Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Sunday, December 26, 2010
303 page views last month on my blog.
Thank you for visiting this blog! Be sure and visit the youtube page on my channel: stephanietexasrivers .
I am so pleased with the progress the TGD Team has made towards supplying the orphan children with plenty of fun stuff! If you roll the cursor over the photos at the right, you can speed through the slideshow! Give it a try!
I am so pleased with the progress the TGD Team has made towards supplying the orphan children with plenty of fun stuff! If you roll the cursor over the photos at the right, you can speed through the slideshow! Give it a try!
Friday, December 24, 2010
Be sure and check my videos with the link at the right
Go to my YouTube account through the "Check out my videos..." link on this page. I've loaded up videos that Frank and Joseph O. made from the TGD Team visits to the orphans. Hallelujah! They've made short clips of most of the children and will be adding on clips to make each child a movie over time. How cool is that? I bet the children will LOVE seeing the result.
Orphans receive supplies and uniforms
Now LOOK AT SHALINE! She is radiant!
It is such a wonderful opportunity to give to those who don't have anyone fighting for them. Pastor Joseph had arranged for some widows in the church to take the girls in. I began to support the widows and orphans through the giving of my children, Kevin and Laura, each giving $50 a month and so four girls from that church were supported with $25 a month to their guardian widows. That wasn't enough for all expenses because Mary has some sort of eye allergy that gave her headaches. We investigated her vision first and found it was good. Thankfully, she gets treatment now and doesn't come home missing school. She made progress in school.
Now we have donors for every child, some still at only $25 a month and needing another sponsor, but some have $50 a month! This is a huge amount in Kenya. Not giving a family all they need, but it goes incredibly far there to people who have survived on nearly nothing. Schooling and uniforms are a status symbol to these children and they may be the only ones in their area with a mattress! ( I gave some pillows to our TGD students and they got sore necks because they weren't used to them---but LOVED them anyway! Yay!)
Frank is doing an amazing job leading the team through all the administration and management hurdles and we are all thanking God together. It is a great day of rejoicing and thankfulness in Kenya!
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
From: The Berean Daily Verse and Comment
Matthew 5:3
(3) "Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
New International Version Change Bible versions
The word "poor" has a wide variety of meanings and applications in both testaments. The Old Testament uses five different words from the Hebrew language, while the New Testament uses two from Greek. However, these seven are translated into a large number of English words. Besides describing destitution, they appear in contexts indicating oppression, humility, being defenseless, afflicted, in want, needy, weak, thin, low, dependent, and socially inferior.
Of the two Greek words translated "poor" in the New Testament, penes designates the working poor who own little or no property. People in this state possess little in the way of material goods, but they earn what they have through their daily labor. A form of this word, penechros, describes a poor widow who may be receiving a small subsistence from a relative or social agency. Penes is used only once in the entire New Testament (II Corinthians 9:9), and its cognate, penechros, is used only to indicate the poor widow of Luke 21:2.
This, therefore, is not the word used in the beatitude in Matthew 5:3, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Here, "poor" is translated from ptochos, which literally means "to crouch or cower as one helpless." It signifies the beggar, the pauper, one in abject poverty, totally dependent on others for help and destitute of even the necessities of life. In Galatians 4:9, it is translated "beggarly."
At first "poor" simply indicated to be in material need, to be in poverty. Gradually, its usage spread to other areas besides economics to indicate people in weakness, frailty, feebleness, fragility, dependence, subservience, defenselessness, affliction, and distress. The poor were people who recognized their utter helplessness before what life had dealt them. They recognized that nothing within their power solved their weak state, thus they would eagerly reach out to others for assistance in rising out of their situation, as a beggar would.
Eventually, the word took on spiritual overtones because some began to perceive that these afflicted people often had no refuge but God. Thus David, a person we would not consider as defenseless, nonetheless says of himself in a situation where he felt only God could deliver him, "This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles" (Psalm 34:6).
To grasp how Jesus uses "poor" in this beatitude, we must contemplate the mind of a person who finds himself in poverty. One who recognizes his poverty takes the necessary steps to be poor no longer. He may seek advice on how to resolve his dilemma, get or change jobs, curtail spending to only necessary items, pay off his debts, and/or get rid of financially draining liabilities. In other words, he tries to change his circumstances. God wants His children to have this recognition of poverty regarding true spiritual things, and possess the drive to seek their enrichment from Him.
John W. Ritenbaugh
From The Beatitudes, Part Two: Poor in Spirit
(3) "Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
New International Version Change Bible versions
The word "poor" has a wide variety of meanings and applications in both testaments. The Old Testament uses five different words from the Hebrew language, while the New Testament uses two from Greek. However, these seven are translated into a large number of English words. Besides describing destitution, they appear in contexts indicating oppression, humility, being defenseless, afflicted, in want, needy, weak, thin, low, dependent, and socially inferior.
