News
News from Africa
July 2011
Sonshine founder Ray Schumacher scheduled a 2½ week trip back to Tanzania for ministry time, meetings with government officials and enjoying the opportunity to see his friend Eliudi’s wedding, this time Ray traveled solo.
There was a lot of work still needed on the children’s village, completing the furnishings, providing backup electrical, working with officials to complete all the requirements to operate a children’s village of this size, reviewing plans and budgets for completing more homes to accommodate more orphans, repairs to the water well, starting plans for the bible school; the list is long and the time went by quickly but in the end it turned out to be a great trip with much accomplished.
The time of ministry was incredible; at one meeting at a nearby church,
El Shaddai, the Sonshine team had the opportunity to minister to a young girl who had just spent 4 months in the hospital receiving treatment for a withered leg. The leg was over 4 inches shorter than her healthy leg. She left the hospital with no improvement and without hope. This little girl came to the healing service full of fear and despair but the Lord instantly restored her leg and it grew out to the same length as her healthy leg! WOW the Lord is great!
The village is moving forward, full of life and joy and happiness. The kids are in the top of their classes, the staff are all incredible and the Lord continues to bless all of us at Sonshine Village.
April 2011
In late March our U.S. team traveled back to Tanzania for a very special event; the grand opening of the “Lou Zimel Children’s Home” at Sonshine Village. Even as our team arrived in Tanzania the finishing touches were under way, final paint, curtains and curtain rods, appliances, beds and furniture; all the things needed in order to complete the home for our new children.
On our first Sunday in Tanzania many of our friends and partners came to commemorate the day with prayer and celebration. The home was full of excitement as everyone toured the home to see how it turned out.
We had a busy schedule, every day was long and full. We had new meetings with government officials, we interviewed for new staff positions, worked and re-worked budgets, reviewed the many new needs we are now facing.
But the most joyful and important time was spent meeting the new children. We have now have room for about 20 new kids and are moving slowing and prayerfully to find just the right children. We have interviewed many and have now received the first four children into the new home. All boys to begin with; we have Joseph, Josiah, Servin and Servast. The process is full of joy but includes heartache for the children who are not included. The government guidelines require referrals and documents which many children cannot get; birth certificates showing their legal parents, death certificates or burial permits for the of parents they’ve lost, documents from relatives releasing responsibility and authority to Sonshine, these are some of the requirements needed to meet the guidelines.
Our new kids are now settling in, attending school and really becoming a family together. The home is a work in progress; with a vegetable garden started, we are also looking for a dairy cow and will soon add chickens so we can have daily milk and eggs for the home and maybe even some to sell at market.
Please be in prayer as we continue to move forward. We will soon be adding a roadway to reach the highway, and are scheduling electrical work to get our power from the grid instead of via generators. Our director Pacifique is also working to start our bible school on site in the near future. We will be completing a room in one of the unfinished buildings to hold the school.
December 2010
In November our team journeyed again to Tanzania, what an incredible trip. We really had an international presence, 6 team members traveled from the U.S. We also teamed up with partners from Easter Oregon and North Carolina who were in country.
We ministered with Pastor Dominic Gitau, our friend from Kenya who oversees a bible school to the Masai. Our team from Tanzania organized several street festivals where we witnessed over and over again the love of God touching the lost and hurting. The lame were healed, drunkards set free, the lost saved; it was just as the bible commanded. We visited hospitals and ministered to orphans and widows, preached in churches and God blessed us in so many ways.
One of the highlights of this trip was spending time at our children’s village and seeing first hand the construction going on to complete the children’s home.We expect the home to be completed in February and Sonshine will be receiving about 20 children very soon!
To give you an idea of Elizabeth’s heart, she and her husband decided to welcome Baby David, one of the infant orphans we minister to into her home as her own. Elizabeth and her husband David are demonstrating the “Father’s Heart”
Speaking of demonstrating the “Father’s Heart”, our administrators and good friends Pastor Moses and Eva Ngang’owra also are adopting one of the children we minister to. Baby Ester was born while we traveled to Tanzania in April. Her mother died in childbirth and Ester has been in the hospital, alone, since April. Sonshine has been working through the system for Baby Ester since her birth with both the hospital staff and Ester’s elderly grandparents. We expect her to be released to Moses’ family very soon! They are a great blessing to us.
