Argaw and Rachel Ayele are serving the Lord in Awassa, Ethiopia. Argaw had come to Hungary from his homeland Ethiopia as a refugee. He then started coming to Calvary through our refugee ministry. God then lead him to study at the Bible college in Vajta where he met Rachel from America. They began to sense that God was preparing them to go back to Africa.
Now Argaw and Rachel are married with 2 little boys, and they have a heart and vision to see God’s message of grace shared throughout Ethiopia. They have started a home bible study and are now also opening an orphanage.
newsletter from Argaw and Rachel
September 2011 newsletter
SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED IN SO FEW MONTHS...
“The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad” (Psalms 126:3).
This newsletter is jam-packed with so much that has happened in the past three months. Now I remember why I try and write a newsletter every month instead of every few!
We’ve had 4 birthdays since the last newsletter. The first was Agenyu’s. He turned 2 years old in October. The second was Addis’. She turned 12 about a week after coming into Ebenezer Grace, which was also in October. The third was Genesis’. she turned 2 in November. And the last, but not the least, was Amanuel’s birthday, who turned 2 in December. With each birthday we experience at Ebenezer Grace, we have a birthday cake (or sometimes a birthday banana bread), and presents. It’s such a fun way to let each child realize how important and loved they are.
New Additions!
“Addis” is the Amharic word for “new”. It is also the name of a 12 year old girl who came to live at Ebenezer Grace a few months ago. We were told many things about this little girl that we are not too sure about; however, one thing we are sure about is that she is a very sweet girl that has a servant’s heart. She helps the mamas with the many babies we have and also with a lot of the cleaning around the house. We don’t even need to ask her to help, she just does. We are so blessed by Addis and pray we can give her the love she needs to live her life to the fullest for the Lord.
About 2 months ago, we were told about a lady who had twins that was living in another orphanage. The orphanage wanted to get rid of her because she was not going to adopt out her one year old twins. So, the government contacted us and put them in Ebenezer Grace Children’s Home a few days later. Tadelech, the mother, is now able to care for her twin babies (Mekdas, a girl and Tsegaw, a boy) without the risk of them being adopted out. She helps around the house with the cleaning and cares mainly for her children. It’s been a wonderful experience being able to help a family stay together within the walls of Ebenezer Grace.
Guests, Guests, and More Guests!
In October, we had our pastors (one of which is my brother-in-law) from our church in Fort Wayne, Indiana come visit us for 2 weeks. It was such a blessed time. We had so much rich fellowship with them discussing and dreaming about the the future of Ebenezer Grace Children’s Home. We were so encouraged by them as they brought back a real focus of why we are here in the first place.
In November, my sister Sarah and friend Ashlee Delagrange (who was here last year for 6 weeks) came for a visit for 2 weeks as well. It was a sweet time. They were here for Thanksgiving, so being the good people they are, they brought a 22-pound turkey and we enjoyed it oh so much! They were also here for Sissy’s birthday, which was such a special treat. They brought birthday presents for her and Christmas presents for all the kids, including the Ebenezer Kids. They were truly a blessing while they were here.
At the beginning of December, we had a couple, Guy and Debbie Scott, visit us for a week. Guy and Debbie found us about 2 years ago through the Calvary Chapel Magazine, and since then have been such generous supporters of the Lord’s ministry here. It was so wonderful to be able to meet them and see them face to face. They were such an encouragement to us. While they were here, we were able to get all the children and workers together at one time...a very rare occasion...and pray for the ministry together. It was such a blessing to everyone!
Christmas at Amama’s
The women who work at Ebenezer Grace had a brilliant idea of taking all the workers andchildren up to Masincho to visit “Amama” (Argaw’s mother) for Christmas. They decided to take out a little from their paychecks for the past couple of months in order to save up for this outing. We were so blessed by the idea and so excited for everyone involved. We bought a sheep for the slaughter, rented a huge bus and piled everyone in! We also had a special guest. Etsegenet, one of our previous employees, heard about the trip and wanted to join. She now works for another orphanage in Addis Ababa, and she brought along the 7 children that belong to it. So, as you can imagine, we had quite a full load! It was such a blast!
Prayer Requests:
• For wisdom and grace as we enter a new year at Ebenezer Grace Children’s Home
• For the Lord’s will to be done in each of our lives here, as we seek His face for guidance and direction in every aspect of the ministry
• For the Lord to provide a vehicle in His timing
• For the children to be convicted of (not condemned for) their sin and that they would start maturing as young Christians
In Christ alone,
The Ayeles
September 2011 newsletter
John 8:36 “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”
Lantu
Lantu went through quite a lot this past month with her recent doctor’sappointment in Addis Ababa. The doctors keep telling us how severe her heart problems are and how much heart surgery is needed but they continue to send her back to Awassa without performing surgery on her. We do not know the reasons for this, but we believe it would be best to have a heart surgeon from America take a look at her case. We are praying about bringing her with us when we return to America on furlough at the end of October 2012. In order for this to happen, we would need to have a sponsor for Lantu’s medical costs. Please pray for the Lord to provide if this would in fact be part of His will for Lantu’s life.
