Zoe, Calli, Collin and Saide Harris
Dear Friends,
There is no doubt in my mind that our Orphan’s Tear sponsors are some of the finest people in the world. In this update, I’d like to tell you a little about three wonderful families, among the many other wonderful families and people who are regularly serving precious children through Orphan’s Tear. The reason I’ve chosen these three families is because they have recently all made special efforts to help our children
The first of those families are the Harrises. Bruce and Lisa Harris are my good friends, and Bruce has traveled with us on three occasions to Myanmar to spend time with some of the children that he and his wife sponsor there. All the orphans in Myanmar affectionately call him “Bruce Lee.”
The Harrises have quite a few of their own children, and their four youngest are pictured above. The two in the middle, Calli and Collin, are Bruce and Lisa’s birth children, and those on either end, Zoe and Saide, were orphans whom Bruce and Lisa adopted from Liberia about two years ago. At that time, Saide was six years old, but she weighed only twenty-seven pounds due to being so malnourished. She wore clothing that was made for an 18-month-old child. In her first year in America she gained twenty pounds and grew seven inches!
In July, the four Harris kids decided they wanted to do something themselves to help the children of Orphan’s Tear, and so they sold lemonade and cookies on the sidewalk where they live—a tiny tourist town in the mountains of Colorado.
One potential customer asked Saide, now age eight, what an orphan was. She replied, “YOU’RE LOOKIN’ AT ONE!”
Bruce later explained to Saide that she is no longer an orphan!
Through the sale of lemonade and cookies, plus some outright begging, the four Harris kids were able to raise about $750 in one weekend! All of those proceeds will go to the Orphan’s Tear Special Gifts Fund, 100% of which we generally disburse each month to our orphanages that have buildings under construction or need land for rice paddies.
Thanks so much, Calli, Collin, Zoe and Saide for a great effort! And thanks for setting a great example to us old folks about seeking first God’s kingdom!
Another Great Family and Another Great Effort
Another wonderful couple—and also friends of ours here in Pennsylvania—are Richard and Judy Skrenta. They sponsor an orphan in India through the Heaven’s Family Mutual Fund. A few years ago, Richard gave up his practice as a plastic surgeon, and he and his wife and their two boys said goodbye to their upscale suburban neighborhood, trading it for a much more simple life in the country. Recently the five springs on their land all went dry, so they are currently carrying their water to their house each day!
In mid July, the Skrentas organized a Vacation Bible School in their country church, with a goal to challenge the children to raise money all week long for Orphan’s Tear. By the end of the week they had raised the amazing amount of $550! That money will also be used to help build one of the twelve orphanages we currently have under construction in Tanzania, Myanmar and Pakistan.
One happy cowgirl at VBS
Way to go Skrenta family!
A Third Great Family and a Third Great Effort
Another family that are my good friends and also sponsoring orphans in Myanmar is the Neve family. They are missionaries to France, and they reside near the small town of Marcon. They live in a small community of believers who hold all things in common, most of whom work in the family’s small software business. They also have a big garden, and they keep goats, rabbits, ducks and bees.
The extended Neve family, with a few friends, in France
Every July they sell their excess “stuff” at a local flea market, and they also use the opportunity to pass out tracts and Bibles and share the gospel with French people (who are not known for their great receptivity to the gospel, by the way).
A few members of the Neve family, selling stuff for the sake of orphans and letting their light shine in France
This year the Neves decided that the proceeds of their sale would be all given to help Emmanuel Orphanage in Myanmar, where all their sponsored children live. Before the Neve family started their monthly support, the ten children at Emmanuel Orphanage were literally going days without food, and none of the children were able to go to school because they couldn’t afford the school fees. Now all of that has changed. Praise God! Below is an unedited email I received from the director of Emmanuel Orphanage, written in broken English, when he received the first gift from the Neve family and community:
We, Emmanuel orphans, praise God and give thanks to Him for we unexpectedly received the miracle bread or food while we are hunger and thirst as Elijah received miracle food. How wonderful, how marverlous my Saviour provide us miracle bread from you. We want to share our joyfulness that we are very joyful, we are so much joyful, we are exceedingly joyful to you and to God…Thank you. Yours in His glade service, Pastor Joseph Bawi Ceu
Thank you, Neve family and community, for loving Jesus by caring for some of the “least of these” among His family.
And thanks for everyone else who is reading this, as you also are proving your love for Jesus by your compassion for orphans who also love Him. We currently have 739 orphans sponsored in six nations. God bless every sponsor. And last month, because of contributions to the Special Gifts Fund, we were able to disburse $13,000 to help four of our twelve orphanages that currently have new buildings under construction. We need tens of thousands of additional dollars to complete every project that has been begun by faith by very needy orphanages.
As you know, 100% of everything we receive for Orphan’s Tear is sent to the orphanages, as all administrative costs are paid from the general fund of Heaven’s Family.
Please do forward this update to your compassionate friends who might be interested in helping us come to the aid of hundreds of unsponsored orphans who are still waiting. It is as easy as just visiting OrphansTear.org, and it only takes a few minutes to select a child to sponsor and chose a contribution method. We’ve worked very hard to make it very easy for you. You can sponsor an orphan no matter where you live in the world. We currently have sponsors from twelve nations!
For the Children,
David
