From the Sengas

Christmas Greetings!
May this season of Christ's birth find all of our loved ones, friends, families, coworkers, and acquaintances, overflowing with the peace, joy, and love of our Lord!
Remember Immanuel, God is with us! As we go through the hustle and preparation of the season, the warm family gatherings, or perhaps the long lonely evenings of painful reminders of yesterdays long gone, let's hold on to the hope that Immanuel, God, is with us! Share this truth with someone new this season. Someone who is dying to meet a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. Take time to open the Bible to Luke chapter 2 and read the real story of the first Christmas for yourself or make it a family tradition. May our God bless and keep each one of you now and throughout the New Year!
We would love to hear from you! Our address is 2813 Ruscombe Lane, Baltimore MD, 21215
Telephone is 410-542-5909.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the “Source d’Eaux Vive” family to yours. We pray that this season will bring you peace and joy. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.” Luke 2:14. “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6. As you celebrate Christmas this year remember salvation has come to you, this day.

God blessings,

Source d’Eaux Vive

Meet Julio

Thirteen years old, Julio is not really what you would call a street child since he has a home he can go to every night. But like many children roaming in the streets of Kinshasa, Julio is forced to work to survive. He worked in a barber shop for a little over $ 2.00 (2000 Congolese Francs) a month. For three months he worked without spending a Franc so he could start his own business. He had to walk for more than one hour every morning to get to work; he would have spent his entire monthly wage to use public transportation in one day. With his savings, Julio bought a few items he sells on busy streets, open air restaurants, and other places people tend to gather.

This is without saying that he cannot go to school. His parents have actually stopped to support any of his needs since he makes money. They are struggling to survive themselves, and Julio does not have any resentment toward his parents, nor anyone else. He has a smile that would definitely win your hearts, Julio lives a life of contentment. When I asked him, he said simply, “I am unable to get upset at anyone, that’s just me.”

Please help me make a difference in the life of Julio and other kids like him before he becomes corrupted. I asked Julio how I can get in touch with him, I said, I want to help you…he said “pastor, you will find me on these streets. When you are ready to help, I will just be where I am everyday, in the streets.” Help me take Julio and children like him off of the streets.

Launched

On May 16, 2008, Jean followed the call of God and went ahead of his family to the Democratic Republic of Congo to scope out the land for the ministry and lay the groundwork. Deborah and the three children Micah, Jonathan, and Michelle, stayed behind and lifted up Jean’s arms in prayer and prepared to journey to Congo in fall of 2008. Only a week after his arrival in Congo, Jean was offered a property to start an orphanage (the person offering the property did not know about our desire to start an orphanage.) We are planning to start the orphanage before the end of this year, 2008.

On June 15^th, 2008, Jean held the first meeting for the church Sources d’Eaux Vives with 4 people. The weeks that followed, the church had a steady attendance of an average of 30 people. In those few weeks, Jean has been fortuned to help, encourage, and counsel with many people, he helped for example a young couple balance Christianity and tradition as they were having issues with their respective families in the marriage process; and helped also 12 high school students coping with the stress of taking the national state exam, one of the most important events of their lives. Jean returned to the US on July 29^th and Sunday August 3^rd, 2008 the church had an attendance of 28 people. In the time Jean was in the Congo, he trained leaders and scheduled speakers every week until his scheduled return. Our vision is to empower people, and we have started doing just that, starting in the church.

Finally on the road

Packing and getting rid off things we accumulated in the last years, took longer than we planned. Fortunately on Monday night we were done and ready to go.
We left Edgewood at 4 AM, drove taking as many stops as possible and made it to North Carolina at 3 PM. Check out the pictures from the trip.

North Carolina

Our trip to North Carolina, which is the first stop of our trip to the Congo, is scheduled this week-end. Please pray for us...that God will protect us in this trip and bless us. We also need God to help us getting everything ready before we leave.

We have great kids that enjoy long trips. They are very excited since we will be staying with great people. Please pray for this wonderful family that has opened their home and hearts to our family.

Jean's Trip

It is finaly around the corner. Jean will be going to the Congo sometime after May 9th. His mission is to establish things in Kinshasa. He will start the processus of launching out the church, licensing, finding the proper geographical area, evangelism, and reaching out to "The Children of the Street." Parallell to this, he will work on setting up things for the rest of the family to make sure that the adaptation to the new environment, new culture, new everything, will be as smooth as possible.

We thank all of you that pray for us.