Merry Christmas and happy new year from the precious children at Grace Children’s Home and Hope for Children of Africa in Entebbe, Uganda! May God bless you for your giving and support this year!
Grace Children’s Home Pictures
December 18, 2011A slide show of new pictures from Williams and Peruth Beshiish in Uganda. Precious Grace Children’s Home kids, and they’re growing so fast!
December offering
December 7, 2011In December, Project A 1:8 partnered with WFRN in their annual Bible drive. The donations collected in the December offering will be used to purchase Bibles for Christians in Africa who have never owned Bibles. Check out the link below for more information. Thanks for giving to Project A 1:8! It makes a difference to believers all over the world!
http://www.1800yesword.com/index.asp?rstation=WRFN
Project A 1:8 Banquet Highlights
November 11, 2011The stats in brief…
200+ adults in attendance
73 boxes packed for Operation Christmas Child (our goal was 50)
33 people interested in Mission America: Northern Indiana
Our third annual Project A 1:8 missions banquet was a huge success! Among the missions highlights celebrated this year were two disaster relief trips to Alabama, money donated to earthquake and tsunami relief in Japan, a mission trip to Ukraine, and our continued support of ministries in Uganda and at home. This year’s theme was The Power of One: one dream, one decision, one life, one moment… People in attendance were challenged to make their lives count and live like the Good Samaritan by refusing to do nothing. Three members of Teen Challenge, a Christian discipleship program for men suffering from life-controlling addictions, spoke about Teen Challenge had changed their lives – one at a time. Watch the video below to see Alabama missionaries discuss how the Alabama trip changed their lives.
A missions opportunity that will be available this summer is Mission America: Northern Indiana, in which each Heartland campus will set aside a week in the month of June to be a blessing to its community by serving people and meeting needs in the city. The cost will be approximately $200 per person. Look for more information in here and at your campus, and pray about whether God is calling you to be a part of Mission America.
The night in a few pictures:
Grace Children Who Need Sponsors
November 10, 2011Many families at Church of the Heartland have already “adopted” and sponsored a child through Grace Children’s Home or Hope for Children of Africa. However, there are still more children who need your love, prayers, and financial support. Five children at Grace Children’s Home, the ministry of Williams and Peruth Beshiisha, still need full ($80 per month) or partial ($30 per month) sponsorships. It’s also possible for several people to sponsor a child together at $10-$15 per month, per person! American sponsors help to provide food, clothing, shelter, medicine, and school fees for African children, and every dollar counts! The unique blessing of sponsoring a child through Grace Children’s Home is that we get to watch these children grow up and be part of their lives! Please pray about sponsoring one of the children pictured below. If you are interested or would like more information about sponsoring a child, please email Michele Howard at mquaifehoward@yahoo.com.
Grace needs a full sponsorship. Before being rescued by Grace Children’s Home, little Grace was, at five years old, taking care of both herself and her younger brother David. She cooked for both of them, and they often ate scraps from the trash their father threw out. Before Grace, she had no hope of ever attending school, and she had never worn shoes. She came to GCH barefoot. Today, she is doing well in school and acts as a mother to the other children due to what she went through.
Martin needs a partial sponsorship. Before coming to GCH, he had lost his father in an accident. He had no clothes or shoes and no hope of going to school. Today, he can read, write, and express himself in English and loves going to school. Martin also has clothes and shoes for the first time in his life. He loves farming and tending to the animals and was especially proud when the crops were harvested.
Ephraim needs a partial sponsorship. He is a relative of Peruth Beshiisha who lost his parents when he was very young. Ephraim loves to sing and dance and tend to the animals.
Robert needs a partial sponsorship. Before coming to Grace, he lived alone with his drunken father. He often slept outside bars while his father was inside. He never went to school and had no clothes or shoes. Today, he attends school and is a hard worker at home… Although, according to the Beshiishas, he can be a little naughty!
Isaac needs a partial sponsorship. The youngest at Grace Children’s Home, Isaac is at the top of his class in kindergarten and receives lots of motherly attention from the older girls!
“Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward them for what they have done.” Proverbs 19:17 Please pray about sponsoring one of these precious African children!
