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Welcome to Our World, Naomi!
We are happy to announce that our new baby girl entered the world May 14, 2024. She arrived peacefully and without complications. Beth is also doing well.
We found out she had a dairy and soy allergy around 3 weeks which caused her to cry through most nights. It was a rollercoaster of a ride, but we’re seeing better days with her belly feeling better! We’re finally enjoying those baby coos and happy smiles now that we’re all sleeping more.
Farm – Important Updates and New Beginnings
A lot has happened over the past few months.
Land Acquisition and Farm Relocation
As many of you may recall, our landlord had demanded that we purchase the land where our farm was located. Although purchasing land was not in our immediate plans—especially given the success of our farm, having produced 356,000 eggs in 2023—we agreed to purchased the land. The eggs produced have had a significant impact on the mothers in the program.
Unfortunately, the situation with our landlord became increasingly unstable. He changed the terms multiple times, demanded more money and an immediate cash payment, and threatened eviction. Faced with these challenges, our Board made the difficult decision to relocate our farm. We sold our chickens, moved all of our equipment, and have begun searching for a new location to continue our work. We are trusting God to guide us. We’ve found two potential spaces, but we are still prayerfully weighing our options. Biny will be traveling to Ethiopia in October to identify the right land and, hopefully, relaunch the farm.
Live Out Hope Israel
Israel Project
We’d like to share with you the latest updates from our project in Israel. In our previous newsletters, we’ve given you glimpses of the work we’ve been doing, and we are happy to report that God is blessing our efforts abundantly and opening doors for remarkable progress.
As many of you know, Biny has faced visa challenges, which have prevented us from traveling to Israel. Despite these setbacks, our commitment to the mission of reaching the Ethiopian Jewish community for Christ through targeted education remains strong. While we’ve received regular updates from our Israeli Team, we’d like to report the significant strides that have been made. We recognize that as our programs continue to grow, more in-person support will be essential to sustain and expand the ministry.
What’s Happening in Israel?
Our project in Israel has steadily grown, thanks to the grace of God and your faithful support. The education classes are opening doors for our partnering church to share Christ’s love to the Ethiopian Jews who enroll. This sharing will remain a central pillar to these projects.
Classes:
- Hebrew Literacy Class – Launched in 2023, our Hebrew literacy class has been a success. 27 students (all adults) enrolled and graduated in 2024. This is a testament to the dedication of both our students and staff.
- Youth-Focused Programs – Based on feedback received in mid-2023, we shifted our class focus to music and media rather than tech literacy. In response, we launched a Media/Music class this year. Though enrollment is smaller than anticipated, we are working to increase this.
- Prison Ministry – Our prison ministry has shared the gospel with 27 men. Of these, 14 have expressed a desire to learn more about Jesus and desire our staff to continue visiting them for further teaching and fellowship.
We are blessed to see how God is touching lives in Israel. As we move forward, we ask for your continued prayers.
We are grateful for your continued prayers, emails, and other communication. Thank you for being part of this journey with us.
Social Media
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