We have two Homes of Hope in Haiti nestled in a small, very poor community called Welsh. The needs across the country are great, but God has been opening doors for LSM to do more in this particular community. One of the projects has included the construction of a new school for our Home of Hope children. This new, bigger building will also provide the chance for kids from the community to attend school (many for the first time)!
Over the last couple of days, the kids have been having tons of fun at VBS! In the mornings, the younger group gathers to hear bible stories and learn new songs and dances. The older kids spend time with guest speakers and have a chance to ask questions of the Haiti staff about different topics. It’s been great to watch the kids interact and enjoy each other. There are certainly memories in the making here!
Do you remember the excitement you felt as a kid when it was finally time for your family’s summer vacation? You’d wake up with the sun and bound out of bed, pulling your bags of goodies for the drive and nearly bursting with energy. You just KNEW this year was going to be the best yet!
Isn’t it fun to look forward to an evening out with your family? What if you could change a life at same time?
At the 2015 Gospel Sing on Saturday, August 22, 2015, you can do just that. Join us at the Wilkening Farmstead (Cissna Park, IL) for an evening of down-home, southern gospel music. You’ll hear inspiring stories of hope, enjoy amazing food, and listen to encouraging music for the heart – all while having a great time with your friends and family. But the best part is, all freewill offerings collected that evening will benefit the lives of vulnerable children.
This weekend, we will celebrate our country’s independence and freedom. We will gather with friends and family and thank God for the freedoms we have been blessed with in this land – mostly things we have never lived without.
But we don’t begin to understand the magnitude of what we celebrate if we don’t know the power of what freedom really is. Today, there are people around the world who have never known this kind of freedom. They are men, women and children who do not know what it means to dream of a better future. They do not know what it is to celebrate freedom, either individually or as a nation. They are the world’s most vulnerable.
The tension was unnaturally thick in the concrete building last week. Nearly 40 people were there facing several LSM staff in what was quickly turning into a different meeting than LSM anticipated. They’d met last Tuesday to discuss with the community the security issues around the 40-acre LSM Ranch. Some local boys had been wriggling through the barbed wire and cactus fence to go swimming in a steep and deep pond on the LSM property. Concerned for their safety, LSM staff had told the boys to stop, and then approached the mayor when they kept sneaking over. But now, sitting across from some upset men, women and the local judge, LSM staff sensed it was about a lot more than boys swimming where they shouldn’t.