Nigerian Bombings

Please pray for peace for our friends in Nigeria. A string of bombings hit 5 Nigerian cities on Christmas day. We are glad to report that all are safe at our partners, the Anawim Home and Faith Alive Hospital. This is the second consecutive year in which Christian houses of worship in Nigeria were bombed. (click here)

Come This Christmas

Here we are, as Christians, anticipating within days the coming of the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ. On Sunday, December 25th, we will be celebrating Christmas, which is supposed to be all about Jesus.

A lot of people say the giving that we do this season represents the joy we have in our faith. As we strive to give to others this season, let us contemplate on what true giving really is. Can we try to take the focus off of our own gratification and materialism and share with those who really have less. Jesus was full of compassion. He entered into the human condition. He experienced it. Over and over again in scripture we see how Jesus was able to "see" people. The more we can become like Jesus, the more we can see the world through our Savior's eyes. Other people's problems become our concerns. Jesus gives us new eyes. Jesus gives us new hearts. Jesus makes us new.

Come Jesus! Come this Christmas! Make us new! Break our hearts for what breaks Yours. Compel us to truly give to those in need, not only at Christmas but all year round.

Here are pictures of the Sisters and the children enjoying a wonderful Christmas celebration at the Anawim Home. Sr. Oresoa sent these pictures to the HFWA Board with a thank you for the food, supplies and Christmas clothing that we sent. The children are so grateful and happy. We want to thank our most generous benefactors who make such a joyful celebration possible.

Merry Christmas to our partners at the Anawim Home and the Faith Alive Hospital. We pray for God to bless them in the New Year.

Planting Seeds

My memories are still so strong of that hot sunny August day two years ago. There we were, the six of us standing at a temporary school at a farm at Hwol Yarje, Nigeria. We were a missionary team sent by the Church of the Nativity to visit the Faith Alive Hospital. On that day we were visiting the school named the Faith Alive Community School. The school was built on land donated to Faith Alive Hospital by a former grateful patient. The funds for the school were donated by a church that cared. All these children now had a school. It was a nice school even though it was a temporary one. It did have desks, books and bright pictures. The children all came out to greet us.

Now here we were. We asked where the water supply for the farm came from. We were told from a nearby stream. Well the stream was not very nearby and it was very dirty. I remember how we all just looked at one another and we just knew we were all thinking the same thing. Our Church had been considering a clean water project for its Advent giving program. We did not know if this could be a site we could help or not. But we all felt the same way in our hearts. Our return to the site later in the week with Dr. Chris is a beautiful story. Read more here.

The site did become part of our Church's Advent fundraising project and the necessary funds were raised to fund clean water projects at the Anawim Home and Faith Alive. The Church of the Nativity then partnered with the HFWAF to get the funds safely to the partners in Nigeria and then to monitor the successful completion of the water projects.

Now two years later, while in Jos, the Nativity Nigeria team was privileged to attend the commencement ceremonies of the first graduating class of the Faith Alive Community School and the dedication of the water borehole and toilet system. Read more here.

Over 300 people attended the dedication and graduation ceremonies of 15 students. There were activities of dancing, presentations and theater. It is reported that 90,000 people are benefiting from the water supply!

So you see a tiny number of seeds are planted that produce a much larger harvest. It all starts with giving selflessly. In a recent message series at our church we focused on how one reaps what he sows-even if many times we don't get to see it immediately. But sometimes God let's us see it quickly and it can be very powerful. Dr. Chris and the staff go above and beyond to give their time and talents to the sick and suffering people. A grateful patient donates his land to the hospital when he dies. A visiting church that cared, wanted a school to be built on that land for the farm community's many children. The school is built and now educates 250 children. Another visiting church team, that had a feeling on their hearts, took a story back to their congregation. The church had a borehole for clean water and a latrine built, that enriches the lives of 90,000 people!

The negative voice in your head will tell you that you cannot make a difference in this world. That what you do does not matter. That is not God's voice. This story shows how God can work through us and one person at a time all for His good.

Thank you so much to our partner, the Church of the Nativity. To God be the glory, honor and adoration for all that He continues to do.

