Personal Message
Greetings in the name of our Wonderful, Marvelous Savior Jesus Christ --
We feel very blessed to see how God continues to work miracles at the Maison de Lumiere Home for Homeless Children.
Children are being transformed from a life of hopelessness, despair and abuse to hope and victory through Jesus Christ.
i (Bill) was fortunate enough to be able visit the orphanage for a few days this last week. The children are doing wonderfully and our staff and the Hojaras are a total blessing.
As we close in on our season away from Haiti (just one more chemo treatment to go), we are thankful for God's provision and faithfulness.
We have been blessed by some pretty incredible friends and family while in Southern California. Our dear friends the Bohlingers have been especially generous and caring during this challenging time.
Thanks also to the Constables, Dregers and SBFA for helping us home school our kids. And everyone at Gardena Valley Christian School.
The list of thank you would take more space than this newsletter allows.
In August, Bill, Ariana, Vienna and Elijah will return to Haiti. Susette, will hopefully soon follow. Please pray for a speedy recovery.
We have nothing but praise and adoration for our faithful and awesome God who has taken good care of us and the children in Haiti.
We thank the Lord for sending the Hojara family for sitting in for us in our absence. We are also thankful that they may continue to serve along side us when we return.
We also thank our incredible staff at the orphanage, especially Fritz, Zach, Renald and Marval.
Finally, we are grateful to all of you who have prayed and continue to pray for Susette's healing, our children's welfare and the protection of our staff and missionaries serving in Haiti.
Our God is too awesome and wonderful for words. Blessed be the Name of the Lord! For He alone is holy!
God bless you.
Gratefully serving Him in all His Glory,
The Manassero Family
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 Global Food Crisis
Usually, each month, in this section of our eNewsletter, we feature one of the very special children from Maison de Lumiere orphanage. This month, however, we want to focus on all the children. And not just the children at the orphanage, but all those in our local community and in Haiti.
A global food crisis and Haiti's economic and political instability have impacted the people of Haiti and our orphanage in a dramatic way.
The price for rice, beans, corn and other food staples has risen exponentially in recent months, creating extreme hardship and suffering all throughout Haiti. We cannot overstate the need.
Families fortunate enough to earn the average income of less than $2 a day cannot afford to keep up with these rising prices. There is just no margin. The impact is truly devastating.
Out of desperation, some people are responding with riots and violence, increased thefts and even kidnapping of children. This creates another whole set of problems. To protect the welfare of our children and employees, we have had to beef-up security measures and take additional precautions.
To respond to this escalating crisis we are initiating a number of emergency and longer-term measures.
We are increasing our food budget for the orphanage 40%. Staff salaries for our 20 plus orphanage employees will also increase to help them to deal with the food crisis in their own families. We are expanding security with higher walls, more razor wire and additional guards. We are also launching a new feeding program to help the children in the community whom we already feed and send to school (see story below).
But we will need your help to make this happen. We are asking you first to pray. Pray that the Lord will provide whatever is necessary to meet orphanage expenses and care for those in our community. Pray that the Lord will protect our children, missionaries and staff. And then, as the Lord leads you, consider the following:
- Fast and Pray - join us on today and this week for the children of Haiti
- Increase your child sponsorship amount - the funds required to support one child has increased. Instead of increasing sponsorship amounts, we are asking that each sponsor pray and be led to increase their sponsorship according to God's direction
- Donate to our new Feeding Program - to aid those local children not under the roof of our orphanage but in strong need, we will need direct assistance.
- Make a general contribution to Child Hope to help offset increasing costs - all costs are increasing to continue to help homeless children in Haiti. A one-time or ongoing financial commitment will go a long way.
- Add GoodSearch search engine to your computer - this is a passive means of supporting the ministry that costs nothing. Consider adding this search engine to your computer to help the children in Haiti.
Thank you for your prayers and continued support during this difficult time. Please keep our children, staff and missionaries in your prayers.
God bless you.
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New Feeding Program
Haiti is facing perhaps one of its biggest challenges since we have lived there -- rising food costs that are unparalleled in Haiti's history. We experience this crisis every time we go shopping to feed our children at the orphanage. We see it by the number of children standing outside our home on a daily basis.
One way we are trying to combat this at a community level is to expand our current feeding program to provide one meal per day for 30 children in our community, hopefully by Thursday, November 27, 2008, Thanksgiving Day.
One unique feature of this program is that it will be operated by the children of Maison de Lumiere. They will cook, serve, lead worship and deliver a daily Bible message each day. It is an excellent opportunity to share Jesus and for our children to experience Christian service in the name of the Lord.
The feeding program will be conducted next to the boys home, on the land where they currently play soccer. Once a day, tables will be set up and meals served to the children. A special food storage pantry and kitchen will be constructed, portable tables and benches built, shade tarps constructed and supplies purchased.
Set-up costs will be approximately $4,800. To maintain the program (to start) we will need monthly pledged contributions of $1,500 per month or $18,000 for the first year.
To donate to the feeding program, click here and make sure to note that your contribution is for the feeding program.
Won't you please pray for this important program, to make a difference for the suffering children of Haiti.
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 Pray for Haiti "Camp in a Box"
As most of you may know, our Camp Haiti 2008 team is in Haiti right now putting on our first summer camp for the kids at Maison de Lumiere. The camp runs from June 23-28. The team, representing over 5 different churches, has worked hundred of hours preparing for this "Faith Exploding" event.
The camp verse is Hebrews 12:1 - "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses,
let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily
entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."
The camp was literally flown in via the missions team's luggage -- thus the name "Camp in a Box." All they have to do is add the Living Water and watch it grow.
This amazing team of over 22 people is requesting all those reading this article to pray daily for the kids, the team and the leaders of the camp -- the Kruse family. Please join us in praying hard for God to work miracles not only in the lives of the kids attending but in the lives of those putting on the camp. Praise the Lord!!!
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UNICEF Alarmed Over Child Kidnappings
Posted Fri Jun 20, 2008 10:02pm AEST
Over 50 children have been kidnapped in Haiti this
year and some have been raped and tortured by their abductors, the
United Nations Children's Fund warns.
In some cases, the victims were even murdered, said UNICEF spokeswoman Veronique Taveau.
UNICEF expressed its deep concern over the increasing reports of child abduction especially in conflict-hit countries.
In the Central African Republic, armed gangs have kidnapped children
for ransom, while in the Democratic Republic of Congo, thousands of
children have been rounded up by armed groups and used as child
soldiers or sex slaves, Ms Taveau said.
"UNICEF is deeply concerned by increasing reports of kidnappings and
abduction of children by criminal gangs and armed groups, particularly
in countries affected by violence. In many cases, these abductions are
being carried out with impunity," she said.
- AFP
.
Please continue to pray for the children of Haiti and other conflict ridden countries, especially those on the street and the most vulnerable.
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