekly Missions Update 10-32-17

New Staff Members Needed:

His Safe Haven strives for excellence in special needs orphan care.  As our ministry grows, the need for adding additional staff members also grows.  Let me introduce you to the staff we want to hire. 

Last week, we hired Susan.  Susan graduated from the Baptist Missionary Physician Assistants School and has worked in medical clinics for years.  Her job is to medically treat all our sponsored children, to administer daily medicines, to oversee daily therapy, to make sure our foster parents practice good hygiene, and to conduct mobile health clinics in bush communities where health care does not exist.  These mobile clinics will work in conjunction with our Remote Bible Institutes to spread the gospel in towns and villages where the Gospel is unknown.
Salary: $375 a month

Like Susan, Elizabeth graduated from the Baptist Missionary Physician Assistant School.   Elizabeth will work under Susan to fulfill the job description I just described.
Salary: $375 a month 

Dennis has a culinary degree and was trained by an Italian chef.  Dennis' cooking is among the best in Liberia.  His job will be to prepare nutritional meals, specialized for each of our special needs children.
Salary: $225 a month
 

Opah is a dear friend of our family's.  When we first moved to Gbarnga, Opah sacrificially helped our family as we acclimated.  Her job will be to help Dennis in the kitchen, wash dishes, mop floors, and do other jobs around the compound.
Salary: $100

We need your help.  Each of these staff positions are unfunded.  We were able to hire Susan temporarily from funds already in our account but her longterm salary is not raised.  If you are willing to make a one time gift or contribute monthly toward this need, please send me an email letting me know your intent.  My email address is don@hopeforhome.org.

Liberty Elementary School:

We know the success of our school rests on the shoulders of well trained teachers.  Last week, we held 5 days of teacher's training.

We also did placement tests on all 122 of our students.  This is a picture of Ophelia taking her placement test.

Our school starts November 6.

His Safe Haven:

Susan quickly got to work treating our sick children.  

When asked if she would be willing to lead a daily Bible Study with our house moms, Susan said, "Of course!  I am a Missionary Physician Assistant.  Being a missionary comes first."  We praise God for adding Susan to our team.  

Elizabeth volunteers at His Safe Haven while she awaits employment.

Prince is sketching a mural on our therapy room's wall.  Each of our special needs children will have their picture painted with Jesus on the wall.  The mural will say, "Jesus loves me."

Last week, we purchased new mattresses for all our children. 

Here is a picture of several of our children in the therapy / play room. 

Friday, We took our foster moms on a field trip.
 

We visited Gary's house where they learned about farming God's way, fish farming, raising rabbits, and much more.  

After visiting Gary, the ladies walked our new land.  Later this year, we plan to build a special need's village on this land.  This village will have a training center, therapy room, and a medical clinic for our children.  Each foster family will have their own house.    

Update on Titi and her Baby:

Titi named her baby after my missionary friend who is starting a church in her home town.  The baby's name is "Dr. Steve."

After being released from the hospital, Titi spent two days with us and then was flown back to her home in the bush. 

Random Pictures from Last Week:

Christian is holding our new pup.

In March, Stevie and Carissa will be joining our team in Liberia.  This pup is for them when they arrive.

 

Our new pups used the toilet on the front porch.  This was Don's solution for not wanting to smell the mess while he cleaned.

"Look, I found a leaf as big as my arm!"

Johnny is one of our employees.  He hauls water for the base and maintains the property.  Last week, Johnny bought his first motorbike.

Thank you for medically treating this baby.

Thank you for paying for Garmen's medical bills and for feeding her this month.

Thank you for paying for Nowa's surgery.  She had a large growth in her stomach that was removed.  She has been released from the hospital and is now recovering at home.  Thank you!

Remote Bible Training Centers:

Preparations are being made to reopen the Remote Bible Training Centers, in January, when the director for His Safe Haven returns and my time is freed up.  In the meantime, we continue to paint pictures and write new lessons.  We are in the process of making final edits to our Romans study so we can print a 2nd edition.  To pass the Romans class, our students must be able to look at these pictures and retell the book of Romans by memory.  When our students continuously stumble over a picture's meaning, we know we need to make edits.  Let me give you three examples of edits we made to the Romans study.  

Here is the original picture for Romans 1:23-25. The message of this picture is "they were given to impurity."  The reason we replaced this picture is because there was nothing in the picture that clearly communicated the meaning of impurity.     

