Remembering a Day We’ll Never Forget

Posted on January 12, 2012 by Stephanie J
On this day two years ago, the Haitian people cried out in unspeakable pain. It’s a day I will never forget—and I know the Haitian people will never forget it either.

On this day two years ago, the Haitian people cried out in unspeakable pain. It’s a day I will never forget—and I know the Haitian people will never forget it either.

On this day two years ago, the Haitian people cried out in unspeakable pain. It’s a day I will never forget—and I know the Haitian people will never forget it either.

January 12, 2010 began like any other day in Haiti. There was nothing remarkable about it at first. Children went to school, parents went to work, shoppers filled the marketplace, and the colorful Haitian buses, called tap-taps, buzzed through the streets of Port-au-Prince.

It was just a regular Tuesday — until the unthinkable happened.

Without warning, a massive 7.0-magnitude earthquake shook the earth violently; buildings swayed and toppled into piles of rubble; cars flew into the air and collided with one another; the Presidential Palace and National Cathedral crumbled. In about 45 seconds, more than 220,000 innocent people were crushed to death, about 300,000 were injured, and 1.5 million who once had a home and belongings suddenly had nothing to call their own but pain and grief.

It’s hard not to wonder why such a terrible tragedy happened to Haiti’s people. But that’s where we need to stop and look to the gospel for answers. Consider this passage: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33.

God is present with us always, both in tragedy and in triumph. He doesn’t cause suffering; instead, he overcomes it. Even on the dark day of January 12, 2010, he was there in Haiti, comforting his people and holding them close.

If I close my eyes, I can see Jesus laying there with the children under the rubble, wrapping his arms around them and protecting them. I can also see him carrying souls away to heaven and bringing his believers to the golden streets.

Please join me in a prayer for Haiti’s people as we remember what happened two years ago today.
Father, because of your son we can enjoy peace in a world marked with tragedy. Because of you we can offer comfort to the world, even if they don’t yet know you. Because of your love, we can rest secure in your arms, even in the midst of suffering. On Good Friday, you suffered the ultimate tragedy, giving up your only son, because you love us. Thank you, Lord, for suffering tragedy for us and with us. We pray these things in Christ’s victorious name. Amen.

-Stephanie J

Categories: Disaster Relief, Haiti | Tags: , | Leave a comment

Thank You from the Philippines

Posted on January 10, 2012 by Tony M
With Cross’ help, filthy slums are being replaced by new, brightly-painted homes.

With Cross’ help, filthy slums are being replaced by new, brightly-painted homes.

Cross has been working with Gawad Kalinga in the Philippines to transform the slums of metro Manila into thriving communities. The difference is like night and day, and you can see the change not only in the landscape but also in the hearts and minds of the families who now have so much hope.

Here’s an amazing letter we recently received from the Linga family:

 I am Dalisay Linga. My husband, Alberto, and I were blessed with a son. My family is a beneficiary of Gawad Kalinga in Mandaluyong City. My husband works as a tricycle driver with a monthly income of $68.

Our area was a typical squatter’s area, narrow pathways, dirty surroundings surrounded by smelly, open manholes. The houses were made of discarded materials and wood and are attached to each other, which made them prone to fire.

Gambling and other vices were common in the area during those times. There were gang riots every night and fights between neighbors.

Now, our house is made of concrete, two-stories, with bedroom and bathroom. I’m no longer afraid of fire because my house can withstand fire. The alleys are wide and clean, the drainages are covered. Gambling ceased and peace reigns over the place.

Our community is changing into a beautiful community. Now, it doesn’t look like a squatter’s area but an exclusive subdivision. It will be more beautiful when all the house constructions are finished.

To Gawad Kalinga and Cross International, I hope you will never get tired of helping the poor people like me. I am very happy that I was among the blessed ones to receive your help. You have given my family a wonderful gift when you helped us build our house. Thank you very much.

-Tony M.

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Remembering

Posted on January 5, 2012 by Nola B
Please Keep Haiti and the long-term recovery efforts of our Haitian partners in your prayers.

Please Keep Haiti and the long-term recovery efforts of our Haitian partners in your prayers.

