Take a look what Palabra, Pan y Pez is doing in Barrio La Cruz…

The Haitian death toll stands at 230,000 people. There are more than 1.2 million people who are living in spontaneous settlements and more than 460,000 people who have left Port-au-Prince for outlying areas.
-Office for the Coordination fo Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

Julio Distributing Supplies

CFCI missionaries Julio and Suzette Volcy have been coordinating the shipment of relief supplies and assisting in food distribution and medical care.  Julio was able to help and minster to 4,000 people through medical treatments, counseling and feeding. They have adopted  the area of Lamotte, a suburb of the capital, to distribute food and set up a medical clinic.

How to help….
Pray for the people in Lamotte and for Julio and Suzette.
Give to CFCI’s Haiti Relief Fund.

Give.
Through donations given, CFCI is sending immediate relief aid to Haiti through ministry partners that are in the country. CFCI will also be sending later relief aid to help with reconstruction projects in the country. Our Haitian ministry partners have loaded supplies on a Mission Aviation Fellowship plane and are working with a group of first responders in Haiti. You can donate by clicking here and specifying “Haiti Relief Fund.”

Go.
Based on our disaster recovery experience in El Salvador and Peru, there will be a real need of rebuilding 6 months from today. CFCI will be working with the Haitian churches and sending short-term teams to Haiti beginning in the summer months to help with reconstruction efforts. As of now, CFCI is sending missionaries to meet with ministry partners, assess the damage, and help the people of Haiti. After hearing their reports, CFCI will have more information to give to those groups interested in participating in short-term teams in Haiti. Helping Haitians help Haiti and developing local leadership through the Haitian church is in our DNA and will be a critical component of our rebuilding teams.

Our challenge to your church or group is two-fold:

(1) Commit to send a reconstruction team this summer. While we don’t have exact dates, costs, projects or logistics worked out now, Hebrews 11:8 says “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” So, by faith, commit to send a team and we’ll fill in the details as we get more information on how we can best help.

(2) While your congregation’s hearts are now tender for the people of Haiti; take up an offering or raise funds that you can put aside for your summer reconstruction team to use to buy supplies.

Groups interested in forming construction teams can contact Anji Stern: anji@cfci.org or (402) 592-8332.

Click for Larger Picture

Meet Helen…
In her early teens she was trapped in drugs and prostitution with no way out. Life looked as bleak as it felt until she was rescued from the streets of Costa Rica. She spent 18 months at out RENACER rescue home. If you saw her today, you’d never know her past. Dozens of girls like Helen need to know that someone cares… Even that you care.

Over 300 students wrote notes. They wept. They Prayed. They wrote words of hope, love and encouragement in 6 different languages to the girls at RENACER. That’s not the end though… we are going to translate them into Spanish and send them to the girls of RENCAER. We’ll be posting their responses under “Helen’s Story” on this blog.

So, thank you to those who wrote notes to these girls. They will mean the world to them. I know they will. Keep checking back with us.

In Christ,
Anji for the Christ For the City International Team

If you weren’t able to attend, let me fill you a little… Urbana is a mission conference held every 3 years where college students come from every walk of life to gather with one common goal: to change the world for God through missions. Students learn from some of the best teachers about missions, justice, poverty, business as missions, advocacy and the Word of God. Over 5 days, Dec 27-Dec 31, 2009, students eyes were opened, their lives transformed and a cry came forth to GO to the ends of the earth. Check out some pics by Wayne Yuan.

I’ll be filling you in a little more tomorrow about the impact that we saw happen first hand. Praise God!

1. That I can answer phone calls from wonderful people from around the world. ~Sandra, CFCI Office Assistant and Missionary to Latin America for 15 years. She has the best stories!

2. My family, good health and good memory- what a blessing! ~Pat, Our Wonderful Finance Assistant

3. I am thankful for Pat, my office help, and am thankful for all the donors and missionaries who are doing what I wish that I could do. I am thankful for my family. ~Marcia, CFCI’s Finance Director who keeps things running

4. For God’g grace every day and for being able to connect Christ’s followers and participating in their journey through Christ For the City International. ~ Michael, The Development Director who never ceases to amaze us with new ideas

5. For family coming to my house for Thanksgiving, for my son’s recovery from drug addiction, my daughter’s new job, my great husband and our Great God! ~ Jill, The Amazing Communications Director

6. For the missionaries that I am blessed to know, the amazing staff I am blessed to work with on a daily basis, the support of my family and Jesus- our God who became a man. ~ Anji, Short-term Teams Coordinator

7. All of the people who are asking about long and short-term mission service with CFCI.  It is thrilling to see young people going into missions. ~Leah,  Personnel Director and Missionary to Latin America for 18 years. She keeps send out all of our short-term and long-term missionaries… over 200 thus far.

May God bless you continually! And please feel free to share things that you are thankful for!

THE HOPE CENTER

Friday April 3rd, 2009*7:00pm

WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?

Join a panel discussion of Omaha’s inner-city mission leaders as they discuss poverty in the Omaha metro…

• Ty Schenzel- The Hope Center
• Dr. Linda Burkle- Salvation Army Director
• Mary Anaya- Mission For All Nations Director
• Dr. Candace Gregory- Open Door Mission
• Dr. Selwyn Bachus- Salem Baptist, Senior Pastor
• Michael Ross- Omaha Urban Plunge

Find out how you can make a difference! For more information call: 402.391.6515 ex.229