2011 Project A 1:8 Missions Banquet
October 11, 2011You will NOT want to miss this year’s Project A 1:8 missions banquet! Join us at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, November 6, at the Winamac campus to celebrate what God is doing in missions in America and other nations. This is an awesome time to connect with people and with God’s heart for people of the world. Dinner will be provided! There will be an amazing banquet for kids happening at the same time! It’s going to be an awesome night!!!
Operation Christmas Child
October 11, 2011This year’s Project A 1:8 banquet is happening on November 6th at 6:00 p.m. at the Winamac campus!!! This is an event for your entire family–to raise awareness about missions and what God is doing in the lives of people all over the world. This year we as Church of the Heartland have a great opportunity to be a blessing to needy children. During the banquet, our KWAM kids will be packing boxes for Operation Christmas Child. Our goal is to fill 50 boxes at the banquet, so that every child will be able to pack a box and write a personal note to a child in another nation.
For more information, watch the video here:
We will be collecting donations for the Christmas child boxes at every campus until the missions banquet. Below are the lists of what we’re collecting at each campus…
Starke County:
toothbrushes
toothpaste
bars of soap (in ziploc bags)
combs/hair brushes
wash cloths
Plymouth:
small cars
balls
dolls
stuffed animals
kazoos
harmonicas
yo-yos
jump ropes
small Etch A Sketch
slinky
play dough, etc.
Logansport:
hard candy
gum
sunglasses
hair clips
toy jewelry
flashlights with batteries
stuffed animals
jump ropes
slinky
play dough
puzzles
balls
yo-yos
Winamac:
pens
pencils with sharpeners
crayons
markers
stickers
paper
coloring books
Looking forward to all of us working together to make this awesome blessing happen for kids who need hope at Christmas! Let’s be part of sharing the love of Christ by sharing what He has given us!
Uganda Mission Meeting
September 11, 2011Hi everyone!
At 6:30 p.m. on Friday, September 23rd, at Jarrety’s in Rochester, we will have an informational meeting for people who are interested in a possible trip to Uganda in June of 2012. If you’re praying about a trip to Africa next summer, it’s important that you be at this meeting!!
Mission America – Alabama
June 27, 2011Hi everyone!
On Saturday, June 25th, I arrived home from a mission trip to Alabama with an awesome team of six adults and fourteen teenagers . After the team saw the huge needs of the communities devastated by tornadoes in Alabama, we decided to take another trip in June. This was an incredible trip, and we saw God at work in the hearts and lives of not only the people of Alabama but of the people we brought from Indiana.
While in Alabama, we cleared yards, removed debris, delivered supplies, and listened to people’s stories. It was almost unbelievable to listen to the stories of ordinary people during and in the aftermath of the tornadoes. As we helped a woman named Donna clean her yard, she shared her experience with us. She told us that she always told herself that if a tornado ever came her way, she would be prepared. She thought that she would have enough time to take her pictures and her valuables with her when the storm hit. However, when the storm did come, she, like many others, only had time to make her way to the basement and save herself before the tornado was upon her. Donna shared that she wasn’t sure why God saved her life, but she believes that one of the reasons was to share a powerful message with our mission team. When Donna made her way out of their house, she looked at the devastation around her, heard the cries of her neighbors, and was reminded that some day Jesus will return. She suspects that on that day, many people will find themselves in the same situation she found herself in after the tornado – devastated and unprepared. God used this storm to remind our new friend Donna to live prepared. Live with a right relationship with God. Live like Jesus is coming back soon.
We also met Corey, who was fifteen when the storms moved through Pleasant Grove, Alabama. After the tornado, which was half a mile wide, destroyed the home of an older couple from his church, Corey found the couple, put them in their car, and drove the car through the garage door of the home before it collapsed. Corey worked with our mission team for a few days and is giving his time this summer to clean up Pleasant Grove. He knew the families we helped personally.
One night after we were done working, the team discussed what we wanted to take home from this trip. One of the things that someone shared was not to believe the message we’ve received from the media that the work is nearly done in Alabama. In fact, the need for money, supplies, and teams of people is still great. Please continue to pray for the families, churches, and communities that were affected by the tornadoes in Alabama, and support people who have hearts to go there and work. We’ve seen firsthand how much it means.
Leigh Anne Runkle
