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2009-03-07T11:23:00.000-08:00

As I was praying in preparation to write this update, I sensed the Lord say “Leviticus 2 and 3”. These chapters address the offerings made before the Lord. There are many different ones, but each, when offered in sacrificial reverence to the Lord, rose as a “sweet and satisfying odor to the Lord.” Simply put, the sacrifices you have made on our behalf before the Lord, whether it be financial, prayers, time, has been a sweet and satisfying fragrance to Him. Thank you.

“Over and over in God's Word we see the words: ‘come to me’, ‘seek me’, ‘call on me’. I would love to know how many times these words are used by our Father as He longs for us to turn to Him, always, forever, and first. So many lives touched these past weeks as we have traveled from Zambia, to Georgia, to Florida, to Indiana, to Michigan, to Minneapolis, to North Carolina, and back to Zambia. We thank you for all your prayer protection as we have seen the enemy come at us from every angle.....and lose. We have seen groups of people whose eyes have been opened, not only to the war we’re in, but to the Mighty Creator God who has called us and equipped us to be ambassadors of His Kingdom on earth. As we've ended teaching times with prayer, we've seen people rise up, take up their weapons, and pray for God's people all over the world. We have seen people moved to repentance, others asking for prayer for healing, others wanting to restore their marriages, others remembering a relationship with a Heavenly Father years past and wanting that relationship restored. As opportunity has been given, people have answered the words, ‘come to me’ ‘seek me’ ‘call on me’.” One couple knelt before us, the woman in tears, as her husband said, “I want our marriage back. Please pray for us as we recommit our lives to each other and Him.” Another woman said, “I had received Christ and been baptized in the Spirit and was praying for so many. But then people said I was too different and prayed too much. I became scared and turned away from prayer and the Word. Today I repent. From now on I will be stronger than ever and not turn back!” We’ve been so blessed to be able to pray for so many and see God bring restoration, healing, and salvation.

Year 2009 - The God of Glory Thunders

2009-01-07T06:35:00.000-08:00

As we started this new year, the Lord led me to Psalm 29. I was amazed at the power in this chapter of the Psalms. It was as if the words became alive and the page reverberated with power and flowed like a "mighty river". I could hear the voice of the Lord "thundering" in my ears. I pray that the Lord will indeed "thunder" into every situation and break open the way in every place we find ourselves; that He will sit as "King over the deluge" and give "impenetrable strength to His people" and "bless His people with peace." We are looking forward to what the Lord will do this coming year and believe that at the end we will again say, "O taste and see that the Lord is good." (Ps. 34).

Our schedule is already full this first months of the new year. Here is what is coming up and what you can pray into with us:

Zambia:

Yesterday, Tuesday, January 7, Jeff left for Zambia, Africa. He will be there for two weeks this time, so it is a long trip. Specifically, he is there to get the Indiana Wesleyan team off and running. This team of 12 will be there for a whole semester. It is their first semester abroad program in Zambia, Africa and they are looking forward to learning more about the culture and ministering in the community. Pray for Jeff as he makes sure all logistics are in place (lodging, ministry opportunities, etc.)and that he is effective in training and equipping this team both culturally and spiritually in the short time that he is there. He will also be meeting with the new country director and staff. Pray that he can continue to build them up and encourage them spiritually and in effectiveness in ministry. Pray also for the professors who will be heading up this team. It is a new experience for them, as well. May God grant all of them health, discernment, boldness, and protection in the months ahead.

Atlanta:

On January 23 -24, Jeff and Danette will be traveling to Atlanta, GA for the National Short Term Missions Conference. They will be speaking on the issues of Justice and Oppression. May the Holy Spirit be the one who speaks, impacts and challenges.

Grand Rapids:

On February 5-7, Jeff and Danette will be speaking at Calvin Colleges Institute for Faith and Development. They will be a part of three workshops on the topics of churches getting involved with relief and how to be prepared and equipped to minister. We will be partnering for the first two workshops and then Danette will do the third while Jeff leaves for Missouri.

Missouri:

Jeff will be leaving early from Calvin College on February 7, to speak at a church in Missouri. The topic will be anti-trafficking and what World Hope is doing to address this issue. We have found this to be the most challenging topic because it brings with it the most spiritual oppression personally and to our family. Please pray specifically for protection and a shield around us. The enemy has established an incredible stronghold of oppression of people and a web of deceit. We have found that even people attending these events or addressing this issue come under a lot of attack. Praise God that we have the victory and that He is the shield about us. Pray that He sends His angels before us to hold back the enemy and let His light of Truth be seen.

Possibility of Indiana Wesleyan Trip:

Sunday, February 8 and Wednesday, February 11, there are the possibilities of Jeff and Danette being invovled in College Church at Indiana Wesleyan University. Danette would speak on Sunday and Jeff and Danette would be speaking on Wednesday. The challenge is God's heart for the world and how we as His ambassadors are to participate in what He is doing in the world.

