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In the last blog post I told you about something very exciting: a matching donation that will match every gift given towards the Acres of Hope, dollar for dollar, up to $20,000 total!  Giving that gets doubled is awesome, but did you know that it’s possible to make it even “awesomer“?  (Yes, I think the situation requires that word).

Many employers like to encourage giving towards non-profit organizations, and part of that may include matching employees donations.  This is something you should definitely ask your employer about!  For example: if you make a donation towards the Acres of Hope in the amount of $200, your gift is then matched and turned into $400 for the Acres of Hope.  But, if your employer matches your gift of $200, that gift is also matched with another $200, and now your $200 donation has turned into an $800 donation! I was right when I called it awesomer, wasn’t I?

The matching donation is available only until April 15th (you can remember that date, I’m sure)!  If you have thought about giving please take this opportunity to do so.  We would appreciate your continued prayers for this first phase of the Acres of Hope development to be fully funded.

As a reminder,  the focus of this first phase of development will be to:  get water and electricity to the property, begin the waste water projects needed for the first phase, complete the building which will be a vocational training center and our offices, and build a transitional home for girls & babies (just like the Home of Innocence).  The plans for the training center include dorms, which once completed we will be able to use as a temporary Home of Innocence until we are able to complete the other homes planned for the Acres of Hope (a total of four transitional homes are planned).

We are thankful that we have found another rental home for the boys from the Home of Innocence to move into the beginning of next month, but what we all really want is for them to have a place of their own that will mean no more moving.

Giving towards the Acres of Hope can be done online (using paypal) or by mail.

We so appreciate everyone who has given already and those who have been standing with us in prayer, believing for God to make these plans a reality!

God Bless You,

Lisa

An amazing opportunity has been presented to the ministry.  One of our supporters has pledged to match, dollar for dollar, every donation that comes in for the Acres of Hope development up to a total of $20,000!  This matching donation is only available for the next 30 days, so if you would like to contribute towards breaking ground on our property this is a great chance for you!

We shared this great news with the boys in the Home of Innocence last night so they could rejoice with us, as they too have been praying diligently for God to provide for this development.  They are all anticipating the day when they will finally have a home “of their own” instead of renting from others.  This desire is felt even more deeply now as the current landlord of the house the boys are in has given us notice to move out.  We are currently searching for a different house to rent for the Home of Innocence, and that will also house our offices.

The plan for the Acres of Hope is that we will be building in phases.  The focus of this first phase of development will be to:  get water and electricity to the property, begin the waste water projects needed for the first phase, complete the building which will be a vocational training center and our offices, and build a transitional home for girls & babies (just like the Home of Innocence).  The plans for the training center include dorms, which once completed we will be able to use as a temporary Home of Innocence until we are able to complete the other homes planned for the Acres of Hope (a total of four transitional homes are planned).

A transitional home for girls and babies is desperately needed.  We know of several programs which provide care for former street boys, but none that care for the lost girls.  Many of these girls, without family to care for them, end up in situations that are not safe or advantageous for them.  Babies and very small children could also be cared for in this same home.  Can you give and be a part of helping these vulnerable children?

The opportunity to be a part of this matching donation will only last until April 15th.  We would love for each one of you to be part of seeing the plans for the Acres of Hope become reality.  Your donation can be doubled and every donation will help!  You can click on the “giving” tab right here on our website to give online, or to give by mail click on our “contact” page for the address.

Agree in prayer with us as we believe for God to provide, and that we are going to see great things happen!

God Bless You,

Lisa

Here are the pictures as promised of the kitchen garden put in at the Home of Innocence.  Thank you Cathleen for spearheading this & helping our Home have more vegetables on hand.  Here is a picture at the beginning of the project: the guys have removed all the grass from this area, worked up the soil, and planted the seeds.

This was a little over a month ago, now here is a picture of the garden today.  Vegetables are getting bigger and are about ready to be harvested!

The fact that these vegetables are ready is good news, and even more so because of the situation that has come up recently.  The landlord of the current Home of Innocence is requiring us to move out.  They want to raise the rent substantially, so we have to find a new home for our guys.  We are currently on the look out for a place that is within our budget as well as being near to the boys current school so they don’t have to change schools.  Will you please pray with us for God to provide a new house for the Home of Innocence?  One thing that is lacking from our current place is a yard for the boys to play in.  Let’s ask God to provide a good, safe, affordable home that also has a yard for playing!

Of course this also highlights a special project on our radar right now: the development of the Acres of Hope.  It is our goal to have a permanent house for the Home of Innocence on our property.  But not just one house, but four of them!  One of those homes will be specifically for girls and babies/toddlers.  This is a dire need around here as we know of several group homes for boys, but I have not heard of any for girls.  It is our desire to start the development on the Acres of Hope property this year- in fact, this spring even.  The sooner the better!  This would be another prayer request:  that we would get the proper approvals quickly in order to move forward with the development of the property and that God would provide the finances needed to build.

