Dear Ebenezer Viewers,

EBENEZER STAFF AND CHILDREN WISHES ALL OUR LOVING FRIENDS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD, WHO HAVE HELPED US SO SINCERELY AND READILY, THE MOST BLESSED AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR FOR 2009. MAY GOD REPLENISH YOU AND ADD MORE TO ALL YOUR RESOURCES, FOR THE WAY YOU HAVE HELPED US. WORDS CANNOT EXPRESS OUR GRATITUDE FOR ALL THE HELP YOU HAVE RENDERED TO US. WE ARE SO GRATEFUL TO YOU!

The year 2009 began with some GREAT miracles for us here in Ebenezer. I am sure most of you must have received my newsletter "A Mother’s Plea for Prayer." I am sure you heard that we have a 6 year old girl by the name of Sheila who needs heart surgery. Sheila was diagnosed with a hole in the heart and she needed immediate surgery. We sent out a Newsletter and we kept on praying which was the only thing we could do in our circumstance. We didn’t know who could help us with $15-20 thousand dollars needed for the surgery. But God knew someone, and somehow we were directed to an Organization in South Africa, named the Walter Sisulu Foundation. It was Divine Providence!

My husband and I were given an appointment by them on the 11th of December and we met the most amazing people you could imagine. They were so kind and understanding and assured us that they would do their best when the Committee met.

We received a letter from them last week that they have decided to do the operation free of charge for our little girl and that they would also accommodate a caregiver from Ebenezer for the period of time the child needed to stay there. WHAT AN AWESOME MIRACLE? HOW COULD ONE RECEIVE SUCH NEWS WITHOUT SHEDDING TEARS OF GRATITUDE? SOMEONE HAD PUT IN A WHOLE LOT OF MONEY TO HELP OUR LITTLE GIRL! PRAISE GOD. WE CANNOT THANK THESE PEOPLE ENOUGH FOR THEIR TIMELY HELP!

Rachael, Sheila and my husband, Dr. Chara would be traveling to Johannesburg on the 1st Feb. Her operation is on the 4th of Feb. Please do our keep this little one in your prayers. She has no idea what is happening though or how serious everything is. She only knows she is going to South Africa and she is very happy.

All the others who know how serious this is, are praying all the time for little Sheila. They will never stop praying until the operation is over. We are assured that God will hear us. Please do pray with us, for the Medical Staff, and for Sheila.

THE MIRACLE OF OUR FARM:

Ebenezer feeds nearly 325 children and staff everyday. As you know, this is a lot of money. We also feed the men at our building site which is another 25-30 people on an average day. We have 280 children in our school at present and World Food Program was sending us 40 bags of Maize per month, up until September last year. This was an enormous help not only to us, but to many schools around us. But suddenly they stopped the support to all the schools for reasons we do not know.

Even though this was a big blow to our economy, I didn’t have the heart to stop children having their mid-morning porridge. For most small graders, the porridge is the only meal they have a day. And to take that from them was unthinkable!

As a result, our food bills were astronomical after World Food Program withdrew. But God who knows everything, worked out a great miracle for us this year.

A couple we knew, offered us their farm at a price of $ 10,000/=. I shrugged my shoulders very doubtfully..........what with raising money for our Building Program and the endless Building costs...No, not a farm now! I knew of course that it was a brilliant idea to have a farm, I loved a farm. BUT....you always have your buts.........!

Thank God though, He took my ‘but’ out of the way and He raised up a couple of Awesome people who took up the challenge and raised money for the farm in just a few days!!! It just blew my mind away, it happened so fast that we were all so shocked. So Praise God we now have an 11 hectare farm, with 76 fruit bearing orange trees, and a bore hole. A river runs by it and we also have 145 meters of river frontage, isn’t that Glorious! What a miracle, what an AWESOME GOD!!! And the farm is only 5 km away from town. But it looks like another world!

We have the privilege to harvest where we did not sow! Our kids are so thrilled they cannot believe it is truly happening. God Bless you for all your help and support, our hearts are filled with gratitude and Praise. May 2009 be a blessed year for you.

Always committed to the Cause of the children,

Ranji