North Carolina:

And, finally (at least for now!), on February 12, the whole family will be driving to North Carolina to speak at Goldsboro Wesleyan Church, a place that we have grown to really know and love. What an incredible church this is, with a heart for missions as big as North Carolina itself. They have welcomed our whole family with open arms and will give us a nice time to be together as a family. The hard part will be that Nathan will not be able to join us. Pray for him, as this is a big disappointment. (Selfishly, I am praying that Nathan will be able to somehow work in a school long distance flight time and come for a day!)

As always, your prayers and support of our ministry mean so much to us. We are so amazed at what God is doing worldwide. So often the world's news is focused on what the enemy is doing, but even God laughs. He has so much more "up His sleeve". Share your testimonies of what God is doing, that the world might know He is in control, alive and well, never missing a beat, with a plan to "prosper you, and not to harm you; to give you a hope and a future."

A SUCCESSFUL TRIP THANKS TO YOUR PRAYERS

2008-11-06T17:41:00.000-08:00

We are so thankful for all your prayers. What had first looked to be a very stressful trip, turned into smooth sailing! Jeff had some good talks with the new country director and various other staff. Jeff enjoyed time with the team and their trip proved to be very impacting for them as individuals, as well as for the people in the villages they visited. Here are some of their stories:

A Wonderful day to Sikwale Trust: The group enjoyed a great day in one of the newer oprhan trusts spending a hot and dusty morning working alongside 45 caregivers in their newly expanded garden project. That afternoon everyone celebrated, enjoying the "fruits of their labor" with each caregiver taking home a benefit package of mealie meal, cooking oil, beans, salt, sugar, and school supplies for their children. Enough supplies to feed their families for over two weeks.

Launch of Reach4Life in Musuku School: A rural Zambia school of more than 400 youth celebrated World Hope's 40-week curriculum of abstinence and discipleship challenging the youth to purity and radical commitment to Christ. The launch was particularly challenging for the group as they were met by an atheist teacher from the Czech Republic, openly challenging the group and their beliefs. This man has been placed as a math teacher for a term. Please pray that he may not disrupt the R4L program and that he may see the light of Christ.

(See the moving story of Loza at the side posts)

Day in Muntu Wabulongo: A great celebration as a village starved by lack of water for years, sees a drilling rig arrive and in less than one day provide a fresh water well. Now caregivers draw fresh water within one mile of their homes. A daily task that before would require more than a four mile walk.

A Moving of the Holy Spirit: The team had the privilege to visit a man named Bornwel. Bornwel is HIV+ and very near death. As the team visits to better understand the role of the World Hope Home Based Care program, they receive an unexpected touch of God. Prompted by a "nudge" of the Holy Spirit the night before, the group had prepared songs to sing for Bornwel. As they arrive, Bornwel is too weak to even sit, and is carried out on a small mat to lay before the team. As the team sings and shares scripture, the peace of God becomes very tangible. By the end of the visit, Bornwel is able to sit up, smile, and interact with the group. The power of God brought healing and comfort in the midst of poverty and disease.

SEE WHAT THE LORD HAS DONE

2008-09-02T07:25:00.000-07:00

John 11:40, "Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of what God would do..."

Join us in celebrating the challenges and successes of this past summer in the statistics and stories following. Thank you for helping this work move forward. As you can see in the above picture, one of those challenges/successes has been the building of the new World Hope Zambia training center. The following is a few snippets of what the Lord is doing.

Zambian Community Orphan Trusts

Our work with the trusts is ongoing and growing. We now have 75 villages with projects supporting more than 13,000 oprhans and vulnerable children, as well as caring for more than 1500 HIV+ patients. 655 kids who had not gone to school now have access to education. 1100 people have been trained to visit households supporting orphans. We have advocated and saved the land and property for 390 widows whose husbands had died.

More benefits:
165 livelihood projects
179 tons of fruits and vegetables produced annually
25 maize fields
10,000 eggs produced annually
14,000 chickens given to caregivers each year
45 vocational training projects providing marketable skills to 6000 caregivers
275 child headed households cared for weekly
1328 malnourished children fed weekly
378 church leaders equipped to provide spiritual/emotional support to orphans
1200 youth trained in income generating skills

More stories:

Pauline: "I am HIV+ widow. I have one small child and two orphans. I walk one hour two times a day to fetch water for my family. I live on a small garden plot and am forced to beg for food. The other villagers used to persecute me and say, 'dig your grave for you will be dead soon, too.' Now I am supported with food and medicine to control the HIV. No more do they tell me to dig my grave, because they see I will now live."

