The Earthquake House in Nepal

  An earthquake house is one that will not kill you if it falls. We are building one of these for the Action Love Children's Home.  It is basically structured from bamboo and sheet metal.  Rainy season is rushing towards us and this  should be a good shelter from the rain.  Even more than that, it will be a place to call home and a place where the children can sleep without fear.

Beginning in the Amazon

The  Amazon-- with everything  going on in our ministry right now, it  might  not seem to be the time to expand to a new ministry area.  Yet, plans for  a survey trip  to  South  America have been in the works for over a year. This is not the first time that conflicts, distractions and even overwhelming events have come just at the time when we were about to open a new ministry project.  Please pray for the people-- especially the children-- of the  Amazon and whether it is time  for Allow to begin work among them. Next week, 27 May, I will be flying out to visit two ministry areas with the intention of establishing relationships and possible ministry partnership for sponsorship of children and possibly pastor training.

Church Planting in Bangladesh

We had a special blessing a few days ago, when we received the photos of this church dedication in the mountains of  Bangladesh.  It is hard to describe the significance of this.  The church is made of of mostly newly baptized (older) kids in our children's Home and it is built on the land purchased for the home.  It is a light in a very, very dark place.  It is a place so far up, that though Bangladesh is said to be 98% Muslim, the Muslims  do not have a foothold here YET. These are tribal people who probably never hear the  Name of Jesus, either. Our children are learning.  They are getting an education and also a good foundation in  God's  Word.  Our girls are already past an educational level that few women have obtained in this place. When we launch these kids they will be leaders among their people. Leaders prepared to reach others as no American ever could-- even more than a city Bangla missionary could do.  They are tribal people. Some of them will fall away, just as happens in our US churches.  But SOME of them, will be strong, growing believers and they will BE this church.  They already ARE the church.  Praise the Lord.  Now another special blessing.  This church building is not completed. It still needs the tin for the roof, a toilet, and some other construction things. It also needs overhead fans, musical instruments,....   A pledge came today from a donor who will provide  EVERYTHING still needed for this church.  He will also fund the dorm building needed  to separate boys and girls and enable us to increase the number of kids  in the home.  This is a huge WOW. 

Church planting in Burundi

Please keep a careful watch on the news from  Burundi.  Their elections are scheduled late in June. A recent government takeover was stopped, preventing what our missionary contact felt sure would be the beginning of another long, bloody war.  He tells us that he and his family  can hear gunshots at night, but they are  still able to move about town. He has two tiny little girls and his wife is expecting another baby in the same week as the elections.  I think that none of us would blame him if he got his family out of there, but he soldiers on-- doing the work he was called to do, and the Lord is blessing it. Read the words directly from him as he reports to us about the building of church building that we have funded there:

As far as the church plant on the property, that is having to be delayed a little bit, one factor is the political situation (in the current political climate it would be difficult to take large teams up from the city to help with the initial evangelism efforts etc...),  The other factor is that the nearby village church that will be helping with the plant is in the middle of its own construction (currently like 30 people sit outside every week cause their building is packed and can only hold about 120). So the local leadership here in the city decided that it would be best for us to help that church finish its expansion project before working on building the building at the new property. They already have a  new foundation and are hoping to start building the beginning of July.  It would not be good to very quickly build a good sized building for the new church plant on the new property when the mother church is still stuck trying to accommodate the people they have! 

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Things are always more complicated here in Africa than I would like :) But I guess it is not just Africa.

Living in Tents

 I am writing this note in  May, 2015, not quite a month since the first major earthquake shook Nepal. Since that time, smaller tremors, and aftershocks continue to plague the land.  Building that cracked, but remained standing  after the first event may fall anytime as the ground shaking continues.  Recovery  is a challenge under any circumstances, but nearly impossible when "another one" could come at any time. Many of our people are still living in tents, even if their house  was not damaged. They are searching out clean water and  cooking as best they can. Please pray for  Nepal-- that the shaking  will stop and the rebuilding can begin.

He came up through our program

 His father died some years ago, leaving  his mother a widow with three children.  We  joined in with sponsorship to help the children remain in school.  One sponsor stuck with him to  help him even through a  university program.  He  is scheduled to graduate this year with a degree in engineering, but  he spent this week working with our relief team, carrying needed supplies to the people.

Personal tragedy in Nepal

 To us, sitting in  America and just watching the news, it is just one pile of ruble after another.   But each one of those piles is a personal  tragedy to a family in  Nepal-- a family that was probably already struggling to survive.  This is one of the villages where  Allow works and where we  delivered supplies  this week.  People in the US sent checks to our office.  We sent  wires to Nepal.  Our partners bought food and tents, cooking oil and  bottled water. They loaded trucks and carried  the supplies to places like this one.

Earthquake in Nepal

On 25 April, the people of Nepal suffered a major earthquake.  We could only sit and wait as (thankfully) report after report came in from our partners to  inform us that they were safe.  Devastation reigns throughout the country. More orphans were made.  Thousands of families became homeless.  None of the partners and leaders working with Allow The Children died or suffered a serious injury. All of them were up and ready to help others in a remarkably short period of time.

God's people in the US gave generously, allowing us to send five emergency wires to our close partners-- quickly making a difference all over Nepal.