The Orphans Ministry of Northlake Baptist Church

Pictures from 2011 Trip

2011-03-16T19:21:00.001-07:00

Some of Dawn Ford's pictures:

Preparing for 2011 Trip

2011-03-07T10:20:00.000-08:00

Hi all! The mission team leaves on Saturday the 12th for our third annual trip to Honduras. Here are a few pictures we took while packing (thank you for your donations!!!). There are 18 of us traveling (10 from Northlake). To give you an idea of what we are doing this year, we are taking medical supplies, bibles, shoes, diapers, underwear, t-shirts, and the supplies for VBS. We are buying sheets and mattresses for Casitas Adolescentes (the home for older girls) and have wired money for formula for Nueva Esperanza (the orphanage for boys and girls) and cleaning supplies for all three facilities (Nueva Esperanza, Casitas Adolescentes, and the transitional home). Please pray for the following Northlake members who are going on the trip:

John, Tracy, and Chris Carl
Bill and Deron Swinney
Dawn and Lexie Ford
Theresa Pursel
Jennifer Idley
Melody Priest

Your prayers are appreciated for safe travel as well as for patience and strength to honor the Lord through all we accomplish next week. And of course please pray for each child we will be ministering to, that their needs will be met and that they will see that God cares for every one of them. More updates to come!

Chili Cook-Off

2011-01-17T10:29:00.000-08:00

We held a chili cook-off to raise funds for our upcoming trip to Honduras! Prizes were awarded to Most Original Flavor, Spiciest, and Best With Beans. Congratulations to the winners and thank you to everyone who came to support our mission team!!

Pics from 2010 Mission Trip

2010-03-16T18:53:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures I have gotten off of Facebook from Dawn and Laura. The group arrived Sunday and rested up/prepared for the week. Monday was amazing and exhausting day, according to Laura and Catherine. Please pray for their strength and energy as well as their continued safety! Be sure to visit the Facebook group (link is on the right side of the page) for more updates.

The gang packing tons of donations before the trip:

Laura:

Lexie doing some face painting:

Some girls showing off their face paintings:

Visiting Casita Adolescentes, the older girls' home:

Music Time:

Story Time:

Visiting with the girls:

Mission Trip 2010

2010-03-09T12:48:00.000-08:00

Just a reminder that the Mission Trip is quickly approaching!! The team leaves on Sunday, March 14th and includes:

Paul Bryson
Christopher, John, & Tracy Carl
Catherine Dyer
Dawn & Lexie Ford
Kelley Forester
Laura Malone
David Page
Theresa Pursel
Bill, Deron, & Halie Swinney
Larry Taylor

Please check this blog as well as our Facebook group page throughout the week for updates, prayer requests, and pictures. Team members, we love you and will be praying for your mission and safe travel!

Chili Cook-Off

2010-01-17T18:40:00.000-08:00

This evening we held a very fun and successful Chili Cook-Off as a fundraiser for our upcoming March trip to Honduras! There were dozens of delicious entries in different categories (Best Flavor, Spiciest, Mildest, and Most Original). Congratulations to the winners and thank you to everyone who participated, voted, and attended! The proceeds will go very far!

Chili Supper Fundraiser

2010-01-05T14:37:00.000-08:00

We are having a Chili Supper on Sunday, January 17th at 6:15pm to help raise funds for our upcoming mission trip to Honduras (March 2010). Anyone can bring a crock pot of chili and we will be awarding Most Original, Spiciest, Best Flavor, and Mildest. Winners receive an apron! Fritos, crackers, chili fixings, and iced tea will be provided, as well as hot dogs for the little ones. Tickets are $5 each, with a $15 maximum. Come enjoy some delicioius chili and support a great cause!!

Ways you can help with this event (contact Laura Malone at rlmalone1@msn.com):

Selling Tickets:
Sun, Jan 3. late service
Wed, Jan 6 evening service
Sun, Jan 10 early or late service
Sun, Jan 10 evening service
Wed, Jan 13 evening service
Sun, Jan 17 early or late service
Taking Tickets at the Door
Cook Hot Dogs for Kids, Make Tea, Set out Condiments
Bring Fritos
Bring Chopped Onions
Bring Shredded Cheese
Bring Crackers
Bring Hot Dogs
Bring Small Taster Cups
Decorate Tables

Orphans Ministry Fundraiser Info

2009-09-16T15:27:00.000-07:00

We are having a "Dinner and Movie Night" fundraiser for our upcoming trip (which is March 14th-20th). The fundraiser will be held on October 10th at 5:00 p.m. in the Multi-Purpose Center at Northlake. We hope you can make it! Our planning committee will be meeting Wednesday, September 23rd at 6:00 p.m. If you are interested in helping with this event, we'd love for you to join us at the meeting. There are several ways you can help out!

