Many times in life we struggle to find a purpose or something specific of what we should be doing to fulfill a “call” on our life. We look around, we listen to speakers, read books and wonder, “What is my call? What is my purpose?” We see so many in ministry, or programs and wonder “What about me Lord?” This comes from an inward look at our soul of knowing we are to fulfill something. But What? Where? Unfortunately, with all our looking, searching and waiting we seldom do what we could because we feel it is nothing. In not doing what we could, we miss out on great ministry moments of showing the love of Christ to those God has placed around us. One aspect of “doing what we can” is complementing it with prayer for the Lord to manifest Himself to others. Think about it in our own lives. How does God manifest Himself to us? Besides His word He uses other people. He uses small things as well as bigger things. Though we are saved by the grace of God, His Word is filled with doing good works. Doing what we can to show His love to others. Not for salvation but because of salvation. In Luke we read about John the Baptist preaching of the fruit of repentance. The question the crowd, soldiers and tax collectors asked. “What can we do?” John’s answers were to share your clothes, your food, don’t accuse falsely, don’t take bribes, be happy with your pay, do not collect more than what is owed.” Tabitha did what she could. She made clothes for the widows. She obviously was much loved when we see what the widows say and show To Peter. We never know what will manifest the love of God to another. Therefore nothing is too small or simple. What could we do today? Please pray for the purchase of this building to be used as the office and ministry center where we provide afternoon tutoring now, but if we owned we could provide so much more. Cost is $26,000. Please pray for donations or even for a decent loan with a low interest rate. This is where we live and run the ministry now but the landlord wants to sell as soon as possible. The location is perfect as most of the families we minister to are close by.
Help us find sponsors for primary, secondary and vocational students. The new school year begins at the end of this month. Any donation is wonderful and will go in the general fund for all students. PERSONAL SUPPORT CAN BE SENT TO PRAISE TABERNACLE 2235 OCEAN HEIGHTS AVE EGG HARBOR TWSP NJ 08234 MARK PARR SUPPORT Thank you & God Bless We praise the Lord we received enough funds for all of our families (16) to receive Christmas food baskets and every family member (over 110) to receive a gift bag. Thank you so much! FAMILY OF THE MONTH We would like to introduce to you Family#13. Bernadette is pictured on the cover photo. She is part of the testimony in “Doing what we could.” At the time of beginning our work in Rubavu which is a rural area near the Congo border we had someone working with us who not only funded the program but was to run the program. The program began in April of 2016. Unfortunately, we lost the sponsor in July 2016 which put us in a very difficult position. Les and I with the family moved to the area of Rubavu in January of 2017, however since our support level was so low there was not much we could do financially to help the families. We had become discouraged because all the families had completed the application and interview process, yet there was nothing to give them. One of the greatest lessons we had learned in the past in working with people who are in poverty is not to build up hopes by promises one cannot keep. Our hearts were heavy at this time since we felt this is what we had done even though it was a surprise in losing the sponsor. But to our God nothing is a surprise. We committed to prayer in which the Lord reminded us of the most important aspect of our ministry. The spiritual one. What is important is how God manifests Himself to our families, not necessarily what we can do for them. So as we prayed we began by asking God what we could do. The Lord reminded us of a principle He gave us when we first came to Rwanda. Start where you are and use what you have. So in reviewing our families Bernadette came to mind. In completing her application one could see the issues of poverty. Bernadette with Christmas Mary Claire daughter Les visiting Bernadette and son Food Basket Jean De Dieu (Jado for short)