December Birthdays

For those of you with December birthdays you sometimes know what it is like to be "cheated" when your birthday is so close to Christmas.  Not at Restoring Hope Village!  One Saturday every month is dedicated to celebrating that months birthdays.  Here are the birthday girls for December.

Happy Birthday DK, Jessica, Lois and Motsodishi!

A birthday party means someone has to make a cake...4 cakes for this day!  Here is Komohalo helping Grandma Susie with the cake decorating.  "Komo" is a great helper for any task!

Welcome to Restoring Hope Village

Susan and I arrived at Restoring Hope Village to a very warm welcome and big smiles from the children and staff here.  What a pleasure to be serving God in this place.  Yes, there are many pleasures from seeing children grow in the Lord as well as every other way to just being close to so many people!  There have been some awesome changes in the lives of children since we left here in April.   The staff here has worked very hard to bring these changes about.  Susie and I both had to ask Atlehang  who she was because she had changed sooooo much and looks healthy and happy.

After reading many articles on getting over jet-lag, I have ditched their ideas and developed my own method.  Very simply, if you are tired, sleep, no matter the time of day.  If you can't sleep at night, get up and do something.  That is why this post is being written at 12:30 at night!  Seems to work well for me but not sure about tomorrow morning with church and our duties transporting people!  Might have to get up on time!  Susie on the other hand has had no problem--I am jealous.

Oh, one of the pleasures of life here can be seen comparing the thermometers of Ames, IA to Welkom, SA.  Sure will miss snow skiing this year!

Amazon Smile supports Restoring Hope International

Now you can support Restoring Hope Village by shopping at Amazon!  .5% of your purchases will be donated to RHI for use in the Operations of RHV each time you make an Amazon purchase using the Amazon Smile website.

Check out this link to get started:  http://smile.amazon.com/ch/26-3925275

You can contribute to RHI by making your normal Amazon purchases.
Thank you!
The entire RHI family.

Here we go again!

Monday begins another 3 month term in South Africa.  As Restoring Hope Village grows, there is more work every day!  We anticipate being involved in the lives of all of the children in many ways including Bible memory and studies, interpersonal skills, homework help, gardening, maintenance, sewing and fun things like teaching house mothers and children skills.  It will be awesome being involved daily with the 25 or so people who make up Restoring Hope Village and the other multitudes of people in the community and church!

Look for updates on FB and Here!

Thank you for your prayers as we continue this venture in serving our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
Bob & Susie

During the summer months our "farm" produces organic vegetables for our table as well as other families in central Iowa.  We only grow organic and have taken the challenge to keep our small acreage totally organic-no chemicals.  So many health benefits are derived from chemical-free food.

Atlehang

Atlehang came under the care of Restoring Hope Village as she was being admitted to the hospital.  She is 9 years old and weighed 27#.  Our staff dressed her in size 3T clothes.  She is seriously ill, malnourished and very happy for the care she is receiving from the loving staff and volunteers at Restoring Hope Village.   What you can be assured of is that Atlehang is being loved and cared for like she has never experienced in her childhood.  Her outlook is very positive yet her prognosis is very uncertain and precarious.  Here is an email from Lois received this morning:

Atlehang, a 9 year old girl, very ill and small for her age, has been in our care since March 28, but most of that time she has been in the hospital. She has only been discharged for 10 days from the hospital and yesterday she had to be admitted again. We ask that you keep her in your prayers and that the doctors caring for her will be able to give her the right medication and find the proper diagnosis. Our housemother was with her all day (7am-10:30pm) yesterday at 2 clinics and waiting in the ER to get her admitted. 

Last night the doctor was concerned about her abdomen being distended and the possibility of her having TB in her stomach area. This will take a while to diagnose properly. 

With her in the hospital this also means a lot more work for us to organize in assuring she is visited daily and getting people to the hospital to be able to visit her. We are only allowed an hr in the morning and an hr in the afternoon for visiting. 

Thank you for your prayers,

Lois & everyone at The Village

Four Weeks Already--Construction 1

Restoring Hope Village is a growing place and growing means construction which is a huge part of the ministry here now.  Here are some photos of what has happened here in the last 4 weeks.  We are somehow involved in every construction project sometimes to a greater extent on some than others.  There are 3 teams coming between the 1st of February and the end of March giving the village lots of extra hands to accomplish the enormous task of building places to house people and meet the spiritual, physical and mental needs of the children that God has provided to live here.

