Special Needs Home

The team traveled to see our missionary partner Maureen Casey. She has a home for special needs orphans. It is just her and a small team of woman, so labor is often hard to come by. While with her, we helped with small tasks such as moving furniture and appliances inside of her facilities. Outside her property the road was very muddy and made transportation difficult.  Our team broke stones with sledge hammers and distributed them over the muddy road. These acts of service made a huge difference for Maureen Casey and her staff. We were honored to play a small part in what God is doing in her ministry.

Street Children

Our team reached out to street children in several different locations. We were able to throw birthday party’s for Jesus. We gave the children candy and birthday cake and we played games and shared the message of the Gospel. Every child was informed that the real reason we celebrate Christmas is in remembrance of Christ birth. Many of these children had never tasted birthday cake and for many it was the first time hearing of the birth of Christ. It was a beautiful experience for our team and it was worth the trip to see the joy on the children’s faces!

Feeding the Widows

One of the most memorable experiences from the trip was providing food to widows in the community of Buena Vista. We have to remember that these are woman that have nothing. They live alone in a one room, corrugated metal house with many children. We were able to provide each widow with staples of rice and beans, oatmeal, meseca (for corn tortillas), incaparina (kids nutritional drink), hygiene products and toys along with cookies and deserts. It was pretty incredible to see the reactions of these widows.

Local School Improvement

The team visited another one of our missionary partners, Charlie and Pat Reynolds. Charlie was also our contact who took us to minister to the different widows in the community. He and his wife Pat have started a private school to the impoverished children of Buena Vista. There school building is the social center for the community and home to church services and prayer meetings. The Guatemalan government is beginning to restrict private schools and learning centers created by Christian missionaries. A new law has been put into effect that as of Jan 8th, 2010 every private school must have computers on site and must teach computer classes. The irony is that many of the government funded schools don’t have computers. In fact it is very rare to even find schools with computers. Charlie and his staff were facing a very difficult situation as they trusted God for the finances to purchase computers. R.U.4 Children learned of their need and God laid it on our hearts to purchase 10 brand new laptop computers for our school. Our team had the honor and privilege of delivering and presenting the computers to Charlie and Pat along with the school faculty. These computers could not have been delivered at a more timely moment, just eight days before there deadline. The computers will improve the quality of life for every child in the community. If a person can learn computer skills in a 3rd world country, there life is dramatically changed.

Thank you for being apart of what R.U.4 Children is doing around the world. We cannot do what God has called us to do without your prayers and financial support.

Hey guys! I just wanted to write a little note just to give a testimony of what God did in Guatemala!

I really didn’t know what to expect when I told Trey McAlister and Michael Laymon that I wanted to be apart of their RU4 Children - October trip to Guatemala. I just knew I had a peaceful feeling that I really needed to go! I had no idea what all I was going to be blessed to be apart of!

We got there Monday night and Trey told us to be ready and in the Lobby at 4:30am on Tuesday morning! That was interesting! But on trips like this the excitement of the day gives you an adrenaline burst, so I actually felt energized even though I slept only 1 hour the first night! We got on a bus with about 12 other people, some were press, some were church pastors, and some were volunteers and headed to Jutiapa, Guatemala. This part of Guatemala had places that had received too much rain and the rain washed away the crops and other parts hadn’t received enough rain so the crops didn’t produce. There was a serious food shortage and many - many families were in dire need of food. We met some more volunteers and pastors and then headed out into the mountains and villages to where about 3000 families where all in a large recreation field waiting for us to arrive. I walked up to the front of the lines of people not knowing what to expect! All the people had such a look of serious need mixed with a sense of grateful hope.

Cash Luna, who was described to me as the Central American version of our Billy Graham arrived and gave a word and a prayer and many cheered at his words of encouragement and wisdom. Then, just as he said “Amen” the people started to line up and we started the process of passing out the 40 lb bags of food. Each bag had about 5-10 lbs of Rice, Beans, Sugar, Maseca, Oil, Flour and many other essentials. The people receiving the bags were so serious but also thankful. It was such a blessing to see the peoples faces as they gathered their children and headed back to their homes with their bag over their shoulder or on their donkey!

