James
1:27
“Religion
that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by
the world.”
Isaiah
58:10
“. . . and if
you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the
noonday.”
Those of you who have served with Orphan’s Heart before will recognize
these verses. They are at the very core
of everything we do and the driving force behind all our service.
For almost five years, God has allowed us to be the hands and feet of
Christ and live out these verses through feeding malnourished children in
Guatemala, building a children’s home in Tanzania, constructing an orphanage in
Haiti, as well as ministering to children and families in Nicaragua, Honduras and Uganda.
We are so grateful to God for allowing us to continue to serve in these
capacities and for partnering us with wonderful national ministry partners to
carry out this work.
The Lord is continuing to build on these efforts and we are excited to
share with you the doors God is opening for Orphan’s Heart and all those who
travel with us to have an even greater impact for the Kingdom of God through
helping “the least of these.”
Dominican Republic
In January of this year, Orphan’s Heart began its largest and most
comprehensive ministry project. Through
our partnership with Pastor Angel Castillo in Santo Domingo and the assistance
of the President of the Dominican Republic, we began work on Villa Liberacion – a
community transformation project aimed at ministering to the poorest
communities west of Santo Domingo. Villa
Liberacion will include:
- One hundred single family homes (two and three bedroom models with running water and electricity)
- Multi-purpose community center building for church services and community outreach
- Christian social worker on site dedicated to helping community members develop job and life skills
- Church plant
- Medical and educational outreach programs
The
Lord continues to bless and open doors for this project! Construction on homes started July 2013 with the help of one of our ministry partners - Lazarian World Homes! Lazarian's President and Country Director from Mexico, as well as staff from Orphan's Heart, began lay out of the community the first week of July. As of August 16th, we had 6 homes up and in various stages of completion thanks to a wonderful in-country staff and the help of two mission teams from the Pensacola area.
Matthew 5:14-16 says, "You are the light of the world - like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father."
It is amazing to see, even in such a short period of time, the impact you can have on a community when people come together to share the love of Jesus unashamedly with others and let their light shine. Buildings are not being built . . . but rather homes are being constructed with love to freely give to those who have nothing. Life saving medical care and medicine is being given to those who have no hope of treatment. Children are being loved but more importantly are hearing how Jesus loves them even more. Lives are being changed.
With
a project of this scale comes the need for many volunteers and resources. Construction teams, medical teams, children’s
ministry teams, and funding for construction are all needed. Would you consider partnering with us on this
journey? Please contact Stephanie
Shermeta at stephanie.shermeta@fbchomes.org or at (786) 510-9103 for more
information.
Construction
Beginning layout of the homes
Pouring our first foundation!
Walls up on the first home!
Jason (on the right) . . . one of our best little helpers!
A little baseball break after lunch!
With styrofoam block construction and baseball this is bound to happen!
Staff meeting!
Six homes!!! Praise be to God!!!
Medical Missions
Amazing story behind this picture. The local nurse had been praying and praying for a blood pressure cuff. There are no supplies at her clinic and she was unable to help the people in her community. The Lord provided this blood pressure cuff through one of our teams from Pensacola. Total answer to prayer!
Community Ministry
Heading out to the baseball field to play some ball with the local kids. That is the "dugout".
Jason swinging for the fences!
Vacation Bible School
No comments:
Post a Comment