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Voice In The Wilderness COG Greetings Brethren, Hope all of you are well both physically and more importantly spiritually, as we patiently await the return of our Lord, and the “Midnight Cry” of Matthew 25 announcing His coming. When we take into consideration the condition of this present evil age, and see all the “end time signs” that continue to alert us on a daily basis (like the parable of the of the fig tree, and its tender branches and sprouting of leaves) we can only conclude that He (our Lord) is “at the doors” and ready to begin His return. Hopefully we are also ready, and prepared to meet Him. The sooner He comes, the better, because there are so many suffering around this world, some horrendously. Even now in Kenya, drought is affecting over 4 million people with 200,000 facing starvation. We have a couple of church families living in those famine areas. We hope to assist them the best we can, if we have funds to do so. I am happy to inform you that the children at the church orphanage (Sengera House) are doing well. All nineteen are still in school, and Brian “Ibu” is still quite busy at trade school learning to weld. The first term is soon to end, and then all will be home for the Month of April, including Manley who is away boarding at Itierio Boys High School. This will work out good, because they will be home for the spring Feast. Our Kenyan Brethren keep the entire seven day Feast of Unleavened Bread. Let me also mention here that a number of the remote Church of God groups have been requesting assistance to prepare for the upcoming Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread. We also hope to assist them the best we can, again, if we have funds to do so.
As you can see from the above picture, the children are all quite happy, and in good spirits; quite a difference from when they first arrived! The atmosphere at the orphanage is a good one; all of the children get along with one another quite well. Nehemiah, one of the oldest, does a fantastic job of helping out Haron the overseer of the camp. Nehemiah even conducts Friday night Bible study. Some of these boys, even David, often accompany me when visiting the many groups, and do the translating for those brethren who do not know English. These boys are well acquainted with the Scriptures, and know the plan of our Heavenly Father, concerning both His First Fruits, and the rest of mankind. So it’s quite easy for them to put my words into their native tongue of the different groups we visit. I would also like to mention here that we have begun another fund raiser on “GoFundMe”. This is to raise funds for the boy’s new dormitory we are planning to build. As mentioned in our last Update, the current house the boys are living in is a temporary structure, built out of mud, and showing signs of collapse. The new building will be constructed of brick and will have two floors which will not only relieve the current cramping condition, but will also allow us to take on other Church of God orphans who are currently suffering. I started this fund raiser on “GoFundMe” because the needed funds are quite a substantial amount. If more brethren were aware of the situation, I’m sure some would help. But frankly, very few of the brethren in the Church of God groups are aware of our impoverished brethren’s cry for help, because the “hierarchy” in those organizations (The very thing that Christ hates) have blocked them at the door. The children will also need “school fees” when the second term commences in May. I have also included the “GoFundMe” link at the bottom of this letter. We have also composed a letter requesting assistance in trying to make other members of the Churches of God aware of the cry for help that is being made. If you could possible give this letter some circulation, or point to our webpage, it would be much appreciated by our suffering brethren. The letter is included on the following page. Voice In The Wilderness COG 3/7/2019 Greetings Brethren, Hope all is well with you, as we patiently await the return of our Lord and Savior. We have been posting updates on our Website, but wanted to send out this short letter to let you know the church orphanage is currently struggling a bit. As you may know, we now have 20 church orphans that we are caring for in Sengera, Kenya. We call the church orphanage “Sengera House”. All of the children are in school, all are clothed, and we are feeding them the best that we can. We have not been doing anything extravagant at the orphanage. On the contrary, in fact we often have to ration the food. We really need some additional donors to join hands with us in helping our impoverished brethren, some are really suffering So we are sending out this letter of request, hoping to get some exposure concerning the orphanage, and that there are impoverished Church of God brethren who are crying out for help, especially widows and orphans. Our request is: 1. Please join us in prayer to our Heavenly Father, Thanking Him for the help we have been able to give these precious children. And thank Him for the loving and compassionate donors who have been making the above possible. And let us ask Him to connect and unite more brethren to work together in unity for this worthy cause. 2. Some of our donors are limited means themselves, so we are NOT asking them for more financial help. And this letter is not for the few steady donors (some of them are already giving above and beyond.) This letter is to try and make others members of the Church of God aware that we have true church orphans and true widows who desperately need help, and that we are not “cons” but legitimate. Some say they will not help because Africa has many cons, who pocket the funds for self-gain. And that is quite true. But please understand, there are true brethren out there who have been crying out for help for a long time, and we have been doing our best to assist them. To check out our legitimacy, our Website has an “Update” page where you can see what we have been doing with the funds donated. That update page goes back covering quite a number of years. There is also a long time member of God’s church from Texas whose name is Bonnie Bell. Bonnie visited our brethren in Kenyan, and was deeply move by what she saw. Upon returning home to the United States, she wrote a touching letter addressed to all the members of God’s Church, but very few have ever read it. It’s titled: An open letter to the brethren in all branches of the Church of God . (The link is also at the bottom of this letter). If you do some checking on us, you will see that we are legitimate and serving these brethren as reported. 3. If you are financially stable and can possibly help, it will be very much appreciated. We thank you from the bottom of our heart. In Christian Love. bill Goff Bonnie Bell’s letter is at: http://vwcog.org/Update_on_open_letter.htm The “Boys dormitory Fundraiser link is: https://www.gofundme.com/boys-dormitory Our mailing address (If you want to help with a check) is: Kenya Hands of Hope If you want more information, please don’t hesitate to call ANYTIME night or day: 843-447-0140 My name is Bill Goff My E-mail is: goffb50@aol.com |