Here is the picture we just created for the same passage of Scripture.  Matthew 23:27 helps us understand the meaning of the word impurity.  It says,  “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all impurity.”  The person who has been given to impurity is like a whitewashed tomb.  They often look good on the outside but inside they are full of sins that make them unclean before God.

Here is the original picture for Romans 1:26-27. The message for this picture is "they were given to shameful passions."  We replaced this picture because there was nothing in it that clearly communicated the meaning of shameful passions.  

Here is our new picture.  The example Romans 1:26-27 gave for shameful passions was homosexuality.  We added two women in our new picture to represent this second sin.  A person has been given to shameful passions when their sin moves from the private arena of their lives to the public.  When a person becomes known by their sin or is labeled by their sin, they have been given to shameful passions.  We added people pointing their fingers to this picture because the sins of shameful passions bring shame to a person. 

Here is the last edit we made to the Romans Study.  We used this picture to teach Romans 1:28-32.  The message of this picture is "they were given to a debased mind."  The key words in this passage are the words "full" and "filled."  A debased mind is a mind that is full of sin.  We replaced this picture because there was nothing in the picture that communicated the meaning of a debased mind. 

Here is our new picture.  As you can see, the last sin is holding a cup that is full and overflowing. 
Now that we have made these edits, the second edition of the Romans booklet is almost ready to go to the print shop.  Thank you for your giving that makes this project possible.  These pictures have proven themselves to be very fruitful in Liberia.  

Prayer Requests:
1.  Please continue to pray that Liberia's runoff presidential election will be peaceful.  Runoff elections will be held November 7th.
2.  Please pray for Liberty Elementary School as it prepares to open November 6th.
3.  Please pray for God's provisions for the staff members we hope to hire.  
4.  Please keep Kokoyah Road in your prayers.  Please pray that healthy churches would be started.  

Weekly Missions Update 10-25-17

Jesus is our Hero! 

I took Titi to the hospital last Wednesday for a regular checkup.  While there, an American doctor performed an ultrasound and discovered that Titi's amniotic  fluid was low and the baby had very little lung tissue.  The doctor admitted Titi, gave her a steroid shot to help the baby develop and scheduled her c-section for Monday.  The doctor called me and told me that the baby would not live.

Titi has lived a tragic life.  She became paralyzed by a failed epidural while delivering her first child.  That child died at birth.  Titi's second baby also died at birth. Titi's tragic story was well known by all the nurses at the hospital.  While standing at Titi's bedside, we started praying for a miracle.  As we prayed, I could hear the other patients in Titi's room agreeing with us in prayer.    

God answered our prayers, Monday morning, by giving Titi a perfectly healthy baby boy!  Before I left the hospital, the news of Titi's miracle baby had reached the nurses in the ER.  Every nurse gave glory to God and said, "God is a miracle working God."

Thank you for paying all of Titi's medical bills.  

Ebola Orphan Update:

Last week, we moved our ebola orphaned girls to a new house that's closer to their church and school.  Esther sends you her greetings and says, "Thank you for the house."

After the girls moved in, I had the privilege of delivering the gifts you sent to your sponsored children.  Here is a picture of Ruth receiving her gifts.  When I arrived at the house, Ruth asked me if I would buy her a backpack for school.  I smiled because God's timing is perfect.  God truly knows how to love on His children.  Little did Ruth know that a couple months earlier, while I was in the States, God moved her sponsor's heart to purchase the perfect gifts.  Guess what Ruth received?  Among many other gifts, Ruth received a backpack. Ruth shared all her "American Cookies" with the other girls in the house.  You have no idea how much your gifts mean to your children.  Thank you!

When we packed our bags for Liberia, we pulled our supplies out of their original packages to save on space and weight.  Your children's gifts were the exception.  We left your gifts in their packages so your children would know what it was like to open a new gift.  This is something they had never done before.  It felt like Christmas as we opened gifts and read your letters together.  Thank you for lavishing love on your children! 

Josephine is shy and did not know how to respond to her gift.   She kept a straight face while I was in the room.  After walking out of the room, I peeked around the corner and saw her face erupt with smiles as she and all her sisters started playing.  Thank you for giving Josephine her first baby doll!  The sound of girls giggling and playing could be heard as I inspected the house.  
 

Blessing loves to FaceTime her sponsor.  Did you know you can talk though FaceTime to your children?  Don't worry, I can interpret for you.  If you have What's App, you can also chat with your children and exchange pictures.  Just get me your information and I will hook you up.  I allow the kids to use my phone to communicate with their sponsors.

