Child Hope International In This Issue
Moving into the New Girls Home New Girls Home
Music Activities
Teaching Jobs
Camp-in-a-Box 2011
New Videos
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Blessed Be His Name!
May 2011 It was an event that was much anticipated and
the result of tremendous hard work and a lot of
prayer. For years, we sought to expand our
girls home to accommodate more girls.
Unfortunately, funds did not allow for us to rent
a new girls home. With the 2010 earthquake,
the need to assist newly orphaned girls and atrisk girls living in tent cities skyrocketed. It was the availability of a new property that
opened up a window of opportunity making a
new girls home possible. A landlord nearby the
Moving on up! The girls start Manassero's house had
large incomplete
bringing their stuff next door a house available at a
to their new home.
very cheap rent,
however, renting it
required much construction work to complete the home. The home
was ideal for a guest house, which meant the old guest house could
become free to be our new girls home. What was missing was the
expertise to complete the unfinished house. It required major
construction skills, including electrical, plumbing and masonry
work. That's where Chad Youngquist, a young builder from
Washington state, came in. On a missions team visit he heard
about our dilemma and felt a conviction to want to help out the girls. We celebrate how wonderful The Lord convicted him and he ended up coordinating a team of
and marvelous our precious
construction workers from
Lord is and how mighty and
Adeline
Washington who came to Haiti
powerful is His faithfulness.
weekly, over a period of six enjoying in her
weeks, to complete the new
We recently shared with a
new room
guest house. The guest house
visiting team member the
was completed in February,
story of how God first
which allowed us to move into the new guest house
provided us with a girls
and begin to convert the old guest house into the new
home. Interacting with kids
girls home. We now had 20 girls who lived in a small
on the streets and hosting
three-bedroom, one-bath house, moving into a house
feedings at our boys home,
with six bedrooms and three baths. And space for 10
located at Delmas 31 at the
Susette serves up chili extra beds for new girls. Painting, new doors, repairs,
time, we encountered many
dogs for the hungry child-proofing and other measures took a few months,
street kids, especially the
with the help of other visiting missions teams and
little girls. Daily we would
masses.
everyone at MDL, but soon the home was ready and
pray for the little girls who
the big day arrived.
would walk up and down
Delmas Blvd with their torn, The girls were so excited. For weeks, they kept asking questions like, "Can we move in
dirty dresses, tapping on
yet?" "Where is my room?" "Do we have our own bathroom?" Then , the day finally
windows and begging for
arrived. The girls' beds were moved over early in the
money. When they would
morning, then, they packed up their clothes. The Child
see us, they would often ask Hope Interns, staff members and missionaries
if they could come live at our prepared a special day for the girls. Handmade signs
boys home. We said, "No. were made with the girls' names and placed on every
the home is only for boys." bed. Balloons and flowers were placed all around the
But it broke our hearts. We home. And a special meal and desserts were
knew how bad the streets
prepared. It was a big day indeed!
are for little girls and we
wanted to help them. We
When the time arrived, the girls were invited over. wanted to open a girls home Carrying over bags, boxes, pillows and other personal
but had no budget. We tried items, they arrived at the new home while staff and The day concluded with
to scrape together enough missionaries cheered them on. As they walked in,
funds to create a budget but they were told where their new rooms were and a special worship time
there just wasn't money
escorted to their new rooms. With big smiles from ear to thank the Lord for His
enough to cover all the staff, to ear, the girls walked in like they were there for the
incredible gift.
furniture and other things
first time. One girl walked into her room, saw her bed,
necessary to do it, but we
a giant smile filled her face, and she just began to jump
continued to pray.
up and down without making a sound. Others just kept saying, "Merci. Merci. Merci." For years, we prayed and
waited on the Lord. We kept
revisiting our financial
situation and it was getting
close but never close
enough. As another year
came to close we were
blessed with a generous
donation from a young man
that brought us close but it
was still too tight budgetwise. We wanted so badly
to get the girls in before
Christmas so we could have
an incredible Christmas
celebration with them but we
still didn't have all the funds. We worked and reworked
the budget and were almost
ready but we had only had
$350 allocated for monthly
rent in a neighborhood
where rents averaged
$1,000 to $1,500 per month.
Then, a true God thing
happened. A house two
doors down from the boys
home became available. It
was the perfect size, had a
beautiful yard, was close to
the boys home but we
figured it to be way out of our
price range.
The owner knew we were
looking and wanted to show
it to us but we were reluctant
because we knew we didn't
have enough funds. Nonetheless, we decided to
check it out anyway. Seeing
it only discouraged us more. It was perfect inside and
out. After viewing it, we
thanked the owner and
started to walk out the door. He stopped us and asked,
"Hey, don't you want to talk
about the price." We said,
"Sure." expecting it to be
impossible and he said
"$4,000 US." We thought,
"Wow, that's way steeper
than we would have
suspected for a house like
this. We knew the rental
market was high but $4,000
a month is borderline
obscene."
The owner laughed. "No,
that's not $4,000 a month,
that's $4,000 a year." And,
doing a quick calculation
found that that was roughly
$333 per month." It was a
gift from heaven! Culturally, i
was supposed to counter his
offer to begin negotiating but
i knew that this was too right
and was clearly a gift from
God. I said, "I'll take it."