Of the two Greek words translated "poor" in the New Testament, penes designates the working poor who own little or no property. People in this state possess little in the way of material goods, but they earn what they have through their daily labor. A form of this word, penechros, describes a poor widow who may be receiving a small subsistence from a relative or social agency. Penes is used only once in the entire New Testament (II Corinthians 9:9), and its cognate, penechros, is used only to indicate the poor widow of Luke 21:2.
This, therefore, is not the word used in the beatitude in Matthew 5:3, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Here, "poor" is translated from ptochos, which literally means "to crouch or cower as one helpless." It signifies the beggar, the pauper, one in abject poverty, totally dependent on others for help and destitute of even the necessities of life. In Galatians 4:9, it is translated "beggarly."
At first "poor" simply indicated to be in material need, to be in poverty. Gradually, its usage spread to other areas besides economics to indicate people in weakness, frailty, feebleness, fragility, dependence, subservience, defenselessness, affliction, and distress. The poor were people who recognized their utter helplessness before what life had dealt them. They recognized that nothing within their power solved their weak state, thus they would eagerly reach out to others for assistance in rising out of their situation, as a beggar would.
Eventually, the word took on spiritual overtones because some began to perceive that these afflicted people often had no refuge but God. Thus David, a person we would not consider as defenseless, nonetheless says of himself in a situation where he felt only God could deliver him, "This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles" (Psalm 34:6).
To grasp how Jesus uses "poor" in this beatitude, we must contemplate the mind of a person who finds himself in poverty. One who recognizes his poverty takes the necessary steps to be poor no longer. He may seek advice on how to resolve his dilemma, get or change jobs, curtail spending to only necessary items, pay off his debts, and/or get rid of financially draining liabilities. In other words, he tries to change his circumstances. God wants His children to have this recognition of poverty regarding true spiritual things, and possess the drive to seek their enrichment from Him.
John W. Ritenbaugh
From The Beatitudes, Part Two: Poor in Spirit
Friday, December 17, 2010
ORPHANS!
I am so happy! Today my team has withdrawn the cash to begin distribution to the children. What celebration there will be! The children have $100 worth of things coming---They probably cannot even imagine what is in store for them! THANK YOU DONORS!! Feel the joy of it!
We started gathering donations in August. My hope was to have at least $200 to begin setting up the children in the Trinity House. Now we have returned to home based care---which is just a better option. The TGD Team is finding the homes of the children through God's grace and their diligence. We had Pastor Joseph working with the children, but with his mother's illness, a new baby on top of Cornerstone leadership, his own church to pastor and leading a small school of 85 children who would otherwise receive no education, He resigned. We praise God that the program did not need to stop there.
Of course, if we do not have good accounting and accountability or if we lack good management, we will discontinue the program, but the TGD leadership team has pledged to do what it takes and with Frank as the new leader, we have already seen amazing changes in industriousness, receptivity, communication, creativity, and production. Praise God! May His Kingdom come and His will be done!
Frank has sent new profile photos of the children with their guardians. He is getting numbers to reach them. The TGD students will be assigned to be a Big Brother/Big Sister to orphans that live in their vicinity. Plus, the computer students are brainstorming software solutions to managing the orphan program. I know they will develop creative solutions that enable greater productivity and management! Everyone working together is going to bring out the best in All.
It's a New day, it's a Good day, and God is doing a NEW THING!
You are making dreams come true. Sit back and meditate on the role God has given you in this joy. Hallelujah!
The Herald Angels sing GLORY to the newborn King!
We started gathering donations in August. My hope was to have at least $200 to begin setting up the children in the Trinity House. Now we have returned to home based care---which is just a better option. The TGD Team is finding the homes of the children through God's grace and their diligence. We had Pastor Joseph working with the children, but with his mother's illness, a new baby on top of Cornerstone leadership, his own church to pastor and leading a small school of 85 children who would otherwise receive no education, He resigned. We praise God that the program did not need to stop there.
Of course, if we do not have good accounting and accountability or if we lack good management, we will discontinue the program, but the TGD leadership team has pledged to do what it takes and with Frank as the new leader, we have already seen amazing changes in industriousness, receptivity, communication, creativity, and production. Praise God! May His Kingdom come and His will be done!
Frank has sent new profile photos of the children with their guardians. He is getting numbers to reach them. The TGD students will be assigned to be a Big Brother/Big Sister to orphans that live in their vicinity. Plus, the computer students are brainstorming software solutions to managing the orphan program. I know they will develop creative solutions that enable greater productivity and management! Everyone working together is going to bring out the best in All.
