Monday, April 20, 2009

Grace Continues to Touch Orphans in Africa




One of the most exciting and fulfilling elements of our ministry that we have here at Grace is the amazing impact we are being able to have on hundreds of orphans in the Central African Republic. As you know, Grace Church and Lititz Christian School currently fully sponsor four Christian Schools in the C.A.R. in partnership with some of our Grace Brethren Churches in the C.A.R. But this opportunity has so touched the hearts of our people that thousands of dollars come into our Birthday Gift for Jesus Project each December above and beyond what is needed to support these schools. This gives us the wonderful opportunity to supply so much more for these precious children.

You have heard in the past how we have supplied the funds for the dedication ceremony of the Orphan Welcome Center, which was a very big deal in the African culture. We also provided the funds for razor wire for the top of the wall around the center to provide security due to break-ins that were occurring. We also provided the funds for the purchase of a van to bring these orphans to school and to the welcome center from the villages. After much red tape, that van has finally arrived and is pictured above. Barb Wooler, the Grace Brethren Missionary who is our main contact for this ministry, had this to say about the van in an e-mail to Mike McCracken, our mission team chairman:

“Isn't this awesome? Mike, I can't tell you how happy this makes me. Thank you thank you thank you! It looks like Madame Alexandrine is making protective coverings for the inside before they start using it. I'm so glad to hear that she is being careful with the vehicle. I think it should last a long time between her being watchful over it and our chauffeur, Isa, who is obsessive about keeping his van clean. The old van purchased for us used still looks a lot the same as it did when we bought it in 2006! Too bad it doesn't work as well, but it's not for lack of being properly maintained. My guess is that it'll take about a week to get the inside kid-ready. I just know that we were desperate to get the new van because the other one is leaking oil like a sieve and costing beaucoup bucks to keep on the road.”

Now we are being able to purchase property in Bercail for an additional orphan center. Barb went on in her e-mail to Mike to describe the progress of this purchase. You can see from her e-mail that we are making sure that every penny of the money you give goes directly toward meeting the needs of orphans in the Central African Republic;

“As for the purchase of Bercail, earlier this week I gave Madame Alexandrine the all clear to pursue it for purchase. I am 100% confident that this is God's way for us. I'm excited to get it set up to serve our kids on that side of the city. This center will allow us to strengthen our connection to each of our children on that side of the city, and in one full swoop, resolves some issues that were developing on that side of the city. I can't imagine a project that could better meet the criterion that Pastor Scott delineated. The Bercail Center purchase is a 100% dead-center-in-the-bull's-eye strike on your target objective. Thank you to your missions team, your Pastor and the whole Lititz family.”

1 comment:

kutlessgirl4ever said...

aw that is awesome!!