I Will Give You The Words

Hello friends. It has been awhile since I have posted. I hope all of you have had a good summer. My family and I enjoyed a great vacation at the beach. The other board members have enjoyed great vacation time with their families too. There have been two weddings in our board families this summer! The son of Diane Blattner, our president, got married in August. Also, Karen Kennedy's daughter got married in June. Even though we have been celebrating and enjoying family time this summer, we still have been hard at work for our partners in Nigeria. We have a lot that we will be reporting to you. One thing I want to mention now is that the Nativity Nigeria team from The Church of Nativity arrived home safely. They had a very successful mission trip. Read about the details here. I will be posting about one of the projects that we partnered with them in the next blog.

For now I want to share with you how grateful I am to be having this relationship with you, my readers. It is an honor to be able to help in any way I can for the Hope for West Africa Foundation and those of you I met while I was a missionary in Nigeria. I do feel called and yet I have struggled with this. I came across some notes today that I took after reading a really good article a couple of weeks ago. I wanted to share it with you. The article was on introverted leaders in church by a Pastor who by his own admission is an introvert. The question was posed can an introvert be a good leader? This Pastor had long doubted his abilities as a leader. It just seemed SO hard and SO much work for him to do the part of his job that was relational.

But he makes a great point. Just because part of his work was or did not come "naturally" to him did not mean that he was not a good fit for it. He is convinced that calling, not personality type, is the determinative factor in the formation and longevity of a leader. He had always felt the calling to be a Pastor. There was the stirring in his heart and a passion to do this for God. He says God may call some people into work for which THEY ARE NOT PERFECTLY SUITED, for HIS GREATER GLORY. WOW! This really made me pause today. How true is this? Because this is such powerful testimony to God. A person's life becomes a living testimony to God not by being righteous but by being changed because you have to lean into God. Just like when you know a Pastor is shy but he gets up in front of thousands of people every weekend and gives a powerful message and he does not seem shy for a second. This is when it is obvious that people are laboring in the power of God. Sometimes we question God even though we feel called just because it seems hard. I have questioned whether I should be blogging or not because the words do not always come easily. I have always enjoyed writing but I have no experience at professional writing.

The Pastor reminds us when he calls us he is not saying to do it alone. He refers to Moses and the burning bush. Moses did not want to say yes. Moses thought he was a clumsy speaker. The Lord did not disagree telling Moses he was a wonderful speaker who inspired him. He said, "I will be your mouth and teach you what you are to speak. I will be with you. I will give you the words."

It is God's power not self power that helps us minister to others.

Summer Missions Underway

Our partner from Maryland, Church of the Nativity, has sent two teams to Nigeria this week. The teams arrived safely in Abuja on Sunday and settled in at the Anawim Home. They were given a most enthusiastic welcome by Sr. Oresoa, the other sisters, staff and children. On Monday, one team travelled on to Jos to meet up with Dr. Chris and the Faith Alive family. This team was treated to a welcome similar to the one in Abuja. After a short period of resting to recover from their long journey and getting acclimated to their surroundings, the teams began a week of activities that is mutually beneficial and rewarding to both the teams and the communities at Anawim Homes and Faith Alive.
Also visiting Faith Alive at this time is Erika Nossokoff from our partner in Colorado, First Presbyterian Church. Erika has been very close friend of Dr. Chris and the Faith Alive family for a few years now and she helps the Nativity team in their orientation. Her service during her visits to Faith Alive has been such a blessing to Dr. Chris and the community.

Reading the daily postings from each of these partners makes me reflect on my visits to our friends in Nigeria. How unforgettable those memories are! Our friends at both Anawim and Faith Alive are so expressive in their appreciation for what the teams do for them. But it was my experience, and I am sure it is shared by those there now, that I was blessed more by knowing them. Let us pray for both our African and American partners and that the mission trips bear much fruit for the glory of God.