It's a New day, it's a Good day, and God is doing a NEW THING!
You are making dreams come true. Sit back and meditate on the role God has given you in this joy. Hallelujah!
The Herald Angels sing GLORY to the newborn King!
Saturday, December 11, 2010
December Newsletter
We are updating the Orphan Program for the sake of the children. Keep up with the latest by checking the blog: http://www.texasrivers.blogspot.com/
**SCROLL DOWN FOR CURRENT INFORMATION ON ORPHAN PROGRAM**
We have cancelled the Clinic Program- Check out http://www.tgdonline.com/ for the latest news on local health programs.
With the help of Mickey and Otis Stanley and their research into the medical community in the area, we could see that the BEST BENEFIT to the community would be sharing the medical equipment with three primary providers: Dr. Kennedy’s Iguhu Hospital, Dr. Ayub’s local clinic up the hill from Cornerstone, and Pastor Juma’s local maternity clinic. The area health providers received an early joyous Christmas blessing!
With tremendous help from the TGD Team and the Students, we sorted, re-packed, loaded, and delivered the precious cargo from Medical Bridges and Austin Samaritans and YOU!
We cannot even imagine how wonderful medical supplies appear in the eyes of our friends in Kenya! They were rejoicing! They were thankful! It was a wonderful time of sharing and serving the Lord together.
TGD Building: We are turning the building over to Titus to share with us as his school expands to more classrooms to meet the needs of children up to 8th grade. When the building is completed, we will move the computers into one side of the facility to create the public computer lab for the area high school students. We have set up two different locations of computer rooms for our TGD student programmers who are enthusiastically able to work on ONE computer PER PERSON rather than one computer per CLASS. HOORAY!!!!! Thank you so much for making these dreams come true!! To see their joyful faces as they set things up and looked around--it was priceless. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. How Wonderful!
I am sharing with you what we do ( I do not fundraise specifically) and pray the Lord puts it on your heart to give. In our country this season, everyone is asking you to give and I urge you to consider---How great are the needs you are giving to? Who gets your money? How much of your donation reaches the one in need? www.TGDonline.com We give 100% of your donation to people or projects. We bear all the U.S. administration costs and we provide JOBS in Kenya for the administration there.
You are changing the community through your giving! THANK YOU FOR GIVING GENEROUSLY!!
http://www.tgdonline.com/
**SCROLL DOWN FOR CURRENT INFORMATION ON ORPHAN PROGRAM**
We have cancelled the Clinic Program- Check out http://www.tgdonline.com/ for the latest news on local health programs.
With the help of Mickey and Otis Stanley and their research into the medical community in the area, we could see that the BEST BENEFIT to the community would be sharing the medical equipment with three primary providers: Dr. Kennedy’s Iguhu Hospital, Dr. Ayub’s local clinic up the hill from Cornerstone, and Pastor Juma’s local maternity clinic. The area health providers received an early joyous Christmas blessing!
With tremendous help from the TGD Team and the Students, we sorted, re-packed, loaded, and delivered the precious cargo from Medical Bridges and Austin Samaritans and YOU!
We cannot even imagine how wonderful medical supplies appear in the eyes of our friends in Kenya! They were rejoicing! They were thankful! It was a wonderful time of sharing and serving the Lord together.
TGD Building: We are turning the building over to Titus to share with us as his school expands to more classrooms to meet the needs of children up to 8th grade. When the building is completed, we will move the computers into one side of the facility to create the public computer lab for the area high school students. We have set up two different locations of computer rooms for our TGD student programmers who are enthusiastically able to work on ONE computer PER PERSON rather than one computer per CLASS. HOORAY!!!!! Thank you so much for making these dreams come true!! To see their joyful faces as they set things up and looked around--it was priceless. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. How Wonderful!
I am sharing with you what we do ( I do not fundraise specifically) and pray the Lord puts it on your heart to give. In our country this season, everyone is asking you to give and I urge you to consider---How great are the needs you are giving to? Who gets your money? How much of your donation reaches the one in need? www.TGDonline.com We give 100% of your donation to people or projects. We bear all the U.S. administration costs and we provide JOBS in Kenya for the administration there.
You are changing the community through your giving! THANK YOU FOR GIVING GENEROUSLY!!
http://www.tgdonline.com/
ORPHAN PROGRAM UPDATES
In the interest of the wisest use of US dollars, I have changed BACK AGAIN to our original plan of keeping the children in their current home for orphan support. There are a couple of children who really need a better environment (Ben, Noel, and Cynthia) and we will see what we can do to relocate those, but usually relocation is stressful to children-even in the best situations.
