I was one of twelve leaders of religious organizations to sign a joint letter to the foreign minister of Mali to help free a Christian missionary. Jeffery Woodke is one of sixty-six Americans known to be held by terrorist organizations. View the official letter here.
Finally, in Nigeria – Two years of attempts at a mission trip during Covid-19 / Commissioning of our new school building at IDP camp in Benue State, Nigeria / Visit to former orphanage site attacked and destroyed by Sunni Muslims / Conditions at the new orphanage site in Jos are not ideal, but usable
Mission Trip to Nigeria planned for March 2020 finally takes place in January 2022. In this first recap I tell about our trip to Benue State to attend the commission of the school building we funded at an IDP camp. We were able to participate and hand out Christ-centered educational materials to the children.
The disaster of December: Our office shut down for most of the month / Exploding water heater floods our office and Post Office “misplaces” our mail / Photo spread of our Christmas programs in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Iraq / Nigeria orphanage celebrates “Jesus birthday” during classroom construction
Our processing service received no mail at our postal boxes in Washington, DC for most days in December. It gets worse … It was not just mail held in December. Some envelopes were post marked as far back as September 1st. It took four months for those checks to reach us!
Christmas for Refugees successful despite Covid-19 / The cause of the suffering of Syrian Christian children / Heart for the Persecuted Church – Unification of our programs / Working with the Tiv Tribe in Nigeria to help displaced Christians
In Lebanon the Christmas programs will reach over 4,000 children, of which 2,435 are Christian refugees from Syria. Other children are from Iraq, and there are also some Lebanese children affected by the large explosion in Beirut and the collapse of the Lebanese currency.
The hope that Muslims destroyed along with an orphanage in Miango / Our farm was lost but the lives of the children were saved / Adult special needs diapers in the West Bank and other areas / Christmas program will help poorest Christian refugees in the Middle East
Purchase of 15 seat VW Transporter “bus” for use in Jos city / New classrooms under construction at site of rented building / New playground equipment purchased / New school uniforms / Christmas for Refugees financial goals not met. Lebanon in crisis
Right now, every gift to Christmas for Refugees is being doubled by the Matching Gift Fund set up by the Leadership Circle. Our goal is to provide a real Christmas for 12,500 displaced Christian children, many of them from war torn Syria.