Subversive Behavior

I first read this article two years ago, and just reread it. Wow. So powerful. So I wanted to share it with you!

Steve Hawthorne: Christian subversives in Yawisla

Here’s one of my favorite parts:

We see it every day in demeaning, oppressive interactions among people who have internalized negative, debilitating lies learned from a social system built on age-old inequities and untold bitterness. What to do? Our option has been to be subversives…

But beyond imparting new skills, they focus on building new values in the girls; values that lead in transformational development, such as TRUST. “Trust” is the expectation that people and groups will behave reliably and honestly, that we can count on each other.

With our kids, we see this too. It is difficult to build trust with them when so many of them have been deceived over and over again. But with God, all things are possible!

Please pray for our teachers to be subversive… for God to work through them and turn over the foundation of abuse, abandonment, and distrust, and to build a new foundation of unconditional love, grace, and mercy.

Much love!
Laura 

Fall Newsletter: Staff Profile

“Mama” … just the one they need

    “Mama Filo,” the children call her. Filomena is a single mother with 8 children of her own, but she is also fervently devoted to the girls at our Promise House in El Salvador. She cooks the meals at Promise House, but she’s much more than a cook; she provides a “mother role” that these girls urgently need in their lives, working with them, encouraging them … loving them!

    “A huge heart,” Orphan Helpers CEO Richard Yeargain says, “that’s the first phrase that comes to mind when I think about Mama Filo. She’s one of the sweetest people you’ll ever meet.”

    She’s also growing in faith. She listens to the Mini Bible College on a solar-powered portable device every morning with the rest of our Orphan Helpers staff in El Salvador. The more she learns of God and His Word, the more of His love we see on display in her work with the girls.

    One more example of how God is bringing wonderful people into our Orphan Helpers family … for the sake of children in need.

Fall Newsletter: An invitation — and a speedy “YES!”

AN OPEN DOOR

    Some children are there because they were found begging in the streets. Some were found abandoned in their homes. Some were simply dropped off by their parents, and their parents never came back.

    It’s an orphanage known as CIPI (which stands for Centro Infantil de Protección Inmediata), operated in the heart of El Salvador by the Salvadoran government itself. For years, the government has kept CIPI closed off from any outsiders.

    But now, the needs of the children are so overwhelming, officials have opened the door … to us.

    By God’s grace, because of our consistent high-quality work in El Salvador, Orphan Helpers has been invited to bring teachers in to CIPI!

    As you read these words, we’ve rushed in one fulltime teacher; she leads a daily Bible study with young girls, then spends the rest of the day one-on-one in mentoring, counseling, and discipling. These are girls from rough family situations, abuse victims, some refugees from violent gangs.

    But 19 girls have come to faith in Christ in the first month!

    We’re now also bringing a teacher from our Halfway Homes over to CIPI two days a week to lead computer training classes.

    The need, however, is even greater. There are 30 infants and toddlers, 80 girls in the 5- to 17-year-old category, and 20 children with special needs; plus young mothers — as young as 12, most victims of rape, many by their own family members — living at CIPI with their babies.

    Pray with us that we’ll have the resources to install more staff in this orphanage, beginning with a vocational training effort to give girls basic skills before they become adults and have to leave the program.

    In the meantime, we thank all who have given generously to Orphan Helpers — your love is already in action at CIPI!

The Magic of Christmas is Saturday Night!

The Magic of Christmas
Saturday, Dec 5th 6:30 pm

Come join us at Woodside High School for an amazing evening! All proceeds benefit Orphan Helpers. Tickets are $12 at the door.

Click here for more information.

Don’t Forget- Coffee makes a great gift!

Just a reminder…

Visit www.OrphanHelpersCoffee.com to order your gift box or gift basket today!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name;
       make known among the nations what he has done.

Sing to him, sing praise to him;
       tell of all his wonderful acts.

Glory in his holy name;
       let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.

Look to the LORD and his strength;
       seek his face always.

Remember the wonders he has done,
       his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced.

                                            ~ 1 Chronicles 16:8-12

Prayer Requests

Thanks to everyone who is lifting up Orphan Helpers and all our kids and teenagers in prayer. We have just posted an updated list on our website.

“The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”  James 5:16

Click here for prayer requests

Orphan Helpers or Bust!

This is part 2 in a story about how a family in Pennsylvania became connected with Orphan Helpers. Doreen, her daughter Joanna, and her daughter’s friend, Abby narrate.

I think we all squealed, “We made it!” as we pulled into the parking lot of the Orphan Helpers headquarters in VA. The painful distance between our hearts that we left in Nueva Esperanza and our homes in PA loosened some of its grip as we were so warmly greeted by the staff at Orphan Helpers. Laura and Richard along with Shirley the librarian so graciously spent hours sitting and talking with us sharing their experiences, listening to ours and answering our questions. We then took a trip to the warehouse and gave both James and Shirley a hand in preparing and organizing supplies and donations. After a wonderful lunch with Shirley we spent several hours helping her with a library she was sorting and cataloging for Jamaica. What a wonderful place is the Kingdom of God when you see so many come together with the same heart and different gifts to fulfill the Lord’s calling to look after the widows and orphans and to help the least… thank you Orphan Helpers for making the way. We look forward to returning to volunteer again and are waiting in anticipation to return to Nueva Esperanza.

Getting Connected with Orphan Helpers

This is a story about how a family in Pennsylvania became connected with Orphan Helpers. Doreen, her daughter Joanna, and her daughter’s friend, Abby narrate.

So how did we find Orphan Helpers? It started with our first mission trip [not with Orphan Helpers] to Honduras. We spent only a few hours at Nueva Esperanza, and this is where we left our hearts, my 14 yr. old daughter, myself and her friends. We were determined we would go back again, but didn’t want it to be only a 3 hour visit. When our church returned to Honduras this past year we stayed behind and were determined to find an organization that solely focuses on Honduran orphanages.

With our first search, to our surprise, we found photos of Nueva Esperanza and some of the children we ministered to on Orphan Helpers website. Must have been God! After several email contacts and phone calls we planned a road trip to Orphan Helpers headquarters in VA to meet those who share the same heart for these little ones and were making the way for others to help. It was Orphan Helpers or bust!

You Can Donate to Orphan Helpers Through CFC!

For all you federal civilian, postal, and military donors participating in the Combined Federal Campaign, we have news… you can donate to Orphan Helpers through CFC!

Our CFC # is: 22010.