As I moved towards establishing a home, the government role loomed. We had so much difficulty with the NGO process even though we experienced no corruption there. Everything they did was straightforward, but they put us through the ringer. BUT we had so much difficulty with the Port process on the container that we know we never want to do that again. Definitely some corruption there and little we could do about it. Our TGD Team got the runaround at the port and there were numerous delays that the port created and then charged us for. Bad system. Sad for the citizens who lose global investors.
Therefore, in the interests of the children, we are serving them in the home. I went to Kenya prepared to set up a system of accountability to my team who probably chaff under my intensity, but they understand they live in a corrupt society and they know we are trying to minister to God, the orphans and the donors with integrity.
I warn my donors that I will stop this program at any time if we cannot be sure of the children receiving the direct benefit of the money sent to them.
Yes, the children will lose out. Please remember that we cannot save everyone but we are doing all we can. We are not going to participate with corruption if it shows up in our ranks. We are not going to continue a program just because we started it. We are not going to have a non-profit so that I can feel like I’m doing something good in the world. NO! We will either do good, or we will stop. If we need to stop at any time, I will return all unused money to each donor.
However, if this program does an excellent job of getting aid to these children, we will expand with more children and hire more people to administrate in Kenya. There are so many orphans suffering. There is so much need. Children just cannot help themselves in the way a healthy adult can create opportunities. We are all praying to prosper these children and lead them into life everlasting. Thank you for your support of the neediest!
Also, as we begin, we could have a few fits and starts and burps. The hardest is the bulk buying that the monthly assistance entails. It will likely be harder than they think and I realize that we may have to adjust some things. According to each child’s school fees, we may be able to lower some children’s monthly donations. Some children will not need as much and I will be communicating this with you personally.
As I moved towards establishing a home, the government role loomed. We had so much difficulty with the NGO process even though we experienced no corruption there. Everything they did was straightforward, but they put us through the ringer. BUT we had so much difficulty with the Port process on the container that we know we never want to do that again. Definitely some corruption there and little we could do about it. Our TGD Team got the runaround at the port and there were numerous delays that the port created and then charged us for. Bad system. Sad for the citizens who lose global investors.
Therefore, in the interests of the children, we are serving them in the home. I went to Kenya prepared to set up a system of accountability to my team who probably chaff under my intensity, but they understand they live in a corrupt society and they know we are trying to minister to God, the orphans and the donors with integrity.
I warn my donors that I will stop this program at any time if we cannot be sure of the children receiving the direct benefit of the money sent to them.
Yes, the children will lose out. Please remember that we cannot save everyone but we are doing all we can. We are not going to participate with corruption if it shows up in our ranks. We are not going to continue a program just because we started it. We are not going to have a non-profit so that I can feel like I’m doing something good in the world. NO! We will either do good, or we will stop. If we need to stop at any time, I will return all unused money to each donor.
However, if this program does an excellent job of getting aid to these children, we will expand with more children and hire more people to administrate in Kenya. There are so many orphans suffering. There is so much need. Children just cannot help themselves in the way a healthy adult can create opportunities. We are all praying to prosper these children and lead them into life everlasting. Thank you for your support of the neediest!
Also, as we begin, we could have a few fits and starts and burps. The hardest is the bulk buying that the monthly assistance entails. It will likely be harder than they think and I realize that we may have to adjust some things. According to each child’s school fees, we may be able to lower some children’s monthly donations. Some children will not need as much and I will be communicating this with you personally.
Tuesday, December 07, 2010
Steve Rivers!
I have written for my blog but I cannot get online with my computer since I am in San Francisco with Steve--so I am on his computer and on Friday I will send out a newsletter and update the website http://www.tgdonline.com/
Anita is in KENYA!! She and Ed have visited Harrison. Harrison recently built a home for his family with over $40,000 USD donated through an Illinois church (Little Chapel) home group that sponsored him! wow!! They still have not moved into the big lovely house. I am eager to see the pictures!
We still need money to complete our wonderful Trinity building which will house the community computer lab. We have our teachers ready and even our wonderful students could be sponsored as teachers. When we get the lab finished, you can sponsor a JOB for a young person working in the computer lab. It is a great joy to them! TODAY, you can help the community by donating to the building! Give $25 today online at http://www.tgdonline.com/ and give people SKILLS for the 21st century.
For Christmas, please consider donating so that we could give SOAP. I don't have an official plan yet, but we need to promote handwashing and we can do it by giving away soap and pairing it with a public health message of sickness prevention and health promotion! We'd also like to give LOCAL BRANDS of aspirin and tylenol. Toothpaste and toothbrushes and feminine products to high school girls. Let me know if you are interested in that. We've given away plenty of these products and they are so warmly and thankfully received! thank you to all of you who have given, even from the very beginning. Your gifts of 25, 30, and 40 dollars have gone so far and helped so many people.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)