Also, Nov. 8th, is Orphan Sunday (check www.orphansunday.org for more info). Our church will be participating in this movement so please plan to be at church that day!

Informational Meeting about 2010 Mission Trip!

2009-08-12T14:34:00.001-07:00

We are now on Facebook! Look for the "Orphans Ministry of Northlake Baptist Church" group and join us there for updates.

We will have an Informational Meeting on Sunday, August 23rd at 7:00 P.M. at the church. We will be discussing travel specifics for our upcoming mission trip to Honduras planned for March 2010.

It is our prayer that you become part of our ministry and consider joining us on this trip. Those of us who went for our first "assessment trip" back in February are still fired up about what the Lord was able to do through us. Although we accomplished so much while we were there, we envisioned several ways we could better serve the Nueva Esperanza orphanage and its children with the help of more people!

Hope to see you at the meeting :)

Recap

2009-02-24T20:31:00.000-08:00

We made it back home this evening and are so thankful for safe travel! We wanted to let you know what all was given to the orphanages, since many of you gave money to help these children. On Monday morning we went shopping and purchased the following:

30 crib mattresses (much-needed, since the old ones were made of foam, stained, and in bad shape)
Three dryers
20 cans of formula
Powdered milk
Fruit, juice, and cookies for snacks
20 water jugs

This is in addition to the many bags of donations that were sent with us. The directors of the orphanages were very grateful for our (and your!) generosity, and the children will greatly benefit from these gifts. We still have money in our budget to provide an ongoing supply of different items.

On Monday afternoon we took pizza and sodas to Nueva Esperanza for the kids to enjoy. We had a number of activities planned including a bible story (Laura decided to tell the story of Jesus asking the children to come to him), coloring, playing with a parachute and balls outdoors, and taking individual pictures of each child to be made into a cute frame for them. We knew it wouldn't go perfectly and it didn't...drizzly weather limited the outdoor activities a bit, and the picture-printing process took a while (the weather didn't help them to dry quickly!). It was definitely hectic trying to coordinating everything among over a hundred excited kids, but God was clearly at work and we believe these children saw Him through us.

Laura, Dawn, Ryan, Jodi, and Lauren are very grateful to George McCain (from Buckner) for his leadership, wisdom, and huge heart. He was our rock on this trip and it was comforting to have such a dependable leader! We also want to thank Aracely Perez (also from Buckner) for her advice, pep talks, and most importantly her bilingual ability :) The language barrier was pretty challenging at times and we would have been lost without Aracely. We also have a special place in our hearts for Frances Azzad, the consultant for Buckner in Honduras. She was a wealth of knowledge and also pulled several strings to make sure we were taken care of. Her daughter Frances Nicole was also a huge help! They introduced us to many aspects of Honduran culture and some delicious food! We are especially thankful to them for inviting us to worship with them Sunday at their wonderful church. Their congregation greatly affirmed what we were there to do. God was definitely smiling on us that morning!

We each brought something different away from our experience in Honduras but are in agreement that the Lord had worked in each of our hearts to carry out this mission trip and to see how Northlake can continue this ministry and help these children. We hope that as we work to further help these orphanages and make plans for future visits, He will open your hearts to join us.

If you have any specific questions, don't hesitate to ask one of us. As always, thank you for your prayers and support in making this a very successful mission trip.

First two days

2009-02-22T20:19:00.000-08:00

Hola! We made it safely to Honduras yesterday afternoon. We were exhausted from a 6am flight, but went on to Nueva Esperanza to meet the kids. It was an incredibly emotional experience. The children were so happy to see us, hugging us and calling us tio/tia ("aunt"/"uncle"). These children have little to nothing, but their smiles and energy were infectious. The nursery was the hardest part emotionally for Laura, Jodi, and Lauren. We were anxious to hold each and every child but it was hard to put them down. There were tiny babies including a 1-week old whose mother has Down's Syndrome and lives at Casitas Adolescentes.

It was hard to leave the kids even though we told them we'd be back Monday, but there were many tears anyway. One boy in particular cried hysterically and we were told it was his first day at the orphanage. As our bus was leaving through the gate, an older boy named Brian escaped. He ran as fast as he could and was out of our sight within a minute. Someone told us he was going to find his mother and apologize for misbehaving. As of now we haven't heard if he has been found (if he is, he will be returned to Nueva Esperanza).