The Summer Storm

In north Baltimore County on Monday evening there was a powerful thunderstorm. There was an enormous sound light show courtesy of Mother Nature. It was an awesome display of the power and beauty of God’s creation. Just as the show was about to end (@8:30) the electric power in our house went out. We assumed that this would be a short outage and disruption to the family’s lazy summer night routine. But as the minutes and then hours passed the realization set in that this was going to possibly go well into the next day and we were in for a tough night. I must admit that for a long time (longer than I care to admit) we were downright miserable because all of our comforts and conveniences were gone. We were feeling so sorry for ourselves. Then all of a sudden I got a flashback to my trips to Jos in 2008 and 2009. On each trip I spent approximately 17 days in Nigeria. In Nigeria the lack of electricity is the norm rather than the exception. Many Nigerians are impoverished to the point where they cannot even pay for electricity. And even the few who do have the ability to pay, do without because the electricity service delivery system (owned and run by the national government) is extremely dysfunctional. Electricity is available on an irregular and unpredictable basis. Remembering this made the wait for the return of our electricity, even if it was for more than 24 hours, so much more bearable.

I will never forget what it was like not having electricity in Nigeria. Both times my trips were in August. Most of my time was spent at Faith Alive Hospital which is located in Jos which is on a plateau so it gets slightly cooler weather-high 80's,low 90's. I also visited The Anawim Home in Abuja which is hotter-high 90's. At both places our team spent much of our time sweating. Of course no air conditioning or fans. Windows are kept open and often there are no screens or the screens are broken. There is a mosquito problem and many people suffer from Malaria. Two Faith Alive staff people had Malaria while we were there in 2009. It is common there so even though they were sick they kept working. Having your windows open all the time can lead to another problem we never thought of for people living in the city or village. There was lots of loud sound coming in those windows! And the sound did not stop at night! There was a restaurant across the street from Faith Alive Hospital that played loud music. I guess they had a generator! Anyway, with no electricity darkness comes when it comes. We would sit around our sitting room quarters at night with our flashlight and take flashlights with us when we needed to go from room to room. Faith Alive does have generators for the hospital and the guest house so they can help the visitors and serve us meals. But as you travel around Jos you will see many of the people cooking their meals by fire. There is a lot of air pollution due to all the fires.

Nigerians deal with misfortune or adversity so much better than we do. It is what they are used to. We are used to being pampered. One thing I learned there is how to have better quality time with people. While my team member's and I sat around in the dark with our flashlights we had some great times--great stories and laughs shared. Monday night when the power outage happened my kids went for their games. Games and flashlights! What's this I thought? Wasn't this nice? We need to stop all this technology stuff and go back to quality family time and play games like we used to. I have 13 yr. old girl and a 14 yr. old boy. I suggested to them that we have a family game night 3 times a week. They said in unison,"3 times a week! MOM REALLY!" We settled on one. It is still progress.

Thank you to the Nigerian people for the time spent with you and for all that you taught me and for your never ending courage.

U.S. HIV/AIDS Funding Cuts

The following is a message on the status of the HIV/AIDS program at Faith Alive Hospital, from Dr. Chris Isichei, founder. As government funding decreases for HIV/AIDS, it becomes increasingly more important for private contributions to increase to fill this funding gap. Please pray with us for the Faith Alive patients.

I returned from a trip [for training at the Haggai Institute] and met with our team yesterday over a decision to halt fresh enrollment of newly diagnosed HIV cases into our program whether ARVs [Anti-Retrovirals] or Care [due to U.S. funding cuts]. We were however advised to refer to certain sites that still have vacancies.

On my first day back to work, we had about 15 new cases most insisting they will not go anywhere but rather die in Faith Alive. We had no choice but to accompany them to the various places we referred them to and assured them that they will continue to be part of Faith Alive family. We will follow them up to the end wherever they may be. This helped to some extent. I have insisted that pregnant women and children be excluded while I work out something for them….

It has dawned on me with bleeding heart that with this God given vision, I will have to watch and see some persons turned back from specifically ART [Anti-Retroviral Treatment] services but I pray that the follow up program instituted by the U.S. government will still allow us impact them for Christ. God bless."