We then headed back up through the mountains to another small village where people from many neighboring villages had gathered to receive their gift of food as well. And just as before it is indescribable the joy that I received by just being apart of the giving to those less fortunate than us! I got to hang out with about 5 or 6 kids in the play ground and talk to them in my broken Spanish. One boy in particular loved to ask me all kinds of questions about English and the Estados Unidos (United States ) He smiled and laughed and I could tell he was definitely the class clown type (like I was). But when I started to ask him about his family his little facial expression changed. I asked about his mom and he said she was in line waiting for food, but when I asked him about his Dad he said he didn’t know and he held my hand and put his head in my chest. He sat there talking for another 10 minutes and he didn’t let go of my hand. Such a humbling experience I will never forget.

The next day we first went to a small school and feeding center located in a Barrio (slum) of Guatemala City. It is run by a sweet lady named Sister Doris. We first sang worship songs with the kids and even jumped around to a Hillsong song in Spanish. After that we went upstairs and started calling up the kids a few at a time to fit them for new shoes. It was such a cool experience as many of the kids had never had anything but old dirty sandals. We passed out about 80-100 pair and then said good bye to all the proudly shoed kids!

The next day, Thursday, was one I will never forget the rest of my life! Trey and Michael had been planning this day for months and months but I had no idea what to expect. The event was planned for the City of Peronia, in the Villa Nuevo area of Guatemala. When I got home, my Dad had looked Peronia up and found that this was one of the most dangerous City’s in the world with at times the highest murder rates in the world. For 18 years two gangs had been extorting and murdering the people of Peronia as well as each other. The Metals and The Horses, Los Metales y Los Caballos. They had been killing each other at a rate of 10-12 people a week for 18 years. But about 2 or 3 months ago the leaders of these gangs had heard a powerful word from God that they needed to change their lives, stop killing and start following Christ. They responded and started the process of making peace and stopping the fighting. The climax of this decision was reached on Thursday night. The two rival gang leaders got on stage together and apologized to the town they had extorted and murdered for 18 years. There were many tears and broken hearts. At one point the local pastor called for widows to come up and receive an apology from the gangs. The men hugged the widows of the men they had killed and begged for forgiveness and gave their word they had changed and would never be the same again. Cash Luna gave an amazing word from the stage about how Peronia was to become a City known for its character and peace. That God had a plan for this city and it would never be the same again! He asked the crowd if there was anybody who wanted to give their life to Christ and start a new life with faith in God and I would say 70% of the city raised there hand. Then he asked if there was anybody in the crowd who might have already put there trust in Christ and they wanted to make a recommitment to that decision and this time the other 30% raised there hands. Then he prayed for the city and at the end of the prayer the whole city cheered with excitement over the new providence God had for their city! Once again we handed out thousands of bags of food and the food staples that helped over 15,000 people that night. The ex-gang members lead in the handing out of food to the people of the city and ask each one to please forgive them and give them a another chance.

After the event I was so encouraged and so blessed. We had brought a lady named Chiqui (pronounced Chickie) who owned a local hospital where they administered free medical aid to the poor people in Guatemala City who need medical help. Her husband had died a month before and had been in ICU the previous two months before that. She said that tonight was one of the best nights she had had in months! She said that she hadn’t slept in 3 months and that God told her, “Tonight you will finally sleep!” She had tears in her eyes and gave me a big hug!

So much more happened on this trip that I would love to tell you about but this is already too long! If you want to hear more just let me know and we can get some coffee! Thanks for taking time to read my testimony of God’s mighty work and I love you all!

“He must become greater; I must become less.” John 3:30

Check out our latest video about our upcoming outreach in Guatemala.

He has a strong desire to travel internationally and document the work of missions and non-profit organizations like R.U.4 Children.  Daniel donates his time to R.U.4 Children and travels with us whenever possible. Many of the pictures on our website and media pieces were taken by Daniel Davis and it is easy to see why he is such a valuable asset to our team.

You can support Daniel by visiting his website www.seetheway.org.  The photos listed on www.seetheway.org are from his mission trips and travels to Africa and Central America  Feel free to contact him to purchase a print of his work or even schedule a photo shoot.

Synonyms: guardian, protector, sponsor, supporter

In Isaiah 1:17 the Bible states that we should ‘Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of Orphans.’

