No one knew her name:
Written by Susan McLay:
She had the prettiest dress on. The top half was a deep red velvet, the bottom half was a silky white, and flowers were scattered around. The bow was coming undone. She had a raging fever. She was so weak. She came and sat on my lap which surprised me because many children her age are afraid of my white skin. She vomited and was too sick to even cry. She just put her arms around my neck and fell asleep. As I held her I realized I didn’t even know her name. But it soon became apparent that no one knew her name. No one seemed to care much about her. So I just held her.
My darling new friend - does anyone love you? Does anyone care about you? Who kisses your booboos? Who makes sure you get enough to eat? Who reads you a bedtime story?
On Monday, this sick little girl, from an orphanage we visited, heard the gospel message. I pray she won't forget what she heard. She had someone care about her. May she remember that and pass it on to someone else one day.
You see, to us she wasn't just another orphan. She wasn't just another statistic. To us, she is a precious little girl, a girl whom God loves so much! This world may never care who she is, but GOD does and because God cares, we care. That why we have a medical clinic.
Last month, we treated 606 poeple at our mobile medical clinics:
Luke 9:6 describes Jesus’s ministry this way, “And they departed and went through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.” Our mobile medical clinics seek to model Jesus’s ministry by preaching the gospel in remote towns and villages where there is little access to medicine and by treating the sick. Every Monday, our medical team is out serving the sick. Last month, we were in two bush towns and two orphanages. We treated 606 patients. 51 people gave their lives to Jesus. Here are a few pictures from last month's clinics.
This patient is being registered while having her vitals taken. Our medical charts keep each patient's medical history and a record of their spiritual growth.
Susan (on the left) is one of our Physician Assistants.
Every patient meets with a pastor to have their spiritual needs met.
This picture was taken from Falita Orphanage. Our medical team treats every child in every orphanage in our area.
She did not want to stand on the scale....
Peter is testing this child for malaria.
Thank you for buying all our medicines. You enable us to take the gospel and medical care to those who need it most. From start to finish, our clinics are free for all our patients.
Two new children and one new foster mom:
God is doing great things at His Safe Haven's village for special needs orphans. We are excited to announce that the Lord has added two precious children to our group home family and one new foster mom. I praise God for all He is doing!
Ongoing construction at His Safe Haven's Village:
Last month, we moved all our special needs children to their new homes at His Save Haven's village. Our construction sight was transformed by the sounds of laughing children and talking adults. Now, during the day, half of our village is busy ministering to the needs of special needs children while the other half is under construction. At this point in time, we have completed 4 group homes and a community kitchen.
The construction of 3 additional group homes and the ministry center are ongoing.
We hope to complete this group home by the end of May.
This is a picture of our ministry center. It’s large screened in porch will contain a therapy center and an indoor playground. If you look at the exterior wall, the two windows closest to the porch are part of the dinning hall. The last window is part of the medical clinic. Our sponsored children, children from our school, our special needs children and people from the community around us will be treated in this clinic.
All the door frames for the ministry center have been installed.
All the windows have been installed. This is a picture of the dinning hall.
The dinning hall will have cathedral ceilings. These men are adding gabble walls so we can begin installing the ceilings.
Ceiling joists have been installed in the medical clinic, hallway, bathrooms, and office.
Inside the clinic.
This well was dug next to our kitchen and ministry center.
24 of these coverts were molded for the well.
These men are lowering the coverts into the well.
Our new well is very deep and has an abundant supply of clean drinking water. Thank you for our new well!
My prayer is that we will be able to complete the construction of our special needs village before our family visits the States this summer. Thank you for building beautiful homes for all our special children!
The mother wanted to kill him at birth:
Written by Philip, Sponsorship Director:
Names have been changed to protect the identity of children.
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female, he created them.”
(Genesis 1:27)
“And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.”
(Genesis 1:31)
These verses came to my mind as I distributed supplies to baby Flomo’s house this week. Let me tell you a little about Baby Flomo’s life. Baby Flomo’s mother wanted the doctor to killed him in the delivery room after she noticed that his hands were not correct. We praise God for the physician assistant who saved his life. After recovering from giving birth, Baby Flomo’s birth mother walked out of the hospital, leaving her son behind. The same physician assistant who saved Baby Flomo’s life came to his rescue again by taking him home. Though Baby Flomo’s new mother is a physician assistant, she found it difficult to provide for his daily needs. This is where our mission got involved. Through the grace of God, this child is now being supported by a sponsor from America. Baby Flomo is gradually putting on weight and is healthy.
