Stories & Testimonies

Several months ago, we received an urgent cry for help from our trusted partner in Mubende District, Uganda requesting food assistance for many suffering widows, abandoned mothers, and teen moms in his community. He reported that the babies and children had no food and were going to sleep hungry.

From providing vocational education to small business grants, your investments have really paid off! During the three weeks I spent in Africa, I stayed primarily with Dave and Cynthia Taylor, who have a deep desire to disciple everyone whom God sends their way. One such person was Wangui (pictured above). Several years ago, Cynthia taught Wangui (then a single mother of two young girls) to sew after they hired her to help with housework and cooking. Since 2019, Wangui has passed her excellent sewing skills on to widows and abandoned mothers who have a desire to know God and to become self-sufficient. She keeps her classes small so that each lady receives suitable attention, both instructionally and personally. I was thrilled to attend a graduation ceremony where four students each received their own machine as a graduation present.

As we traveled slowly down the dusty, bumpy roads, I couldn’t help but think of the atrocious genocide that had happened 28 years ago here in Rwanda. The first thing I did after landing in Rwanda was to visit the Rwandan Genocide Museum. From that point on, I looked at everyone from an age standpoint. Anyone over age 28 was a survivor of the horror that happened over a 100-day period in 1994. And everyone had a story to tell.

Jambo from Kitale, Kenya! After working with my ministry partner in Kitale for over three years, I was thrilled to be able to travel there and see what you have been achieving through the Widows & Abandoned Women Ministry. All the women being served through Heaven’s Family have harrowing stories of hardship and hopelessness. But after they cried out to God in their desperation, He heard their prayers. Our ministry team traveled all over Kitale throughout the week to visit 24 women in two days! You have changed the lives of these women, and it is obvious in their spiritual joy!

“God told me He was going to give me a gift and I didn’t know what it was!” exclaimed 105-year-old Francesca. Her bent-over, fragile frame overflowed with joy, praising her Lord and Savior as I introduced myself on a recent trip to Guatemala. Francesca was one of several women you blessed with new beds and water filters. She was delighted and a delight to behold.

Josephina is a 79-year-old widow whom you have been supporting through your investments in Heaven's Family's Widows & Abandoned Women Ministry for food insecurities. When I visited her in San Pedro, Guatemala in November of last year, I discovered that she had been cooking on a primitive stone "stove" and sleeping on a dilapidated foam mattress.