Hope For A Child

The things a child needs to survive are obvious – food, shelter, clothing, and the like. Sadly, in many places where Harvesters is working, countless children struggle daily for these necessities. Some are orphans whose parents have died due to disease, accidents, or violence. Others live with impoverished families who lack the means to meet their basic needs. Out of our first-hand witness of many children forced to live under such circumstances, Harvesters International has developed Project Hope 127, our new child sponsorship program. This is an easy, effective way for those who want to provide life-changing love and support for a child in Asia or Africa to do so with confidence.

Project Hope 127 takes its name from James 1:27 which says “Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress…” This verse expresses the same truth as many others do, that God’s love working through His people takes the form of life-impacting action.

Sponsoring a child helps bring wonderful change to the shape and direction of a child’s life in many ways. As the name implies, Project Hope 127 is not only about providing food, health care, clothing, education, and a home to the children we serve. Beyond their material need, a child will quickly lose hope when struggling to survive in places that offer little or no opportunity for their future. At that point, giving them love, stability, and a sense of safety is vital to building their confidence that life is worth living. Teaching them about God’s love helps them understand that they do matter. Most importantly, helping them understand the Gospel provides a child the opportunity to live in the hope of knowing God for eternity.

Sponsors play a vital role in bringing hope to a child that goes beyond financial support. Both formal university studies and our experience confirm the wonderful reaction that occurs for a child when they know that someone they have never met cares enough about them to not only provide for their material needs, but to also send them letters of encouragement. Sponsors are much more than faceless donors! They develop a relationship with a child that needs to experience being loved by as many people as possible. Sponsors may also travel to Africa and meet their child.

Currently, we have children from the Democratic Republic of the Congo who are awaiting sponsorship. These children are in the care of our ministry partners. Beginning a relationship by sponsoring a child is easy! It begins at www.ProjectHope127.org. There, you can see the photographs of our children, learn about their background, and become part of their lives by sponsoring one or more of them for $45 per month each. Below are just a few of the amazing kids that need sponsors.

Aganze Kulondwa
My parents were taken captive by rebels, and I am unsure what happened to them. I am 11 years old and want to be a businessman.

Nadia Balume
I was born in Kibumba in 2008. My parents were killed by rebels in 2016. I am 11 years old and want to be a teacher.

Solomon
I came to the children’s home in 2016. My parents are sick and cannot take care of me. I am ten years old and hope to become a doctor.

A New Way To Give

Making the most of what you have is always important. It’s part of being a good steward of the resources God has allowed us to manage.

To help our supporters increase the good that is accomplished by their gifts, Harvesters International Ministries has established the Harvesters Impact Fund. This giving option was created to provide supporters an easy way to take advantage of the tax benefits of donating appreciated stocks, mutual funds, real estate, and even business interest. Trust funds and annuities can be arranged as well. Using these assets as charitable gifts to Harvesters results in avoiding the capital gains that occur if they are sold by the owner. You receive the charitable tax deduction of the full value of the asset, without the tax liability of a capital gain. This strategy results in a greater investment in effective ministry.

Good management yields good results. Utilizing the Harvesters Impact Fund results in more churches being planted, more clean water being available, more orphans being cared for, along with all the other impacts of Harvesters’ work in Africa and Asia. Supporters who use the Harvesters Impact Fund still have the ability to direct where and how their gifts are used by our ministry partners.

Harvesters has chosen the National Christian Foundation to host the Harvesters Impact Fund. Their extensive experience, reliability, and solid reputation make them a great part of our team. We know that God will use their work to expand our efforts to touch lives.

If you would like to learn more or are interested in donating an asset to further the work of Harvesters, please contact Doug Radford at 252-230-9742 or via email at doug@harvesters.net. We look forward to sharing with you about this great stewardship giving tool!