Thank you for praying with us for the needs of the ministry.  God has been so good to us & we are grateful to be a part of his work helping families and children here in Rwanda.  If you would like to give towards getting the Acres of Hope developed, or to help us with the costs of securing a new Home of Innocence, you can follow this link to our giving page.

God Bless You,

Lisa

Several things have happened or are in the process of happening currently since the beginning of 2012.  First of all we brought a new boy into the Home of Innocence.  Cyprian was referred to us by the heart doctor at the main hospital here in Kigali.  This boy has also had heart surgery, like several of the other boys in the home have, but his family was unable to care for him properly following surgery which meant he spent a lot of time in the hospital with medical problems.  We welcome Cyprian into the Home and pray for his transition to be smooth and for him to connect with the other boys as well as feeling the love of God through us all.

We had a visitor from our home church, Heritage Church in Vancouver, WA.  Cathleen spent two weeks here and was able to guide the boys in the Home of Innocence in preparing & planting a garden for the home.  We are already enjoying a harvest of beans, corn, and soy from the Acres of Hope, now they will also have a “kitchen garden” there at the home to supplement their diets.  Little sprouts are coming up already & hopefully I will soon be able to show you some pictures of the garden in bloom!

We have a couple more visitors here now for an extended trip.  They are spending time teaching English at one school where many of the children in our sponsorship program attend.  They are also spending some time with the boys at the Home of Innocence, helping with homework and enjoying worship with them each week.

We still have many children who are waiting for sponsors.  Please pray with us for God to lead people to sponsor a child through Ten Talents International.

For those who may be wondering about an update on the McColm family, I would encourage you to read this post on our family blog.

Thank you for praying with us for God’s kingdom to come & his will to be done here in Rwanda, as well as in each of our lives!

God Bless You,

Lisa

2012 is quickly approaching, can you believe it? What is on your mind for the new year? Resolutions, changes, improvements, goals, dreams? What is the focus of those changes (self improvement, time with family, career)? Those are all good and important things, but I would like to encourage you to expand your scope, if you haven’t already. I just found a resource for helping with this & I wanted to share it with you.  Click here to check out Harvest Ministry’s Mission-Minded New Year’s Guide for 2012.  One thing our family likes to do each New Year’s Eve is to talk together about the good things God has done over the past year, and what we are wanting to see in the coming year.  I think this guide is going to be a great tool for focusing our conversations even further.

We pray you are able to look back and see the many blessings in your own life and allow God to ignite dreams within your own heart for where He is going to take you in the future.

God Bless You!

Lisa

Besides the giving idea mentioned in this post about rabbits, we would like to provide you more ideas of gifts you can give this Christmas that will spread blessings all around!  Is there someone on your gift list this year that would really appreciate a meaningful gift, not just more “stuff”?  What if you gave a gift to a child in Rwanda in honor of that person?  You are blessing them, and blessing the children of Rwanda, not to mention feeling blessed yourself to know that you’ve been a part of it!

Are you wondering what is on the wish list this year for the children in the Home of Innocence?

Bed sheets and bath towels. Yup, that is what they really need.  New bed sheets and bath towels.  Would you like to help give them a gift this Christmas?  One set of bed sheets costs $7, the cost for a bath towel is also $7.  You could give one, one of each, or many.  It would be nice to have 30 of each, so when it is washing day, there is another one he can use while it dries.  (No electric dryer- it has to air dry, which in the rainy season can sometimes mean a day or two.)

The other thing that is needed for the Home of Innocence is a few more mattresses for their beds.  We need to be able to add more boys into the home, and they shouldn’t have to share a small mattress!  One mattress costs $39.  Could you help us outfit a few more beds in the Home?

If you can give to these boys this Christmas, please go to our giving page.  You can select the “Where Needed Most” option and when you give your gift you can add a note that says, “bed sheets” or “towels” and if you would like us to notify the person you are giving in honor of please let us know that too.

Interested in giving towards something different?  Take a look around in our recently updated web pages where you can see information about developments going on for the Acres of Hope especially.

We pray you have a wonderful and peace filled Christmas season.  We will be hosting two different mission trip teams this month and we are going to be sharing the joy of Christmas with many children here in Rwanda thanks to these teams!

God Bless You,

Lisa

It is mid-November, and even here in the land of “eternal spring” we find our thoughts turning towards Christmas.  We even have an “evergreen” poinsettia in our yard- at least that!  It has been the TTI tradition that every year we host a Christmas party for the sponsored children.  They come together at our office/Home Of Innocence to enjoy food, soda, music, preaching, and presents!  Every child receives a new set of clothes and shoes, a backpack, and some new school supplies (the Rwandan school year starts in January).

This year we will be having a team here to help us with the Christmas party (hooray!).  If you have a child in our sponsorship program and would like to send them an extra gift (something personal from your family), this team has volunteered to pack these items in their luggage and bring them along for your child.  If you would like to send something please email me- [email protected] and I will send you the address.

