Defining moments: “Is The House of Dreams Orphanage Worth it?”

Not too long ago some longtime monthly supporters of The House of Dreams Orphanage made a comment, “Those kids really need you guys”. My response surprised them. I explained that I think I need the kids more than then they need me.

I came to that conclusion through a defining moment. I was sitting in my office and the question arose within me, “What tangible difference are we currently making in the lives of others?” At the time we had published several books, we were doing leadership conferences in several different countries, and had planted countless Bible schools around Bolivia. But in all these things I could not see the tangible fruit. I knew they were making a difference in people’s lives, but aside from the occasional thank you letter I could not see the impact being made.

As I looked over all we do I came to the realization that The House of Dreams Orphanage was one of the things we did that has tangible, measurable results that we can see. I do not know how many leaders will be impacted as a result of a leadership conference, but whenever I need to see a life being impacted, I can always go to the orphanage and spend some time talking with the kids. These little lives will forever be impacted by something we do. So the truth of the matter is that I need The House of Dreams Orphanage just as much as the kids do. As I looked in the eyes of that pastor and saw his heart to bring leadership principals to his region I realized that what we do is so much bigger than ourselves. It helps people impacts lives for Christ. For that reason we have, and will do, whatever we can as a ministry to help others.

- DaRonn Washington

STRIKE-A-THON Update for The House of Dreams Orphanage.

We currently are upto $6.5 per strike for the fundraiser. It would be great to get up to $10 a strike. Let us know if you or someone you know would like to donate $1 a strike to help the kids.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3370119206654&l=a2750c8db5

Bolivian Father’s Day

Father’s Day is a big deal in Bolivia.  Restaurants are filled with families celebrating the day by taking their fathers out.  Schools do special presentations to honor the fathers.   Children make countless amounts of cards and crafts to give to their fathers on this special day.  But what if you do not have a father?  How do you celebrate this day?  To whom do the orphan children give their crafts on Father’s Day?

In The House of Dreams Orphanage this was one of the things that we did not initially take into consideration. We received the report that on father’s days the children were sad because it was a reminder of the absence of a father in their lives.

I remember the moment vividly.  We had just started our Christian school and one of the teachers called me and asked me what should they do.  Without thinking I remember instructing her that if she needed someone for our orphans to represent their father that I could be that person.  Father’s Day has since been a day filled with handmade cards, paper mache animals, macaroni necklaces and silly papa ties for me.

To tell you the truth, it is one of my favorite days of the year. Nothing melts a person’s heart more than that sweet moment when a shy Bolivian orphan gives the gift that they worked so hard on, gives a big hug and says, “Happy Fathers Day papa”.

Angie and I would like to thank all of you who are helping us to be substitute parents for the 16 children in The House of Dreams Orphanage through your financial support.  It is making a greater difference than you will ever know.

DaRonn Washington

Missionary working in the nation of Bolivia

A New Home for the House of Dreams Orphanage – January 19, 2012

Good news everyone. We found a place for The House of Dreams Orphanage. I have been sharing with many of you that this month is moving month for Christ Nation Ministries Cochabamba. We are pretty much moving everything this month: the church, our home, the ministry office, and also the orphanage.

Finding a house that has the necessary space for 17 children and also an owner who is willing to rent it to an orphanage is always challenging. After looking at several places that would not work for us we did the most logical thing in our situation; we asked around on facebook. The same day a missionary in the city told us of some places and within a few days we found the new home of The House of Dreams.

We sign the paperwork and move in on the 1st of Feb. It is a four bedroom, two story house with a yard. The rooms are large and have two bathrooms upstairs where the boys and the girls can be separate. There are three parks close and it is close to the new church facility. It will work perfect for us.

Thank you so much to everyone for praying and giving to help with this project. We are excited because we have found a place that is great for us and will work for us until we start building.

Thank you again,

DaRonn Washington

Christ Nation Ministries

December Video House of Dreams Orphanage

Just posted a video on youtube.  Hope you enjoy it.

If I could ask George Muller One Question

The other day I was talking with a supporter about our victories and struggles in The House of Dreams Orphanage.  During the conversation the name George Muller came up, “You guys are like a modern day George Muller living day-to-day by faith believing that the money is going to come in for the needs of the kids.”

Me with Roberto and Alicia

For those of you unfamiliar with George Muller I suggest you Google him.  What a wonderful life of sacrifice. As a Christian evangelist he started his first orphanage in 1836. His organization cared for over 10,000 orphans in his lifetime.  He established 117 schools which offered Christian education to over 120,000 children, many of them orphans.  What an awesome example of someone who made their life count.

All the talk of George Muller got me thinking.  If I could ask the famous missionary one question what would it be?  My question would be: How do you deal with the “tomorrow question”?

For example, on one occasion, Muller and the children gave thanks for breakfast.  All the children were sitting at the table, even though there was nothing to eat in the house. As they finished praying a baker knocked on the door with sufficient fresh bread to feed everyone. What a wonderful testimony. His life was filled with stories like this one. But my question would be: how do you deal with tomorrow?

