153 fish and 38 years!

What a difference a year makes! Last Christmas, just 14 children cared for at the Beveni Carepoint had sponsors. This year, it is one of the only fully sponsored carepoints in Swaziland: 102 children receiving the love, food, education and care that your sponsorship provides for them.

In truth, it is His hands soothing tired heads and feeding hungry bellies; His voice teaching inquisitive minds and speaking His truth into their hears and souls; for when each of us chose to step out and obey Him by caring for the orphans, widows and strangers of Beveni, acting as His Body in truth and reality, He is there!

Our hearts’ desire, our souls’ prayer, is that we help these children and their caregivers have a most marvelous celebration of His birth. This letter is to present an idea for you to prayerfully consider participating in.

From today until Christmas Day is 153 days. I know that may sound like a weird number to consider, until we remember that it is the exact number of fish mentioned in John 21. A group of His disciples spent the night fishing, to no avail. They caught NOTHING!

Then a man they didn’t recognize, standing on the shore, yelled out to them, directing them to throw their nets out the right side of the boat. I can only imagine what my attitude would have been at that point: a mix of sarcasm, derision and frustration more than likely. These men were not inexperienced fishermen! They hardly needed a stranger adding to their stress of fishing all night and coming back empty handed.

But there must have been something about that man that commanded their compliance, and so they threw the net, and it was filled with so many fish, they couldn’t bring it in. 153, to be exact.

And it was in that moment they recognized their Master, their beloved Lord.

I have to admit I don’t know why John records the number of fish they caught in that net, but for this moment, I am very glad he did! As I contemplate that story, I come to realize it is of one of the Lord’s provision for His dearly loved disciples. He literally provided them with food and livelihood that day.

So the fact that there are 153 days to Christmas, and that we have the opportunity to supply provision for the community of Beveni is one of those “Wow! Neat!” moments of Bible study in my life.

Knowing the number of days left, I prayed about how much to consider asking people to commit to a Christmas gift for the entire carepoint. I felt strongly led to ask for a pledge of 25 cents a day. When I did the math and came up with the answer of $38 as a total gift from each of the sponsoring families to give, I laughed! Here is why:

We just finished reading and watching the Gospel of John. We found ourselves amazed at how much detail the Lord provides that we may not have included had we been the author of the book. One example is in John 5, where we meet the paralyzed gentleman at the pool of Bethesda. When Jesus sees the man there and finds out how long he had waited by the pool of water, He asked him: “Do you want to be healed?”.

That part of the story always garnered most of my attention, since I have never met a paralyzed patient who didn’t want to be healed. But the detail that jumped out this time is how long the man had suffered and yet waited and believed in hope for the provision of healing: 38 years!

And so once again, we read that the Lord provided what the man needed, and he indeed was healed.

So this letter is our request to you to consider giving $38, a twenty five cent daily commitment for the 153 days to Christmas. Both numbers are neatly placed within two stories from the account of the Apostle John, recording for us examples of provision for the needy. Now we have the opportunity to be His Body and provide!

The gifts would need to be made to Children’s HopeChest by October 25 in order for it to be transferred to the people on the ground in Swaziland in time to be utilized for the good of Beveni. You can make your gift online at: https://secure.pursuantgroup.net/pursuant4/hopechest/chcselect/donation.asp

Alternatively, you can mail a check to:

Children’s HopeChest
PO Box 8627
Pueblo, CO 81008-8627

(As a point of fact: credit card companies charge a processing fee, usually in the amount of 2-4% of the total, so if you are able to make your gift by check, please consider doing so!)

Whether making the gift online or by mail, please include a note that it is for Beveni’s Christmas fund.

I have been so blessed to be allowed to be part of His story as He writes it for Beveni! To have “met” each of you via Facebook or email, to receive the encouragement that your part in the story has provided to me and to be able to pray for you by name has been a delight and a joy! It is so amazing to be part of His Body with you as we care for the people of the Beveni Carepoint!

If you have any questions about this gift for Beveni, please contact me: bevenicarepoint@comcast.net.

In Him, with faith in His ability to provide, and in great anticipation of what His big kids will do for His little ones!

Deb

100% of the children are sponsored!

We just wanted to share the news of what God has done so you can rejoice with us: we received the last confirmation of the last sponsor for the last unsponsored child of Beveni!

He is more than wonderful and powerful; He is faithful in His love, capable in His plan and just plain awesome to let each of us be part of the journey. I know we are feeling so blessed to be allowed to be part of this bit of His story.

