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Please read the letters below:
Letter from Brazilian
Student.
My name is
Eduardo Ribeiro and I am a student from Christ For The Nations
Institute at Dallas, TX. I’m also a member
of Shady Grove Brazilian Church
in Dallas and my pastor is Pr. Julio Pinto.
I was born in Brazil, in a town
called Campinas situated in the state of São Paulo. I accepted Jesus in
1993, during a service of the First Baptist Church, where I became a member
afterwards and attended for 6 years.
There, I also worked as the youth
leader. During that period, I also
started getting involved with the radio
industry, and I attended SENAC in São Paulo where I got certified in the
radio business. In 1996, I worked for
secular radio stations and also
Christian stations such as the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, for
one year and a half.
Later on God sent me, in 1998, to
a missionary institution (Youth With a
Mission, University for The Nations), confirming the word God had given to
me in Isaiah 55:3. That was then I
had my first contact with missions
directly. I enrolled for DTS classes
(Discipleship Training School) for 6
months. After concluding this course,
I went back to my church to bless them
with my work for some time, while still indirectly linked to YWAM,
proclaiming the Uni-Africa Project in many different churches and radio
stations, under the leadership of Clara Eleonora (leader of international
projects in YWAM – Rio de Janeiro).
In 2000, God confirmed His continuing
plan for my life, making it possible
for me to come to the USA, still working indirectly to YWAM. I received an
invitation from YWAM at Richmond, Virginia where I spent one month learning
about their work. I was sent here
with the blessed help from Heal Our Nation
Fellowship, my present home church in Brazil with Prs. Paulo and Sandra
Botelho. After spending one month in
Virginia, God directed me to Dallas, I
wasn’t certain why, but I was certain of one thing: God had a plan. That was
when I received an invitation from the pastor Julio Pinto and I started
working with the youth of Shady Grove Brazilian Church.
Today, one more of God’s promises to me
is coming true – to go to a seminary
and develop a pastoral ministry, now possible through Christ For The Nations
Institute, so I’ll go back to my country after, and start a church. I know
God has given me many other dreams that are still to be accomplished, but
what makes me happy is to know these are God’s dreams and I will spend my
whole life living His dream!!
With this letter I ask you for support
to win this new challenge that
is taking place right now. My church
hasn’t been able to support me
financially, so I am looking for people that may help me accomplish God’s
will in my life. At this moment I
have to spend $600.00 every month, at
CFNI. This amount includes my rent
for a room, since I live on campus and my tuition. I’m not asking you to help
me with the whole amount, but with whatever amount the Lord would put on your
heart. Any amount will come to me as
a blessing!
God
bless you very much, and thanks a lot!!! In the love of the Lord,
Eduardo Ribeiro
References e contacts:
Prs. Paulo & Sandra Botelho (Heal Our Nation Fellowship)
Campinas, SP – Brazil – (019) 3213-5221
Clara Eleonora (YWAM – Rio de Janeiro, RJ – Brazil)
(021) 676-1378 – claraaafricana@bol.com.br
Pr. Julio Pinto (Shady Grove Brazilian Church)
Garland – TX – (214) 575-8822
My Dorm number at CFNI: (214) 372-0803 – E-mail: redentor1@hotmail.com
Deposits: Bank of America, Account# 4791937734
If
you like to help Please e-mail at polpog@cs.com
The Letter from
Alexander Kotey, a Ghanaian, West Africa.
From: aquatic07@yahoo.com (Alexander
Kotey)
To: wgmi2000@aol.com
(World Gospel Ministry International)
Dear Pastor JOSEPH
SONG:
My name is Alexander kotey, a Ghanaian from West Africa. I am a
Christian student who is
twenty-three years of age and one with the call of God on him. I found
it a great privilege to have you find time to read my letter in spite of your
busy schedule.
