Dear friends and family,
It is with a truly grateful heart that I can tell you that all is well with us at our Iris Global base here in Conakry, Guinea.
If you have been reading our updates you will know that not only the Covid 19 virus but also the widespread political unrest kept our children out of school for months at a time last year. Thankfully God has answered our prayers and since the elections late last year all has been peaceful in the country.
Our own children as well as all the children at our Hope Academies have been able to return to school, and are staying at school until 5 pm every afternoon to try and catch up with the schooling they missed last year.
We have been able to give lunch to the children in 6 of our schools 3 times a week and have been able to spread our feeding efforts to even more communities in our area. We are trusting God to be able to feed the school children 5 times a week and the community children more than once a week in the future.
Despite the continued lockdown here which limits the number of people that can gather together, I have permission to feed as many hungry children as I can, and last weekend we had between 600 and 700 children come to our compound, laughing, clapping, and singing as they waited for their lunch, to hear a Bible story, and to play games in front of our house.
We are giving out approximately 10,000 meals a month and the children we feed really look forward to the meals as well as spending time with us and hearing more stories about who Jesus is and what He has done for them.
Another blessing for which we are so thankful is that our whole family was able to go to the dentist a few weeks ago which was a real blessing. Not many people get the opportunity to look after their teeth as well as we do. Our time at the dental clinic started with lessons on how to look after our teeth properly, then one of our children bought the Word to both us and the staff at the clinic before we were all seen by different dentists, all of whom were very kind to us.
We are also praising God for His divine blessing and wisdom which has allowed Iris Global Guinea to celebrate yet another year serving the nation of Guinea . This is a unique ministry that God has used to bless, heal and transform many lives here and we are thankful.
We have also been blessed by the arrival of Melissa, an Iris Harvest School scholar from America, who has come to help us with various tasks in the ministry for the next three months.
Things we are still praying for is two more houses to be built on our land so that we can take in more needy children, including babies, who currently have no family and no place to call their home. We also need a 4X4 vehicle suitable for me to use to get to our distant Iris churches (some of which are over 700 kms away along roads that are little more than badly eroded dirt tracks). This vehicle will also allow me to get to several hard-to-reach areas of the country to plant new churches.
All the links to give to our various projects is on the Stop for the One website here https://stopfortheone.reachapp.co/sponsorships... and donations towards the larger projects, like the two new houses and the 4X4 vehicle can be made directly to our base by going to https://www.irisglobal.org/give and scrolling down to Iris Base Locations. Press on that and then drop down to Conakry (Guinea) where you will find instructions on how to give. (If you are un the USA all these gifts will be tax-deductible)
We honor and appreciate those kind people that make our work possible by giving to our ministry and we pray for you often.
With love and prayers for your good health, safety, and an overwhelming peace as you draw closer to Him.
Sia and the children.