Ten Talents International Blog

We had a safe trip back to the US from Rwanda, and now are getting back into life here. I was so thankful to hear, right before we left, that Theogene (I talked about him in the last blog) now has a sponsor! We also received a donation for some Bibles for our boys in the home, which is wonderful also! We continue to have dreams and ideas for the work we would like to be doing in Rwanda. We appreciate your continued prayers for the work of Ten Talents International- that God would guide us and that he would provide for the work he has called us to do. We also ask that you continue to pray for sponsors for children. Everytime Mike was at the feeding program for street children he would have children holding his hand and saying to him (in Kinyarwanda) “I want to learn” … “I want to go to school”. We have to turn them away as we already have many children registered and waiting for sponsors. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if every child who wanted to go to school, could go to school? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if instead of a waiting list of children waiting for sponsors, if we had a waiting list of sponsors waiting for children to be found & registered? We must dream big dreams- our God is big enough!

I believe it’s time for our ministry to move to the next level, for God to “enlarge our territory”. Pray with us for God to enable this to happen. For our sphere of influence to increase. It does not matter what the economic times may be- God has placed adequate resources within the hands of his people, if we will all work together we can accomplish his kingdom work! And as we are faithful with what he gives us, he will continue to give us more. Amen!

God Bless You,
Lisa

Our 3 month stay in Rwanda is drawing to a close. We leave this Saturday, May 16th, to return to the US. It is always heart breaking for us to leave, as we feel our hearts are both here with the kids that we love and the work we want to do, as well as with our friends and family back in the US. We miss you all & look foward to sharing with you the great things God has done & is doing in Rwanda. One thing we would like to do before we leave is to give each child in the Home of Innocence a Bible. Bibles cost approximately $10 US. We would like to also have Bibles ready to give to any new boys who may come into the home. Would you consider donating an amount to help us buy Bibles for these kids- former street children who now are attending school, praying and having devotions together as a family, and worshipping together at church? The boys would be so happy to have a Kinyarwanda Bible so they can learn more about God. You can donate towards Bibles via paypal by clicking on the “Giving” tab above, then selecting “one time donation” under Home of Innocence. Be sure to write a memo that says the donation is for Bibles. Or you can donate directly to our Vancouver office (click on “Contact” above). If you can help us give them Bibles this week that would be wonderful! Here are all of our Home of Innocence boys together-

Last Saturday we had all of the children who are registered with Ten Talents International gather at our office. Last month when the kids came many of them had brought their report cards to show (they had finished their first term at school). Several of our children placed very well in their classes: one was 1st, a few were second, some third, and so on. Now that we have our container out we have available to us items that were donated for the children here. This includes many pairs of shoes, both sport shoes and shoes for soccer (which all the kids love), as well as clothing. The children who placed in the top 10 of their class all got to choose a pair of brand new shoes. It was such a pleasure to be able to reward their hard work in this way. After those children had first pick, we then gave a pair of shoes to each boy in the Home of Innocence. We also gave each of the children who are sponsored, and those who are in the Home of Innocence, an article of clothing. The kids were so proud of their new shoes and clothes.

Pictured below is one of the Home of Innocence boys, Theogene. We have known Theogene for several years as he attended the feeding program for street children. Theogene used to be a very wild kid, but as he’s grown older he has changed and matured amazingly (praise to God!). He now has a sweet and humble heart, loves to pray and sing, and is a hard worker. Here in Rwanda there is no age limit for school, so children who have missed years of school, or never attended before, simply enroll where they left off. So, Theogene, at 18 years old, is in 2nd grade. He is progressing well and came out #3 in his grade. But Theogene needs a sponsor. We actually have many boys in the home who need sponsors. Please pray with us for God to provide sponsors for all the children registered with Ten Talents, and especially for those who are in the Home.

Thank you for your faithful support of our ministry here in Rwanda. The work continues as we leave, through our staff- Simon Peter Ngoga and Maureen- as well as by God’s grace! You can pray for our long plane flight this weekend to go well also!

God Bless You,
Lisa

In the last week we have 3 boys who have come into the Home Of Innocence. The first is an orphan who was staying with an older brother and was brought to us by a local pastor. His name is Emmanuel and he is 12 years old.

The next boy is well known to us through the feeding program, his name is Theonest. Last week he had been grabbed by the police & taken to a holding place the government has for street children (the kids here call it prison). Theonest managed to get out, but when he returned he found out his family had moved while he was away. He came to the place where we have the feeding program- same place where Mike happened to be using our tractor to move some dirt. Mike & Simon Peter started talking to Theonest & ended up finding out his story & bringing him to the home that night. The only thing Theonest had was the Ten Talents shirt he was wearing and the pants he had on. The next day was Sunday, and thankfully there were some brand new boy clothes in our shipping container. We were able to give Theonest a pair of clean, new clothes to wear to church the next day, and that made him happy. A few days later a family friend, who has been a part of the feeding program in the past, brought Theonest’s mom to our office to find him. She said that the step-father does not treat him well & that it would probably be a relief for Theonest to stay in the home for a while. The most amazing part of this story is that when we registered this little guy (he is not even as big as our 5 year old son Nate) we would have guessed him to be about 8 years old- at the most. His mom told us he is 12 years old! She even produced a hospital document to support this. How this could be, we do not know, perhaps because of extreme malnutrition. Theonest is a funny guy and we look foward to working with him and his family.

The third boy is named Adrian. He came to us through another local missionary. Adrian has HIV and his mother abandoned him- refusing to care for him. The missionary has been nursing Adrian back to health and he has gone from being unable to even hold himself upright to being able to run around & play now. Adrian we guess to be about 6 years old. Now that Adrian is in our home he can walk to a primary school that is only about a block away, and there will be those to watch him & make sure he is taking the medication he needs and stays healthy.

So, thank you to all who attended & supported our “house warming” at Heritage church – because now we need more beds & mattresses! For now, some of the boys are sharing beds, and hopfully in a couple of days we will have beds for everyone. We now have 8 children in the home: Yvie (older boy in our techinical training program who is staying there to help out), Theogene & Karace (also older but in primary school because of being on the streets for many years), Celestin, Yvie (2), Emmanuel, Theonest, and Adrian.

Please be praying for God’s blessing on all these boys & young men. Pray for unity in the home- with so many brothers it could be easy for there to be divisions. Pray also for the boys to love & respect their new “auntie” that moved in this week (the house “uncle” we had has left). We believe for God’s best for each of these children- he loves them with an unmeasurable love & we believe God has called them out for a purpose & a reason. We pray for God’s good will to be accomplished in each of their lives.

Please also pray with us for sponsors for each of the children who are in our program. God is going to do great things!

Thank you for your prayers & for joining with us in this ministry!
God Bless You,
Lisa