I recently completed my secondary education and seek to further
my education in a tertiary
institution. But I am faced with several hindrances; this has to do with exams one must take to
qualify for the tertiary institution. To hit the nail on the head, I’m
hindered because of lack of money to settle the registration fee and to pay
for the other incentives like proper preparation for the exams-attending
classes.
Looking at my present situation (being a student) with
an income (food money) less than one U.S dollar. I could not afford the cost
of registration and tutorials, which amount to 400 U.S dollars.
Please sir, I do not intend to bother you with my
problems but circumstances have forced me to seek help from where it may be
given while praying. I hope that you find it in your heart to
assist one in dear need to fulfill his goal in the future. Any
help within your power is gladly welcomed.
I will be grateful for your response,
God bless you.
Amen!
Yours faithfully,
Alexander Kotey.
This is my address in case ,
ALEXANDER KOTEY,
BOX AN 10289,
ACCCRA-NORTH.
POSTAL CODE: 00233
If
you like to help Please e-mail at polpog@cs.com
(Praise our Lord, Praise our God)
The letter from
INDIAN STUDENT
Here is a letter from a Christian student from India who
is studying in France.
Dear Reverend
Pastor,
I
am Indian student doing my Masters in Psychology from the University of Paris
after completing a M.A. in Applied Psychology with specialization in Clinical
Psychology from the Central University of Jamia Millia Islamia, New
Delhi. I come from a very poor,
undeveloped rural area in Southern India.
Ours is a traditional society that does not give much importance to
education beyond secondary schooling.
To reach up to this level I had to suffer a lot and fight against
social pressure and the many obstacles of Indian life itself.
There are four children in our family– three girls and one boy. My father was an addicted alcoholic and he
abandoned all of us. The house and
the small plot fell in full debt when I was just three and half years and my
youngest sister only one and half.
According to our social system, our mother was supposed to leave us to
our father’s family and go back to her family but she did not want to do
that. She was only 29 and
sacrificially gave her whole life to raise us. Her sacrifices lifted us up and gave us a chance at life. She had to constantly swim against the
tide. When she decided to keep her children and try to raise them with a
normal life, most of the family rejected her. Without anybody to help, and everyone around mocking and
criticizing, she had a very difficult life.
She turned into a daily manual laborer, and earned very low wages
little by little for our day-to-day life.
In the beginning it was difficult for our family to go ahead but it
became a strengthening habit in the course of time.
Though my mother was illiterate, she had colorful dreams about us, her children. She wanted us to go to school and become
good examples in the village. With
the earnings that she had it was practically impossible for four of us to go
to school and become somebody in life.
It was really difficult to move on.
People considered us as illegitimate (even calling us names many
times) and claiming that our mother was a prostitute but she held to her
conscience and she lived a very holy life and gave everything that she had
for our betterment. Society never
encouraged us but our mother wanted us to study as much as we could.
After completing her School finals, my eldest sister started working as a
secretary in a Convent. Eventually
she became a nun. My second sister
started helping my mother at home after her School finals, as she was not as
good at her studies. In 1995 she was
married and we had to sell our small house to have enough dowry to guarantee
her a secure life. Thank God, she is having a happy life though she is not
rich.
My third sister, who is younger than me, would have stopped her studies after
School finals, if some Sisters from the North Indian State of Madya Pradesh
did not come to help us. They
proposed that she work for a year in their convent and then they would pay for
her Senior Secondary Education for a Pre-Medical Course. My sister agreed to it, as she wanted to
continue her studies. She went to
Northern India and worked for a year in the convent and then went on to
complete her Secondary Education.
As
for myself, I completed my School finals with good grades and the Highest
Mark in the local village school, which I attended. I could not go on for higher education, being the only son; I
was supposed to help my mother take care of the family. In fact, I had to forget my dreams of
continuing my education in order to help my mother who suffered a lot and
carried burdens beyond her capacity.
I joined her as a manual laborer and started working in the
agricultural fields in our village alongside her. But my aspiration to continue my studies was very high. I started to set apart a small amount from
my daily wages and after two years I saved enough money to join a
college. My mother understood how
intense my ambition was to go on to college.