Gracious: This child was born HIV+. For the first two years she suffered repeated illnesses because of her positive status. She was pledged to a witch doctor and had permanent 'charms' placed around her waist to 'ward off' evil spirits. As a result of the nutrition program through the trust, the child has begun to thrive, demonstrating the blessing of God and the parents have been convinced to remove the charms. They have since brought the child to the church for dedication.

Bennett: A man dying of AIDS remarked to the caregives as they visited. "This is the first time anyone has ever visited me. My greatest fear was that I would die friendless. Thanks for being my friend." Later that night he passed away....

Well Drilling
The rains and flooding of Dec. - March caused a slow start, but since then 11 wells have been drilled in 11 different villages, providing fresh water for 9000 people. Previously these people had to walk more than 3 miles twice every day to get water.

Chabbaboma Regional Development Project
The Chabbaboma banana plantation is harvesting the first of ten acres of bananas this month. This project was designed to use the largest manmade lake in Africa, Lake Kariba, to irrigate a large plot of land for agricultural production. It will produce a revenue in excess of $100,000 that will be used to transform a region of 35,000 of the poorest people in Zambia. The money will be used to improve roads, remodel schools, enhance and expand the regional health clinic, and provide significant food relief to many of the people in the region. Plans are also being laid for adding fruit orchards and a fishing industry.

Zambia Training Center
Thirty-five staff now run our Zambia operations. We are also providing training for Zambia villages at least 42 weeks out of the year. Many weeks, as many as 35 Zambian villagers are trained at our headquarters in Choma. U.S. teams have also been growing. More than 16 teams have been on the field this year alone. The building of a new center has begun to best facilitate the growth in these areas. The target completion date is November of this year. (See above picture)

Reach for Life and Hopefest
Our hearts truly break for the youth of southern Africa. They hold the key to the future of this continent, as well as releasing the grip of HIV that satan has on the continent. Three large group events were held this past spring and summer, reaching 12,000 youth. These large events brought kids into real, dynamic encounters with Jesus Christ. Hundreds recommitted their lives to Christ and many received deliverance from bondages resulting from curses and witchcraft that had trapped them for years. We are currently planning a fall season of prayer and seeking the Lord as to how to expand this ministry. We are looking at not only Zambia, but Mozambique, Malawi, and South Africa.

Reach for Life (R4L)
A new turn to our ministry this year will be to oversea and lead the youth initiative in Souther Africa called Reach for Life (R4L). This is a 40-week school or church prevention based program that takes youth through four journeys: finding faith, getting growing, loving life, and choosing change. The program uses the International Bible Society's Reach4Life New Testament to share God's power to change people's hearts, minds and behavior. The program presents the gospel message, facilitates avenues for youth to connect with a church and encourages youth to study scripture and lead a moral lifestyle. This program is being launched in Zambia, Mozambique, Malawi and South Africa and presently reaches more than 25,000 youth. By the year 2012 almost 50% of the population of southern Africa will be under the age of 22. To give you a sense of this ministry, we've included a couple stories to help you understand the plight of youth in Africa. (See below.)

Miscellaneous other activities
We are excited about the beginning of a "Hands that Heal" training for AIDS workers in Azerbaijan. "Hands that Heal" trains humanitarian workers to begin to combat the trafficking of persons around the world. Azerbaijan is particularly sensitive because it is the processing point for trafficking young girls from Eastern Europe and Central Asia to the rich Arab nations in the Middle East for the purposes of slave labor and prostitution. This training will be held the end of September.
Jeff has also been engaged in other administrative duties. Not a lot of fun, but necessary. The coordinating and developing of budgets for all these programs has just finished. Jeff has developed an organizational wide measurement and evaluation scheme for World Hope and has facilitated the transition of new leadership on our Zambian field.

We hope you are excited at "seeing what the Lord has done" and continues to do. Check out the stories and pictures below, as well as family news in our side columns. Be blessed!

2008-07-28T12:02:00.000-07:00

NEWS FROM JEFF:
"Things are going well here. Friday had all day meetings with Rev. Sichombo and Elvin. Resolved some PR information issues getting to me in the states, personnel issues and reogranization. THE BUILDING SITE LOOKS GREAT. Things are really coming along. The project in Chabbaboma is VERY impressive (bannana plantation)....Things are definitely much freer and productive....
Did have one huge God moment yesterday. Was invited to the "closing" for the HBC (home-based care) training of caregivers from six trusts in the Pemba area. After speaking to them about the importance of "love" to illicit Holy Spirit power on their visits, I invited them to stand and prayed over and layed hands on each on of them individually. God's power was very strong. Afterwards Mr. Pente came to me with one of the ladies who asked for special prayer. Praying over her I felt God telling me to tell her it was her pain that would make her effective in doing HBC. When I prayed that she burst into tears and started shaking all over. I kept praying and she relaxed and then hugged me. Man, I was shocked at that. Mr. Pente later told me her husband had died this year and she had been stigmatized by the community and had been suffering from the rejection ever since. He asked me how I knew? I didn't, but God knew. "

Today and tomorrow Jeff is interviewing for some new leadership positions. Please be in prayer for him and the others with him, that they have discernment and wisdom. This is a crucial time. We all know the right leader make a big difference. Jeff has felt a stirring of who it should be and it was confirmed by one other person. Pray that all have the same sense and agreement.

