Source of Light Ministries International » Breaking News!

Orphans in Togo

gregmiller — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 19:12:30 +0000

As you know we are moving ahead into 2012 with much excitement as we see the Lord bringing to completion at last the vision of the Joseph Project Orphanage in Togo. There have been many hindrances but the Lord has been faithful to direct us through them. Please for your information the team that will drill the deep well have to wait until they can get some other jobs in that part of the country, meaning it may be later in the year, so I have gone ahead and had a shallow temporary well dug to provide water so that the orphanage opening will not have to be delayed. With proper use of water purification the children should have no problems with this water, but once the deep well has been drilled it will provide an ample supply of good water throughout the year, which can also help irrigate the garden.

I have already chosen suitable Christian workers to supervise the orphanage and guard it – very important since the mining operations have drawn many new people to the area and the village is changing in many ways. We have to buy many of the furnishings and other necessities that about $2,500 is needed before everything is ready for the opening.
However as always we are trusting that God will touch hearts and provide the funds needed so that we can soon set a date for the acceptance of orphans and the official opening.
Of course it will also soon be time for planting corn again, so plans are underway for that too.
Please the photos below show the orphans enjoying a special meal and festivities at Christmas in the JP compound.

dedication of Jamaica West 1/27/2012

gregmiller — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:49:51 +0000

Friday evening we are having a Praise service… This is a time where all of the neighborhood is invited. Therefore there will be many of the unsaved. We want to share the history of this mission and what we are doing. The theme is “With God all things are Possible”. (That is actually across the front of our van.)We will share how God has provided for this to happen. We want Jamaicans to be very involved in this service. As we told Feron last night…we want people to start realizing that this isn’t Don and Elaine’s thing but to see that there are many Jamaicans who are a part of it. My pre-teen Bible study group will sing and do a skit. We have Babies (preschool) children who will sing a little song. Our singing group at church will do a special as well. We will recognize all of those who have worked on the mission. The contractor is trying to get his workers to come. We are going to give each a Gideon New Testament as a thank you. Several of the brothers from here will share or pray. There will also be some testimonies. Saturday there will be a lunch for our American visitors and the board of directors and some full-time workers from the area. After that is a tour and demonstration of what we do, followed by the dedication service at 2:30 pm. This day is more of a formal dedication. Most of the people attending will be the regular volunteers, school principals and teachers. Everyone is invited. However, it is more difficult for the neighborhood people to come on Sat. This is not a bad thing because we have limited space. There will be some certificates given out. We want to share about what SLM is and the history. If Joy is here (we haven’t heard from her), we thought she could share about the history of SLM in Jamaica. We also will be unveiling the painted portrait of George that is being done by a pastor’s wife who is a professional portrait painter. This painting will be hung in the office.

News from the North

gregmiller — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 21:30:37 +0000

From Joe & Penney Homontowski in Saskatoon,Canada

Thank you once again so much for your prayers and for your financial support of us and our ministry.
Last year there were 2,685 lessons graded and 187 certificates of completion earned. Thirty One students
earned a Bible, with their name printed on them, by sending us ten names and addresses of friends or
relatives interested in joining the Mailbox Club. Eight of our students have been saved this past year.
Praise the Lord! Pray for them as they learn more about the Savior and grow closer to Him while doing
their lessons

Christmas in Mexico

gregmiller — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 20:01:03 +0000

Congo Christmas Crisis

gregmiller — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 13:52:13 +0000

From Brian and Gwenda Trapp

It has been a strange holiday season for our family. We have evacuation bags standing ready in case we have to flee, and yet the Christmas tree is up and we try to muddle through the mounting tensions. We have lived for about a month in a period of limbo- not knowing what is coming next. There have been “code red” drills at school and we have a big red siren hanging on the wall of the house in case a “sound of alarm” has to be given.
The normal Christmas plans for our ministry have been thwarted. You can not move about freely to make the arrangements. When all is clear you go out and gather supplies so that you are not caught unawares. We are waiting, waiting, waiting, for normalcy to return.

