ELIJAH’S HOPE
Almost one year after the death of little Zahid, who is the inspiration for the Elijah’s Hope project, we have learned that the English translation of his name is Elijah.
The name Elijah comes from the Hebrew name אֱלִיָּהוּ (‘Eliyyahu) meaning “My God is YAHWEH.” Elijah was a Hebrew prophet and miracle worker, as told in I and II Kings in the Old Testament. Elijah’s mother gave him this name when he was born in brick-makers prison.
A year ago, we heard the news that little Elijah had died from the cold because his mother did not have a blanket to cover him during a freezing winter night. I just could not rest, wanting desperately to have blankets for the small children in these prisons. I also learned that many elderly people die during the cold months of the winter. We discovered that most of the slaves sleep on a cold cement floor or on a bed of bricks, so we started providing beds for them as well.
When we buy beds and blankets in large quantities the cost is much less. It is such a small price to pay compared to the great blessing these necessities bring to slaves who have worked all day making bricks.
PERSONAL TESTIMONY:
“Recently, I had a bout with the flu and could not get enough heat. I shivered for hours. I was fortunate enough to have an electric blanket but was still so cold. I felt it in my bones. The whole time I was on my back in bed, my thoughts were on this mission outreach. How could anyone endure the cold nights after 14 hours of hard labor? What if they too had a fever and could get no warmth? I believe God allowed this illness to happen so that I could feel a little bit of their suffering.”
We can get a bed and blanket for only $25! With just $25, you can change a person’s life, bring them to Christ, and keep them alive. You can bring many nights of relief to those confined to sleep in a 10′ x 10′ room with no real heat. All they have is a small stone cook stove fueled by cow dung.
We buy in quantity to get a great price like this and for every $625 we receive, we can help 25 entire families. One blanket can cover up to five or six small children and an elderly person. Once we have $625 we start another campaign. We are close to finishing our current campaign and blessing another 25 families. Your gift of any size adds up fast!
For every $625 raised we will complete a campaign which will provide 25 sets of beds and blankets to help 170-200 prisoners.
Such great blessing is coming from these distributions! We will continue these campaigns until the weather warms up.
Thank you for standing with us!
A PERSONAL NOTE ON ELIJAH’S MOTHER:
Once we heard Elijah’s story, we sent funds to release his family from prison right away.
The day they were released from prison, Elijah’s mother shared her heart with us on Skype. With tears in her eyes, she said that, even though she is grieving, she is happy knowing that prisoners are being helped and souls are being won through the loss of her son.
In May of 2017, Elijah’s mother graduated from the Teresa Sewing Center! Now her family has two sources of income and plenty of blankets to cover the whole family because of your help!
To us Elijah’s Hope is HOPE for hundreds of infants just like him, children that will LIVE and NOT die in the cold. Elijah, now in heaven, had to leave this earth so that hearts would be touched and people like you and I would give and pray for others like him.
LATEST UPDATE ON ELIJAH’S MOTHER.
On Saturday, March 3, 2018, just over one year after her son’s death, Saima helped distribute beds and blankets at the prison yard. Watching all the smiling faces brought great joy to her heart, native leaders reported. Hundreds are coming to Christ with every distribution.
