A Forever Home

The number of orphans in Burkina Faso is growing. It's estimated that 1 out of every 10 children is an orphan...which adds up to over 700,000 children without parents.

There are several reasons that children become orphans. Aids and other diseases, mental illness, poverty, and death of one or both parents lead children to be abandoned, sent to relatives or taken in by orphanages like The Sheltering Wings Orphanage (Les Ailes de Refuge) in Yako.

The children at the orphanage, whose ages range from newborn to 22 years old are given special care and a chance for a better life. They receive schooling, clothing, nutritious food, medical care, love and the hope that comes from having a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Some of the children stay temporarily at the orphanage with the hope that they can be integrated back into their families. Others will be at the orphanage their entire lives unless a family comes along and and adopts them, giving them a forever home. This is what every child dreams of.

Sheltering Wings has helped many children find families to call their own. This week, Jule's parents are coming to pick him up.

Jule is one of the babies that captured Delaney's heart when she visited last January. He was always ready to climb up in her lap and had such a sweet disposition. Jule made her laugh with his habit of finding someones shoes, putting on only one of them and running around. He thought this was pretty funny too!

Delaney with Jule (note: one shoe!)

Please pray for Jule and his new family. Pray that all goes smoothly and that the transition for him comes easily. Also, please pray for the other children who would like to find their forever homes.

Love and blessings!

Amy

Father to the fatherless, defender of widows — this is God, whose dwelling is holy. God places the lonely in families.  --Psalms 68:5-6

Every Child Deserves A Chance

...And whosoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me.  -Matthew 18:5

One of the important programs that Sheltering Wings has is a Child Sponsorship Program. The needs of these children are critical. Their life circumstances are hard and offer little hope. Tragedy and misfortune have left them with very little opportunity for medical care, proper nutrition or schooling.

Mariam Ouedraogo, Age 9

One of the children who is in need of sponsorship to continue her education is nine year old Mariam Ouedrogo. Her father is living, but is not well mentally. There are not many programs to assist the mentally ill in Burkina Faso, so much of the time he is found wandering the streets. Mariam lives with her mother and three older brothers. Her mother supports the family by collecting wood to sell in the market, however it is not enough to meet their needs. Mariam is the only one in her family to receive an education. Her mother has made great sacrifices to send Mariam to school, however this past year she has been very ill and unable to cultivate food for the family. There is no electricity or running water in their home. Despite the harsh reality of her life, Mariam has done exceptionally well in school receiving very high marks and has remained healthy. Right now she is in desperate need of finding a sponsor...she is in desperate need of a chance.

Child Sponsorship is a $35 a month investment in the life of a child. Sponsorship provides food, clothing, education and medical needs. Please pray for Mariam and the hundreds of children like her. Consider becoming a sponsor and make a tremendous difference in the life of a child.

I have packets for children and will be happy to review the materials with you. You can find me at Hollywood Community Church every Wednesday evening and Sunday morning. You can also e-mail me at reachburkina@gmail.com. For those living outside of Florida, you can find more info on becoming a sponsor at http://www.sheltering-wings.org/.

Love and Blessings,
Amy

Hands, Feet, Heart

People often ask us why we would choose give everything up and move across the world to a little heard of country in West Africa. It certainly will be challenging...we will have to sell all of our possessions, leave the comforts we have grown accustomed to, no longer have instant access to family and friends. Some may think of it as "weird". I started reading a book called Weird: Because Normal Isn't Working. The author stesses in the book that the things that Jesus taught were pretty weird. Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also.  Jesus was the best kind of weird.

We want to be the hands and feet of Christ. We want to have His heart. We want to love people so much that when they look at us they can see Christ in us. We want to be Jesus, narrow path weird.

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.  --Matthew 7:13-14

And that brings us to Burkina Faso. God placed a love in our hearts for the people of this country and we feel incredibly blessed that He would use us to minister there. The need is great and God is at work.



Babies at the orphanage in Yako, Burkina Faso

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.  --James 1:27

Love and Blessings!
Amy



Baby Steps

Not the sound of the steps of the orphans that we pray we can soon minister to, but the baby steps spoken of by the wise psychology of Richard Dreyfuss in "What about Bob". It's hard not to look forward to all the possibilities and responsibilities of what awaits in Africa. Instead we need to continue to focus on the road to get there. One of those steps was reading a book called "Serving as Senders" by Neal Pirolo. If you are remotely interested in missions, even if you have no desire to ever go out into a cross cultural  ministry, this is a MUST READ! What a great book. Each "baby step" shows us how much we still don't know, but gets us one more step towards our goal.

We just received word from mission board that Amy and I are looking to be sent by that they want for us to meet the entire board next month. So it looks like we will be flying to St. Louis on the 15th of May for a number of interviews and tests. I'm not worried about the psychological testing on me as much as I am for Amy. Once anyone meets me, they automatically are convinced that Amy must be unstable to some degree if she decided to marry someone like myself. :)

We look forward to going. For those who don't know, St. Louis is where my brother Jeff also lives, so I hope that at some point in my short time there, that we will be able to see the family. All your prayers for this step is appreciated! We will be there likely through May 19th.

To fully prepare Delaney  (our 15 yr old daughter), we decided to watch Hotel Rwanda the other night. We actually befriended some missionaries from Kenya that were stuck in Rwanda when the genocide had begun. They shared their story with us, then we watched the movie, then I asked Delaney.............."Still want to move to Africa?" Without a moment of hesitation, she said absolutely. That is God, We certainly aren't moving into a situation like Rwanda, but it is Africa.

You came near when I called you, and you said, “Do not fear.”
-Lamentations 3:57

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Thank you all for your continued prayers and support!!!! We can't tell you how encouraging it is that you show us such kindness and concern. Pray for the orphans and the widows............... Pray for our "baby steps".

God Bless You All!
Mike