It was one of the most
Still, others just walked in, started laughing and then began preparing their room by putting
up personal mementos from sponsors and other personal items to identify the room as
their own.
As we watched, we were all overtaken with joy. To see them in their new house, with
ample room for them to grow and thrive and with the joy in their hearts, we just thanked
God for this gift -- for bringing us Chad and the many others who helped make it happen. A
new larger home for the girls and an opportunity to help new girls.
At the end of the day the girls all gathered in their
new big living room, sat on the floor and started
singing praises and praying aloud -- thanking the
Lord for His awesome gift and provision. It was a
beautiful time of worship -- and the perfect
conclusion to an incredible day.
A short video of the girls
big move-in day.
Please join us in a prayer of thanksgiving for our
girls, that this new home would help as we
nurture and disciple and raise them up to be
women of a Holy God. Also, please join us in a
prayer for discernment and wisdom as we
consider a new generation of girls who will
become part of the Maison de Lumiere family -new "light houses for Christ" for His glory. God is good!
Growing Music Aficionados at MDL
We have recently been blessed by a number of visitors who have donated musical
instruments and offered music lessons. This has generated a new wave of interest in all
things musical. Those who have generously donated
guitars, violins, a keyboard and even an auto harp are
making an impact on the children of Maison de
Lumiere(MDL).
We have been praying for a long time for the Lord to send
a music teacher to help us establish a music program at
MDL. These new gifts and visitor lessons is helping
spark what we hope to blossom into a full-fledged music
program. Bill has been teaching Rocky Gunderson
eight children guitar
helped teach
lessons in a "Worshipers
Guitar Class" for the last Davidson guitar with
three months. He wants
Mr. Bill
to teach more but is
limited by the number of
available guitars. The children love guitar and are very
excited to learn. Rocky Gunderson, who lead worship at
last year's Camp-in-a-Box, was recently in Haiti and also
helped teach at the class.
Daniel and Keso - A
few of the boys who
have been receiving
violin lessons.
A few months ago we
had a very musical
family, the Taubls, visit
and perform for the MDL
kids. They played
violins, cello, guitar and
keyboard and really
sparked our kids' interest in music. They also assessed
our kids for potential violin proficiency and left a number
child-sized violins. Recently, two sisters,
Audrey and Kate
Seversen, visited and
taught the children
violin. The kids loved it
and learned pretty
quickly. They even had
a recital at the end of the
two weeks.
We have been blessed
Violin Class - (left to
right) Richard, Kate
Severson,
MarcKendy, Keso,
Daniel, and Audrey
Severson
joyous, Christ-filled
Christmas seasons we had
ever experienced. We
immediately had 12 girls
move into the house within a
month. The girls were safe,
off the streets, in a loving
Christian environment and
Jesus got all the glory!
That was 4 years ago. But
as we moved the girls into
the new girls home, and we
saw all the girls that came
since the first twelve, it
brought us back to the
beginning -- where it started
four years ago -- and, again,
we praise Him for His
faithfulness and unending
love.
What a great and wonderful
God we serve! Praise be to
His glorious name!
In Christ in Haiti, The Manasseros
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with the instruments that
were donated and with the incredible individuals willing to
teach music lessons. We will continue to pray for a fulltime teacher to come and help us launch a more
comprehensive music program and that our Lord continue
to be glorified in music and song by the children of MDL. Thank you Jesus! Mr. Bill's weekly
Worshipers Guitar
Class
Summer Teaching Opportunities at Child Hope Haiti
How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they
believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"
Romans 10:14-16
We're looking for teachers for MDL School Summer School 2011. For more information
click here or contact Jessica Selica at Jessica@childhope.org or call 888-808-9595..
Don't Forget: Camp-in-a-Box 2011
It's only two months away! Camp-in-a-Box
2011 is coming up July 28 through August
6th. If you are interested in participating,
supporting or helping sponsor this event,
please contact Jamie Kruse at
.jamie.m.kruse@gmail.com. It is an
incredible event -- one the children look
forward to with great anticipation every
year. Come join us for the memorable
event of a lifetime!
New Videos on Web Site
Although many of you reading this newsletter were unable to attend the Celebration Dinner
recently held in Southern California, you now can view some of the videos featured at the
dinner on the childhope.org web site. Filmed and produced by talented videographer Adam Ebert from Scruffy Films, these welldone video clips feature the Manasseros as well as many of the missionaries, staff
members and children in Haiti, talking about the current situation in Haiti and the mission's
activities over the last year. To view all the new video clips, go here or click the individual images below.
Upcoming Events
June 11-18 - Carmel Presbyterian Church Missions Team
June 18-25 - Revolution Annapolis Church Missions Team
June 25-July 2 - Kaitlin Evans Missions Team
July 8-15 - Vince Eilenberger Missions Team
July 28 - August 6 - Camp-in-a-Box Contact Info
Stephanie Smolkin Financial (sponsor payments, donations) accounting@childhope.org
Jessica Selga General information, Internships, Donations Jessica@childhope.org
Lucas Simmons Missions Teams, Guest House, Web Site Lucas@childhope.org
Child Hope International P.O. Box 3677 Redondo Beach, CA 90277 888-808-9595 info@childhope.org