When Cross International was launched more than a decade ago in South Florida, we began the majority of our overseas ministry in Haiti—only 90 minutes from Florida’s shore, yet the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Today we continue to work with many of the same partners we first sponsored in those fledgling years. Together “we are co-workers in God’s service.” (1 Cor. 3:9a)

It’s been nearly two years since the earthquake devastated Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital city and metropolitan center. We still mourn the loss of friends and loved ones. We have a deeper appreciation for the Lord’s divine strength to endure. And we have a profound respect for Haitian survivors who continue to praise the Lord as they pick up the pieces of their lives.

Please…Keep Haiti and the long-term recovery efforts of our Haitian partners in your prayers.

-Nola B.

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Ringing in the New Year

Posted on January 3, 2012 by Tony M
Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

2012 is here! And the blogosphere is buzzing with New Year’s resolutions, end-of-the-world theories, and political campaign predictions. With the holidays behind us, society’s focus has shifted a little more toward personal weight loss goals and a little less toward feeding the hungry.

But of course, hunger never takes a holiday.

I’m sure many people in the countries we serve are simply grateful they’ve survived to see the new year, because there were times when they would have had no hope if not for the support from our donors. 2011 brought many hardships – from the Horn of Africa drought to the floods in the Philippines – but our overseas ministry partners served faithfully and will continue to serve faithfully in 2012.

The move from December 31st to January 1st isn’t really any different from other passages of days, except for the meaning we impose on it – in this case, a sense of new beginnings and second chances and the unfolding of God’s redemptive purposes through our lives. Here at Cross, we’re firing on all cylinders as we prepare for a new season and as we look ahead to the continuing needs of the poor and determine how we can be a relevant force for change, materially and spiritually, in their lives. As always, we plan to offer lots of fantastic outreach opportunities, and I believe that with your help, we’re going to bless a lot of people.

Please pray that God will continue to prosper our efforts in 2012 as we carry the good news of Jesus Christ to the poorest of the poor in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa and Asia.

-Tony M.

Categories: Hunger and Feeding, poverty | Tags: , | Leave a comment

Dreaming Big through Education

Posted on December 29, 2011 by Tony M
Thanks to Christian Light Foundation and our Cross donors, Children from one of the poorest, most desolate areas of Haiti are getting an education and learning to dream of a better future.

Thanks to Christian Light Foundation and our Cross donors, Children from one of the poorest, most desolate areas of Haiti are getting an education and learning to dream of a better future.

We often write about the value of education in the struggle against poverty. But I think the message is more compelling when it comes from the mouths of the Christian missionaries who are actually working with the children of the poor on a daily basis in Cross-sponsored schools.

Here is a letter from a staff member of Christian Light Foundation, a ministry that, with support from Cross donors, has been operating in a harsh, desolate area of Gonaives, Haiti, in a place called Jubilee:

We dream big here in Jubilee. These kids live a life of extremes so we refuse to dream in anything but extremes. We dream of green plants in this barren land. We dream of one of our kids becoming president. We dream of each and every one of them graduating high school and realizing they can do whatever they want. We dream they all realize their potential. And every day we work towards these dreams coming true.

It may sound like ABCs and 1,2,3s, but these kids are actually learning they can do things beyond their imaginations. We draw and color and sing and dance, and through it all the kids find self-esteem they hadn’t even the remotest idea existed. In dress-up, they realize they can dream of future jobs. Legos build manual dexterity and the dream that one of our kids will someday build tall buildings of more than blocks. We bang tambourines and rain sticks and believe that one of these kids will end up on the radio. They have amazing potential – it just needs to be fostered.

Education is their way up in the cruel environment they were born into. It is what waters these fragile plants and promises life in the driest of conditions. With an education they can do more than secure a well paying job, they can dream. They can think beyond survival and think more of their God-given potential. They have something amazing to offer this world, if only they have the chance to show it.

-Tony M.

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Merry Christmas to Christ’s Disciples

Posted on December 22, 2011 by Stephanie J
Thank you to John and his team at Amigos for Christ for all their hard work this year bringing relief to the poor.

Thank you to John and his team at Amigos for Christ for all their hard work this year bringing relief to the poor.

