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We had a good time with old and new friends at our fundraising event last Saturday night.  We have been believing God for the funds to enable our family to be in Rwanda this month, and to stay for 9+ months.  So many people have stepped forward and given sacrificially.  We are still a few thousand short of what we need, but commitments have been made and we are confident that the rest will come in.  Yeah God!

We are leaving for Rwanda on August 18th (arriving August 19th: 25 hours of traveling).  Our kids will start school the following Monday, August 23rd.  We would appreciate your prayers for our preparations and travel.  If you would like to keep up to date on our family news while we are Rwanda you can visit & subscribe to the McColm family blog at www.mccolms.blogspot.com.

Benjamin & Maureen have returned to Rwanda from the Sudan & he appears to continue to be in good health.  We are excited to be over there & actually get to see him and share with you his continued progress.  To God be the glory!

God Bless You,

Lisa

Please join us August 7th, for a special night of hearing about what God is doing in Rwanda as well as an opportunity to help the McColm family reach Rwanda. This event will be at 7pm at Heritage Church in Vancouver.  Please RSVP & bring a friend too!

Benjamin is doing fine & is expected to be heading back to Rwanda at the end of this month. We were told his “heartbeat didn’t feel right” the other day, so the hospital ran some tests and adjusted his medication (this was something we were told to expect).

We are so thankful for all that God has done so far & continue to believe that bigger & greater things are ahead. Believe with us!

God Bless You,
Lisa

Benjamin continues to heal and has now moved from the hospital into a guest house, where he will stay for continued recovery.  We thank you all for your prayers on his behalf.

Our team that was in Ensenada, Mexico has now returned and had a great trip.  The team engaged in various projects to help in the maintenance of the orphanage (now 30 years in existence).

They had many windows that did not have screens.  The weather requires that those windows be open a lot, and adding screens not only makes it more pleasant for those inside, but also safer.  Our team had to actually construct the frames for the screens and stretch the screen material across that handmade frame.  Quite challenging- but they rose to it!

They had carpets in some of the rooms, but no vacuum or carpet shampooer.  You can imagine, with many children going in & out, how much they desperately needed some TLC!  We brought them both a vacuum and a shampooer, and we used it to clean those carpets.  Of course, what I love is seeing how universal the charm of an empty box is for children…

We had several other projects including window curtains, shower curtains, hot water for the shower in the team dorm house (!), some dry wall repairs, closet shelves, and more!  One of the projects that we got to see the kids really enjoy was this fixed tire swing:

You can see what pleasant distractions we had from our work.  Playing, laughing, and just enjoying the children there was really the life force behind this trip.

This in itself was very moving and profound, in a way that is hard to put into words.  Perhaps the images speak for themselves.

Whatever else we accomplished, if we loved them with the love of Jesus then our trip was a success.  Thank God for this time where he allowed us to be his arms of love to these kids.

God Bless You,

Lisa

P.S.  Please mark your calendars for the evening of August 7th.  We are planning a Ten Talents event & would love for you to be there!

Our latest update on Benjamin is that he is doing fine and recovering in the hospital still. They expect him to be there for about another week before moving into the guest house for further recovery. We praise God for how he has helped this life-saving event to happen, for everyone who gave to help it happen, and for all of your prayers and care for Benjamin.

I am writing this post from the El Sauzal orphanage near Ensenada, Mexico (we have an internet connection here- yeah~!) We praise God for how he has helped our team also. We are having a good trip and enjoying our time here with the children. Everyone has been healthy, and although our nights have been a little sleepless (thanks to a peacock which calls out all night, roosters, barking dogs, and sleeping on air mattresses) everyone is keeping a good attitude. It is not always easy to try to accomplish things in a foreign country (although they do have a Home Depot here)! Things are different than how we are used to doing them and it isn’t always easy to find (or make) what you need. But we are doing our best to tackle some improvement projects here, and hope that beyond our small repairs that the lasting impression will be that we were a reflection of Jesus to them.

Thank you for your prayers and support of all the work of Ten Talents, and I look forward to sharing pictures with you soon!

God Bless You,
Lisa

Benjamin’s surgery was a success.  His heart valve was replaced with a mechanical valve. He has been sedated for the last few days and under the doctor’s supervision.  We are continuing to pray for God to help his body to heal and recover, with strength and swiftness.

Mike & Mike leave tomorrow morning in the van for Mexico. Thank you for praying for their trip as well as our time of work in Ensenada.

God Bless You,
Lisa

Benjamin’s heart surgery has been scheduled for tomorrow, June 20th.  We appreciate you praying with us for a complete success for the surgery and peace for Benjamin as he goes into this. We are praying for his body to be strong and for him to recover well and quickly from the surgery.

