Eliot Baptist Church

Journey Visits Hope

Journey 117 is a ministry that recently visited Ethiopia and served many different orphan projects while there. They gave of their time and resources, and were a blessing to many. Nathan was a Journey team member and recounts his visit to Hope for the Hopeless in this article. We send a special thank you to the entire Journey 117 team for your time, hearts, and prayers!  During our trip we were able to visit many places, meet many people, and hear many stories of hope.  It was a great experience each day at each place, but looking back each of our team members left a piece of their heart at Hope for the Hopeless because when we were there in Suluta and in Addis we didn’t just get to hear stories of hope – we got to see the results of that hope in the smiles and hugs of the children living at Hope for the Hopeless.  From the moment we met the children, their joy and happiness was evident in their smiles and shared with us in their hugs.  Having a face and name to put with the heartbreaking statistics has been a sobering result of my trip, but I am incredibly thankful that I also have a name and a face to put with the people that are doing God’s work by loving and serving the orphaned and abandoned.  I also have a beautiful picture of what it looks like when God’s love is being shared.  It is clear – you can feel it, you can see it, you can hear it – God’s love is being shown and God’s work is being done at Hope for the Hopeless. We painted some walls, played some soccer, and left some supplies, but I can’t imagine we didn’t get more in return from the kids than we gave.  After meeting them I am certain that everyone on our team would have been willing to paint every inch of the place in order to be able to spend a few more days with them.  Our team was in tears leaving each site – overwhelmed by the beauty of their joy despite the many trials and tragedies they have experienced in their short lives. I met a boy at the drop in center, Abdul, who has captured my heart and my imagination.  Not a day has gone by since I returned home that I have not thought about him and wished I could do something for him.  My hope is found in the fact that I know he is one of the lucky ones – he has the opportunity to be loved and cared for by the hands and feet of Jesus – the wonderful people at Hope for the Hopeless.

Ephesians 1:17-19  I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.  I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for those who believe. 

Nathan has joined Hope for the Hopeless as a sponsor and we are so thankful to count him in our family!

 

Meaningful Ornaments

Hope for the Hopeless would like to share with you directly from the pastor at Eliot Baptist Church in Maine:

Each year at Eliot Baptist Church we come together to give a special gift to help someone in need over the Christmas holiday.  This year we chose Hope for the Hopeless.  It has been our privilege to be supporters of H4H for over 2 years now and as many of you know, we in turn have been the ones who have been blessed by supporting this wonderful orphanage. Our prayer for this Christmas was to include our whole church in praying for all the orphans at H4H and by all contributing to provide a Christmas Feast, gifts, and helping with the ongoing needs of the orphanage. So, we made special Christmas ornaments with an individual picture of each child at H4H on each one and an envelope to give a gift.  We challenged each family to take one and put it on their Christmas tree and pray for that orphan all through the Christmas Season.  We made 150 ornaments and were pleasantly surprised when we didn't have enough for everyone who wanted one.  All in all, over 200 ornaments were taken and hung on Christmas trees where our H4H kids were thought about and prayed for in literally hundreds of homes.  The Bible says, "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also", and I am so thankful that our church gave over $4000 as a Christmas present. It is so exciting to be a small part of "pure and undefiled religion"!  My prayer is that we become more and more passionate about what God is passionate about, and fill our short lives with things that will last for eternity.  I encourage you all to pray and look to do your small part in helping Hope for the Hopeless, so that these kids and workers can be supported and enjoy the love of God from HIS family.
 

God bless,
Joel Beers

It is with sincere thanks that Hope for the Hopeless accepted the gift of $4000 to host a feast, gifts, and needs for our Hope family in Ethiopia. THANK YOU!!!
   

From the President - Annual Report Hope For The Hopeless

 
To share the impact of this ministry is so much more than sharing with you some financial figures.
We can report that we did receive from sponsors and donors $135,000 to help our orphans and street children in the year 2011. We are so thankful to all who have shown their compassion and concern by supporting this ministry. It is amazing what this amount of money well spent can do to change lives.

We now support 59 children at the site in Saluta. This includes food, shelter, clothing, education, and worship. This is one of the wonderful aspects of this ministry, it nurtures the whole child, physically, educationally, and spiritually.

Our Drop-In-Center in Addis Ababa is housing 20 youth, providing food, a place to sleep, and counseling, seeking to help them make good choices for their lives. The Center also has a worship space that allows the staff to share the good news of Christ with the youth.  The staff are extremely important, and we have 19 full and part-time staff serving the children. This alone is a gift, as we provide an income to our workers in a country that suffers from 70% unemployment. Another way we are helping meet the needs of families in Ethiopia. This year, we also are providing these families with health care by the ministry’s nurse, and supplementing their income with food and clothes. We have done this, as the government of Ethiopia has very strict guidelines that we must adhere to on how money is used for NGO’s. This has been a Godsend for the staff and their families as Ethiopia is experiencing a high rate of inflation. We are so very grateful to two large donations that we received year end which gave us enough money to finish building the school in Saluta. We will no longer have to transport the children all the way back into Addis Ababa for school. The added joy is we can now provide an education for the children of Saluta as well. We believe that the small fees we can charge students outside the orphanage will allow the school to be self-sustaining.

What many of you who sponsor children may not know is that we serve another 400 children with the money we receive. The orphanage program is designed to help the children from the street learn socialization skills so that they can be fostered into a family. One of the great concerns for Ethiopia and many African nations is the AIDS epidemic kills parents, and the children have no place to learn what it means to be part of a family. What will this do to this generation of children as they marry and have families, but have received no role modeling for parenting. The placement of these children into families helps them learn these skills. And, as mentioned earlier, in a nation with 70% unemployment, we are helping hundreds of families have enough food to survive. The compassion and hope just keep rippling out from this ministry.

Because AIDS has been a big reason for so many street children, Hope for the Hopeless has received several grants that have allowed us to do AIDS training with many pastors and church leaders. These trainings have helped break the stigma of having AIDS, which has resulted in 1000’s of people receiving testing and receiving the medications they need to survive. This keeps parents alive, families together and children properly nurtured. Our plan is to continue to apply for more grants that allow us to keep providing this important training.

We continue to keep extending this ministry to the best of our abilities as the need is great and there are far too many children who still do not have hope that their lives can be blessed. We know there is always hope when we continue to love one another as Christ loved us.

Get Connected!

Want to know what is going on as it happens? Eager to learn interesting facts about Ethiopia? Log onto our Facebook page and "like" us now! http://www.facebook.com/hope4hopeless.org
Also, you can check out our new online store at http://www.Hope4Hopeless.org today and select a t-shirt or two. There are three incredible designs and all the proceeds go directly to Hope for the Hopeless. Coffee, Amharic Language materials, note cards, and more will be added in the weeks to come so check back with us frequently. Of course, the Facebook page will let you know as things are added. Lastly, are you wanting to give to Hope for the Hopeless for the first time or looking to increase your monthly giving? You can contact Barbara at today! Thank you again for all of your support and encouragement.