June Update 2012

Thank you all for your prayers for the Cooper family! As they completed their time serving in Rwanda and were preparing to leave, Corban caught a 24 hour flu and had to be hospitalized. Thanks to the grace of God, Corban was able to leave the hospital just in time for his family to catch their flight back to Seattle. Their family feels blessed to be back at home and commented, “We feel we are now living in a Four Seasons Hotel compared to where we had been living so we’re really enjoying that.”

Hilliary will be heading back to Rwanda this month to spend the next year living and serving in Rwanda. She is very excited because Gwen, an intern from Moody Bible Institute, will be serving alongside her for two months in order to serve the boys and assist with daily needs. If you are interested in interning or volunteering with HFLM either in the States or in Rwanda, please visit our website for more information: www.hopeforlifeministry.org.

HFLM has been blessed to be able to accept another child named Patrick who is 13 years old. Although his siblings, Nsabiri and Baby, have been living at HFLM for the past three years, Patrick was living at another street center. When this center shut down last fall, he went to live with his mother off and on. But due to his mother's abuse of alcohol and the severe poverty, Patrick spent most of his time on the streets.

HFLM staff found Patrick on the streets, and he begged to be allowed to come and live at HFLM with his brothers. HFLM staff searched for his mother to obtain permission and found her, skin clinging to her bones, collecting garbage for dinner. When asked if she would be fine with Patrick living at HFLM, she agreed without hesitation. Patrick was absolutely elated, and his joy overflowed as the staff brought him to his new home. He literally ran, pulling the staff to the bus station. Patrick was so overcome with anticipation of his life changing for the better that he would have run the whole 12 miles. He has transitioned extremely well to his new family, and it seems like he has always lived there.

It is through partnerships with you that HFLM is able to continue providing a safe home to Patrick and many others like him. With continued support, HFLM hopes to offer a safe home to even more boys. Thank you for so faithfully and generously giving your prayers, resources, and time to this ministry!

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GARAGE SALE ITEMS NEEDED!

A garage sale will be held this July to benefit HFLM. If you have items to donate or would like to help coordinate this fundraiser, please contact Megan at swansonhfl@gmail.com

May 2012 Update

We are excited to share a few stories of transformation from Hope For Life with you this month!

Each week, approximately 10 to 14 local street boys in our community participate in our Outreach Program by sharing a meal at Hope For Life, bathing, washing their clothes, receiving counsel, and sharing in a devotion. At one of these meetings, HFLM staff led a discussion on the impact of drugs and alcohol on our bodies and brains, and how much money these boys could save by not using these substances. This new concept of budgeting led the children to begin evaluating how they spend the little money they earn each day through begging and performing odd jobs. A few weeks later, three boys attended the outreach program wearing clean clothes. Curious about their transformation, our staff prodded and discovered that these specific boys had cut back on their drug purchases, saved their money and were now off the streets and renting a small apartment together. It is so encouraging to us to see these results! 

Theft is a common act of survival that most of our boys used to engage in during their life on the streets. Two such boys were Paul and Bosco. When Paul came to HFLM, he came to know the Lord and his entire life was changed as he gave up his former habits of theft, drugs, and violence. Bosco, however, continued to struggle with stealing and lying and because of his behavior, was kicked out of the boarding school he had been attending. Upon his return to HFLM where he is now residing full-time, Bosco began noticing how entirely transformed Paul was from the boy who he used to know on the streets. Bosco questioned Paul, “Why don’t you steal anymore? Why did you change?” Paul was able to start an ongoing conversation with Bosco detailing how his relationship with Jesus changed his life. Soon after, Bosco decided that he too wanted to dedicate his life to Jesus. This past week, Bosco was baptized in our local church and we couldn’t be more proud of him and of Paul for so boldly sharing his faith. 


We continue to progress in our long term goal of making HFLM self-sustaining. In service of that sustainability, HFLM is engaged in an agricultural project growing produce and also raising rabbits and goats. While it has been a challenge to make the project profitable, our game plan evolves as we learn. Our primary goal is to grow crops that will reduce our food costs to almost zero. The secondary goal is to use our land to generate profit; we are considering options that include growing moringa trees. As we strive to reach our first goal, our staff have been attending farm training that has been very informative and revolutionary in understanding traditional Rwandan farming practices. However, we need your help in the form of both ideas and knowledge of how to manage a profitable self-sustaining project. If you are skilled in this area, please contact us!

It is only with your partnership and prayers that transformations such as these are possible. We hope you are encouraged and will continue to join us in this important work for the glory of God!