Setting the grade for the foundation of the new staff house.

New staff house foundation being poured...earthquakes and the code here require the foundation be poured in one day...this day ended at 11 PM!  All concrete is mixed on site.

August and his crew of bricklayers are putting the walls up quickly. 

Sundays are special!

This was written on Sunday...and finally posted today!!  Gota spend more time on the computer!

Sunday is always a special day of the week.  Our work during the week is to see children come to know our Lord and it often involves the tedious and most often difficult tasks.  Everything we do should be for His glory and to reach people.  That was the message this morning and it is what we strive for daily.  Sunday’s are special because we gather as a group of believers to worship Christ.  What a thrill to sing those songs of praise to God!

I had a couple of conversations after the service.

First was with Anne.  She is a provider of child care for the disadvantaged and a Christ-follower.  It was thrilling to rejoice with her and celebrate the healing of her son of TB.  She praised God that in 4 months he was free of the disease.  TB is a huge, huge problem here and the strains that thrive are the vaccine-resistant ones. 
Anne also related how God provided a church with a wonderful pastor in Welkom Baptist.  She had been having “Sunday School” in her “cresh” (daycare) for several months after a local church had “dumped” them.  You see, a church was holding services at her cresh and seeing people come to God when they just decided that they, for whatever reason, could no longer continue.  Anne kept the little “church” alive and taught the 40-50 children God’s Word and there were up to 10 adults who would attend as well.  The adults wanted to give their tithe to Anne but she could not accept as she was not a pastor and the “church” was not really a church...in her words at least.  This observer saw that there were more than 2 or 3 gathered in God’s name and they were indeed a branch of His church!  God did open the doors at Welkom Baptist and now the 40-50 people she has influenced all attend every Sunday!  Praise the Lord for His provision and praise Him for faithful people like Anne.  I am humbled and honored to be able to rub shoulders with people like Anne.  She makes our efforts look so easy and makes our life look very cushy.  Yes, we live in a cottage but Anne lives in a small apartment and has never known a lost child that she could not find a way to feed, clothe or house.  God bless Anne!

Joel and Lucia are missionaries from Brazil to the Portuguese speaking people in South Africa.  They were able to attend church today since their ministry schedule allowed.  Joel shared how he and Lucia work all year long and often are discouraged because they don’t see much fruit BUT then they take a spiritual inventory at the end of the year and find out what God was doing through their faithfulness all year long!  They are excited to share God’s reaching people from Mozanbek.  Joel also related how the South African people are steeped in witchcraft more than the people in Brazil and even Mozanbek.  The families make it an integral part of family life to the point that a person who accepts Christ as savior must often give up their family.  Joel shared that there is a lady at Church this morning who is struggling with this very thing.  She says she has placed her trust in Christ but will not turn from the witchcraft that has such a strong hold on her.  Joel relates that she never really has accepted Christ.  Again, what a privilege to know people like Joel and Lucia.  

This is a long post and I must relate that God grabbed me today and I just had to write down these experiences.  There is plenty to pray for and plenty to work toward.

Activity at the village is pretty much routine.  I relish the opportunities to share God with the children here.  They happen frequently--as frequently as we have time with them.  Time in the garden and times just visiting or playing.

Anne in center

Anne with some of her crew

Last week was a week of hot, hot, hot and jet lag!  The jet lag is over and now we only deal with the scorching hot sun in the middle of the day.  Staying out of the sun is about the only solution!  

Sunday was a normal day of church with the fabulous benefit of a bus load of Restoring Hope Village children and neighbors who sing worship music on the way to and from church!  Wow, what a blessing to us!  "My God's not dead He's surely alive he living on the inside, roaring like a lion..." 

It is wonderful to see the way God has transformed the lives of the children here!

Here are some photos of the village I took this morning.

 The 2 children's homes, playground on left

 The garden this morning

Playground new since last year!

Headed to Africa Again!

Off we go again for a 3 month trip to Restoring Hope Village (RHV) in Welkom, South Africa.  We are excited to be involved in the lives of the children at the village.  Would you join our team by praying for us, the staff at RHV and the children who live there?  God is doing great work in the lives of these children who have been forgotten by their culture.  Yes, God loves them very much and it is our privilege to be involved where He is at work!

 Next Wednesday, January 16, we head to Chicago to catch a our flight to South Africa.  We arrive on the 18 and soon will be put to work!

The RHI website now works on your phone!!!

Restoring Hope's website: RestoringHopeInt.org