Partners Prepare for Nigeria

Last summer, Faith Alive determined that the civil unrest in Jos presented risks that were too great for them to host their missionary partners. Since the election of Nigerian President Jonathan Goodluck, our partners in Nigeria are accepting visitors. A wonderful church that we partner with here in Timonium, The Church of Nativity is glad to be getting ready again for another missionary trip in August. This is the church that I am a member of and the missionary team that I traveled to Nigeria with in both 2008 and 2009. This post is from Brian Crook, the Director of Missions at Nativity:

The 2011 Nativity:Nigeria teams are about a month away from their departure date for a two-week mission trip to Nigeria. Church of the Nativity sends mission teams each summer to support and share life with their Nigerian partners, the Faith Alive Hospital and the Sisters of the Poorest of the Poor.
To ensure each missionary has a full experience, the mission teams engage in months of preparation that includes everything from shots and vaccinations to team building, prayer, and a half-day retreat. The focus of the short-term mission trips is on building relationships. By sending teams that are bonded and well connected, they have a tremendous opportunity to connect with the people in the communities of Jos and Abuja, to listen to and learn from them, and to share their experiences when they return home. By sending groups each year, Church of the Nativity stays closely connected with their partner communities and hopes to be ever-strengthening their long-term partnerships.
In addition to building relationships, in the weeks leading up to their departure, Nativity:Nigeria also hosts a Vitamin Drive. The teams will haul hundreds of pounds of vitamins with them that the partners will use to serve their local communities. Church of the Nativity is immensely grateful for its partnership with HFWAF and looks forward to working together on many future projects.

Photos:
top-Anawim team
bottom - Faith Alive team

Easter Photos from The Anawim Home

Here are some photos of Sr. Oresoa, sisters at the Anawim Home and the orphans that they help celebrating Easter. As you can see there is so much one on one attention and nurturing. The family atmosphere is so obvious. What a blessing to be an orphan at the Anawim Home, where the children get such loving care, compared to state run orphanages.

God bless the sisters for their selfless devotion to the well being of the children. Sr. Oresoa believes it is a privilege and a gift to be able to serve the poor. Not all of us can do the kind of work the sisters do, but we can support and encourage those who do. If we would start showing more love and compassion to the world, others will notice and many will begin to do so also.

A quote from Mother Teresa:

"I called you by your name," Jesus said. "You are mine. You are precious in my sight. I love you." If you love Christ, it will be easy for you to fully belong to Jesus and to give Jesus to everyone you find. God loves me. I'm not here just to fill a place, just to be a number. He has chosen me for a purpose. I know it.

An Easter Prayer from the Anawim Home

Below is an Easter prayer from the Anawim Home. Please join us in praying for our partners in Nigeria at Faith Alive Hospital and the Anawim Home to have peace and prosperity. At this time of year, let us remember the great gift that God gave us all, when His Son Jesus Christ died on the Cross and was resurrected to bring us new life.



A Little Prayer for Easter

For all our friends and partners at Hope for West Africa:
May the Joy & Love of Easter fill your souls and bring you peace!
May Christ, the risen King of Kings, fill all your days with blessings... and may God Almighty Himself reward your labor of love which you have shown towards us a hundredfold!
God bless you all at Easter and Always.
We love you!

from the Anawims


"Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives."

Romans 6:4


Photos:
Sr. Oresoa and the children
Anawim Home Chapel
The Singing Sisters

Easter Greetings From the Isichei and Faith Alive Families

The following is a message from Dr. Chris, his family and the Faith Alive community to our community of readers, for those of us celebrating Easter (and if not, it is still an inclusive message of love). Faith Alive Hospital focuses on different topics of scripture every month and how appropriate that this month the topic is the interest of others. Here is Dr. Chris' beautiful message to us:


The focus at Faith Alive Foundation Hospitals for the resurrection month of April is INTERESTS OF OTHERS—Philippians 2; 4.
At Easter, we are reminded that our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ left all the glory in Heaven and came down for wretches like you and me. He had our interests and did not desire us going through eternal condemnation.
It also reminds us of many persons all over the world who are through His grace having THIS SAME MIND OF JESUS CHRIST in many ways.
They have not allowed race, distance, color or different qualities/barriers in preventing them in MAKING GREAT DIFFERENCES IN THE LIVES OF MANY ESPECIALLY THE LESS PRIVILEGED AND PERSONS LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS.
“He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, And a great many people were added to the Lord”-Acts 11; 24.
Having the interests of others can be a great way of making disciples and thus fulfilling the great commission. In the same book of Acts, a follower of Christ was well known for his care and concern /interests towards others. His name was Joseph, but in the early church, the Apostles called him Barnabas—“son of encouragement”. It was Barnabas who vouched for the newly converted Saul when others doubted the sincerity of his faith .Later, Barnabas brought Saul from Tarsus to teach the believers in Antioch. And it was Barnabas who wanted to give John Mark a second chance after his failure on a previous missionary journey. Dorcas came back to life for the same reason—her generosity and interests of others. Let this be our daily uniform.
The brethren at Church of Nativity under the exemplary leadership of Rev. Fr. White, Hope For West African Foundation under the great directional leadership of Mrs. Diane Blattner, other organizations, churches and individuals immediately come to mind. I have personally tasted their love and will say that they have taught me how to have and show that having the interest of others has eternal value and reward.
We send our Easter greetings to you all. May the resurrection power continue in our lives, homes and careers to His glory through great interests in others that will lead and sustain them in our journey to Heaven.

