Something New Part II

'With all the sadness and chaos that is going on in our world right now, I'm glad to know that God is doing something amazing out there too.'

Girls Shine Christian Academy.

This is a high school for girls that was started by Blessings and Tiya. Both Blessings and Tiya had a vision where girls in the villages would be able to go to high school and not have to leave. That they would be able to further their education and not become mom's and wives by the time they are in 3rd, 4th, 5th grade. They had a vision and they achieved this vision.



The 10th grade building being built.

When we were in Malawi last year we were able to see the beginning of what this high school was going to look like, it wasn't complete but they were hoping it would be by the new school year. This year we were able to not only see the completed vision of the school but to be there with the students and see their smiling faces. The school was only built for 9th graders, as that was what they raised the money for, but also they did not know what to expect in terms of how many students would be coming to this school. IT WAS FULL (120 students). The success of the Girls Shine Christian Academy showed them that they needed to build more, they needed another building and they started the foundation while we were there, they also asked us to help raise to start raising money for the building so they could complete it, in hopes that we would go back to our homes and ask our churches to help with the completion of what needed to be raised. So 80 of us started to help donate money right there on the spot. They asked us to pray and to write a quote, bible verse, word of encouragement on a piece of paper, and put it under a brick that would be apart of the school  They would also build that paper into the school so that it would always be apart of the foundation. By the time all the money was collected and counted we found out that we, the 80 of us, passed the amount they were asking for by several thousands of dollars, we invited Tiya to come eat with us at the college to let her know, and once again I did not disappoint in NOT taking a photo or video of Tiya's priceless reaction, but it was amazing, and another 'be in the moment' situations. I don't have a picture of the wall of people who donate to the Academy, but there were at least 100 people on this wall, and the 80 of us would be included. They are hoping to build two more buildings for 11th grade and 12th grade within the next two years, as well as a girls dormitory, so these girls don't have to walk so far everyday.  And speaking of girls dormitory.



 Girls Dormitory for ABC college

During the last year our church and Mosaic church were asked to be apart in raising $300,000 for a dormitory that would fit 100 college students. We would raise 1/3, Mosaic a 1/3 and ABC a 1/3. We were asked to do this because there is not enough room on campus for a lot of the girls to stay on
campus, a lot of the girls try to sleep on the floor of the already full dorms, but most have to go back home. This sounds perfectly fine where we live, as we have many modes of transportation and several safe ways to get home directly after school is over. However, most of these girls live very far away, hours away. Most of them wake up before the sun rises and have to take several minibuses packed like sardines, just to get to school. Once school is over they stay to do their homework, because they need to utilze the computers at the school they don't have their own computers at home, and even if they did, there is no way to get internet. So they stay til after dark, and once again have to travel back home. It is not safe for women after dark either. So we were asked and we just barely finished raising the money while we were in Africa. I know I have mentioned it before, but when we raise money for our trips we are asked to not stop raising money once we hit our goal, because the extra money goes to projects that we do while we are there. This year were had enough to finish giving the last $10,000 we needed to raise for this dorm to be built for these amazing students that always help us when we are there, who go to the villages and continue to help there even though they have already had a long day at school and will have a long trip ahead of them going home. I wish I could say I can show you the finished project, but it wasn't even started before we left, what I do have is the sign and location of the project. And hopefully, I will be able to get a pic of the final results next year.

Updates and News: Thank you all for your prayers and positive thoughts for Melinda Gunther and her family. She is doing well, they got out all the cancer, and went straight into reconstructive surgery after, she will be starting chemo in the next week or so, so please continue to pray for her.

Our church is doing Barefoot Sunday on Sunday, November 5th. If anyone has any shoes that they do not need anymore and are planning on getting rid of please let me know. We get as many shoes as we can and then ship them out to Liberia with a team to distribute to the villages and remote locations by motorbikes. Here is a picture of the last Barefoot Sunday we had. Yes we do not have shoes on either, we are asked to donate the shoes we wear to church as well, and to try to go the whole day without shoes, this is actually hard to do, since most places will not allow you to go into them without shoes in AZ.


Here is a picture of our last Barefoot Sunday. This is what
we were able to donate, these boxes were overflowing.