Work and Play!!!

2008-07-23T12:20:00.000-07:00

Our trip out East was a time to mix "business and pleasure". We had an awesome time staying with Brian and Jodi Lynn Cox and their family (see pics.) and meeting with two teams gearing up to go to Zambia, Africa. After a veeeeeerrrrryyyyy long drive from Buffalo, NY to Lynchburg, VA we were able to check out where Nathan will be going to school (in just four weeks!!) and visit Appomatox to check out some Civil War history. Then it was back in the car for another veeeeerrrrryyyy long drive home (14 hours!!).

2008-07-23T10:25:00.000-07:00

"For in Him we live and move and have our being...for we are His offspring."

(Acts 17:28)

As I read this verse this morning, I was struck how I could not live life without my God. How unimaginable to not have this relationship. How we are all HIS offspring. and, yet so many of His offspring are living as "orphans", not realizing the full measure of His fatherly love. It is our prayer that all, even ourselves, would know in full that we are no longer orphans, whether it be physical or spiritual, but adopted, carrying the very DNA of our Heavenly Father.

These last months have been full of travel, incountry and overseas. And we have seen the orphan. The orphan to parents lost to AIDS, the orphan to a mindset of lovelessness, the orphan to a lifestyle of poverty, the orphan to emotion and physical sickness. We have seen God open up the "love gates" of Heaven and say "YOU are my child."

As I traveled to Zambia, Africa, a few weeks ago, I was not looking foward to long days of travel alone. The Lord, in His graciousness, used that time to make me feel what the orphan feels: noone to talk to; noone to travel life with; noone to understand who they are; noone to care about their likes/dislikes; noone to put an arm around them and explain the craziness of life. Not just the child in Africa, but the person sitting next to me on the plane: a man from South Africa coming back from two months in Canada looking for a new home for his family because of the oppression in his country. Now he was heading back to pack up his family, his brothers and their families, generations of a life in South Africa, to move to Canada to find a better life. The opportunity to pray for him and his future and remind him of a Heavenly Father that knows and cares. The opportunity to give my front row, lots of leg room, seat to a young mother who had only one seat for herself and her two-year-old daughter in the middle for a long eight hour flight. And so many more opportunities to let others know that they are not alone, not an orphan.

I so appreciated your prayers as I faced some unwelcome circumstances on my arrival, and how, through your prayers, in one day everything made a 180 degree turnaround. The training for Hope for Grieving Children went very well. We expected 12 pastors/lay people and had 19, all of them with their own stories of being an orphan, caring for orphans, and helping others care for orphans. Over and over I repeated the words from Graham Cooke: "He loves you, He loves you, He loves you, He loves you, He loves you....not for what you do for Him, but just because that is who He is........." The last morning devotion was powerful as we talked about Psalm 37 and how if we only commit our way to the Lord, be still and rest in Him, HE WILL act. The load of the needs is too much for us, but not for the Lord. We closed our time with my favorite song "Ulamembela" (He Cares) and took time to split in twos and pray and minister to each other.

A couple of their stories reveal the misconceptions about grieving: one little child, so very hungry, went to the caregiver asking for food. The caregiver, burdened by her task, angrily replied, "Food! I have no food! Go to your parents' grave and ask them for food!" After the training, this caregiver realized the pain of her words and asked the child's forgiveness and the church for help. Another caregiver, felt like giving up as her orphan kept biting other children. She felt she was failing and maybe the child needed to be sent to yet another relative. After the training she understood anger as a part of grieving, talked with the child about his pain, showed him love and patience, and the biting problem ceased.

Pastor Njamba said, "Indeed I am stirred inside. This information about the grieving child needs to be told to others."

Another pastor commented: "I meet with 120 pastors every Thursday in Kabwe. We are from all the denominations. We go away together for the whole day for prayer, singing, and teaching. I am going to do this training at one of the meetings."

Can you imagine? 120 pastors from all different denominations coming together to seek the Lord. With the training they receive they will reach tens of thousands of orphans and caregivers with the understanding that grieving happens, it is okay, and that there is Someone whose purpose was to bring love, emotion and physical healing, deliverance, and salvation.

Thank you so much for your prayers.