Serve the House | Serve the City | Serve the Globe – Celebration Church in Austin, TX

Hello Celebration Family! We wanted to send out an update of what is going on at our orphanage Altagrace in Haiti! The update we received came with some unofficial photographs from a member of the C3 Global team who was able to visit Altagrace and shed some light on how our beautiful kids are doing!

The photos you see are from inside the orphanage compound. You can see some of the younger kids as well as some of the older girls in a makeshift classroom. You can also see their kitchen. Several parts of their facility have structural damage and cannot be used. The ones of the severely damaged building are from behind the main structure. They would like to build up this area for more rooms and facilities. There is damage but some of the rooms are still able to be used. Some of the rubble behind the building was there prior to the earthquake.

The younger kids here were adorable and just wanted to be held and loved on. The older girls were in class so we didn’t get to talk with them much but they seemed intrigued and very interested in our presence there.

The orphanage is located in the Ouest province, with the closest city being downtown Port Au Prince. Haiti is quite mountainous and has a very diverse landscape—mountains, coastal, plains—Altagrace occupies some plain land. The primary language spoken is Creole, with French being secondary (this is common throughout Port Au Prince and most of Haiti).

The building complex is concrete and is in moderate condition. The floors are concrete and the roof is metal sheeting and concrete. Altagrace has public electricity that is moderately reliable. There is also a well on site that provides safe drinking water. This facility has moderate sanitation as well. There is an indoor kitchen that cooks with propane or kerosene. Our orphanage has some storage, and has a moderate level of security—a 3 on a scale of 1-5. There is a healthcare facility on the orphanage property, and the kids receive 3 meals and a snack a day. We currently have no kids with special needs or HIV/AIDS.

We currently house 42 orphans, of which 24 are boys (18 are under 5, 5 are between 6 and 9 years old and one is over 12) and 18 girls (13 are between 0 and 5 years old, 3 are between 6 and 9 and 2 are between 10 and 12 years old). Every one of our children are in school!

Please stay tuned to Celebration Serves for more updates and pictures from Altagrace! Thank you for your continued prayers and support!

This weekly Vision/Information/Prayer (V.I.P.) thought is designed to inspire, inform and focus Celebration Serve Teams around why we do what we do.

Sunday, July 4th & Wednesday, July 7th

Vision:
Proverbs 15:32-33 NLT, “If you reject discipline, you only harm yourself, but if you listen to correction, you grow in understanding.  Fear of the Lord teaches wisdom and humility precedes honor.”

Discipline, correction and humility are not “fun” words, but God tells us to embrace them in order to enjoy understanding, wisdom and honor!  As a Serve Team, how can we increase in discipline?  What can we do better, quicker, tighter? What correction do we need to hear?  Arrive on time or, perhaps, improve our skills?  Let’s listen to the instruction of our Team Leaders and the Spirit of the Lord to make changes and then watch what God will do!

Information:

Camp: Monday, July 5, last day to register
Elementary (entering 2nd – 5th grade):  Wed, Jul 28 – Sat, Jul 31, $280
Middle School (entering 6th – 9th grade): Sun, Jul 25 – Wed, Jul 28, $280

Motion Conference: High School Students & Young Adults are taking a road trip to Birmingham, Alabama!  Thursday, Jul 29 – Sun, Aug 1, $250.

Encounter: Mark your calendars, July 23 & 24. Encounter is a powerful time of teaching and ministry – come expecting God to do something, be fully refreshed while you’re there, and leave empowered to do life at a whole ‘nother level!

Prayer:
Leaders – Share specific instruction about how we must improve as a team.

Teams –  Pray for humility, strengthened discipline, and a heart ready to receive correction.  Why?  For God’s glory!

Did you know that there are children without homes here in Central Texas? Celebration Church has recently begun a relationship with an incredible local organization. Family Link is a non-profit Licensed Foster Care and Adoption agency that works directly with Child Protective Services to find homes for children who have been abused, neglected or exploited. Family Link was founded by Mariah and Wilde and her family because, “as foster and adoptive parents ourselves; we recognized the incredible need for safe and loving foster or adoptive homes for these children. God has a great purpose and destiny for each of them but they need a family for that to be accomplished.”

Family Link is constantly receiving heart breaking phone calls, children who have been abused, neglected, forgotten, mistreated. Many times siblings are separated because a home is not found for all 6 children (for example) in order for them to stay together. There are so many stories–a teenage girl who has been kicked out of her home because she is pregnant. The girl wants to keep the baby, but must have a home where she is loved in order for the new baby to be healthy and loved as well. Children who are victims of domestic violence, and are removed to prevent any further harm. On the Family Link web-site Mariah says, “Day and night we receive calls, “Do you have a home for a newborn, 1, 5, 10, 13 yr old pregnant teen…?”  The stories of how these precious children are found are absolutely heartbreaking, but the after stories, of their new lives once they are placed in loving homes will make you want to sing! What the general public may not realize is that there is reimbursement for foster care; insurance is provided, as well as free adoptions and state college tuition!

In John 14:18 (ESV), Jesus says, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” If He comes to us, shouldn’t we come to those who need us? In James 1:27 (ESV) it says, ” Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”

I (Meagan Brantley) recently had the opportunity to visit with Mariah and some of the incredible Foster and Adoptive Families in our area at a BBQ at Mariah’s house last week. These kids are just like every other child you know, they are sweet, funny, playful and incredibly precious. I loved getting to play with sweet babies in the kiddie pool, visiting with the wonderful parents who have so graciously accepted God’s call to love. Currently there are several children waiting to be placed in families–children of all races, ages and backgrounds–they just need someone to love them and call them their own!

If you are interested in Foster Care or Adoption here are some resources that might be of interest to you:

Foster Care and Adoption Conference Call (call at any time, it is a recording) 218-862-1099 Access Code: 627772#.

The next Family Link training set is: July 10th and 17th from 9:30am to 9:00pm at Family Link (9433 Bee Cave Rd. Bldg. I, Ste 250 Austin TX. 78733)

For more information on Family Link visit: http://familylinkkids.com/

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