Mission Update 11-23-18

His Safe Haven’s Village for Special Needs Orphans:

I want to praise God for all He is doing at His Safe Haven’s village for special needs orphans.  God is opening the door for us to receive all the money we need to complete this project.  Recently, a very generous family pledged to match dollar for dollar, up to $20,000, for the completion of this project.  If we are able to match this gift, we will use the $40,000 to complete the construction of 6 group homes, community kitchen, and a ministry center that will house a medical clinic, therapy center, dinning hall, and His Safe Haven’s offices.  

These thee group homes are nearly completed.  

Septic systems have been installed for all 6 houses.

Group home #4’s walls have been elevated.

Group home #5’s walls have been elevated.

Group home #6’s walls are being elevated.

The foundation of our ministry center has been laid.  This building will house our therapy center, medical clinic, dinning hall, and offices.

The community kitchen’s walls have been elevated.

If you are interested in giving towards this project please send checks to Hope For Home Ministries, P.O. Box 393, Troy, OH 45373 or donate online at liberiacalls.blogspot.com.  Please write “His Safe Haven Village” on the memo line of your check. 

Mission Team:

I want to say a special thank you to the team of 4 men who came two weeks ago to help construct His Safe Haven's village, work in our group homes, and help with our mobile medical clinics.  Scott, Dale, Jim, and Steve, you were a tremendous blessing to our ministry and family!  Thank you!

Liberty Elementary School: 

I want to praise God for a great start to our second year of schooling! 

This year we added two grade levels to our school (2nd and 3rd grades).  Our school’s reputation is getting around, we had many applicants to choose from while selecting new teachers.  All our teachers participate in ongoing training.  

New uniforms were made.  Thank you for buying uniforms for all our students.  

This a picture of our first chapel service.  

This year, we have 200 students in our school.  Our school is 100% funded through your generosity.  Thank you!  The total cost of running our school for this school year is $15,735.  Praise God we have been able to raise $10,000!

Construction has started on 6 additional classrooms.

This year, we are constructing the first floor of what will be a three story building.  

Thank you for giving the gift of a good education to so many Liberian children.  Without a good education, they have no hope for a better future.  Thank you!

Training Pastors:

Recently, God gave me the opportunity to lead several ministry leaders through our Romans study.

These leaders trained other pastors.  

After these pastors complete the training, they will be given the material to teach in their churches. Our training leads people verse by verse through Romans.  Our artist has drawn pictures that illustrate the message of each verse.  These pictures are clipped to a clothes line so people can see the message of Romans from beginning to end.  To pass the Romans course, students have to be able to retell the message of Romans, from beginning to end, using nothing but the pictures.  

Mobile Medical Clinic:

During the month of October, we had to shut down our mobile medical clinics due to bad roads.  Here is a picture my friend took while on his way to Lofa.

Now that rainy season is over, we are back on the road treating the sick and evangelizing the lost.  During our last clinic, we treated 163 patients.

While being treated, patients are prayed over multiple times.

Susan is one of our Physician Assistants.

Praise God, during this clinic, 23 people gave their lives to Jesus and many others were encouraged in their faith. 

We have moved:

I want to praise God for our new house.  Recently, missionary friends of ours returned to America after many years of faithful service.  They offered us their house. Our new house has running water!  The water source for our old house was 1/4 miles away.  For the first time since we moved to Liberia, we have running water!  This has been a tremendous blessing for our family!    

The house needed extensive renovations before we could move in.

This is what it looks like after renovation. 

Having running water has changed our lives.  This may seem silly for you, but I want to praise God for His wonderful provisions!  Thank you Lord for running water in our kitchen! 

Thank you Lord for two toilets that flush!

Thank You Lord for two showers.

Thank You Lord for an automatic laundry machine!  

Thank You Lord for providing this large outbuilding with a garague. 

Thank You Lord for providing office space for our ministry.  

We are still moving into the office.  

Thank You Lord for giving our ministry a recording studio!  From this studio, we will make audio recordings of all our lessons in Liberia’s various dialects.  These lessons can be downloaded on people’s phones and used to train the illiterate. 

Thank You Lord for this beautiful front yard where children from our community can come and play!  You have been very good to us!  Thank You!

Keeping families together:

Fatu is the single mother of this special needs boy named Prince and another little boy.  I believe special needs children in Liberia are among the world’s most destitute and needy people.  Liberians call these children, “demons,” “devils,” and “snakes.”  Many special needs children die from exposure and starvation.  Special needs children are viewed as a curse on a family and families with special needs children are viewed as a curse on their community.  Our group homes have also experienced persecution for our neighbors.  In the past, our moms were denied access to the community well because our neighbors did not want to drink from the same water as our children.  After washing laundry by hand, Liberians often toss their dirty water into the street.  Our neighbors told our moms that they do not want their dirty water in the streets.  We have had to come up with an alternative method of disposing dirty water.  

