http://www.heavensfamily.org The Ministries of Heaven's Family Fri, 30 Nov 2007 11:16:51 +0000 en http://www.heavensfamily.org/special_reports/2008_01.htm The Children of Cang Ai Mon, 31 Dec 2007 14:56:26 +0000 I don't often find myself praying for village chiefs in Burma who are burning with fever from malaria. But there he sat, in the darkness of his bamboo hut, wrapped in blankets to keep warm on a hot afternoon. He is my friend and brother in Christ. Last year when I met him for the first time, he was leading the village people in praise to Jesus. They were so thankful for the mile-long plastic pipe Heaven's Family had provided to bring water from a distant spring after an earthquake had destroyed the village well. With a faint voice, the chief told me that he had already lost two of his grandchildren, age two and five, to malaria earlier in the year. http://www.orphanstear.org/ministry_updates/2007_12.htm Elisabeth's Myanmar Report Fri, 21 Dec 2007 11:21:16 +0000 This year's trip to Myanmar was positively wonderful. We had a group of fifteen that visited almost thirty orphanages in less than two weeks. Everyone on the team fell in love with all the orphans at every orphanage. At each orphanage we would first introduce ourselves. Once we had completed that, the children sang us a couple of songs in their native language. The whole team was moved by the children's singing. Many times they would be raising their hands and closing their eyes in worship to God as they sang. You could tell that the children had a very close relationship with God. http://www.shepherdserve.org/e_teachings/2007_12.htm Whom Can We Trust? Fri, 17 Dec 2007 17:43:22 +0000 Last month when I was in Sri Lanka, I made a point to visit a world-famous orphanage director. He told me about ominous dreams he'd had some days before the Indian Ocean tsunami swept ashore on Sunday morning, December 26, 2004. He knew something was going to happen that would submerge his orphanage. But before December 26, 2004, the concept of a tsunami was foreign to him, as it was to most people in the world. http://www.heavensfamily.org/special_reports/2008_01.htm Sri Lankan Sisters Mon, 03 Dec 2007 10:33:24 +0000 It was hard to believe there could be so much beauty in one place. But there they were�??twenty-one little girls in bright fancy dresses�??all waiting for me to take their photos at the Jaffna Girls' Orphanage in Sri Lanka. All are orphans or unwanted children�??but they're getting lots of love now, and in part because of compassionate Heaven's Family sponsors. http://www.orphanstear.org/ministry_updates/2007_11.htm Pies For Jesus! Tue, 20 Nov 2007 13:52:56 +0000 Six days ago I returned from a two-day trip to Defiance, Ohio, where the congregation of Family Christian Center held a pie auction for the benefit of Shalom Children's Home in Yangon, Myanmar. Shalom is an orphanage that we featured in a video earlier this year that really needs their own building. (Click here to view that video.) Because of contributions to the Special Gifts Fund, earlier this year we were able to purchase some nice land for a new building, but that was all. Now the orphanage has moved to a rented house while they wait fot the funds to put a building on their new land. http://www.shepherdserve.org/e_teachings/2007_11.htm A Prophet Among Profits Wed, 15 Nov 2007 10:32:56 +0000 It was pointed out to me that the title of last month's E-teaching, Jesus, the Greatest Prosperity Preacher, was a phrase also used by a popular prosperity preacher in one of his teaching articles. He used that phrase, however, not as I did, but rather as a serious claim that Jesus was in fact just like him and other modern prosperity preachers�??but Jesus was the greatest! This, in my opinion, was a terrible slur against Jesus. Jesus was the absolute antithesis of greedy prosperity preachers. Since that particular prosperity preacher has duped so many people into helping him live his opulent lifestyle, I thought it might be worthwhile this month to examine his entire article in which he makes his outrageous claim. By so doing, it will not only reveal how he has abused Scripture to prove that Jesus was like modern day prosperity preachers, but it will also be a lesson in what questions should be going through our minds when we listen to any Bible teacher, so that we may avoid being duped by anyone about anything. http://www.heavensfamily.org/special_reports/2007_11.htm Waiting for a Dream Tue, 1 Nov 2007 10:32:56 +0000 When an earthquake rocked northern Pakistan in October of 2005 leaving 80,000 people dead and three million homeless, Nasir Awan rushed there to offer relief. With help from Heaven's Family, Nasir was able to provide tents, food, water, medicine and hospital expenses for hundreds of Christians who were being neglected by Muslim relief agencies (Pakistan is 97% Muslim). Nasir discovered that many children from Christian villages had lost their parents, and he did not want to leave them to the mercy of child traffickers. So he took 66 newly-orphaned children into his already-crowded and very underfunded orphanage. It was a huge step of love and faith. http://www.orphanstear.org/ministry_updates/2007_10.htm The Blankets of Nomang Orphanage Sat, 20 Oct 2007 10:32:56 +0000 The world has been watching Myanmar this month as its military junta brutally crushed peaceful pro-democracy demonstrations in which tens of thousands of people participated. You can only imagine what life is normally like under a government that is so ruthless, and you can begin to understand why there are so many orphans in Myanmar. We currently regularly assist 28 Christian orphanages in that Buddhist country, and sporadically assist about 10 more. We know of 120 others. Myanmar is one of the world's poorest countries. 90% of the people there live on less than $1 per day. Food security is a year-round problem for most people. About one-third of the nation's children are malnourished. Inflation has been running at more than 30%. This is a nation that needs a dose of God's love through those who have been transformed through the Lord Jesus Christ.