I woke up this morning feeling refreshed despite the lack of sleep I had last night. But my poor Maggie - i don't think she was able to sleep until 4 am and suddenly it was 8 and time to wake her for church.
Yesterday, Saturday, we (Rachel, Emma, Andrew and myself) met with our architect, Moses, all day. We discussed various changes made to the campus, including the need to expand the dormitory. We will be, God willing, proceeding in phases with the next phase being the dormitory, bathrooms, and kitchen. The dormitory will hold a bit over 100 girls and 2 house matrons, but because we do not have enough funds raised for the classroom and workshop, we will admit approx. 50 girls to the campus and use the other half of the dormitory for our classrooms. We will need to have our kitchen, but our dining hall will have to wait until we raise more money and in the meantime we will lay the cement foundation for the dining area and then put our tent there temporarily. These are the only buildings needed to move the girls in and we are getting closer to the estimated costs of these particular structures. I am praying that God will continue to work through His people and that they will be moved to sacrificially give. Currently, our 36 girls are squeezed into a tiny house with no room to even gather. They have a tent in the front yard where they rotate academic and vocational classes. They have 2 different levels of academic classes - the ones who require additional and slower teaching and the ones who are on track. But they are also learning how to sew and knit and do hair and this is all happening under one tent. So needless to say, we desperately need more space. But God is so faithful and I believe with my whole heart that He wants more of these girls to come to know Him and have a chance at life so i will continue to hope for His provisions...
Today we arrived at the project house around 10 am and the girls were already singing praise and worship songs. We had been praying that God woukd send us a pastor with a heart to minister to our girls and He did!! After 4 years, we finally have a permanent pastor - Pastor Gerald Otuwal. What an amazing spirit filled man of God he is! I was so blessed to hear him preach today along with Rachel's father who was in town for a funeral. Both pastors placed their hands on my head and prayed over me while the girls sang. Our new pastor is not even requiring payment - only help paying his transport fees. The cost is only $30 per month, so if anyone reading this is interested/willing to sponsor him, please contact me and let me know.
Our church service lasted about 4 hours and I will give a brief overview of some of the verses preached and taught.
The major themes were: trust, obey, faith, rest
1. Genesis 15.1/Psalm 19.11 - He taught that God is faithful and He rewards His children for their obedience
2. He preached on Ruth Ch 1&2 - again reward for faithfulness
3. Hebrews 11.6 - faith
4. 2 Peter 3.14 - How He should find us when He returns
5. Jeremiah 6.16/Matthew 11.28 - rest
As the service ended and we rose from our chairs to greet one another, the rain came and once again I could not help feeling that It was a sign of God's blessing on us. ALL glory and honor to our almighty God who loves us and cares for us.His mercies are surely new every day....
And without faithit is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him. ~ Hebrews 11:6
www.91four.org
Awesome stuff!😊
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