DAVID'S HOUSE OF REFUGE, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

00000 This year began in a special way on New Year's Eve in Palm Desert California. I was home on furlough and attended a special Hymns Songfest with a black-tie dinner at a local church. Steve Brock and his wife attended the event and he sang a few songs for everyone. It was a delightful privilege to meet them and to once again receive the Presence of the Lord through Steve's music ministry. It was an amazing way to begin the year. I gave them five photographs in a tiny album.
 
00000 This was the first full year of not living on the property and being directly over the David's House of Refuge.   Since I returned home in a medical emergency in late July 2005, it was imperative that I place the boys in "Host Homes". This is very unusual as adoption and foster care or caring for children not in your family is just unheard of and not done in DRC. That is one reason for the massive numbers of street children. There are so few orphanages. There are 4-5 times as many orphanages in Kenya for example.
 
00000 We placed 9 boys with three Host Homes, four boys back with family members and one with the Mother Teresa nuns. He had a health problem and his mother had "dropped" him at our home and said she didn't want him and for us to care for him. There were simply not enough families available for all the children and I had only three weeks to arrange everything and to store all David's House belongings as the owner requested his home back. We had been in a legal struggle with him for 18 months. This was a major reason I placed the boys as I had deep concerns that as soon as I left the country, the children would be scattered and our furniture and possessions damaged or stolen.  

00000 I visited the children and families and projects during the months of January and February 2006. I was encouraged as the boys were flourishing well and being taken care of with the monies--quite well except one home was marginal at that point. I made a number of adjustments, cleared up problems and various financial needs. I shifted one of the boys for a better arrangement. This worked out well except that two of the boys' fathers came looking for them and demanded them back so Paki (13) and Eli (12) were returned. These were absent fathers for over two years and we are troubled as they are not in school and the only person I have available occasionally to locate the boys has not succeeded in finding them even though we know the general area. As a result, I closed the marginal home and shifted the one boy over to another home. The pastor cared deeply for them but was single and not home to supervise sufficiently and used the boys for all the work of the home.  

00000 We believe they are being used for work around the home and to go out and find odd jobs and help with money for the home. This is typical of many homes there. If I were there, I could have perhaps filed for a court hearing of the child's rights but this creates much negative tension as well. Even the police made me drop the charges for the child that was kidnapped while I was there – stating that they would slander me and try to destroy our name and ministry.   Unfortunately, this is easy to do when you have lawlessness as the rule of the land.

00000 While on this trip I had several wonderful times with the boys – taking them shopping for some Christmas things, eating pizza at a restaurant, going to church together, and just visiting having snacks and pop together. During this time I did meet with parties from the ministry of foreign affairs to determine what I needed to do to renew my documents (necessary every two years). I met with Mme. Charlotte who directs a widow's organization and the feeding site. She is working with a couple of young widows who once were child soldiers.   She was very grateful and gave reports of how she spends the monies. I met once also with Mme. Rose who directs a widow's organization and was updated on their progress and distributed additional funds to assist widows begin businesses.  

00000 I was not able to return in the fall of this year. I am sure you've followed in the news, the condition and safety of DRC has been severe. This was their first election in the fall of 2006 and they have had to close the airport and borders on several occasions. All family members of the embassy and the UN have had to evacuate due to various civil skirmishes. All of our children remain well and safe but it blocked my return into the country scheduled for October 2006.  

00000 Family Life Resource Center has expanded their work into Kenya this year partnering with already existing ministries for the widows and orphans. We partnered with a widow who has had a widow's organization Deborah Arise Africa for 10 years helping on a small scale but using a portion of her pension from Barclay's Bank. Also, we planted a church with a young couple in a slum area which houses some of the widows we helped to start micro-enterprises. The church, Kingdom Family Center is based on the James 1 "pure religion" foundation of widows and orphans and working to keep families together instead of another home for orphans. This couple lives on the edge of the slum area and the church meets right in the center of it. They are providing ongoing direction and training. The church is going extremely well to date and there are several miraculous healings--both while I was there and since I left.  
00000 In a recent email report that I received for Christmas 2006, Rolland Baker (Heidi Baker's husband) went into east DRC with a team of four men (Heidi and others stayed behind as so many Congolese women have been raped in the east). They destroyed a jeep and burnt up the engine from the bad roads, had to dig out of mud at least a half dozen times and faced machine-guns and soldiers at least twice--praying and negotiating in order not to be held hostage. This all happened in ten days.  

00000 The children and the widows in this country so desperately need our help. There is a way and it causes a person to fast and to pray and to cry out to God for a strategy. God began the work supernaturally. Congo needs to change and even the news media has stated in two articles this year the impetus on the entire continent until DRC is on a constructive path!

00000 The status of these boys in God's eyes and heart and purposes – as David's young might men – has not changed. Hell would want us to think so and give up....but, "He who began the good work will see it to completion." It is not mine to finish but God's... I am a willing vessel in His Hands and I am keeping myself available

00000 I received more than one prophecy when I first left for DRC in 2002. One prophecy came from a board member who saw the building I would be working in – before I even had the home or the land. It was clear I would build and it would be known as a Restoration Center (Cindy Jacobs called it out at a women's conference at Christ for the Nations). I have never let go of this vision. I love all the boys as my own and will fight to raise them as long as God gives me grace. It is my responsibility to listen when He speaks and to obey.