I contacted the Parish Priest in the Catholic Church (where I went
every day for mass) to give me help to continue my studies. Unfortunately he discouraged my hopes
saying, “There was no meaning in doing much studies” and he claimed that I
was, “too poor to do the studies.” He
advised me to work in the fields so that I could help my mother. He also told me “to dream of higher
education is arrogance for a poor boy like me”. This began to discourage me from attending the Catholic
Church. I do believe in God and pray
to Him in my own style, which may not have a formal way of doing it. I know that it is God who brought me up to
here. Many of the other boys who had
all the advantages in the village simply remained at home after their School
finals. I know that the Lord
liberated me from bondage and despair.
I
went to a college for Pre-Degree Course 11 kilometers away from my
house. As I was a poor student, I
could not afford to rent a room. So I
walked 22 kilometers to and fro every day (there was no paved road either). I would work every Saturday and Sunday to
earn the money for my studies and to give a helping hand to my mother. Finally after two years of hard work and
study I was not only the best in the college but I came out with the First
Rank from the University itself.
Then
I had to move to the city to attend the next college for a B.A. in English
Language and Literature. Even though
I earned a small Scholarship, I could not afford all of my tuition. So I found a little hut in the nearby slum
and worked in the evenings and on weekends.
After two years, I earned a First Class and First Rank from the
College in my B.A degree. Then I took the National Entrance Examination for
M.A. in Applied Psychology with Clinical Specialization. I got in with 11th Rank. It was a two-year course and required a
three-month internship at the Institute of Human Behavior and Allied
Sciences. Finally, after the course,
I had improved to Third Rank.
Meanwhile, I was chosen by the Scientific and Cultural Council of The
Embassy of France to do a short-term research project on Indian Acculturation
in France. I went to France for three
months and completed my work and went back.
I then learned that my mother was diagnosed as having Cancer in an advanced
phase. It was a real shock to us
particularly to me. She could not do
her hard work anymore and our hearts were very broken. The whole responsibility of our family’s
needs, mom’s treatments, my sister’s and my own educational expenses fell on
my shoulders. I did everything within
my limits to get the best treatment for my mother. Though the Doctors gave her only three to six months’, she
lived for 3 years. She passed away on
the 15th February 2000.
After this tragedy, I was very shaken emotionally. Eventually, I prepared another Research project and sent it to
the University of Paris where it received the highest marks. They invited me to join the University for
a Masters program and the French embassy gave me a Research Fellowship, which
covered my travel expenses. Then the
University gave me a complete fee waiver again based on my successful
Research project. I have completed
the lecture part of my courses and am working on my research project, which I
would like to complete by this summer.
I am finding it extremely difficult to go ahead. Since it is my first year as an international student I do not
have the right to work in France. I
have also incurred some debt from the medical treatments for my mother and my
sister's education. So, I am finding
it really difficult to complete my course.
If I can complete my Master’s program I may get a complete fee
exemption for a Ph D program either in the University of Paris or in the Old
Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia, US.
But
I need to complete this year's course.
I am praying and looking for some individuals who could support me
financially in order to complete my studies here. I need to find enough support to help me have my food and rent
paid for three months. Would you pray about personally helping me or finding
others who could help me complete my studies in Paris?
My
rent for a month is 982 Francs, which is about $120, and food for a month (at
two meals a day) costs about 900 francs, which is $112. My total financial need is $996.00. You gifts would help me to finish this
course as early as possible. I can
look forward to finding a significant job once I have my degree.
I
would not have written to you unless my needs were real. I am not asking for
luxuries and extra comforts. I am
looking forward to hearing from those who are lead to support me
financially. With my food and rent
taken care of, I can fully concentrate on my studies to complete my
degree. I am looking forward to
having a reply from you. Thanking you
in anticipation.
Your
fellow believer,
Babu ABRAHAM
If
you like to help Please e-mail at polpog@cs.com (Praise our Lord, Praise our God)
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