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Newsletters
NPC has partnered with the Children of Bethlehem ministry in Sorocaba, Brazil, since 2003, but it was only after our first mission trip there in April, 2006 that we fully understood and appreciated all that this wonderful ministry is doing. The Children of Bethlehem mission is to provide assistance to children, teenagers and family members who are directly or indirectly affected by the AIDS virus. The work is performed through a day care center, a shelter, an elementary school, and in-home services to individuals threatened by the AIDS virus, including pre-natal assistance to pregnant women. The ministry offers hope to approximately 250 desperately poor and needy individuals affected by the virus, and it is currently assisting some 60 children, ranging from zero to 14 years of age.
Maria, a young Brazilian mother whom the Missions Team met in April, and her husband, both have full-blown AIDS and may not live much longer. She and her family would be lost indeed if the Children of Bethlehem staff had not come alongside them years ago. While it has become too late to turn the tide of the disease for Maria and her husband, she was willing to receive the pre-natal care offered by the ministry, and as a result, today all four of her children are HIV negative. They continue to thrive at the shelter where they are loved and cared for by a committed staff, and at the elementary school where the entire curriculum is geared to teach them that their lives have purpose and they are utterly precious to God. Maria and her husband receive regular visits from the ministry’s nurse and pastor, both of whom pray with her consistently. Maria and her family are but a few of the many lives that are being sought out, cared for and rescued by the Children of Bethlehem ministry.
Members of NPC who travel to South America on business or pleasure might pray about a sense of call to this emerging ministry.
Newsletters
September 2008
November 2008 |