A Change of Plans
Last month we mentioned that we were going to bring into the Children’s Home a couple of mothers with their children because of the recent shutdown of some of the orphanages here in the southern region of Ethiopia. We met with the two women and their young children (one was 7 months and one was 3 years old), took pictures of them and started preparing the house for their arrival. However, they never came back. Unfortunately, these women were really wanting to just drop off their children at an orphanage and leave to go back to their own villages. Because we took all their information down, they realized they couldn’t get away with dropping their kids off and leaving, so they never did return. It’s really sad because we have found that many of the mothers with children aren’t looking for help that enable them to stay with their children. Tragically, they just want to leave their children in the hands of someone else so that they can be free of the “burden” of taking care of them.
Another Mama
The Lord has blessed us so much with yet another mama! Zinash is a wonderful woman who loves the Lord dearly. During the Communism Regime here in Ethiopia, Zinash spent a total of 7 years in prison because of her love for the Lord. She is a single woman, around 45 years old, who doesn’t have her own children. She had been praying that the Lord would put her in a place where she could serve Him along with helping children. She also has a heart to disciple women, and there are plenty of women at the Children’s Home for her to fulfill that desire! We don’t know her very well yet, but we believe she is a blessing from the Lord!
Volunteers!
Ebenezer Grace has been blessed to have two young women volunteer their time and services for us. They are with a volunteer organization where they take one foreign person from England and one native person from Awassa and have them work together as volunteers in the non-governmental organizations around the town. We were blessed to be one of the chosen organizations. So, for the next 3 months, we get to have these two wonderful women working for us at no charge! The kids love having them and they are helping us implement the daily program we have made so the mamas aren’t so overwhelmed occupying the minds of 13 children everyday.
Prayer Requests:
• For Lantu and her medical issues; that if it’s the Lord’s will for her to get treated/surgery in America, He would provide
• For continued provision and the raising up of more sponsors for the 13 children and 5 mamas at Ebenezer Grace Children’s Home
• For those who are starving and are the victims of drought all across this country and neighboring countries
• For the Lord to provide a vehicle in His timing
• For the Lord to reign in the hearts of the children and workers at Ebenezer Grace Children’s Home
In Christ Alone,
The Ayeles
July 2011 newsletter
Three of our children at Ebenezer Grace graduated from kindergarten this past month. We are so very proud of them, as they did very well in school. However, we’re mostly proud of them because while at the graduation ceremony, they sang songs about the Lord that they were not afraid to sing as loud as they could! It made us realize that the common, everyday things we teach these kids are what will make a difference in their lives, as well as others. It also made us realize that the Lord is ultimately raising these children. He’s just using us as instruments, and we are so humbled and happy to be used by Him.
Another Mama
Thankfully, we were able to find another mama. She stays at night with Abiot and helps take care of the babies who wake up frequently for feedings. It’s a great blessing to have her helping us out.
A Few Great Opportunities
The government has recently shut down about 27 orphanages in the Southern region of Ethiopia. Some of these orphanages took in both women and their children. However, they were trying to “sell” the children to adoption agencies and send them overseas. The only reason these orphanages were running was not to care for the women and children, but to make money. Because of shutting so many orphanages down, the government now has to place these children and some of their mothers somewhere they believe they will be taken care of. The Lord has granted us great favor with the government and they are very happy with the way our organization is caring for the children at Ebenezer Grace and the different families we sponsor in the village. They have asked us if we would be willing to take in a couple women along with their children. We have gladly accepted their request, as this will be a great ministry opportunity for us to love on these women and their children at the same time. The government would like this to be a temporary move for these families, if at all possible. They would like us to train the mothers and make them work at our orphanage, in order to equip them with skills they would need for a possible job outside the Children’s Home in the future.
Another opportunity we have is to sponsor three more families in the villages around Awassa. Two of these families are run by grandmothers of children who have lost their parents from AIDS. The grandmothers are extremely poor and are unable to care for their grandchildren without help. The other family is ran by a very old mother who has 12 children. She had sold her entire plot of land in order to treat her sick husband who was dying of cancer. However, five years ago, he passed away, and she was without a husband, without a home and without financial support. We have just started supporting them through our organization and we are praying it will make a difference. By supporting families, we are able to keep them together as families, instead of mothers having to give their children to an orphanage to care for them. It also offers the children better education opportunities, as they are able to go to school instead of having to work for their families’ basic needs.
Prayer Requests:
• For continued provision and the raising up of more sponsors for the 13 children and 4 mamas at Ebenezer Grace Children’s Home
• For the Bible study Argaw was able to start with a few of our older friends and some newer ones
• For a Bible study Rachel would like to have once a week with the mamas of the Children’s Home
• For the new mothers and children we will be caring for in the near future
• For the new families we’re sponsoring, that we can share the love of Christ with them by supporting them
• For the Lord to provide a vehicle in His timing
• For the Lord to reign in the hearts of the children and workers at Ebenezer Grace Children’s Home
In Christ Alone,
The Ayeles