Pictures:
1. Women from the Faith Alive Social Services Counseling Staff and Sewing Class
2. Faith Alive Community Children
3. The Isichei family - Drs. Chris and Mercy and their children

Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep

The children at the Anawim Home were so happy to receive new mattresses. They were made possible by one of our donors, Marjorie Forrester who recently visited the Anawim Home, through the HFWA Anawim Operating Supplies Project.

The mattresses were much needed at the Anawim Home. The previous mattresses were old and thin. Now finally the children can sleep comfortably. When they say their prayers at night,"now I lay me down to sleep," the Lord hears the prayers of the Anawim children. Somehow God continually works through the kindness of people who give donations and their time to the Anawim Home. This helps Sr. Oresoa keep her dream alive to help the poorest of the poor.

The children at the Anawim Home are mostly orphans that Sr. Oresoa has found abandoned in the streets. Some young mothers and their children who have nowhere else to go also stay there. Sr. Oresoa and the other Sisters feed, clothe, and educate the children. The children at the Anawim Home are joyful children and thankful for what they have. The say a daily prayer for their benefactors.

If you would like to help Sr. Oresoa in her mission and donate supplies for her children contact:

dblattner@hopeforwestafrica.org
or donate online www.hopeforwestafrica.org/donate/


LET ME GIVE

I do not know how long I will live,
but while I live, Lord, let me give
some comfort to someone in need
by my smile, a good deed or kind word
and let me do whatever I can to ease
things for my neighbor. I want
nothing but to do my part to lift a
tired or weary heart to change people,
frowns to smiles than I will not have
lived in vain. And I will not care,
how long I will live if only I can
give and give-and-give.

ORESOA

Enfolded in His Peace

I haven't known what to write about for awhile. We do not have any new approved projects right now at HFWA foundation but some are in the process, so we will be sharing news of these soon. I have also had a hard time trying to think of what reflections I might want to share with you. However someone had spoke at an event that left a strong impression on my mind for some time. I was not sure whether I should share it or not. So I have been praying about it. Today because of the beautiful 70 degree weather we are having here in Baltimore I got in the mood to do some early spring cleaning. As I was going through some old papers I came across an old story I had written about Nigeria but never posted and it made me think of Tim Blattner's eulogy for his brother John. This was what had left the impression that has been on my mind. So I took this as an answer from God to share this story.

The Blattner family (Diane Blattner is the President of the HFWA foundation) suffered the tragic loss of their son John in early January. He had been suffering from a rare form of lymphoma for the past 3 1/2 years. He was only 27 years old with a lovely wife and young son. He fought his battle bravely and gracefully. In the end he was able to be peaceful with his family lovingly surrounding him. With all he had suffered he wanted his family to know that God was merciful. The Blattners have such a strong faith. Yes they were in pain that most of us can not even imagine. But I want to share with you about peace in our Lord Jesus Christ. And about how we can help people have peace in a time of adversity. In their great loss the Blattners still had a peace. The pastor of our church said that how we handle great adversity is the strongest testimony we can ever give as Christians. Also being there for others who are going through great adversity is another strong testimony we can give as Christians.

I attended John's funeral service. The whole family gave such beautiful, touching eulogies for John. I was especially touched by Tim Blattner's eulogy, who is John's younger brother. Tim shared a story of his and John's journey to Nigeria and their visit at Faith Alive. Tim, like many of us who went to serve there felt so overwhelmed by the great need of the people. He did not know what he could possibly do to help. He was scared. He so wanted to help the people at Faith Alive but he was scared at failure. But there was his big brother John as usual. Tim shared how John had always been there for him as they grew up together. He always helped Tim whenever he was afraid. So John came up to Tim when he was feeling really bad one day and put his hand on his shoulder and said it will be alright Tim. Don't be afraid. You can do this. We will do this together. We will do whatever we can. God is with us.