Emergency! I need your help.  I need to deliver this baby to her mother but I can't remember who the mother is.  This baby was mixed in with the other gifts when we arrived in Liberia but it had no name on it.  Will the giver of this gift please send me an email to let me know which child I am to bless.   My email address is don@hopeforhome.org.

Unexpected Ministry Opportunity:

God has placed a wonderful opportunity in front of us that I did not anticipate while visiting the States.  This opportunity has the potential to save many lives.  I have a missionary friend who runs a missionary physician school.  Every three years, he graduates a class of PAs who are trained to be missionaries.  The best students from this years graduating class are available to us.  

Let's dream together.  Imagine the quality of care we could give our frail special needs children if we were able to hire full-time Physician Assistants.  Let's dream even bigger.  What if... every time we enter the bush to train pastors, we set up mobile health clinics in remote towns and villages where medical care does not exist?  We could present the Gospel and pray with every patient we treat.  I believe many lives would be saved and God's Kingdom would move forward.  Let me introduce you to two PAs I want to hire as the Lord provides resources.

Susan is a quiet, yet confident lady.  The words I would use to describe the care she gives to her patients are "gentle" and "compassionate."  When she is not volunteering at the health clinic, she can be found teaching children at her church.     

Elizabeth's love for children is evident in every area of her life.  Though many of her children are grown, her house is still filled with the sound of adopted children.  Throughout her life, she has raised 11 orphaned children.  Like Susan, Elizabeth teaches children at her church.  Elizabeth has a "get it done" personality.  If there's a job to do, give it to Elizabeth and she will get it done. 

I believe these two ladies would make a powerful team. In our group homes, they would oversee the daily distribution of medicines, make sure our house parents practice good hygiene, oversee daily therapy, and do weekly medical examinations on all our children.  Outside our group homes they would visit our other sponsored children during monthly distributions and run mobile health clinics.

So you are probably wondering how much physician assistants are paid in Liberia.  The government pays PAs $375 a month.  Think of the lives we could change if we were able to hire these two ladies.  While in the States, I did not anticipate this ministry expense.  Will you consider helping us hire these two ladies?  

People You Helped Last Week:

I took Peter to our local health clinic when he complained about pain in his groin.  We quickly learned he had a severe hernia and needed emergency surgery.  He was admitted to our local hospital and surgery was performed the next day.  

Don is my neighbor's son.  I was told Don would no long be with us if we had not intervened, last week.  After several days in the hospital, Don was released.

Thank you for feeding Nuai and her family last week.

Thank you for giving milk to Awanyah's baby.  

Sam was put out of school for not having school shoes.  Thank you for buying Sam's shoes.

Quita's house was robbed last week.  So what do thieves steal when they break into a poor, single mother's house?  They steal food.  Thank you for feeding Quinta's family this month while she gets her feet back under her. 

There are several other people you fed and medically treated last week but I did not take pictures.  Thank you!

Random Pictures from Last Week:

While sitting in this waiting room at the hospital, a huge rat ran across the floor right in front of us.

You know you are in Liberia when you go to this pharmacy and the pharmacist proudly serves you while wearing nothing but his boxers and a t-shirt.

This is a sketch of the mural that will be painted in His Safe Haven's therapy room.  Each of our special needs children will have their picture painted with Jesus on the wall.  The mural will say, "Jesus loves me!"  As new children are added to our homes, we will add their picture to the mural. 

Don's 15th (family) birthday party.

Don's birthday party with our missionary friends.

Dad's unbreakable homemade piñata.  

Don's birthday party with all his Liberian friends. 

 

Grace and I took the motorbike out for our date.  While eating, it rained so hard that the sound hurt our ears.  Though it was a wet ride home, we had a great time!

Look who is sitting up!  Thank you for praying for Sylvester.  After three days in the hospital, he is back in our group home.  Please keep him in your prayers.  He may need to return to the hospital if we can't get his vomiting under control.   

Prayer Requests:
1.  Liberia will be having a run off election for the top two presidential candidates on November 7th.  Please pray God puts the right man in power.  Please continue to pray for a peaceful transition of power.
2.  Currently, we have three people admitted in the hospital.  Please continue to pray for Titi and her baby.  Please also pray for Nowah. She is scheduled for surgery today.
3.  This week, we will be training teachers and testing our students at our Elementary school.  Please keep this in your prayers. 
4.  Please pray for Kokoyah Road.  My heart desires to be with the pastors but there is not enough hours in the day.  My time is needed most, now, with our group homes and new school.  Please pray that we will see healthy churches started on the road.