Our heart and desire at R.U.4 Children is to defend the cause of the orphans in Guatemala, Ukraine and Burma. We are looking for those able and willing to walk with us as Defenders of the Orphan cause.

What is your heart? Are you a Defender of orphans?

If you answered YES to the second question, you have a vital role to play in breaking the cycle of poverty and violence that so often follow orphans in their distress.

Now, you can help raise awareness of the Orphan cause by recruiting your friends, family, and co-workers so that they too can speak out on behalf of orphans. By directing friends to ru4children.org, forwarding this email out to others, and/or by getting financially and prayerfully involved is the first step. The second step will be identifying like hearted friends in this effort, coming together to develop fundraising ideas, and holding each other accountable in your prayerful giving.                    (ex: hold a dinner for these friends and have one of the staff members from R.U.4 Children come in and speak)

For the adventure seeker, GO on a trip with R.U.4 Children, and then come back and tell the desperate stories of these beautiful children.

The Bible also states that if one can put to flight 1,000 then two together can put 10,000 to flight. Join us and become a

Defender of the defenseless, Defender of the orphan…..

The miracle of feeding 5000 is one of the most significant miracles of Jesus during his three year ministry. This miracle was recorded in all four Gospels because of its great significance. The feeding of the 5000 encompassed several variables that cannot be overlooked.  Jesus had compassion upon the crowd and began healing the sick and the lame (MT 14:14).  A key factor in the story is this most famous of miracles took place immediately after the death of John the Baptist. Jesus came from a place of brokenness before the Lord and was moved with compassion for the masses. This miracle shows us that Jesus met the crowds spiritual needs, but He also went a step further and met every persons basic human need of hunger.

FEED 5000: The Outreach

Our FEED 5000 campaign seeks to feed 20,000 needy and abandoned by Christmas ‘09. God has broken our hearts to FEED the orphans and the abandoned in Guatemala and in Ukraine this year. Through the FEED 5000 campaign you can help us feed an orphan “LIFE.”

When Lee Ju was 2 years old, his parents divorced. Soon after, his mother got sick and passed away. Due to a custom in his Akha village in Burma, if the wife does not have a husband, the villagers must put her body in the river and dispose of it by letting it float downstream (usually people are buried in a cemetery-like plot somewhere in the jungle).

When Lee Ju was four years old, his father became very sick and could no longer take care of him. Because of this, his father sent him to the Buddhist temple to be cared for. A few months later, his father passed away as well. Lee Ju stayed at the Buddhist temple for 2 years until he was 6 years old. The Buddhist culture dictated that he wear a yellow robe and shave his head. During his time there, his daily life involved getting up at 5 a.m., where he would practice and learn the Buddhist liturgy and prayers. At 6 a.m., Lee Ju, along with the other orphans, would start begging and asking for money and food in the surrounding areas.

He usually would go begging by himself and would return only after he had acquired enough money or food. One day, Lee Ju went very far from the temple to a village about 2 hours away. On the way back, however, he got lost. Some villagers from the area found him in the jungle and took him to one of our children’s homes.

Lee Ju is a good boy. Soon after he arrived to our children’s home, he fell in love with all the children here and fell in love with Jesus. The result of his salvation brought tremendous joy, wholeness, and healing into his life.

In May, the ministry was blessed with a new office space in Hurst, Texas, that has allowed us to stretch out a bit. The big blessing is that all of this space is rent-free for 6 months. What a deal!

For those of you who may not have received our latest newsletter, we added two new brothers to the full-time staff. Garrett Bonnette and Michael Laymon joined the R.U.4 Children team in April.  Garrett will be leading our admin team in keeping us all aware and in-line with the vision of the ministry both financially and informationally. Michael will be our liaison between churches and the mission field along with continuing to equip the national churches in ministering and evangelizing the orphan population.

The vision of R.U.4 Children is going strong. We have advanced on some mission opportunities in Guatemala, Burma, and Kenya, outside of our existing responsibilities in Ukraine. In each of these countries, we have traveled to and developed key relationships with orphan ministries that are led by or through nationals. These relationships have allowed R.U.4 Children to spread the gospel in more places than Eastern Europe and establish ourselves strategically around the world.

For more info on these relationships, please visit the new website or email us as needed.

Trey