This Christmas, many lay missionaries—and many of our ministry partners—will be spending Christmas out in the field, ministering to the poor they serve. These disciples of Christ might be serving hot meals, visiting the elderly, or doing other meaningful work on behalf of the poor on Christmas Day in addition to celebrating Christ’s birth.

Here’s an excerpt of a conversation we recently had with John Bland, founder of our longtime ministry partner Amigos for Christ in Nicaragua. John explains how Christ calls us to help each other and spread the gospel all year long, which is why he ended up in the mission field bringing food, housing, water, and hope to the poorest of the poor in Nicaragua.

There’s a definitive command in the Bible to help your brother. Jesus said it on numerous occasions, so for us the backbone of everything we do is Christ-centered, and what’s actually come to pass and how this has played out for us is, it’s the best way to get a chance to build relationships with people and have the credence.

When you spend a lot of time digging ditches with people and doing the basics, working alongside people and getting to know them, if you want to share the gospel with anybody, they’re gonna know you already, and that’s a big deal, because if they know you as a person, it’s like you telling them, “Man I saw the most awesome movie.” If they know you already, they’re gonna have some credence to that, what you’re saying.

Sharing the gospel is the same thing. If they get to know you and know that you’re really in it for the long haul with them and not just short time. If you’re there for the long haul, and really get to build into them as people, then you start doing programs with them that give them an avenue…to help them to see that yeah hey there are some very tangible things that God is doing, and one of the tangible thing is he’s sending a group of people to come help, and that’s kind of what we want to be for them.

Thank you to John and his team at Amigos for Christ for all their hard work this year bringing relief to the poor. Thank you also to all the Christians who’ve helped John and many other lay missionaries in developing countries through their support for Cross International!

-Stephanie J.

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Merry Christmas from Reencontro!

Posted on December 20, 2011 by Stephanie J

On a recent visit to one of our ministry partners in Mozambique, Reencontro, our Africa Projects Officer received a letter of thanks that seemed very fitting to share with you during this Advent season. It’s from 17-year-old Carolina, a girl caring for her siblings after their parents passed away.

Carolina’s life was dramatically transformed because of Reencontro’s help, and she wished for us to pass her words along to the many American Christians like you who helped change her life this year by supporting Cross. From children on the other side of the world in Africa and from all of us at Cross International, Merry Christmas and may you be blessed this season!

Carolina Sitoe & her family

Carolina Sitoe & her family

Dear friends,

My name is Carolina Sitoe and I am living with my sisters and brothers. We are double orphans and I have the responsibility of taking care of my younger siblings. We deeply and emotionally thank our friends for the support they have provided, mainly the house we live in as a family in comfortable conditions.

We promise you, our friends, that we are not worried anymore. We are focusing on our studies and forming a better future.

Our deepest thanks from the heart,
Carolina

-Stephanie J.

Categories: Africa, children | Tags: , | 1 Comment

It’s A Wonderful Life

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Annie W
With the help of Cross, CCT has helped thousands of impoverished people start their own businesses and lift their families out of destitution.

With the help of Cross, CCT has helped thousands of impoverished people start their own businesses and lift their families out of destitution.

My family has a yearly Christmas tradition. After a marathon day of holiday baking, we all settle down with warm cups of peppermint hot chocolate and watch the Christmas classic, “It’s A Wonderful Life”. I always find myself cheering for the film’s protagonist, George Bailey—especially when he uses his own money to help save the poorest residents of Bedford Falls from the impact of the stock market crash.

But this year this scene took on new significance—because this year, I had real-life “George Baileys” in mind. In the Philippines, Cross International ministry partner, the Center for Community Transformation (CCT), gives poor, but aspiring entrepreneurs micro-loans, training, and spiritual support to help them build profitable businesses. With Christ at the center of their mission, CCT has helped thousands of impoverished people lift their families out of destitution. One of their Cross-supported branches in Lipa has given more than 900 ambitious entrepreneurs financial assistance and strengthened their spirits through weekly Bible studies. And there has been a resultant ripple effect that has positively impacted the entire community.

Like George Bailey discovers in the movie—that Bedford Falls would be a much bleaker place without his help—it’s hard to think where the poor in Lipa would be without the existence of CCT. They would still be crippled by their oppressive poverty, unable to receive the loans they desperately needed from the banks. But thankfully, with the support of Cross and compassionate Christians, CCT is able to reach the poorest of the poor with life-saving micro-finance and the life-giving Gospel.

