His Eye is on the Sparrow

Our Seeds of Hope Director, Hilina Wondwossen, tells us the story of Nyala, one of our mothers in Ethiopia: Tragedy first struck Nyala as a young mother, and her husband died shortly after the birth of her first child, a boy. She remarried, though, and had two daughters. Because money is difficult to come by in Ethiopia, Nyala decided to become a housekeeper in an Arab city to help provide for the family. She sent checks back home to her husband – who assured her that he was caring for the kids and building them a home. However, when Nyala came back to surprise them, she found that her husband had married another woman, had sent her daughters away, and had left her son to fend for himself on the streets. Determined to pick up the pieces, Nyala searched for and found her children again – but unfortunately, she struggled with health issues, and the family quickly fell into financial ruin. Determined that her children would have a bright future, Nyala ensured that her children never missed a day of school. Even though the family was homeless, she would wash her children’s dirty faces in the morning and send them off to class, knowing at least that way they would receive one good meal – even though she, herself, was starving. Our program director, Hilina (below, at right), tells us the Ethiopian government gives her a list of struggling mothers that we often use to identify families who are in need. Because Nyala was homeless, she was not in any of those lists. But by the provision of God, Hilina and other local leaders noticed her anyway. LSM provided Nyala’s family with essential necessities and a place to stay. We also helped her start a business selling clothes and shoes. She started volunteering at her kids’ school and was soon brought on as staff there as well. More recently, she and her family converted from Islam to Christianity. Since then, they have received many questions from their family and community. As a result, they’ve had amazing opportunities to share the love of Jesus. We at LSM are glad to have played a part in Nyala’s testimony! Follow LSM’s newsletter to read more stories of our work: bit.ly/lsm_newsletters

Supporting our Bluffton auction helps support stories of transformation in Haiti! Shown below is Loudia, one of the first young ladies we were able to help. When she first came into our care in 2008, Loudia had one of the most troubled backgrounds we had ever seen: a voodoo priestess had mistreated her, forcing her to do manual work and dance at ceremonies. Despite all of this, Loudia quickly showed signs of leadership and strong character. In more recent years, God has refined Loudia’s heart as she’s spent time at our LSM Tech campus, studying the Word of God and developing a habit of regular prayer. With our assistance, she launched a grocery business, and she is now stepping into new responsibilities at LSM Tech, empathetically coming alongside and mentoring vulnerable children in Haiti-just as she was once helped!

LSM has always reached far beyond the walls of our Homes of Hope in Haiti and readily come alongside those in need in the communities we serve. We operate schools and churches at our Welsh, Redemption and LSM Tech locations that are all open to community participation. Our La Source church is likewise open to the community. We also reach out to our neighbors through evangelism and aid efforts like our Gospel Project, as well as responses to specific disasters. Additionally, in recent years, LSM has launched a comprehensive program to provide for at-risk families in southern Haiti. While Homes of Hope aim to take children out of harmful and abusive situations, there are also vulnerable children in Haiti who are in salvageable situations. Perhaps their family has the potential to be viable and healthy but just needs a little help. For these, we offer food distribution, start-up capital and training to help parents start businesses, spiritual training for parents and children, academic tutoring, and more. We’ll have more to share about this program soon as we extend our reach and continue coming alongside vulnerable families!

Marcela was very young when her father left. In fact, she doesn’t even have a memory of him. Marcela’s mom died shortly before her fifth birthday. Little Marcela was passed around by her family members, but she was in danger of becoming homeless or a child slave when we found her. Today, Marcela says she has dreams to become a doctor and to raise money to build a new hospital in her community. A pledge commonly associated with doctors is “first, do no harm.” A similar idea is found at the conclusion of the prayer of Jabez, where he asks God to help ensure that he does not cause pain. As some may know, the name “Jabez” loosely translates to “borne in pain.” Marcela, likewise, was born into a painful situation, but her desire, by the grace of God, is to bring healing to those around her. With an eye to 1 Chron. 4:10, let’s pray for God to bless Marcela, indeed, expanding her territory. Let’s pray that God’s hand would accompany her and keep her from evil, that she may not cause pain. In fact, may He use her hands to bless others!