The Boys

All of the boys love sports and they completely shred at least two soccer balls a year. They were all so happy to see me and delighted that I was back. They all expressed their thanks for all that FLRC (through supporters) does for them to have a good life. They absolutely know and express that they are going to be "somebody" for God someday because David's House gave them their life. They were so excited to see each other since they had been separated for eight months. We had so much fun together – all jammed in the jeep! They wanted me to take them back to the Bonobo Sanctuary for a picnic and swim. It is the place we went for their baptism and picnic the year before. I didn't bring a suit – so I passed until this year!

The boys communicated well among themselves and encouraged each other to be gentlemen. I can already begin imagining their fuller destiny in the Kingdom. The only sad thing for me was that no one has continued to help them to memorize Scriptures. They are all attending church at least once a week and have family prayer times too. Their spiritual lives are strong I believe because the Holy Spirit visited them personally in April 2004. They all have their Bibles and still read them. They all looked so healthy and happy and had gained weight! (They eat more bread and maize flour fufu than I allowed as a health-conscious "mom"). They all stated that they preferred the family arrangement to returning to a home when I come back. However, they still want us to get together for activities and prayer and Bible teaching every 2 or 3 weeks.  

THEY ALL AGREED that David's House of Refuge is a necessary step in their lives because no one would have them in the condition they were in when I took them in and we began DAVID'S HOUSE OF REFUGE.   They want other boys to have the same chance. They are so grateful for that phase of their lives and asked me to thank again the donors for their lives now--because they are all at the top of their class and the teacher/students don't even know that they were formally "street children"! They are all in 4 th and 5 th grade in private schools just after 18 months of schooling when they could not even read/write the Lingala alphabet. Now they speak French!

Pastor Mwema who has five of the boys in his big home said that in January before I arrived, he had gone before the Lord to ask forgiveness because he said he didn't think street children had any potential for the Kingdom--nor any ability to learn! David's House children are all outscoring his children and he has been so amazed and repentant before God!   In fact I bought textbooks for one class for our boys and his. My boys help his boys with their studies because of the way we taught them and the basics we gave.   David's House brought in the teachers and I taught them how to teach children and monitored their progress for 18 months. ONE THING IS CLEAR – GOD HAS PLAY A SIGNIFICANT ROLE IN THIS WORK BECAUSE NO ORPHANAGE OR CHILDREN'S HOME THAT WE KNOW OF HAS HAD THE SUCCESS WE HAVE IN SUCH A SHORT TIME PERIOD.

Gylite (15)–is an amazing young man. His mother turned him over legally to FLRC as the family was fighting over him after the dad died and he no longer was in school. He was the child kidnapped and he has expressed his gratefulness many times. He is easy-going and pleasant and in the top five students of his high school class. He began sophomore year this fall. He was doing well until his dad died four years ago but he was in the public schools and was far behind when he came to us. He is very responsible and always encouraging and overseeing the younger boys. He is very kind and loves God very much. He is the type of teenager anyone would love to raise.

Serge (11)–is also a sweet spirit and providing oversight to see that everyone is in line. He is small for his age but very mature spiritually. You can always count on Serge. He has high expectations of himself and those around him. He reads the Bible and prays seriously. He loves God and has David's heart for God! He desires to be a pastor and definitely has the call to the nations on his life. I believe the Lord has shown me that he has an apostolic gifting. Both of his parents are dead. He doesn't know what from which often means that it was aids. He was with an ailing grandmother and got tired of going hungry so he took to the streets at age 6. He was one of the easier to rehabilitate.   He is an excellent student and at the top of his class. He will help anyone and has a heart for the down-and -outer. He loved our chicken project and asked me to buy more chickens for them to take care of since they have some space on their compound. I've made no promises since there haven't been the funds.

Seba (10)–is my ornery but cooperative young man. He struggled for so long with his studies at David's House and would get frustrated with our standards and requirements of him. However, he is flourishing now in the private school and is in the top five of his class. In fact he brought home a higher grade point average than either Gylite or Serge. He doesn't like being short for his age and he doesn't like being "younger" than the big boys. He often changes his age in public!   He has gained weight and is almost stocky now.  I told him he didn't want to get fat as he could end up with too much cholesterol and die too young. He just loves the family environment and being "normal" in his mind which he's not been for years. I don't recall his story as well but he is an orphan and was bounce around and it has bothered him immensely that he was unwanted. He struggled so much with self-esteem which seems to have turned around significantly. He loves the Lord but struggles to stay focused at this time.