Our Mexico team is getting ready to leave this week. Mike and another team member will be driving a van full of luggage and supplies starting this Wednesday, the 23rd. The rest of the team, including myself and our kids, will fly down to San Diego on the 25th, where the van will meet us and we will drive into Ensenada, Mexico. We are praying for the van traveling down- no mechanical problems, protection, making good time, etc. And we are also praying for the team & our time there: health for all and for God to help us to get a lot done as well as loving on the kids there at the orphanage.

Thanks for praying with us!
God Bless You,
Lisa

Benjamin (age 15) and his guardian Maureen have arrived in the Sudan. The hospital there has already begun running tests and have put him on the list for heart surgery, but we don’t have a date yet. There are children there from all over the region; Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, Congo, Uganda… Maureen says it is VERY HOT there. She says, “You can’t go out side” and “I have to close my eyes if I go out side”. (Rwanda has a quite mild climate for Africa, due to it’s elevation.)

We appreciate your prayers for Benjamin as he prepares for surgery. Pray for peace for him (this is probably all strange & could be scary) and for him to be able to have the surgery soon. Let’s pray for his body to be strong and ready for the surgery, as well as for the surgeons to do exactly what needs to be done.

Thank you!
God Bless You,
Lisa

We are so thankful that the funds needed for Benjamin’s surgery have been received! The hospital in Sudan is ready to receive him, and the plane tickets have been purchased.

Benjamin and the Home of Innocence house mom, Maureen, will be going to Khartoum, Sudan on June 14th. The hospital, called the Salam Centre, provides a guest house for Maureen to stay in while Benjamin is in the hospital.

Please pray for Benjamin to be sustained by God and for all the remaining details to fall into place. We are praying for this surgery to be a complete success and for Benjamin’s recovery to be so quick that all the doctors are amazed!

What a blessing it is that God has allowed all of us to be a part of helping Benjamin. He really is getting a second chance at life. We just can’t wait to see him running the soccer fields with his friends- and that day is going to come!

Blessings,

Lisa

Do you know the story of David & Benjamin?  They are two of the newest boys to come into the Home of Innocence.   Benjamin was very ill when he first was brought from the government’s center for street children (considered a prison by many) to the Home of Innocence.  His health has gone up and down since that time last fall but many times he has been sick and weak.  Ngoga (our Rwanda National Director) has taken him to multiple medical clinics at different times.  Finally, recently he was seen at the main hospital in Kigali.

This was Benjamin the day he was found in the street children's holding center.

The doctor who examined him at the hospital found that Benjamin has a serious heart condition and it requires surgery immediately.  Literally, his life is in danger. The surgery is a heart valve replacement and is not available in Rwanda.  We are looking at other countries for surgery, possibly India or the US, or even Sudan since we may be able to get him there sooner.  We have added an option to our giving page if you would like to give towards Benjamin’s heart surgery.  It is providential that Mike is in Rwanda right now because he is able to work on details like getting Benjamin a passport, as well as checking on what treatments they are giving to sustain him in the meantime.

This is Benjamin in March of this year. You can see he is happy and his inner glow shines through.

Please be praying with us for God to provide for Benjamin’s heart surgery, transportation, recuperation, and other needs (can you help?).  We expect this to cost around $15,000.  Please also pray for God to sustain him so that he can make it until the surgery can be arranged.

Benjamin is in the hospital right now.

Thank you & God bless you.

Lisa

This morning Mike left for a 3 week trip to Rwanda, along with one of our TTI volunteers.  We would appreciate your prayers first of all for their travels: for them to make all their connections, for their luggage to all make it there safely, and for general traveling mercies.  You could also be praying for their time in Rwanda to be effective and for them to accomplish all they have set out to do.  Mike will be spending time checking on the children in the sponsorship program, as well as the boys in our in-home program, the Home of Innocence.

Adrian- one of the boys in the Home of Innocence

The Home of Innocence and our office had to move to a new place (the previous landlord was trying to raise the rent unreasonably).  The blessing in this is the new home is larger, so we may be able to bring in more boys who have no place else but the streets.  Mike will be talking to government officials about possibly getting some boys who are being held in a detention center (just for being on the streets).  He will also be finding out how we can move forward with the TTI registration (we have agreements from the local governments but are still encountering other delays).  Please pray for him to be given favor with those he speaks with, and for all obstacles to be removed.

I do find it ironic that he is leaving today- which just happens to be exactly 12 months after our family was last in Rwanda.  Do you know about our plans for this fall?  We are praying & believing for God to provide the support needed for our family to be in Rwanda for 9 months & be able to really move the ministry forward there.  Will you agree in prayer with us?

Thank you!

God Bless You,

Lisa