Sion Assembly Church

Our passion is to win souls for our Lord from our pagan country, India. India has 1.3 billion people. Approximately 80% are Hindus, 15% are Muslims, and only 4% are Christians. There are 33 million gods and goddesses in India. We are working hard to win souls by conducting mass evangelism through Gospel Crusades. Many are giving their lives to Christ through these Crusades, joining our churches, and growing in the Lord. At the same time, we are encountering a lot of persecution from the government and also from the people in the villages and cities who are Hindu fanatics. We desperately need your prayers and support to conduct these mass Gospel Crusades.

 

Also, please continue to pray for our training of pastors. So far, we have been able to train 220 students from two Telugu states – Andhra Pradesh and Telangana State. This year, we are training 75 students, which will graduate in August. Some will be starting new ministries in unreached areas. Please continue to pray for all of our pastors and students has they take Jesus to the unreached. Pray for their protection and for provision while they are sharing their faith and the Gospel.

China Sees

Thank you for praying for our fellow believers in China who are experiencing increased hostility from their government. We have remained in regular communication with our ministry partners in China, conducting Biblical counseling and providing advice through technology called WeChat, which is like twitter in US.

Our “city” group planned to plant a church in 2018, but the tightened government control made them unable to find a meeting place. This March, they officially launched it. It is their first church plant, in the midst of heightened persecution from government! A core group from the “mother” church launched a new location in another part of the city, which has population of 30 million! This has been two years in prayer and planning, and we are super excited to see the Lord moving!! In addition, this is a testimony of God’s faithfulness and their unwavering faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Four of the men we trained are leading this plant. So please pray for them to continue to trust the Lord and lead the newly planted church according to what the Lord taught and showed in the Bible. Praise the Lord for their moving ahead given the current environment toward Christianity in China.

Please also pray for the “mother” church to continue to grow in faith, in laborers and workers, and in numbers of believers. They have already asked us to train more men for them.

Oddly, to our thinking, the “countryside” portion of our work is attracting more government attention. They are laying low and have broken into small cells to fly under the radar. So please pray that they will remain faithful to the Lord while they are scattered.

We are hoping to be able to make a trip over the summer, but the situation still does not allow us to do so. The Chinese government has encouraged local people to report any “suspected” foreigners for 5000-10,000 RMB (Chinese yuan). This can be very troublesome for us, especially for Mr. Jones and, as a result, for the local believers.

We are praying, exploring the feasibility, and seeking confirmation for other ways to serve Chinese believers. Please pray with us as we seek the Lord’s guidance in this area. As always, we appreciate your continued support and prayers.

The Kind Of Medication You Can’t Write A Script For

By Guest Contributor, Dr. Mark Paschall

This image has haunted me since our return from a remote village in a forgotten region of Kenya. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and this picture makes that especially true.

It tells a story of hardship in this mother’s eyes as she brought her child to our clinic looking for answers to the developmental and behavioral issues in her son. He was not acting like other children his age and at times did not seem capable of understanding and complying with directions or instructions. Hoping that perhaps some medication or nutritional supplement could remedy the problem, she had travelled a long distance to attend one of our medical clinics.

We were able to quickly diagnose Down syndrome and also determine that, at least for now, there were no other serious neurological or cardiac issues that often accompany this condition. While we certainly had no medication to offer that would change his situation, we were at least able to explain his condition to her and offer her realistic expectations for his future.
The obvious concern that can be seen in her face in this photo affirmed she had understood the challenges she was facing. The tremendous resources available in the U.S. for children with this genetic chromosome disorder would never be available to her, and she now understood that this was a lifelong condition that would impact her entire family for decades. At the same time, we were able to give her the information she needed to understand the implications of his condition.

When I was at the University of Michigan, the slogan for the Medical School was “Knowledge is Power,” While this may ring hollow in many desperate situations, I believe there is some truth in this case. We were able to empower this strong, determined, and concerned mother. We were also able to offer a commodity little seen in these remote areas of Africa. That commodity is hope. We were able to pray with her and remind her that she is not alone in her struggle. God is aware of her challenges, and there is now a group of Americans who will remember to pray for her regularly. Hope is something that I could never write a script for. It’s a remedy only God can provide.