Every man, woman, and child has been made in the image of God. I am so grateful to God for such an amazing work He's doing in the lives of orphans and disabled children through your financial support. Thank you and may God bless you all!
Scripture Memory Bible:
We want to be experts in helping people memorize the Bible. With Liberia’s high illiteracy rate and rampant corruption, we believe one of the most fruitful things we can do is help people hide the Word of God in their hearts. God’s Word never returns void (Isaiah 55:11).
So what is a Scripture Memory Bible? There are many methods people have used over the years to help them memorize large portions of Scripture. These methods focus on using a person’s senses to help them memorize. Seeing, hearing, speaking, and writing the Bible are the keys that unlock Bible memory.
Since writing is not an effective tool in our illiterate / barely literate culture, we are creating a tool to help people see the Word of God using pictures while they practice saying the Scripture by memory. They can also listen to the Bible using audio recordings that are distributed on mobile devices. Wouldn’t it be exciting if children were able to recite entire chapters or even books of the Bible by memory? Can you imagine how beautiful it would be to see illiterate old ma’s and old pa’s, deep in the bush, quoting the Scriptures? This is our dream.
So, does it work? Praise God, it is working. Last month, we took Proverbs 2 into our elementary School for a trial. Students were taught one verse a day, using a simple lesson plan that we created.
One month later, our students are running around their neighborhoods quoting all of Proverbs 2 by memory. Some students have even taken the material and started training other children in their neighborhoods. Last week, we introduced the material to several pastors and encouraged them to begin using it in their churches. The initial results are very encouraging.
Psalms 119:11 says, “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”
Rainbow Around the Sun:
Last Saturday, while visiting the group homes with my boys, Melanie called and told us to look up at the sky. To our amazement, we saw a spectacular rainbow circling the sun. We quickly informed all the construction workers and our group home residence. Everyone stood outside staring at the sky in amazement.
Our awe filled silence was occasionally broken by someone saying words like "wow," "amazing," and "God is awesome."
After returning home, I did a little research and learned that these spectacular rainbows are caused by a thin cirrus clouds at altitudes above 20,000 feet. These clouds are made mostly of ice crystals which refract the sun's light like a prism.
"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day it pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world" (Psalm 19:1-4 ESV).
Look up! God is still on His throne! The heavens will remind you of His glory and power.
The Remote Bible Institute:
This month, three of our Remote Bible Institute classes will be taking their final exams on the book of Romans. These classes are located in bush towns. Last month, we also worked in partnership with a missionary friend to train Pastors in our home town. Please pray for our students as they begin taking the material they have learned and begin teaching it in their churches.
Fairview Missionary Children’s Church Project:
This part of my blog was written to the children at Fairview Missionary Church who raised money to help us build a group home for special needs orphans. Thank you!
Hey Kids, check out the work that was done at your house last week!
Last week, we added plaster to your walls.
Our plaster is made from a mixture of sand and cement.
After plastering your walls, these men installed your ceilings. We use 4’x8’ ceiling tiles. There is no need for insulation in our ceilings since our temperatures stay hot all year long.
After the ceiling tiles were hung, we used these wood strips to secure the ceilings.
Here is a picture of your front porch. We built large front porches so our children could enjoy the outdoors during rainy season. We have just two seasons in Liberia. Our rainy season lasts 6 months and our dry season lasts another 6 months.
This is a picture of your living room.
This is a picture of a bedroom. Our group homes have 3 bedrooms. The first bedroom is for girls. The second bedroom is for boys. The last bedroom is for the foster mom who takes care of the children. Many of our foster moms are widows. Our mission desires to take care of widows and orphans. These moms work hard throughout the day, taking care of all of our special needs children.
What would you do if you saw this little guy in your house? These lizards are quite harmless. As a matter of fact, we like having them in our houses because they eat mosquitos and other bugs. Our mosquitos carry a terrible disease called Malaria. Malaria is one of the greatest killers in Liberia. We have a new missionary from New Zealand who recently joined our team. Believe it or not, she names all the lizzards in her house. She has a 3 legged lizard that lives in her bathroom and another lizard that lives in her living room.
It won't be long before a foster mom and all her children will move into your home. Thank you again for building this home for our special needs children! You are truly making a difference in their lives!
Prayer Requests:
1. Please pray that doors will be opened for our family to make an extended visit to the States this summer. Please pray that we will be successful at getting visas for our three newly adopted children.
2. Please pray that we will be able to complete a number of projects we are working on before visiting the States.
3. Please pray for my wife as she home schools all 7 of our children.