Fatu came to our mission seeking answers.  Many times, she has begged us to take Prince from her.  Rather than taking Prince, we are working hard to help Fatu see the wonderful gift God has given her.  Our team regularly visits Prince and Fatu to monitor Prince’s condition.  We have supplied rice and formula to this family since Prince was young.  Please keep Fatu in your prayers.  Her life is not easy and she still battles her culture’s beliefs.  A few months ago, while delivering supplies, I noticed Prince had a small rope tied around his waste.  I immediately knew this rope came from the country doctor (witch doctor).  When I asked Fatu why she had put the rope around Prince’s waste, she told me that at night she had been tormented by evil dreams of poisonous snakes pursuing me. The country doctor told her that Prince turned into a snake at night and was tormenting her.  The country doctor put the small rope around Prince’s waste and told her that the rope had power to protect her from Prince while she slept.  My heart broke as I began to help Fatu see that Prince was not the cause of her dreams.  I asked her if she thought the rope was more powerful than God.  I asked her to put her trust in God rather than the satanic rope.  She agreed.  We took the rope off of Prince, burned it, and prayed a simple prayer of faith that God would remove Fatu’s nightmares.  God has answered our prayers.  Since that time, Fatu’s nightmares are gone.  

Please pray for Fatu.  Please pray that she will become a passionate follower of Jesus.  Recently, we moved her closer to our church and enrolled her other child in our school.  When the time is appropriate, we stand ready to help Fatu start a small business to help her, help herself.  We are watching her, training her, and are looking for signs that she is teachable so that her business can be successful.  

Fatu’s son is one of many, many special needs children who need the church’s help!  There is so much more we could be doing to help these children but the harvest is plentiful and the workers are few.  I am praying that God would add a missionary to our team who would help oversee our special needs group homes and help us reach out to many other special needs children in our community.  Please pray for additional missionaries to be added to our team. 

Meet Philip Vahwulu:

We are pleased to announce that we have added a new staff member to our team.  Philip Vahwulu’s ministry is to oversee our child sponsorship program and to help train pastors.  Philip has worked with children and has served his local church for years.  His heart’s desire is to minister to children and to teach the Bible.  As our ministry has grown, I have found it to be nearly impossible for me to keep all our children’s sponsors updated.  One of Philip’s responsibilities is to keep you up-to-date regarding all that is going on in your children’s lives.  For those of you who sponsor children, pictures and updates are coming soon!  I praise God for adding Philip to our team!

Family Life:

New family photo.

The boys’ football team.

Our “mandate” 

Our kids like to toucher their siblings when they go on a date with Dad.  They send photos of all the good food they eat which is not available in our hometown.

Grace loves to read stories to our younger children.

Nearly everyday, you will find Grace and the kids together, enjoying a book.

One of Christians loves....

Another love...

Annie likes to go to work with Dad.  Here she is sitting next to dad, working in my office.

I married up!!!!!

We are dropping the fuel tank after discovering that our local gas station had water in their fuel. 

We recently discovered that our local gas station now carries Friendly’s Icecream.  Shhhhh!  Don’t tell the family that Christian ate icecream without them!!!!!  

Beautiful Abbie!

I love my family more than life!  God has been good to me.  Our Christmas tree is officially up!  Though the temperature remains high, its beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!!!!  

Prayer Requests:
1.  Please pray for the adoption of our children, Annie, Abigail, and Abraham.  We have been waiting months for one person to sign our papers so the process can move forward. 
2. Please pray that God provides the money we need to complete His Safe Haven's village for special needs orphans.
3. Please pray for my wife as she home schools all 7 of our children.
4. Please pray for our team as we are writing new lessons to train pastors. 

Mission Update 8-31-18

Liberty Elementary School:

There has been a lot going on at Liberty Elementary School.  We had a very successful end to our first school year.  

Parents packed into our church house to celebrate their Kindergartener's graduation.

During graduation, parents were shocked to hear their children reading for the first time.  For many families, these kindergartners are the best readers or the only readers in their homes.  

Last year, we offered preschool, kindergarten, and first grade levels. After completing end of the year assessment tests, we learned that many of our first grade students tested at a third grade level. Great job teachers!  As a result, this coming school year, we will be offering grade levels preschool through third grade. 

I am excited to announce that we are breaking ground on six additional classrooms today!  What excites me most about this construction project is that it is being funded completely by Liberians!  I smile as I see this wonderful church and school thrive!  Though the church is only two years old and the school is only one year old, they are making an incredible impact on their community.  Our partner church in Monrovia is funding this construction project.  Thank you Lord Jesus for all You are doing!

Thank you for helping us build seventy-five new desks.  This week, the last desks will be built.  

I want to say a very special “THANK YOU” to our friends at Water of Life for drilling a free well at our school and church!  Drinking dirty water is the way of life for many Liberians.  Many people get their water from polluted rivers and holes in the ground.  On behalf of our school, church, and entire community, thank you Water of Life for giving us clean drinking water!