As medical personnel, we often feel we have been successful only when our treatment has offered a cure or when we have fixed something or alleviated physical suffering. The most important thing we can do on these mission trips, however, is point people to the Great Physician through our holistic approach of caring for their entire beings: physical, emotional, and spiritual. This is what Jesus did and we have the tremendous opportunity to do likewise in His name on these medical mission trips.

Whatever your passion is, whatever skills and abilities God blessed you with to share with the world, I’d encourage you to use those gifts on a short-term mission trip. You will leave changed.

 

**Since 2011, Dr. Paschall has traveled to Kenya each year with his church, Kensington Community Church in Detroit, Michigan. We are grateful for his faithful service to the Pokot people and Pokot Outreach Ministries.

 

Union of Baptist Churches

We are privileged to introduce you to a man who has been greatly impacted by the ministry of UBC. His story, which he shares below, is one of redemption, hope, and full reliance upon Jesus Christ.

I am called by the name of Hagumishuti Eilya. I was born in Rutshuru territory in Nyanzale village in the Democratic Republic of Congo on June 23, 1975. I am the third born of my family. My father was married to four other women, and my mother was the second wife. She was very jealous of the other wives and children. She used to train us to grow into conflicts with the other children of my father and consider them as enemies. At age 11, my two older sisters and I were trained by our grandmother in witchcraft. She wanted us to poison our brother and become the leaders of our family.

In an effort to try to control my father, my mother introduced him to drugs. She supplied him with drugs to keep him in our home so that she would have access to all of his income. She did not want the other wives to have anything.

At age 14, I was in secondary school with my brother, Nelson, the son of the first wife of my father. I used to run races with him at school. By the end the school year, he began to win all of our races. My mother was totally jealous of that. Nelson and I would tend the family goats in the afternoon. One day, my mother and grandmother gave me a banana that had been poisoned and told me to give it to Nelson. I gave him that banana, and I ate one without poison. After tending the goats, we each went back to our homes.

About an hour later, someone came running to our home to say that Nelson was about to die because of complications in his belly. My father, mother, and grandmother ran to check on him and instructed all of us children to stay at home. After a few minutes, I decided that I needed to join them. Nelson was my friend, and I knew that I should not have given him the banana. I had to try to remedy this problem. When I arrived, I was met with many people weeping. I told my father and the neighbors present what I had done. They gave Nelson traditional medicines that caused him to vomit the poison. Fortunately, he survived.

My mother and grandmother were immediately captured and beaten by the villagers. They both died two days later. I, too, was beaten, but my stepmother intervened. She was a Christian and knew how I had been impacted by my mother’s teachings. She wanted me to live with her and attend Sunday School and church. I went, but was insulted by all the other children because of what happened. No one would be my friend. I learned about Jesus and was mentored by Pastor Ushindi. At 16, I was baptized. There were still very few people that would accept me. I began to fall away from my faith.

At 19, I decided to join a rebellion group in our village. During the war against the government army, I was captured and put in prison. I was there for one year and four months before I escaped, fleeing to the town of Goma. I met a woman and got married, but I continued living in a very sinful way.

In September 2017, I met Pastor Kazaviyo while I was working. He started telling me about the news of Jesus Christ. I told him that I know all that. He asked me if I had received Christ in my life. I said yes and that I have been baptized since I was 16 years old. He asked me why I hadn’t continued to serve God in church. That really made me stop and think. When he saw that, he continued to question me. I told him all about my life story and the devastating things that I had experienced. He comforted me and gave me a new hope in Jesus Christ. He invited me to his church, where I began to learn more about Jesus and grow in my faith.

I am now an evangelist and share the hope of Jesus with others. The Lord has blessed me with a wife and five children. The Lord has cared for me, even when I had done so many terrible things. I am grateful for the ministry of UBC that helped me find God and His purpose for my life.

A Heart For Orphans

Hope for Life Homes in Russia provides an alternative to the institutional setting that most orphans experience there. The children are nurtured in loving, Christian homes by a couple who has a heart to care for orphans.