Gracia (12)–is one of the quieter ones especially around adults. He had been in public schools when he attended school, so he was far behind when he came to us and was with us less than a year but progressed extremely well. He is average in his studies but doing well and putting forth the effort in 6 th grade. Gracia is not always a team player and can influence others at times in a wrong direction. His mother spoiled him after the father died as the oldest child so he has had to struggle a little to be a part of a group. He does enjoy the family life and definitely wants to be a part of David's House and the other boys. He does not want to go back to his old friends or ways, as his life is so much better he states. He is the most lukewarm in his Faith, but he was not with us when the Holy Spirit fell like Pentecost on the boys around 2 am in April 2004. He does cooperate with prayers and churchgoing. He does his chores well and honestly has great potential and a wonderful personality, which I believe will smooth out after he has been with us a little longer.

Chico (10)–is my treasure but my volatile one. He has been the most emotionally disturbed the last few months before I left. He would fly into rages and tantrums and throw things at staff. Except for his "fits", he is the quietest and most pleasant and helpful of the boys except Serge. He loves to play and will work hard especially when it is acknowledged. He was the baby in his family when his mother died (his father having already passed away when he was tiny). He often slept in his mother's arms at night on her bed as a toddler.   She died with him in her arms and he was 3-4 years old.   He had a special relationship with his mom and has never recovered. There is still so much anger that he had to lose her--especially because family couldn't take care of him well and he ended up in the streets by 6 or 7 years old. He really loves the Lord and just hasn't fully grasped how much God loves him. He has great affection for me and the life I've given him. Our biggest struggle is that the host home doesn't like his occasional outbursts or disobedience (which are not often) but they've labeled it sorcery so I have a challenge to get them to keep working with him. He lives with a prayerful couple but they limit God by their perceptions of Him and therefore, aren't real open to how this demonic struggle could be an assignment against Chico instead of Chico being an assignment of the devil against them. I'm struggling on this one, especially with the fringes of self-righteous religion and the fact that the culture sees these children as "throw-aways" with no value. He is doing very well in private school and is also in the top ten in his 5 th grade class. He attends church faithfully and knows and believes in the importance of a relationship to God. He is a great little intercessor.

Manasseh (11)–is a pleasant child but holds everything in. It was months before he trusted me to tell me how he came to be on the streets. He was close to his mother and she had died suddenly. The father couldn't care for them and abandoned them for a period and then recouped them after he found a woman to marry. As is often the story, she cared for her children and not the father's, and so Manasseh's younger brother aggravated her often. She took him out to a wooded area and killed him. The father panicked and ran away leaving him (7) and an older brother (11) at a UNICEF center. Manasseh came to us through the feeding site near the center at age 10 and his older brother ran away to another part of the city. He is such a thoughtful child and has so much potential but he is just torn about being broken up from his family. His dad just recently started looking for the boys and found the other son first. The other son had an idea where to look for him as I've always encouraged them to stay in touch with siblings. The father wants the two boys to stay with him even though his place is small and very bad and he has no resources for their education. He often leaves town to work so the boys would be alone again often and yet Manasseh struggles to have a little of the former life. His older brother is 16 and not easily helped at this time. We need much prayer to have Manasseh stay or for me to have an arrangement with the father when I return so he can go back and forth and still get an education. He is an average student and loves the Lord and prays sincerely. He just holds most of his world inside.  

Francie (12)–is probably my brightest student and I put him in 6 th grade to push him in the private school last year so he is in the top ten of the class but not the top. He is mature for his age and friendly and communicates well. He doesn't like rules and usually cooperates but there are times that he sneaks around to steal something or have something he shouldn't and usually influences another to be part of it so he isn't the true "fall guy"! He leads worship very well and is an excellent intercessor. He loves his Bible and was memorizing Scripture so well. He has quite a destiny.   We are praying it doesn't get derailed.   He does chores great and you can just count on Francie to get the job done. He has a lazy streak and so if he decides not to do something, you've got a challenge on your hands! He really enjoys the family environment. He is my one who gets carsick practically every time we go out in the jeep. The heat and motion of a jeep on rough roads just leaves us ALL suffering!   He too has a dad that has been absent for years and is now back looking for him. Francie has an older brother at the UNICEF center, who was one of the boys causing me problems and lying about me to get me closed down or accused of child abuse. We offered the brother to come stay but he scoffed at our rules and religion. Unfortunately, Francie wants family and is being influenced by this brother. We may well lose him at least for a while. My pastors won't go looking for them or address the fathers--THEY DON'T WANT TROUBLE.

PRAYER REQUESTS

• These are all young men ordained of God for a destiny. How does HE want to establish it?   What strategy does He want to use and what is FLRC's role in their destiny?

• We want the chance to build.

• A second chance with the boys that are influenced by their fathers and those who did not get to stay with us at the end.

• The doors and windows of heaven to open for the resources to go forward in a mighty way with the boys and the widows' projects.

• An end to the strategies of hell against myself and Family Life Resource Center and that we might begin moving in the direction and miracles as He is blessing the Bakers in Mozambique--they left for a period of two years -TWICE!   God is more than able.

Humbly and prayerfully submitted by:
Dr. Theresa Cox,
Apostolic Missionary and Director of David's House of Refuge
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