I heard such love in this story of the relationship of an older and younger brother. As Tim was telling the story of how his brother John was always there for him telling him not to be afraid; I saw John as being the light of Jesus Christ for Tim. I also saw John being the light in helping Tim getting over the feeling of failing. Who hasn't felt this way at times? I was just so touched by Tim's honesty and courage to share that he was afraid and worried. This is not always easy for us to share. Then to hear how John just always stepped up for his younger brother. Siblings do not always do this for one another. It is something we all should do for everyone not just siblings.

I thought what would Jesus do? Did he not always step up to help those who were afraid, sick or troubled? Jesus is there for us now. He is our strength when we are weak. He is our peace when we are troubled. Jesus wants to work through us to help others. John let Jesus Christ work through him to show strength and peace during a time of adversity for Tim. How beautiful!

When I went to Faith Alive to serve I was also overwhelmed at first. I also thought what could I possibly do to help. It was Dr. Chris who helped me understand that anything I could do would be of help. Dr. Chris showed the love of Jesus Christ to me by sharing strength and peace during my time of adversity at Faith Alive. His words to me were, "Have confidence in Jesus Christ, Teresa!."

We have to trust in God. Let Him enfold us! God will help us to help others when we are in types of service that seems overwhelming like mission service. We all have gifts that God has given us that are meant to be used to minister to others. Then there are those times when it is not overwhelming and it is actually quite simple. When a sibling, friend, or co-worker is afraid, or troubled, can we not take the time to put our arm on their shoulder or put our arms around them and tell them that we care and that God is with them?

Don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me...I am leaving you with a gift--peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don't be troubled or afraid.

John 14:1,27 NLT

Praying for Peace

There has been civil unrest in Jos, Nigeria again and now even in Abuja which is the city where the Anawim Home is located. Christmas Eve bombings occurred in Jos and New Years Eve bombings occurred in Abuja. There have also been subsequent attacks on roads and villages. People do not feel safe anymore. This leads to very serious consequences for HIV patients at Faith Alive Hospital. The following is a prayer request we recently received from Faith Alive.

"Please pray with urgency that Save A Life (a program for HIV) patients will be able to access their lifesaving ARV's (anti-retro viral medications) during this season of political unrest and violence in Jos, Nigeria. It has been and will remain challenging for people to roam freely about the city doing their normal routines like working, banking, shopping, picking up their medications and seeing their doctors. A lapse in getting, and thus taking, their daily ARV's is dangerous because their bodies will most likely develop a resistance to the only type of ARV's that we have available for them. When this happens, their immune systems begin a downward spiral that leads to death. Your prayers for God to remain faithful and intervene are appreciated at least through May, when the next (or existing) Nigerian President is scheduled to be inaugurated and we look forward to a more peaceful atmosphere. The Faith Alive management is making efforts to ease these difficulties and Dr. Chris, his family, patients and Faith Alive staff send their appreciation for your support, concerns and prayers."


"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

Pass It On

The Anawim Home had a wonderful celebration for Christmas. They send their best wishes to all of us. They are grateful for all the support that has been given them and say that they are praying for us. That is Daniel in the picture that Sr. Oresao is holding. He is so happy with his new wheelchair.

Dr. Chris also sends his best to us. He wants us to know he has been able to give his walker to a patient at Faith Alive. He says,"Pictures that are attached are for a patient I visited at home who was sent back from Lagos to Jos to come die but we are currently treating her for TB and will soon commence ARVs. Unable to walk a few weeks ago, she can now attempt walking with the walker God graciously provided for me through all your efforts while receiving treatment in the U.S. She has remarkably improved with some hope of life. I APPRECIATE EVERYONE OF YOU. THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO. Wishing you all a blessed 2011. Chris"

It is so wonderful to know how good can be passed on to others. Two small gifts have been able to be passed on that have made life changes for the two recipients. Happy New Year to everyone. May we pass good on in 2011 and may the Anawim Home and the Faith Alive Community have a year full of blessings.