WorldHope Corps

From: Michael Christensen Subject: good news To: "Copeland Nkhata" Date: Thursday, 25 June, 2008, 4:32 AM Hello my friend. I have two pieces of good news of great joy to tell you: 1. I submitted the proposal to UM Global AIDS Fund to help fund our HopeChurch program. Let's pray that it comes through in a timely manner. 2. We raised $2,000 for your ministry, which I wired to you on Monday. Please confirm receipt. It is designated as follows: $1500 to replace the roof on the church $300 to provide housing for the Banda family that Bob Robinson wrote you about. $200 for emergency fund to be used at your desecration in behalf of your orphaned and vulnerable children in your care. michael

South Central, Los Angeles, was the neighborhood in the city where Communities of Shalom began in 1992. I met Marx Gutierrez from El Salvador who was there attending High School at the time. He remembers what happened at the corner of Florence and Normandy Streets in South Central, LA, when Reginald Denny was pulled out of his truck and beaten while the crowd looked on and the police did nothing; and how the Rodney King beating resulted in a not-guilty verdict for the police and resulted in a major, 3-day uprising in the neighborhood, until the National Guard came in and finally imposed law and order. He can still remember the fires, the bright orange night sky, the mass looting, 45 unsolved killings, the social chaos...And how the United Methodist Churches responded by creating a zone of shalom in 7 neighborhoods of Los Angeles. Today, Marx is a community organizer, and married to Jennifer Gutierrez, Conference Shalom Coordinator in the Calif-Pacific Annual Conference, and Rev. Vilma ...

What follows is a monthly report from Copeland Nkhata, pastor of the Mzuzu UMC congregation and program director of our Orphan Care program in Malawi. Be sure to read his appeal for blankets for the kids, and his proposal to take the cost out of the food budget in July. If we raise additional funds--approx $600--we can supply blankets for 80+ vulnerable children and the center would not have to use food money. Unlike here in the USA, its cold at night in July in Malawi. Blankets are needed in the Center. Shipping costs are too high to find blankets here to ship over. We need to wire funds for local purchase of what is needed. Please let me know if you would like to help by emailing me at mchriste@drew.edu Dear Rev Michael, Thanks for all the help. The Hope Homes and Hope Scholarship Program is growing as you can testify of what you saw on 9th March. We have gratitude for you are making a difference in our community especially among the Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC). We w...

Rev. Copeland Nkhata, Pastor of the Methodist Church in Mzuzu, with his wife, Jane, who with their congregation took in 57 orphans to care for since 2006 I received the following email from Rev. Nkhata this morning, acknowledging receipt of our funds to replace the roof and conveying his deep gratitude. I asked him to borrow a camera and send a photo when he can. Read and rejoice: Dear Michael, Very many thanks and truly words cannot suffice to say thank you for such great intervention with funds to let us replace the roof of the church. Be assured that the job is soon done. I will assign Leaster to go down to Blantyre to purchase the tent soon. Convey to all friends of Malawi Mzuzu circuit that we are glad for they have been used of the Lord to make a difference among the people of Mzuzu. God flourish your hearts for his kingdom. Love from copeland For more photos of the Orphan Church in Mzuzu, as well as our March Mission Trip, click on this link to the Photo Album: http://michael-c...

We raised enough to raise the roof of the orphan church in Malawi! On May 12, Rev. Copeland NKhata prayed about the sudden loss of the roof to his church. He shared the need with others: "We are still holding together, though a few of our members are excessively shocked. Our services are badly affected, but we have hope that God will always protect his work." Apparently, God told him to find a friend with a computer and email his friends outside of Africa. The email that reached Sarah Harrington, who passed it on to me, read as follows: "Sad news: armed robbers have stolen the tent that we had used to roof our small church structure. The roof is now bare, and drizzle or sunshine affects our services. The matter is with the police. Please pray that God would bail us out of this mess." The 'tent' he was referring to is the relatively expensive, waterproof, roof covering on wood and thatched built church of 150 Methodists (including 57 AIDS orphans) who wors...