For the Love of Compassion-Michele

Hey guys, this week has been an exciting week.  Last week I had an appeal at the Vietnamese church and it went really well!  9 Compassion kids were sponsored which brings the number up to 39 in total sponsored. The V church is just full of love and the spirit.  It was so fun to be there and be welcomed so graciously by them!   I have another appeal at Vineyard church in Carleton Place next Sunday so pray for me and for the remaining 21kids!
Ryan Donna and I also had the immense pleasure of meeting with Barry Slauenwhite {Compassion CEO} and Stephanie my Compassion Rep on Friday.  Barry is such an amazing man to be around.  He really filled up the room.  He is full of wisdom and ideas where missions is concerned and gave us lots of great advice.  In fact the advice he gave was such food for thought that I really feel like I need to pray for a bit to see where what we were thinking and how this new info kind of fit together.  All I know is that my love and passion for the ministry of Compassion is renewed and taken to new heights.  I really just can't say enough about the work of Compassion and its so exciting to hear about how the Child Survival Program is doing so well.  This program is a program for pregnant mothers and then their babies from 0-3yrs old.  At 3yrs they are then eligible for sponsorship.  Anyway, I am going to hold off sharing the vision for what we might do in that mission house until I have some time to pray and incorporate some of the Godly wisdom that Barry shared with us!  Thanks so much everyone for coming along on this ride and for praying.  This is just such a huge possibility with very high stakes and as I said previously, we need to walk very slowly and wait on God's leading and the more prayer this is soaked in, the better.  We have to make sure that any investment we make is going to be able to make real differences in peoples lives.  That's the whole point-to effect positive sustainable changes and to do this through the love of Jesus Christ.  Anything less than that is just spitting in the wind.  Have a blessed week!  M.

The property-Michele

Hey guys, hope you all had a blessed week.  I had lots of positive response and encouragement for last week’s blog.  Thanks everyone for that and keep praying!!

I also had a few questions about the house and how we plan to use it.  So first of all, about the house:

 The house as it stands now will need modification in order to outfit teams.  Presently, it is a bungalow with three bedrooms two bathrooms a good sized living space and a fairly small kitchen.  We would need to build a second floor on with more rooms and expand the kitchen.  What makes this property so special is that it is kind of like a compound.  It has about an acre of land around it and 16 foot cement walls running all around it {very safe}.  It is right on the edge of the shanty town El Seman.  We have visions of building a small ‘school house’ at the back that could be used for many things.  One of the biggest prayer requests for this property is that the zoning of it will allow for it to be used in the way that we want to use it since it is a residential home at present.  I have someone investigating this.  Please pray for this.  The team has roughly estimated that it will cost somewhere in the range of 100,000 dollars to purchase this property and outfit it for missions.  That seems like a big number but for God it is easy- IF- this is what he plans for this partnership.  We will just keep walking in faith to see where God takes this.

Stay tuned next week for the Partnership’s ministry vision. 

Here are some prayer requests for this week;

1. For Ben:  Please pray for Ben as he goes to Santiago this week to have some radiography assessments done in preparation for the re-setting of his jaw.  His classes also wrap up this week but he continues to work on finishing off his internment requirements for the Compassion LDP program.
2. Compassion:  Please pray for Bernabe, the staff and new teachers as the new kids are now entering the program.  Many are already attending classes.  Please pray for the families of these kids as for some, this will be the first time they have been part of something outside their small communities.
3. Please continue to pray for the church and their renovation projects.  Also that they will continue to impact their community for Christ in a mighty way.
4. Please continue to pray for the Sunday school and for the youth-that many of them will be lead to the    Lord.  Thanks guys, here are a few more pictures

 Peace and Love in Jesus name, M

right side of house taken from driveway

living space taken from front door

back right

back left-mango tree!

God gives Big Dreams- by Michele

Hey everyone, just a little DR update

As many of you know the mission team has been praying about establishing a more permanent presence in the village of Montellano.  We have had our eye on a property which we feel will be perfect for our vision.  Some of you have been there to see it with us.  Donna and I, with the support of Ryan prepared a short vision letter a couple of months ago which Ryan presented to the Trustees.  Our hope was to get their approval and advice/insight to move ahead with fund-raising for this property.  I have to be honest with you guys.  Although I have been praying fervently for 1.5 years that God would give us that property, I am also a little terrified that He might.  I mean who am I and what do I know about purchasing property internationally, foreign tax policies and Canadian law re: international ministries?  Then again what did I know about building houses… look what God did with that. 

Anyway, the Trustees have given a tentative approval.  Yikes!  We need to pray.  They had a few questions which I think have answers that will not be a stumbling block so I am reasonably sure that we will be able to go ahead and begin fund-raising in the near future. 

Guys we really need to soak this in prayer.  Please pray for wisdom and discernment and clarity for the leadership.  I don’t want to step even one toe in a direction where the Lord is not leading the way.  The stakes are too high.  It looks like the Lord has opened the door just a little bit-at least enough for us to take a few more tentative steps down this path but I don’t want to say that I KNOW this is God’s plan.  I feel like He has placed a huge desire and passion in my heart and in the hearts of the team but we have to be so careful that we don’t mistake what we want for what God wants-hence tons of prayer.

Also, re fund-raising; we will not be fund-raising inside the Sequoia membership.  The plan is to look outside Sequoia at businesses and other connections.  This is because we feel the membership has a primary responsibility to the Building Walls campaign.  We don’t want to tempt anyone not to make a commitment to or to circumvent a commitment made to the Sequoia land in order to give to this initiative.  If God wants this to happen He will do it without needing his people to make compromises like that.

So, I’m really excited and really scared!  Please pray for me and for the whole team.  I plan to update this blog regularly now as we move forward with this so that everyone knows what to pray about and can stay informed.  Next week I will be posting details about the vision of the partnership and how you can help. So check it every week or so OK?  Thanks everyone-blessings in Jesus name, M

left side of house

front of house

some of back yard