HFL also reaches out to children who are living in government-operated orphanages and sends a number of them to a Christian camp each summer where they learn about the love of God. Many come to faith in Christ and take that message of hope back to the other children and staff in the orphanages where they live. We are excited to share with you the stories of three children that have been impacted by HFL.

Polina

We met Polina in the Ussuryisk orphanage seven years ago. At the time, she was a sad and withdrawn girl. Her parents regularly abused alcohol. They divorced and decided it would be best to take Polina to an orphanage. Although it didn’t seem like it at the time, Polina now knows that it really changed her life in a positive way. It was in the orphanage that she was exposed to Christians and learned of God. Her hunger for Him was strong, and we were able to send her to the Transformation Camp where she gave her life to Jesus. Her walk with the Lord has been such a blessing to see. When she graduated from the orphanage at 15, she entered into a vocational school in Vladivostok so that she could attend the Vladivostok Bible Church.

Polina found and talked with her parents. Her mother hated her for coming back since she would have to share her apartment with her. Her dad tried to be supportive, but his wife didn’t want her around. In spite of that, Polina keeps in touch with, and prays for, her parents. Her eyes always get watery when she shares about them. She says: “I don’t know what the future has in store for me, but I know that without God I won’t have a future.”

Polina was baptized last fall. She has a beautiful ministry of greeting people at the church door each week. She will be graduating from vocational school next year and wants to enter Far Eastern University to become a teacher. She also has a strong desire to adopt a child from an orphanage when she has a family. She longs to see her parents come to church. Polina trusts God sincerely and is excited to see what He has in store for her.

Angelina

Angelina’s parents lost their parental rights due to alcohol and child neglect. Her health was extremely poor. The doctors and local authorities tried to talk Misha and Lena, our HFL house parents, out of taking her. Of course, they didn’t consider giving her up, even for a second. Lena spent one year in and out of hospitals with Angelina because of her severe lung and allergy conditions. Then, God granted them a miracle! Angelina’s health changed to perfect. She has grown into a very bright, always smiling, kind, healthy girl who loves both the Lord and the church. She loves helping her mom in the kitchen and around the house and is quick to take initiative. Her favorite verse is Luke 1:37: “For nothing will be impossible with God.”

Elijah

Dear Elijah came into our HFL 2 Home when he was four. His birth mother abandoned him just after birth because she had a problem with alcohol and had no means to raise him. He was adopted by a non-Christian family, then abandoned again.

Even at the age of four, he was not trusting of people. But when our HFL 2 mom, Lena, came into the orphanage where he lived, Elijah must have been moved by God to just run to her as fast he could and ask whether she would take him to her home. She did.

Elijah will be 13 this year. It has taken many years of questioning for him to accept that his HFL parents really love him and want him to be part of their family. He now has peace that he is loved unconditionally. He is a challenging child, but also bright, kind, and loves the Lord.

Last year, Elijah’s birth mother came in contact with his HFL parents. They learned that she is now a believer and had been praying for the son she abandoned. She now raises a handicapped daughter. Our HFL Home parents help by taking her to doctor appointments or for groceries, and she often comes to spend time with Elijah. We trust that Elijah will root his life in God and that He will use him to lead more people into the Kingdom. We believe in him and we trust our God and praise Him for using us to minister to Elijah.

Pokot Outreach Ministry – South Sudan

Greetings in the name of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We are all doing fine in the Lord. We thank God for the continued partnership in prayer and material support. We praise God for richly supplying for our needs in every way as we serve him here in South Sudan. It has been an exciting year, and we have seen God do great things. We have and still are continuing to connect to many villages and many people hoping to build bridges from our hearts to theirs over which Christ may walk into their lives. We are anticipating yet another exciting year and we are hoping to make a greater impact in the scope of our ministry. We are hoping to do more village to village campaigns, conduct our first pastor’s and evangelist’s conference, and help our mission leaders have a more clear and succinct plan on building their teams and developing those they lead. Our immediate needs therefore focus on things that help us achieve our next phase of goals.