God bless all of our supporters who are helping give poor Filipinos the opportunity to live a Christ-filled, successful, and wonderful life!

-Annie W.

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Black Friday in Nicaragua

Posted on December 13, 2011 by Tony M
“When we turned that on, the water was just gushing. It was beautiful… We couldn’t get the kids out of there!”

“When we turned that on, the water was just gushing. It was beautiful… We couldn’t get the kids out of there!”

I don’t need to tell you about the Black Friday mayhem of crazed shoppers, big bargains, long check-out lines, and subsequent buyer’s remorse (or in my case, a quiet day at home putting up Christmas decorations).

But there’s another Black Friday story you may not know. A story of Nicaraguan villagers turning on their water faucets for the first time and celebrating the gift of clean water.

This fall, Cross launched a campaign to help Amigos for Christ provide clean water and sanitation for 14 remote Nicaraguan villages, where children have been suffering from parasites, diarrhea and chronic dehydration because of their dependence on contaminated, unreliable water sources.

The project has been labor-intensive, due to the challenges posed by the mountains, forests, a scorching dry season, and a mud-soaked rainy season. But on Black Friday, two of the 14 villages at last achieved their dream of clean water.

Amigos director John Bland told me what an inspiration it was to be in El Chonco and La Nuevo Hoya for the inauguration of the new water systems. The villagers gathered at a local school to watch him turn on the first shower, then the children went wild, playing in the shower as if it were an open fire hydrant on a hot city street.

John said, “When we turned that on, the water was just gushing. It was beautiful… We couldn’t get the kids out of there!”

The most moving part for John was when a young pregnant woman stepped into the shower stream, fully clothed, laughing as she lifted her shirt to let the water pour on her belly and unborn child. John told me, “Everything was worth it in that moment… That baby is going to grow up never knowing what it was like to not have water.”

What a fantastic Christmas gift – and more proof positive that the support from our donors really does make a difference!

Please keep John and the Amigos team in your prayers as they continue their hard work of installing the water systems for the Nicaraguan villages.

-Tony M.

Categories: thank you, Water | Tags: , | Leave a comment

A Cardboard Crib

Posted on December 8, 2011 by Annie W
Little Diego was abandoned and left in a trash heap in a cardboard box.

Little Diego was abandoned and left in a trash heap in a cardboard box.

But thanks to Cross, Esperanza de Vida was able to rescue Diego and he is now a happy, healthy infant—a true Christmas miracle!

But thanks to Cross, Esperanza de Vida was able to rescue Diego and he is now a happy, healthy infant—a true Christmas miracle!

The Christmas tree was lit. The angels were dressed in white and gold. And the nervous laughter of my students filled the air as they waited for their parents and friends to find their seats.

As the lights dimmed, I quickly placed the hay in the cardboard manger and prompted the kids to take their places—it was time to start. Helping my students with their parts in the annual Christmas play was one of my favorite memories from my time spent as a teacher in Malawi. A very talkative Joseph, an over-zealous wise man, and a crying baby Jesus in a makeshift manger still make me smile today.

I was recently reminded of that special scene as I read a report from Cross International’s ministry partner Esperanza de Vida in Guatemala. But sadly, the context was quite different.

Little Diego entered the world crying, hungry, and alone. Like the baby Jesus in the Christmas play, his bed was made of cardboard. The difference is, he did not return to the warm arms of his parents once the curtains fell. Instead, he was abandoned, loosely wrapped in threadbare cloth, and left in a trash heap in a cardboard box.

Diego’s first days of life are a stark contrast to the love and cheer most of us experience during the holidays. But thanks to compassionate Christians through Cross, this is not where his story ends. Once Esperanza de Vida heard about Diego’s plight, they rescued him and provided him with Cross-supplied food and medical care. Because of the nutrition and kindness he is receiving, today Diego is a happy, healthy infant, who is growing up in the loving arms of a Christian community.

Thank you to our wonderful supporters! Because of you, Diego is a true Christmas miracle!

-Annie W.

Categories: children, poverty | Tags: , | Leave a comment