John Ortberg tells a story about his uncle in one of his books. The line that is repeating in our hearts and minds from that story is this:

"Me Father loves me, oh how me Father loves me!"

That's what it is like to be in His plan!

We are so grateful to each of you, the sponsors of these dear children and prayer warriors for the community. We pray He richly blesses you and yours with His joy!

In Him, with faith in His power,
Deb, for the 4 Gangemi's

Four children...........

Nearly 7 months ago, we accepted the opportunity to become sponsorship coordinators for the 102 children of the Beveni Carepoint. At the time, 14 kids were sponsored. Since then, God has written a most remarkable story of redemption with details of beauty from ashes.

He has accomplished so much for the precious children and caregivers of that community by drawing a faith community together in prayer and commitment to them. The details have been shared through this group, emails and our family blog and include how He blessed what we called the Beveni Challenge.

And the story continues to this day! Let me describe a scene taken from our family’s daily routine , kind of a sneak peek into life in the Gangemi home.

When we became coordinators for this carepoint, Children’ HopeChest sent us hard copies of the profiles of 102 kids. We spread them out over our dining room table or coffee table, and began praying for them. At first, they were precious faces without names, but as we prayed for them and talked over them, admiring a smile, having our hearts touched by a look in a set of eyes, these kids became “ours”. Yup, now we are a family of 106: 4 Gangemi’s and 102 kids with names we cannot pronounce! Isn’t God incredible?

As children became sponsored, we moved their profiles to a separate pile and kept praying. We felt so blessed as the “unsponsored”pile grew smaller and smaller………and stunned in the last 10 days as the pile was reduced to just four faces: beautiful 15 year old Sesabile, sweet 14 year old Ncobile, handsome 14 year old Thabo and cute little 9 year old Senzo. They are identified in the video at the end of this post:

These kids are not just faces to us anymore. They are precious children of our Papa, dearly loved, deeply cherished. They are made in His image and have something of Him to show each of us. There isn’t one of us who wouldn’t be blessed to know them!

I am sending this to you today to ask you to commit yourself to praying for these four children, and for those who would become their sponsors. I believe with every ounce of my being that the reason 98 of the children have sponsors is because they have been prayed for, and because His big kids have responded.

If, when you are praying for these four kids, you feel a tug to do something more, please do so. Share this message and the link to the video with people you know. Don’t be afraid to let others know! You may be in this story only as a message bearer to someone who needs to know one of these children; what a blessing you will be to that person who needs one of these kids in their own lives as much or more than the child needs them!

Anyone is welcome to contact me via FB message board or email: bevenicarepoint@comcast.net . It is my absolute joy to speak to people about caring for orphans, especially these orphans!

We are so grateful to all who have come alongside us as a faith community, the Beveni carepoint sponsorship community. We pray for each of you, that He would bless you with His brand of peace and joy even as your commitment to these children bring them hope.

In Him, with faith in His bigness!

Deb Gangemi

Zandile, Khanyakweezwe, Nombuso and Skhumbuzo....

In the last 24 hours, four more children of Beveni have become sponsored: Zandile, Khanyakweezwe, Nombuso and Skhumbuzo! There are only four more children waiting for someone to call their sponsors. I look forward to watching how God completes this chapter of the story of Beveni!

The four children waiting are on the YouTube video:

14 year old Thabo
9 year old Senzo
13 year old Ncobile
15 year old Sesabile

Will you join me in praying for their sponsors?

And Mhlengi and Nontsetselelo........

Two more families have committed to two more of Beveni's children. As of today, 18 year old Mhlengi and 15 year old Nontsetselelo have the hope that comes from the relationships with their new sponsors.

It is a day of rejoicing in our household: our God is in control and incredibly awesome!

Zama, Zwakele and Masotja!

We posted a video last Tuesday, featuring the photo's of 13 children of Beveni Carepoint who were unsponsored.

By Thursday, three had received the Hope that comes from being sponsored: little 6 year old Zama, 7 year old Zwakele and 10 year old Masotja.

Two other sponsors are considering which child they will begin a life changing relationship with. And two more are communicating with me about what it means to be a sponsor.

God is so good and so magnificent! He weaves incredible stories while bringing relationships to life. This is so truly a great adventure, one we invite you to come along with us on. If you are interested, please contact me at bevenicarepoint@comcast.net