If you are looking for something “practical” to give to a family in our sponsorship program, I’d like to suggest you consider giving them a pair of breeding rabbits & a rabbit hutch, as talked about in a previous blog post (click here to read).  We also hope to share more giving ideas as Christmas gets nearer.

Please keep the ministry of Ten Talents International in your prayers.  We ask daily for God’s wisdom as we seek to follow his plan and calling for the ministry here.  We have many ideas and hopes for the expansion of the ministry, as God enables.  Thank you for being a part of it all!

God Bless You,

Lisa

We have to realize we can’t help everyone. As much as we may want to help someone, and even when we do have the ability to help them, they still are the ones who have the choice to make. I do not understand all the ins & outs of the human mind & psyche- why people choose to live a life that is “less than” what they could have, just because it’s what they’re “used to”?

It seems in the last few months that God is showing me this truth in several different cases. There are some children that we have tried to help. We have given them every opportunity and help we give other children. And yet, for a few of those children, they are unable to let go of their previous lives. I don’t understand all the reasons why. Maybe they are willing to choose “answering to no one” over following rules? Maybe they choose being high & without responsibility over the work & determination that school requires? Maybe they just find it impossible to believe that their lives really could be different from what they always thought they would be? Whatever the reasons, I grieve for them. My heart grieves for them & the bleak life now laid out before them.

As much as I grieve and my eyes fill with tears for those boys, I know our heavenly father grieves for them even more. He knows even more than I about the consequences of their choices. The other day I was reading the story Jesus told of the shepherd who left the 99 sheep to go and find the 1. God cares & longs for that one sheep that has gone astray. Only the shepherd can bring back lost sheep. All that we can do (as fellow sheep) is to pray and to be there. And oh the rejoicing that happens when that sheep is brought back! Our God is a seeker- he came to this earth seek and to save that which was lost. So we pray for those who are “lost” to this world and it’s empty promises. We pray for God to seek them out & that they choose to come back to where hope is. We pray for God to help them to believe their lives CAN be different.

God Bless You,
Lisa

From October 13th to 23rd we will help to host a team coming to Rwanda through All God’s Children International. We, and I’m sure the team, would appreciate your prayers for their time here to be used by God both in their lives and the lives of those they come in contact with here. Their main work is going to be spending time with children at an orphanage in Gisenyi (some hours away from Kigali, the capital where we live) but they will also visit several orphanages here in Kigali. Pray for their travels (and their luggage!), for strength and grace for them, and for God to help them see Rwanda and it’s people as He sees them. We look forward to this time together and introducing this team to the amazing people of Rwanda.

God Bless You,
Lisa

We would like to give you an opportunity to do something else for a needy family, something beyond what we have done before.  Our boys at the Home of Innocence have been taught (by one of our mission teams last year) how to make nice quality rabbit cages, and we have been raising rabbits.  A lot of the families in our program would love it if someone were to give them a breeding pair of rabbits (so they can begin raising their own) along with a cage.  Rabbits are easy to raise (feed them grasses and vegetable scraps) and reproduce quickly (we all have heard about that!).  Families may sell the babies that are produced, or may keep them to help provide food for their own family.

An example of the rabbit hutch

For us to provide a family with a rabbit cage (hutch) and a breeding pair of rabbits it will cost $120.  If you already sponsor a child and would like to provide their family with rabbits, you can give online here, select “general fund – one time gift” and in the note area make sure to say “rabbits” and your sponsored child’s name or number (or you can also mail a check to our office).  Even if you don’t sponsor a child right now, but would like to give a helping hand to a family in our program, you can also give here, select “general fund- one time gift” and note “rabbits”.  We will then determine the family who is in need and is ready to start raising rabbits.

Please consider giving this kind of gift to one of the families in our sponsorship program.  You could even give “in honor of” someone else as a Christmas gift & be able to check them off your list early this year!

I would also like to update you since my last post about “sharing the burden”.  I am so thankful that God has brought several new Rwandan volunteers to Ten Talents International!  They are helping us to meet with families on Saturdays as well as visiting the homes of families in our program to check on their living situations.  We have also come up with a new schedule/plan for meeting with families, so instead of dividing them into two groups & meeting every month, we have divided them into four groups so we are not trying to meet with so many at once.  Our volunteers are also helping us to add more structure and ministry to those gathering times.  After meeting with families we gathered them for a few worship songs (which they really enjoyed) and then had the parents meet in one group and the children in another.  The parents were led in a discussion about showing love to their children.  The children were led in a discussion about what it means to live like a Christian.  It went really well!

listening during their class

We will meet again with families this Saturday and pray for God to continue to help us make our work here effective and for him to work in the hearts and lives of the people we minister to.

Thank you for being a part of what God is doing in Rwanda.

God Bless You,

Lisa