New on the scene: Jedidiah Lal Biak Ceu
In Myanmar, when a couple marries, they are expected to have a baby within the first year of their marriage. If not, people wonder what is wrong! I’m happy to report that there is nothing wrong with Joseph Bawi Ceu and his wife and Par Dim, directors of Emmanuel Orphanage in Kalaymyo!
You may recall that a little over a year ago, Joseph wrote to me asking if we could help him with a $370 dowry so that he could marry Par Dim, since his 10 orphans had no mother. (See www.orphanstear.org/ministry_updates/2007_09 .) We normally don’t help our overseas friends with dowry payments, but this seemed like a special situation that we could justify for the sake of the orphans at Emmanuel Orphanage. I made an appeal, and gifts were sent in and the need was met! And we recently learned that Par Dim gave birth to baby Jedidiah (in the photo above). Here is a portrait of the whole family:
Joseph, Par Dim, and Jedidiah
We will soon be descending upon Emmanuel Orphanage with two teams to visit Joseph, Par Dim and Jedidiah, along with their orphans, now increased to 17. We’ve been able to purchase land for Emmanuel Orphanage, and now we’re looking to the Lord for funds to build them an adequate orphanage. Currently they rent a small house where all 19 of them live. Below is a photo of all 16 orphans with Joseph and Par Dim.
The orphans and directors at Emmanuel Orphanage
Your prayers will be appreciated November 8 through December 12 as two teams consisting of 28 people visit our 31 orphanages in Myanmar, as well as quite a few new orphanages that we’ve helped rebuild after the devastation of Cyclone Nargis earlier this year. Each team will be gone from home for two weeks. I’ll be gone for the entire time, about five weeks. We’ll be bringing back portraits of every sponsored child, so if you sponsor a child in Myanmar, you’ll get to see how your child has grown in the past two years. Get ready to be surprised! Please give us about two months to accomplish this huge task.
Our Hope: A Christmas Gift for Every Orphan
As every year, we hope to provide Christmas gifts to every orphan in every one of the orphanages that we assist in nine nations, whether they are sponsored or unsponsored. I can guarantee you that the Christmas gifts that we give the children are the only gifts any of them will receive for Christmas. And the directors always use the Christmas funds for gifts we send them to buy their orphans new clothing or warm blankets, that is, real necessities.
Our goal is to send every orphanage $5 per child, and so I would like to ask you if you would consider sending Orphan’s Tear $5 gifts for each of your sponsored orphans for Christmas. If you send more than $5 per child, the extra will be used to provide Christmas gifts for unsponsored children living in our orphanages. Our small sacrifices not only make the time when every one of our orphanages celebrate the birth of Jesus even more special, but they will also help provide clothing for growing children and warm blankets for the soon-coming cooler seasons. As always, 100% of the financial gifts that we receive will be sent to the orphanages.
You can give your Christmas gifts by sending a check to Orphan’s Tear with the words “Christmas Gifts” in the memo. (Our address is: Orphan’s Tear, P.O. Box 12854, Pittsburgh, PA 15241.) The sooner we receive your special Christmas gifts the better, because it takes time for us to transfer the funds overseas. Christmas is only about 65 days away! Thanks so much.
Orphan’s Tear Christmas Gift Cards
And once again, as every year, we are hoping that you give Orphan’s Tear Christmas Gift Cards this year for Christmas. These may be the perfect gifts to give to those hard-to-find-a-gift-for friends and loved ones. We’ve set up a Christmas Gift Card section at OrphansTear.org so that you can give, in honor of a friend or loved one, a gift to the Orphan’s Tear Christmas Gift Fund.
The gift cards are beautiful, as you can see from the image above. We can mail your card to your address or directly to your loved ones.
It only takes a minute to order your cards using the simple form at OrphansTear.org, and you can use your credit card or check to make a payment. You could probably do all your Christmas shopping this year in 30 minutes just sitting at your computer! Or you can call us at (412) 833-5826 between 8 to 5 EST and order your cards over the phone. And as always, nothing is taken out of your gifts for administration purposes. 100% of what is received is sent overseas to help meet pressing needs of our beloved orphans.
The deadline to order your cards is December 15 in order to have your gift cards in your mailbox (or your loved-ones mailboxes) by December 25!
Time to Move in Kenya
For the past two years, our orphanage in Kenya, Covenant Kids’ Home, has been anticipating a need to relocate. They have been renting a compound that is owned by a Kenyan doctor who has been temporarily out of the country. But that doctor has intended to return in early 2009 to set up his medical practice at the compound where our 50 orphaned children live. So they are going to have to relocate. We created a special two-minute video, Covenant Kid’s Home, about this need that you can view.
The director, Dawson Mudenyo, has found some good land that is selling for about $4,500 per acre about ten miles from Kitale and that has access to electricity and is close to a public school. Dawson estimates that they will need two acres. Naturally, we are committed to help with the purchase of that land and the building of a new orphanage. The total cost will be about $100,000, and I already have the blueprints in my possession. All that is needed is funding. Imagine trying to buy land and construct a building where 50 children can live for $100,000 where you live! These kinds of needs are met by gifts to the Dorms for Orphanages Fund and sometimes from the Orphan’s Tear Special Gifts Fund. Thanks so much for your generosity.
OK, that is all the news for this month! Thanks to every sponsor, to everyone who helps us purchase Christmas gifts for the orphans, and to every contributor the Dorms for Orphanages Fund and Special Gifts Fund. May the Lord bless you to enable you to continue to be a blessing to some very poor orphans whom He loves so very much.
For the children,
David