We are hoping to have the first pastor’s and evangelist’s conference in late January or early February. We have been bringing our key leaders to be part of the Pastor’s Conference in Kenya. But for the coming year, we are bringing none because we felt that it is time for our ministry to discuss things that are more specific and unique to our situation. We also want to cast the net wider to include mission leaders’ disciples into the program. The conference is expected to bring about 20 to 30 pastors, leaders, and evangelists from two major tribes that we are reaching – the Diding’a and Toposa. It shall be a vision casting conference where we hope to have our missional leaders, along with their teams, draw a grand plan of the next 10 years for their mission hubs with mid-term, short-term, and immediate plans clearly spelled out. We shall also be introducing The Timothy Initiative training where leaders are expected to train about six or more “Timothys” in one year.

To make this conference possible, our ministry shall provide transportation, accommodations, and facilitate the materials for the conference and training. We hope to have one or two guest facilitators/speakers. Our budget for this is $1,500.

We are planning to have more village evangelistic campaigns. The team from the main hub shall be backing up the efforts of our missional leaders in reaching their specific areas. In most of these remote places, there are no houses to accommodate a team of six to ten people at a time. We therefore hope to purchase tents and some sleeping bags to support our remote outreaches. We need at least 10 for a start, with a total cost of $1,000.

To accommodate our missional leaders during trainings and conferences, we would like to add additional rooms to the veranda of the house at our main mission hub. We are expecting to have regular training sessions that shall bring our missional leaders to our main hub at the same time. We therefore wish to have reliable rooms for our missional leaders to provide accommodation to them during our meetings/training. This will cost approximately $6,000 to $6,500.

We also have additional needs that we are earnestly praying God to meet. One of the pressing ones is the need for clean water in Nanyia village. This is home to our legendary woman of faith, Martha Lokwale. On numerous occasions, Martha walked 21 kilometers to speak with me about the people in her village and the need for the Gospel. Two years ago, we met and prayed about starting a church in her village. Recently, 25 people were baptized there! She constantly reminds me of the suffering of her people. We humbly ask that you pray with us that this need will be met. Drilling a borehole is about $14,000.


Omega Ministry

We are thankful for the dedication and courage of our Pakistani partner, Omega Ministry, who continues to share the Gospel amidst threats of violence. Recently they held a seminar for pastors and church members to specifically encourage them. Over 250 people attended this special session.

Please pray for them as they hold three crusades in different cities in late November and early December. These meetings are intended to both encourage believers and reach those who have not accepted Christ.

Ongoing needs for the Pakistani pastors include monthly support and motorcycles. Having transportation is of vital importance for pastors to be able to effectively reach more people. They typically minister in multiple areas and moving from place to place can be challenging. Currently, it costs $2,200 to provide a motorcycle to a Pakistani pastor. Beyond transportation, monthly support is also important so that pastors can focus on teaching and preaching. Most serve in very poor areas and are unable to gather adequate support from local congregations. Depending on the situation $50 to $100 per month can make a great difference in the life of a pastor and their family.

Sion Assembly Ministry

Thank you for your continued support of our ministry.

At present, we have 45 children living in our orphan home. We are looking forward to starting a school that will also allow children in the slums to attend alongside the orphans. We have raised some funds for this project, but still need $4,000. These funds will enable us to start the school and continue through the end of the next academic year. The funds will provide for paying teachers and staff, as well as the purchase of benches, desks, and white boards.

Providing activities for the children in the SAC Orphan Home and the community is a huge priority for our ministry. Several years ago, we constructed a playground. The swings, slides, and basketball goal need to be replaced or repaired. We would like to provide two televisions for the children to be able to watch Christian cartoons and movies, as well as our SAC broadcast. Our sewing machines are also in need of repair. These machines are used by the children and are also available to people in the village who wish to learn how to sew. The combined costs of this project are approximately $2,200.

As pastor and leader of SAC, I am often traveling between ministry locations. In order to continue our Skype services broadcast, I have given my laptop to the church for use when I am traveling. I am in need of a new laptop so that I am able to continue to work while traveling. The cost is $1,200. Thank you for considering our needs. We are grateful for your partnership!