The Africans will struggle this Christmas. The people struggle from day to day already. There have been many days when people could not get out and do their business because of unrest in the city. There will be many needs during this holiday season. The people yearn for peace and justice. Please pray that they might lean on Jesus and the hope that He gives to bring just that. Only His Kingdom offers righteousness, peace, and joy. No nation on earth can bring the rule that He offers. Don’t you look forward to His Reign?

Johnson Bello with the Lord!

gregmiller — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 21:43:13 +0000

From IVORY COAST: It is with mixed emotions that I announce the
Homegoing of our dear brother, Johnson Bello, National Director of
Ivory Coast. He died Tuesday morning of kidney failure. Please be
in prayer for his family. His race is finished. Hallelujah. He was just
41 years old.

Ivory Coast director in coma

gregmiller — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 20:52:34 +0000

From IVORY COAST – EARNESTLY PRAY for our Brother Johnson Bello who
has relapsed into a coma and is back in the hospital in critical,
life-threatening condition. Only God can save him. Let us claim Luke
1:37.

Unrest in Congo

gregmiller — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 15:55:55 +0000

I haven’t wanted to alarm people, but we are going through a tense time here in the D.R. Congo. We had our 2nd presidential elections last week and the official results will be announced tomorrow. There was some violence associated with the elections, but the real challenge will be tomorrow. Please keep the Congo and our family in your prayers.

The current president has one main opponent. There have been many accusations of election fraud which has only caused tensions to mount even more.

Our school is closed today, tomorrow and Wednesday. They plan to evaluate the situation and determine whether we will be open the rest of the week. Several of the other International Schools in town have closed as well.

Once again, as a family, we are getting our evacuation bags packed -just in case. Hopefully, we won’t have to use them. If you would like to follow the news for Congo, you can type in “Radio Okapi” in your search engine. That is a local news site here that seems to be pretty good. It is in French. You can cut and paste from that site into google translate to translate it into English

Wild animals attack missionaries!

gregmiller — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 14:17:02 +0000

From Sanjeeb Sahu:

This month, our evangelist Manoj was sharing that bears and leopards are creating havoc in his village. The bears injures the people often removing the eyes of the people and the leopards attack and kill the people. So in the evenings the people don’t go out. I asked how this has affected the ministry. He said that due to the animal scare, the believers don’t meet at his place but he visits all the believers houses for prayer. He said he prays and sets out. Our missionaries are always confronted with such situations. One of our missionary Ramchander was attacked by 2 dogs on his way to a fellowship group via a jungle. So we really appreciate your prayers for all our staff and their families

SLM Haiti Clinic Attacked!

gregmiller — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 19:53:37 +0000

Around 12 midnight 6 assailants came to kidnap and rob “the whites.” They did not know the layout of the clinic and roughed up and tied the two guards and ordered them to take them to “the whites.” Missionary. B was sleeping on the porch area outside of the main kitchen door when they surprised him. They tried to tie him up so he jumped up and tried to get into the clinic. They managed to steal the keys to the clinic apartments which Bruce had. At 12:07 B. pounded on the door and windows yelling for help, and J.B. was able to yank him in and attempted to close the door behind him. The perpetrators managed to block the door with a crowbar and their guns which they fired randomly at the inside occupants. J. B. jumped out of the second story window at the front west side of the apartment, scaled the clinic gate as well as the front DH gate in bare feet, and ran to my house calling for help. He injured his heel in the jump. At this point two people had been shot and the battle continued.

Becky and I called F. and others to rally forces. JP, J., and I jumped in the car and drove toward the front gate. We had two pistols and exchanged fire with the perpetrators which changed their disposition drastically. F. had contacted the police who arrived in remarkable time, secured the area, and they made a search of the grounds. Those of the team that were not injured went to my house and stayed with Becky. The police and I transported the injured to the nearest hospital and after x-rays found out that only one person still had a bullet lodged inside (it looked like a 38 caliber bullet). J. V. W. was quick to pitch in and gather a Haitian volunteer group of guards from Coupon and Roche Blanche who stood outside of my house and outside of the clinic apartments for the rest of the night.

All the injured are in good condition and flying home this morning on a private flight. J’s team also left this morning. I could be much more detailed, but those are the big lines.

Art & Becky Spalding