Letter from Zeway churches

Please take a moment to view this wonderful letter from Dawit on behalf of the 14 churches in the Zeway Evangelical Church Fellowship, with whom Grace is partnering along with FH for this initiative. It truly is a moving letter…

Ethiopian Snowball Fight!

Check out this great video of Dawit's first snow experience!

Dawit's testimony at Grace

Dawit in prayer at Grace

Dawit is here and Grace Covenant Church was blessed to have him!

Wow, what a blessing Sunday was. Dawit was able to share with our church how God has been moving within the Bridges of Grace, Food for the Hungry, the Zeway Evangelical Church Fellowship and most importantly in the lives of the beautiful children in Zeway. What a wonderful testimony and powerful, moving prayer.

Thank you God for bringing Dawit to the states to be a blessing to us all.

Blessings, Accomplishments, and Praises

By the help and grace of the Lord the FH/E and BoG project has accomplished many activities during the first quarter (October-December). The following summarizes some of what God has accomplished through this project.

• The project has provided all CHH with uniforms for school.
• Casual clothes and shoes have been provided for all CHH siblings. Most of their clothes were very shabby & dirty, and some children went without shoes. Providing these things creates a sense of dignity, joy and happiness.
• The project has also provided all educational materials for CHH including pens, pencils, exercise books, sharpeners and rulers. No child has missed out on these basic needs.
• One area of difficulty facing CHH is being able to get enough food. The food support they received from the D.F.S.P. was inadequate; however this project has filled the gap! All CHH and siblings receive enough food to meet their protein requirements.
• There have been 7 children who have received medical treatment through this project. Alemteshay was treated at the hospital and is also receiving follow-up care.
• All CHH and their siblings were invited to attend a 1-day seminar on personal hygiene and environmental Sanitation. During this time it was clear, from their interaction, questions and answers, that the children were learning.
• A 1-day seminar on hop and purpose was also given for all CHH, their siblings, and the social workers. This training was based on Psalm 57:2 (I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me.) The children demonstrated how much wisdom they have gained through their life experiences, problems, and challenges. Zafu has excelled in this area, as has Adami Tulu-Meseret Henock.
• Rent has been paid for CHH living in rented housing. Payment is facilitated via social workers. The house where Asnakech Tadesse lives needed maintenance and the project has purchased all necessary supplies. Social workers are dealing with a carpenter to complete the work.
• The project has allowed for social workers to do home visits to counsel CHH on personal and environmental sanitation issues and issues relating to HIC/AIDS. Most of the CHH and their siblings are being visited. Lidia and her siblings are all living with HIV/AIDS and have been ostracized by the community. Through home visits social worker Aman Shuna has been counseling them and showing them love, care and attention. This has given them a sense of belonging, inclusion, and loving embrace in their lives.
• All Zeway Metro Church leaders were invited by the ZECF (Zeway Evangelical Church Fellowship) to participate in a 2-day seminar focusing on God, the orphans, and the church. The leaders were deeply affected by this training and have covenanted to take God’s heart for the poor to their respective churches.
• Chrenet Lemesa, Alemayehu Tadesse, Melkete Abu, and Denebe Abu celebrated Christmas together at church with social worker Tilahun Tadesse.
• Genet Shanko, sister of Chala and Mehamed Shanko, has accepted Christ! Praise the Lord!
• Three new CHH & their siblings have been included in the project.
• Praise the Lord for all that He has done in the life of Genet. He has answered prayers!

Dawit is coming to Austin!!!

God has answered our prayers and Dawit's Visa was approved! He will be arriving either this Thursday or Friday night. Please plan to join us this Saturday from 10-12 at Grace for a special time with Dawit and the Zeway Action Team...

Please pray for Dawit

Folks, we all need to pray that Dawit is able to come to the U.S. next week. Dawit is the Ethiopian who leads the Zeway initiative. He has been planning to come to the U.S. (including 12 days in Austin) this coming Friday, but he is having trouble getting an approved Visa to travel. Please pray right now that he will be able to travel...

Challenges & Issues

There are several challenges and issues facing the FH/E CHH program.

• Office evacuation from the current space: The government has provided the current office space for the last 3 years, however due to a shortage of offices we were told to move. We moved to 2 spaces because we couldn’t find a single space large enough. Consequently, the children do not have adequate play ground space. Also, the staff has not been able to focus on their normal activities while looking for new spaces.
  

• Impediment of legalizing the land process of Melkete:
  The legalization of Melkete’s land is still not finalized. The government needs to demarcate her land by putting a stone to show how much land she is given. She will legally own the land once this is done. Tilahun, a social worker, is patiently and diligently working to finalize this process.

Melkete

• Alemtsaye is facing a spiritual oppression:
  Alemtsaye is facing several challenges because of her spiritual oppression. This has caused her to miss 2 consecutive weeks of school, as well as causing her to try to hurt herself and others. Her close friend, Tseganesh, tries to protect her. The house she lives in does not allow her to attend church easily and she needs to go to church so that she may come to know Jesus and grow in Christ. Alemtsaye’s guardian needs encouragement to come to Christ in order to positively affect Alemtsaye’s faith base.

Alemtsaye

Please lift these challenges up to the Lord and pray He will help us to overcome them.

We have updates from Zeway!

We have many updates we’d like to share with you and will be posting them over the next few weeks. We thought we would start off with Prayer requests.

Prayer Requests

• Pray for the leaders in ZECF (Zeway Evangelical Church Fellowship) to give them strong focus on the first round of training on “God, the poor and the church” so that they may implement it in their respective churches.
• For Waqo Tunie as he has found himself in a very desperate situation and feels a deep sense of loneliness in his social interactions. Please lift him up in your prayers so he may be comforted and that the Lord will help him overcome this difficult situation.
• Pray for Alemtsehay to be freed from Satan’s oppression and possession.
• Pray for Demelash Beshir who is newly included in CHH (Child Head of Household). His mother died recently and he is experiencing much grief and suffering. He lives with his sister and three brothers and is currently the orphan head of household. Please also pray for his salvation.

Stay tuned for more updates & photos in the coming days.