Two little people who have just enjoyed a meal at one of the children’s feeding centers supported by HF in Peru.

Dear Friends,

The summer and
vacation months are now behind us. And I’m so happy that you didn’t forget your
spiritual family during June, July or August. Praise God that His love is
constant, and His love in you is constant! May I now say “Thank you”
on behalf of all those who will certainly thank you in heaven.

This month’s magazine
highlights the stories of several members of our family—in Kenya, Peru and
Myanmar, who have benefitted over the summer because of your consistent
compassion. Each has been helped in a different way by means of a
different Heaven’s Family fund.

As always, rejoice as
you read, knowing how blessed you are to be a blessing to “the least of
these” among the body of Christ.

With Gratitude,

David

Carolyne Refined by Becky Servant
The Widows & Abandoned Women Fund at Work in Kenya

Carolyne and Bradly Omolo of Kenya

As a young Kenyan
girl, Carolyne Omolo always dreamed of one day being married to a devoted
husband, having children, and raising them together. At the age of nineteen,
her dreams began to come true. She married a handsome young man and was soon
with child. But her dreams quickly faded when she discovered some horrifying
facts. Her husband had been unfaithful. Worse, he had infected Carolyne with
the HIV virus. A few months later, when she gave birth to a beautiful baby boy
named Bradly, Carolyne learned that he, too, had been infected. Their saga was
just beginning.

Some time later,
Carolyne found herself lying in a local hospital bed shivering
uncontrollably and perspiring with fever. She had contracted malaria and was
suffering its hellish symptoms. How could things be any worse?

During her misery,
Carolyne was visited by some Christians who were offering prayers for hospital
patients. She agreed to let them pray for her. They not only prayed for her
recovery, but they also succeeded in leading her to Christ. Plus, they also led
Carolyne’s husband to the Lord! Carolyne forgave him, and they reconciled.

From this mountain
there was yet another valley to cross. After three years of marriage,
Carolyne’s husband died of an HIV/AID’s related illness. This left Carolyne and
Bradly destitute, with no home and no means of support. With no other
options, Carolyne placed Bradly in an orphanage operated by her very poor
church. He would at least have a place to live and food to eat, as well as an
opportunity to attend school. Carolyne moved into cramped quarters with her
impoverished sister, a widow herself with two children. She found some
employment doing occasional work as a domestic helper—washing dishes and
clothing. But it barely supplied her with enough money for food.

God, however, who is
rich in mercy, had better plans for Carolyne and Bradly, and His plan included Heaven’s
Family (that’s you!).

Through a grant from
the Widow’s Fund, Carolyne has recently opened her own fruit and vegetable
business. Her small stand now sits in the main market of her village, and
everyone in her church is making a point to buy their fruit and vegetables from
her. Now she can support herself by providing nutritious food for others, and
she will eventually have her own house so she can bring Bradly back home to
live with her. They will be a family again. Thanks so much for being part of
Carolyne’s story.

Carolyne Omolo, Christian business woman, courtesy of God’s grace

Elvis the Evangelist by CJ McDaniel
The Food Fund at Work in Peru

Ten-year-old Elvis Castillo. Inset: Elvis’ father, Juan Castillo, holding a gift of food from Heaven’s Family.

Elvis Castillo is
only ten years old, but that doesn’t stop him from walking fifty blocks through
a bustling city of half a million people in order to enjoy a hot meal. Twice a
week Elvis makes his trek to a children’s feeding center in Huaraz, Peru, that
is run by a local pastor named Ernesto. There he receives a simple but
nourishing meal of chicken and potatoes, provided with help from the Food Fund
of Heaven’s Family.

Soon after Elvis was
born, his mother abandoned him and his father, Juan. In order to scrape by,
Juan works twelve to fifteen hours each day fixing bicycles. The meager income
that he earns is barely enough to feed his son and his elderly father who also
lives with them.

Due to Juan’s work
schedule, Elvis is left to fend for himself during most meal times, so when he
learned about a feeding center that was providing lunch twice a week for poor
children, he journeyed there on his own. Not only did Elvis receive a
physical meal at the feeding center, but he also received a spiritual meal as
well. He became enthralled with the man that pastor Ernesto always talked
about—a man by the name of Jesus.

Elvis Castillo (third from right) and his friends enjoying a lunch-time meal

Elvis soon started
attending pastor Ernesto’s church on his own every Sunday. He told us that since
he began coming to pastor Ernesto’s feeding center and church, he has not only
learned about Jesus’ love, but he has learned how to love others with Jesus’
help. Elvis’ father, Juan, has seen such a change in his son that he began
attending church every week as well. Finally, Elvis’ grandfather has seen such
a change in his son and grandson, that he now also attends pastor Ernesto’s
church! Elvis, the ten-year-old evangelist, is thrilled.

Three familes with food from the Heaven’s Family Food Fund

Sleeping Like a Baby by David Servant
The Orphan’s Tear Special Gifts Fund at Work in Myanmar

Danger Zone: A little girl in a remote Vietnamese village, sleeping without the protection of a mosquito net.

The rainy season has
descended upon tropical Myanmar, and the general misery there
increases under a daily deluge that offers no relief from the season’s
oppressive heat and humidity. The rainy season always causes a surge in
sickness and disease. Mosquitos thrive in the rains, including those that carry
dengue fever, malaria and yellow fever. Water supplies are easily contaminated
because of all the streams that flow into shallow wells. Typhoid fever, diarrhea
and dysentery become even more common. Tragically, diarrhea is the second
most common cause of infant deaths worldwide.

