Your Oil.......will not run out!

Do remember that story of the widow who gave her last to the prophet.....

The TEXAS flag

1 Kings 17:12 So she said, "As the LORD your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar; and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die." 13 And Elijah said to her, "Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son.  14 "For thus says the LORD God of Israel: 'The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the LORD sends rain on the earth.'" (NKJV)

We had literally nothing left in the pot when I received a phone call from our friend in Texas. He and his family were ringing to say that they were wiring money in support of the Rescue Project. God is good! All the time! It is fantastic to see how HE moves the hearts of men in HIS perfect timing.

Their kind outrageous offering means that we have the finances to cover the roofing of the School, yes! All 57X8m of it! We had hoped to receive support from the Borough Council in the form of steal rafters that came from the old hospital but unfortunately this proved a dead end.

The wood for the rafters has been cut and work has already start on putting the structure in place......I will get some photos as soon as possible.

Wood for the rafters

Rachel's Report

Rachel, who visited us recently from the U.K.

I think one of the most profound experiences I had when learning what life’s like for someone out here was whilst helping carry out research in the new district with the youth of the church. It was here I was really able to get an insight, first hand of what life is like for many in Maues. I was particularly moved and struck by one man in particular. His name was Philipi and he welcomed us into his yard, pulling up a bench for us to sit with him. Next to him lay his sick wife in a hammock, unable to get up and walk but for whom the doctors had no answers. Intermittently, he would stretch his arm so as to comfort her with a gentle swing. He spoke of his life, that eight people lived in his house (by comparison to many I spoke with – that was quite a low figure) unable to find work, that he moved here in search of education for his children, that his neighbourhood was full of violence, drugs, and how he’s done what he can to teach his children a good way to live. Then the final blow came when he described how he watched his own son murdered in front of his house and the police do nothing. I was horrified.

But it was at this point that I began to get excited.  I don’t mean that in an awful way and so as one to disregard this poor man’s tragedy, but I began to get excited about the fact that God WILL be glorified in all this. Philipi has been disappointed by many people, by false promises made my different political parties, disappointed by the police who don’t seem to intervene on behalf of the weak, doctors who seem to have no cures.  But I began to realise that the raising of the new school/ community centre that God’s put on the heart of Marty is a promise to these people that WILL be fulfilled. And in that, it can only speak hope, and of a God who will not forsake you. This man still seemed to find it hard to believe that the school was going to materialise, even as we showed him the pictures of its foundations. But I’m excited for him and that in the not too distant future his life and that of his family WILL be transformed by the expression of God’s love – shown through Marty and the church who seem to be tirelessly doing all they can to advance the Kingdom of God, reaching the poor and defending the weak.

Philipi and his wife!

CATCHING the FIRE

Work is progressing steadily at the Rescue Project in the New District. The Living Word Church is located in the centre of Maues and to help get the church fully behind us in the vision that God has planted in our hearts we asked the youth of the church to carry out door to door surveys in the New District area. Many of the youth have never been in this area of Maues before because of its location (being on the far side of town so to speak) and its ‘fame’. This gave them an opportunity to relate to the people in the area, providing an opportunity to understand more completely the vision behind the Rescue Project and also see where they fit in.

It has been a great time for the youth, they have gone around the doors for three weekends consecutively and have had plenty of opportunities to share Jesus with the people of the area.

There has been a real ownership of the vision, with an expectancy rising in them as to what God is going to do in this area which they have in turn passed to the residents......... ‘it is like breathing HOPE into their hearts”.

Abigail (youth leader) speaks to one of the residents in the New District

Up to the MARK

Brick work up to the 3m height

Gordo and his team have done an excellent job to get the shell of the school up to its full height of 3.00m. This has been an incredible undertaking, with all the cement being hand mixed, much of the water being carried over 200m distance when the taps had no water in them, not to mention carrying brick by brick from where the lorry got bogged down in the muck! The wheel barrows only sunk further into the mud!

Well done

View from the 'kitchen'