This morning we attended an evangelical church with Frances, the director of the orphanages. Laura got up and talked about our mission and how God has called each one of us to serve Him. After a VERY applicable sermon, we were called up to the front and the congregation was invited to come up and lay their hands on us and pray individually. We are so thankful for this moving experience!

We spent this afternoon at Casita Adolescentes. This is where girls go to live who are too old to live at Nueva Esperanza. Many of these girls have babies and small children of their own. They were very welcoming and receiving, and extremely patient with the activities that we had planned for them (taking pictures of each girl and using a photo printer took a LOT longer than we thought it would). They enjoyed receiving personal items, candy, pizza, and getting their nails painted.

Tomorrow we plan to do some shopping for some immediate needs (water jugs, crib mattresses, formula, and dryers). Then we will go back to Nueva Esperanza for a pizza party and games.

Please lift up Ryan in your prayers; he had stomach issues this morning and was unable to go with us to Casita Adolescentes. We are so thankful for your prayers and have felt God's hand on our work these past two days. Here are some pictures (we will add more when we get home...getting on the Internet is a little difficult right now).

Prayer Calendar

2009-02-12T09:18:00.000-08:00

Below is our mission trip itinerary so you can pray specifically for the events on each day. Please pray that the Lord will use us to make a difference in these children's lives in the short amount of time that we'll be there. Please also pray for our safety.

Saturday, February 21st
* Traveling from DFW to Miami then Miami to Honduras. Arriving at 2:30pm.
* Go straight from airport to Nueva Esperanza orphanage for a tour and meet the staff & kids.

Sunday, February 22nd
* Attend local church in the morning.
* Spend afternoon at the girl's home. We'll be taking some of the donations, doing some discipleship, playing soccer, having a pizza party & painting fingernails.

Monday, February 23rd
* Spending most of the day at Nueva Esperanza orphanage. We'll be taking the rest of the donations, doing some discipleship, taking care of the babies, playing games, having a pizza party & assessing additional needs.
* In the afternoon we're going shopping for additional needed items that we discover while we're there.

Tuesday, February 24th
* Leaving at 7:00am and traveling back through Miami and then to DFW. Arriving at 6:00pm.

The names of those going on the trip are:
Laura Malone
Dawn Ford
Lauren Steward
Jodi McGrew
Ryan McGrew
George McCain (Buckner)
Aracely Perez (Buckner)

Packing donations for our trip:

Nueva Esperanza Orphanage

2009-02-12T08:21:00.000-08:00

Our team will be traveling to Honduras through Buckner International from February 21st through February 24th. We will be going to Nueva Esperanza ("A New Hope"), which is a government-run orphanage located in San Pedro Sula. It is the first point of placement for orphaned or abandoned children ages birth through 14 years. There are roughly 134 children (this number fluctuates as children are transferred in and out), 35 of which are babies. There are only 4 workers to help care for all of these children.

To read more about this orphanage on Buckner's website, Click here

Nueva Esperanza and Casita Adolescentes, a nearby girls' home for girls who have reached 14 years of age, is in needs of several things:

Washers and dryers
Cold water fountains
Diapers and wipes
Formula & powdered milk
Daily snacks for the children (juice/milk, cookies, fruit)
Medicine
Hygiene supplies
Cribs
Bed sheets/blankets
Pajamas
Hair accessories

Thanks to our fellow members of Northlake Baptist Church as well as our family and friends who have donated several of these items. We have also received monetary donations for us to buy even more upon our arrival. We have had many prayers answered over the past several months and have seen the Lord work in countless ways. This trip would not be possible without the prayers and support of others. Thank you for visiting this blog and continuing to pray for our team, as well as the children and workers of Nueva Esperanza.

Introduction to Our Ministry

2009-02-12T08:15:00.000-08:00

Orphans have always held a special place in my heart. After hearing testimonies from other churches through FamilyLife's Hope for Orphans, I developed an even deeper passion for serving God in this area. Church-developed Orphans Ministries are having a tremendous impact on orphans worldwide and churches are experiencing the blessings of renewal as as a result of their development. I believe God is inviting Northlake Baptist Church to be a part of what He is already doing through other churches in our country and we are joyfully accepting His invitation.

God has always planned that His followers set aside a portion of their lives for those that have the least. It’s when we’re in the midst of giving ourselves up for others that we experience the depth of the kingdom of heaven and Christ’s sacrifice for us all. What a joy it will be to work alongside our Lord and Savior as He uses us to minister to these children!

In Christ,
Laura Malone