We’ve been receiving a
stream of emails from the thirty orphanages in Myanmar that are sponsored
through our Orphan’s Tear division,
informing us of sick children. We pray. And when the directors send us
receipts from local hospitals for their children’s treatments, we do our best
to pay them with contributions to the Orphan’s
Tear Special Gifts Fund. We’ve also done our best to provide mosquito
nets for every child in every one of those orphanages.

The Orphan’s Tear Special Gifts Fund is the
source of more blessings than we can name for our forty orphanages around the
world. Scores of new dorms and sanitary toilets have been built. Oxen and plows
have been provided for plowing rice fields. Beds, tables and chairs have been
purchased. Wells have been dug and pumps have been installed. Sewing machines,
electrical generators, mini hydro-electric generators, chickens, and fingerling
fish have been provided to help our orphanages become more self-sufficient
through income-generation projects. And there is much more. Thanks for making
all these blessings possible by your gifts to this special fund, 100% of which
is sent overseas to provide better lives for well over a thousand orphans.

Children from Christ Home for the Needy with fish from their pond, and children from Life Concern with a motor and compressor for their well.

One Savvy Sauce Seller by CJ McDaniel
The Micro-Loan Fund at Work in Peru

Ernestina de Corral beside her profitable sauce stand

A year and a half ago,
Ernestina de Corral was struggling to make ends meet by selling a few
traditional Peruvian sauces from her street vending cart. In the past eighteen
months, however, much has changed for this sweet woman of God. Last April,
Ernestina received a Heaven’s Family Micro-Loan of $200. She invested in her
business and increased her inventory. The result was growing sales and climbing
profits, which she has further invested in her business. But one challenge has
continued to plague her.

If you were
to visit the street market of Huarez around noon each day, you would
witness a surprising sight. Women would be jumping into alleyways, men would be
sprinting down the road pushing vending carts, and elderly people would be
hauling large bags of goods as fast as they could up stairways. When the police
sirens start wailing, everyone runs.

The Huaraz city council
has recently banned anyone from selling goods on the street. Only those who
sell their goods from storefronts are now legal. Any street vendor who is not
out of sight when the police come through the market has all his or her goods
confiscated. This new city ordinance threatens to eliminate the main source of
income for many poor and even middle-class street vendors. The police are
sympathetic, but they must do their job.

Most street vendors
could never afford to rent or buy a storefront, so they feel that they have no
choice but to sell their goods illegally. But staying in business requires
keeping an eye on the clock and quick feet.

A street vendor in Huaraz

Ernestina, however, has
faith in God, and she is not discouraged. She has paid back her one-year loan
in full, and her increased profits are making it possible for her to purchase a
small building in a newly-developed market. Through a lease-to-own arrangement,
$100 monthly payments will make her the proud owner of her own building in five
years, something Ernestina never dreamed of before her small loan from Heaven’s
Family. She’s moving in this
month.

Double Blessings by CJ McDaniel
Orphan’s Tear Child Sponsorship at Work in Myanmar

B.T. John’s two newborn boys, Elias Lal Lian Thang and Peter Lal Lian Mang

That Ci, director
of Rhema Child Care Center in Myanmar, is a man who has more room in his heart
than he does in his home. While working as a school teacher, That Ci saw many
neglected orphans who were living on the streets. The “lucky” ones
were placed into Buddhist monasteries. As a Christian, That Ci felt he had to
do something. So in 2001, he took action by taking into his home eight
orphans—who were all destined for a Buddhist monastery—and
started raising them as his own children. In the eight years he has been
operating what is now known as Rhema Child Care Center, his compassionate heart has lead him to take in
over ninety orphans. They all live in a few small, ramshackle buildings. Love,
however, reigns there.

Yet that is not the
end of That Ci’s legacy. B.T. John, That Ci’s son-in-law, has become equally
burdened for abandoned orphans. For the past several years, B.T. has split his
time between working with the children of Rhema Child Care Center and
evangelizing in remote regions of Myanmar. As B.T. traveled throughout the
country sharing the gospel, he came across many abandoned and orphaned
children. With no one to care for them, B.T. began bringing them back to Rhema Child
Care Center. That Ci welcomed them into his over-crowded orphanage.

Facing persecution
from the local authorities and struggling under deteriorating living conditions
after Cyclone Nargis last May, That Ci finally realized that he could no
longer accept additional children into their already-cramped building. So he
and B.T. devised a new plan. It was quite simple: New children would go to live
with B.T. and his wife in their tiny home! New Babies Orphanage was born.

That Ci and the children of Rhema Childcare Center (at left), and B.T. John and the children of New Babies Orphanage (right)

New Babies
Orphanage has been on the Orphan’s Tear sponsorship waiting list since November of
last year, and last month we were very happy to be able to inform B.T. and
his wife that a few of his orphans had been sponsored at OrphansTear.org. Here
is the surprising response that we received from B.T.:

I am
very sorry that I cannot contact as soon as I got the good news that we have
been sponsored, because of another blessing from God. God gave me twin
sons this morning.

Thank
you so much for your care and concern for us, NBO family. Now God answered
our sincere prayer through you. May God bless you all.

That was a day of double
blessings, in more ways than one, for B.T. and his family. Orphan’s
Tear sponsors are making
those blessings possible. Thanks so much.

Pre-Order David Servant’s New DVD Teaching Series
To be released in October: Jesus’ Parables, Part 1

Jesus often spoke to His
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Parting Shot
Family Resemblance

This Peruvian grandfather and granddaughter show a family resemblance even down to their missing teeth!