God touches Stanley
On November 9th our group had a dinner scheduled with some local leaders at a remote lodge. As we drove up the long drive we noticed two of our pastors standing on the road over a body of a young man. We jumped out and received the report that they had found the body there 20 minutes earlier, they found no heartbeat, no breath, his body was cold and stiff, his eyes were dull and lifeless.
Our U.S. team laid hands on this boy and began to speak life into him, just like the bible says, we prayed in Jesus’ name and took authority. It seemed as though we ministered over this dead body for only a short time but it tuned out to be 15 to 20 minutes. All of a sudden there was a strong pulse and then there was deep breathing! He was alive! We were praising and rejoicing, we arranged for a vehicle to transport him to a nearby hospital. The next day we received information that this boy was fully OK. The doctors could find absolutely nothing wrong with him. Everything checked out.
Pastor Moses later interviewed the boy, his name is Stanley. We learned that he had been on his way home from school, he had been there on the ground for more then 2 hours before our friends discovered him. Stanley remembers nothing but darkness and then waking up in the hospital. He has no ill effects even though he was without oxygen or blood flow for hours.
God is amazing! In addition to all this our team allowed time to explore the land by taking 2 different wildlife Safaris, enjoying many of the sights that East Africa has to offer. This trip was one of our very best experiences ever for our team in Africa. If you would like to be part of a ministry trip to Tanzania please contact us for more information.
News from the U.S.A.
February 2011
With the help of our many friends and partners we are happy to report to you that our new children's home in Tanzania is nearing completion. Our construction is on schedule and we are on budget. Our builder has been a real blessing, working hard to add value and quality to the home. The men are finishing the painting, adding the electrical and plumbing fixtures and completing the landscaping. We expect our new home to be finished and ready for our children by the end of March.
Our leadership team will travel to Tanzania in March to prayerfully select the new children we will be adding to our orphanage. This is our most difficult and important assignment, but truthfully we are looking forward to this undertaking the most. We ask that you lift us up, praying that we will have Godly wisdom during this critical time; these are life changing decisions we are called to make.
October 2010
On October 16th Sonshine Ministries had our 2010 Annual Banquet again at Rock Creek Country Club, our best event ever. The food was delicious and the entertainment was first class. It was fun to see so many friends, partners and new faces all come together for one purpose . . . to support the work in Tanzania. We had several objectives in mind this year:
- Prayer Team
Catherine Opere leads and organizes Sonshine Ministries prayer network. At our banquet Catherine shared her life experiences while living in East African and how prayer has made such an impact on her. We are very pleased that many people heard the call for prayer and asked to join our prayer team.
- Child Sponsorship
One of the hardest things we’ve ever been called to do is to interview orphaned and homeless children for inclusion in Sonshine’s Children’s Village. There are so many desparate and heartbreaking stories. We could do so much more but we lack the resources to move forward. Several of our supporters heard the call and signed up to help sponsor a child. We are extremely grateful for their decision to accept this responsibility for a child’s care.
The book of James says it best; “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this; to look after orphans and widows in their distress”.
- Building Project
Our buildings are now nearing completion, the walls are up, the roofs are on, the windows are on site. Our people are in place, house-parents, cooks, support staff, security guards and farm workers. Sonshine Village is nearly ready. We’ve come a long way but we have one hurdle before us, to complete just one of these homes so we can make the move. Sonshine Ministries is excited to report that through our banquet we reached our goal with enough gifts and pledges to fully complete a children’s home. We have been in contact with our builder and construction is now underway. Our sincere thanks goes out to each and everyone who helped make this event possible.
May 2010
Sonshine Ministries International sponsored its first African Alliance Retreat this May at the Oregon coast. Our goal was to bring like-minded ministries together who have a heart for Africa, to develop relationships, share our gifts and strengths, offer our understanding and express our needs; all to help us move forward to build the Kingdom.
We had an incredible bunch including leaders from Sonshine Ministries International, Heroes of the Nation, Worldcast Ministries, Open Arms International, Global Mission Awareness, and Love Joy Peace Foundation. During the three day retreat we really grew together, enjoying each other. We rested, prayed, praised and soaked in the presence of the Lord, seeking His understanding and direction. Each of us learned we have many of the same challenges and also many of the same victories. We all left refreshed, knowing the Lord had brought this alliance together; blessing each of us through His unity, and diversity of the body.