Hunger Months:

August and September are known as “Hunger Months” in Liberia.  During these months, impoverished families spend all the money they have, sending as many of their children to school as they can afford.  Many people are going to bed hungry.  

Our school is supported 100% through your generosity.  Your giving pays for every student’s uniform, school supplies, PE T-shirt, PE trousers, textbooks, and medical treatment.  You also pay every teachers' salary.  Thank you!    



It will cost us $15,000 to run the school this year.  We are expecting our enrollment to reach 200 students.  Praise God, we have been able to raise a little over $7,500.  We are over half way there.  Will you prayerfully consider supporting our school again this year?  It costs $75 to send a child to school and medically treat them for a whole year.  

You can donate online at liberiacalls.blogspot.com or by sending checks to Hope for Home Ministries, P.O. Box 393, Troy, OH 45373.  Please write “Liberia School Sponsorship” on the memo line of your check.  Thank you!

His Safe Haven’s Group Homes:

We are in the process of constructing a village of specialized group homes for special needs orphans.  Currently, we have three houses under roof and three additional foundations laid.  Our village will be equipped with a therapy center, dinning hall, medical center, playground, and agricultural projects.   

Here is a drone video of our village under construction.

Please keep our staff in your prayers.  I write with tears in my eyes.  Last Sunday, we lost a little girl from our group homes named Abigail.  We fought extremely hard to save her life, but God called her home.  These words are extremely painful for me to write.  We are grieving deeply.  Please praise God with us that Abigail is home with Jesus and pray for us that God comforts our team!

Mobile Medical Clinics:

During the past two months, we have seen over 1,000 patients at our mobile medical clinics.  Our goal is to treat the soul and the body of each of our patients.  Every patient is prayed for multiple times while visiting our clinics and hears the gospel one on one.  Here is a list of diagnoses and treatments from our last mobile medical clinic.

These patients are waiting to be seen in Samay Town.  On this day, we had to turn away over 100 patients.  The need was greater than we could meet.

Philip prays for every patient he registers. 

Elizabeth, one of our physician assistants, prays for every patient they screen.

Lucy prays for every patient she tests for malaria.

Mercy is our pharmacist.  Here a child waits for her parents to come to receive free medicine.  Mercy prays for every patient she serves.

Cyrus met with every patient individually to make sure they understand the Gospel.  We host our clinics in the churches we work with.  Pastors from these churches follow up on every decision that is made for Christ.  Our pastors tell us that these clinics have made their churches famous in their communities.  Approximately 20 people, from each mobile clinic, give their lives to Jesus.  Thank you for buying all our medicines and paying our staff’s salaries!

Training Pastors:

We have about 100 pastors and church leaders enrolled in our two Bible Institutes.  Since the illiteracy rate is high in the bush, we are creating our own pictorial curriculum.  After training and testing the pastors, we give them a copy of the curriculum to teach in their churches.  Our lessons are also recorded recorded in Liberian English and Kpelle and are given to our students on solar powered audio players.  We are in the process of writing a 52 lesson survey through the Old Testament and a verse by verse study through the book of James.  Here are a few pictures from James chapter 1. 

1:2. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,

1:3. For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

1:4. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

1:5. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

1:6. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 

1:7. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;

1:8. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

1:9. Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation,

1:10. And the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away.

1:11. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes.  So also will the rich man fades away in the midst of his pursuits. 

1:12. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. 

1:13. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 

1:14. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.

1:15. Then desire when it is conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. 

1:16. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.

1:17. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

1:18. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creation.

Prince is currently drawing this picture...

1:19. Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, so low to anger.

1:20. For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 

1:21. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

1:22. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 

1:23. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.

1:24. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.

1:25. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.  

Prayer Requests:

1.  Our family is in the process of moving to a new house.  A missionary friend of ours has returned to the States after many years of faithful service in Liberia.  He has offered his home to us.  We decided to make the move because his house has running water and our house’s water source is a quarter mile away.  This month we will be doing some renovations to the house in preparation for the move.  Please pray for our family as we transition. 

2.  Please pray for our elementary school as we enroll students for next school year and as we seek to raise the remaining $7,500 that is needed for its operation. 

3.  Please pray for my wife as she begins a new homeschooling year.  Now that we have added Annie, Abigail, and Abraham to our family, Melanie is teaching 7 children at 5 different grade levels. 

4.  Please pray for Annie, Abigail, and Abraham’s adoption process to speed up.  We were hoping to visit the States in November but it is beginning to look like that will not be possible. 
5.  Please keep our staff and family in your prayers as we grieve Abigail's homecoming.  

Thank you for partnering with our family in sharing the good news about our Lord Jesus here in Liberia.  Please remember that our doors are always open to visitors.  We are praying that God would add workers to His harvest field.