As a director of an orphanage tomorrow is always on the forefront of my mind. Beyond our own personal needs we have chose to be responsible for the needs of many small children. Their necessities exceed those of basic survival. By the grace of God up to this point the children have not lacked a meal, a warm bed, an education or a loving home, but to tell you the truth, tomorrow scares me a bit. It is a good scare because it forces us to find solutions. It is amazing what solutions one finds when failure is not an option.

In studying the life of Muller I am almost sure his answer would have something to do with a life of prayer and doing the best with what we have. I could not imagine having the challenge of meeting the needs of thousands. It is a struggle for us with just 17. But if doing our best is enough then we can face the tomorrow question with hope. Hope that we can provide for the basic needs of our children, give them a quality education and most importantly teach them about Christ’s love. I hope that is enough.

Blessings,

DaRonn

Update on The Land Project

Hello everyone,

It has been a couple of weeks since I last wrote you about the land project for the Orphanage and the Christian school so I thought I would send you a quick letter to share the good news with you. At the time of the last update the bank had given us an extension to pay the remaining balance of $47,000 if we paid $20,000 by the 15th of July. We were able to make that payment. Then with the help of many of our friends and shifting just about every penny we had we were able to complete the entire payment. We have officially made the down payment for the ministry facility!

Angie and I want to say thank you in the most sincere way possible to all of you who have helped with the first stage of this project by giving and praying. We would not have been able to come this far without the help of the countless amounts of people who have helped. There will be a home for orphans and a Christian school here in Cochabamba, Bolivia because you made a difference.

How do we feel now that this stage in the project is over? There are mixed emotions. On one side we are extremely excited that the ministry finally owns something. On the other hand it has been a long, tough road. As I look towards the future a question arises. Do we have the energy as a ministry to build upon this land when it has cost us just about everything to purchase it? It is both exciting and scary. A ton of hard work awaits us. In all we are expecting great things.

I know that many of you gave sacrificially and are vested in this project so you understand how I feel.

Thank you for being a part of something great,

DaRonn

The future home of The House of Dreams Orphanage.

Another Praise Report: $2,000 more

We just got a couple of emails that two people agreed to give $1000 towards the Building project.  That puts us at $9,000 raised of the $47,000 we need by July 1st.  Thanks everyone for praying.

Praise Report: $7,000 Raised!!!

Just a quick note to inform you that we currently have $7,000 of the $47,000 needed for the down payment for The House of Dreams Orphanage property by July 1st. If we had 8 people, organizations or churches that could give $5,000 we would have our goal!!! Please contact us if you could do that: cnministries@gmail.com (816) 984 5846

A Home for the Dreamers

Last year a few weeks before Christmas the House of Dreams Orphanage was in an all too familiar situation.  We needed to find a new facility for the kids.  The landlord told us that he had sold the building we were renting and we needed to move by the first of January.  Not cool when an orphanage is homeless but unfortunately this had happened before.

Over the last 5 years the orphanage facility has been in 4 locations because of rent cost increases, selling of the home we were in or simply because the owner did not want orphans in their property. As you can imagine our biggest prayer is to own a facility that the children can call home.

Since January 1^st we have been in the process of negotiations on a piece of property for the House of Dreams orphanage and Christ Nation Christian School (4,494 square meters).  The total price is $390,000.  The bank has agreed to sell the property to us if we paid 30% down ($117,000).  At this point we have paid $70,000.  We only need to raise $47,000 before July 1^st and The House of Dreams Orphanage will be well on the way to owning a home.

Because we need to make final payment before the 1^st of July we are asking all of our supporting churches and friends if they can help us.

Will you give a significant gift toward the acquisition of this land?

We greatly appreciate any assistance you are able to give. Our greatest need right now is that the children in The House of Dream Orphanage have a permanent home.

Please see the instructions below on how to give.

Thank you again for helping us make dreams come true in the House of Dreams Orphanage.

DaRonn Washington

Missionary Bolivia

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Information on how to get involved financially with this project:

IF YOU LIVE IN THE USA FOR TAX-DEDUCTIBLE GIFTS:

If you are a United States resident we are able to offer you a tax-deductible receipt for your giving if you following these instructions:

To give by check: 1) Make your check payable to “Word of Life Church”.  2) Mark on the envelope of your gift (not on the check) “Washingtons Bolivia”.  3) Send your check to Christ Nation Ministries P.O. 8644 St. Joseph, MO 64508.  4) If you would like there is a giving PDF form that you can download.  http://christnationministries.org/English/responsecard.pdf

To give online: Visit this link to give online: https://www.wolcresources.com/contribute/?desig=washington

Automatic withdraw: Many times people ask if we are able to automatically withdraw their gift on a monthly basis using their bank card. We are able to do so but for security purposes we would rather arrange this personally rather than sending your information through the internet. Contact us at cnministries@gmail.com and we will give you the details.

IF YOU LIVE OUTSIDE THE USA: If you are not a United States resident simply follow the above instructions but remember that your gift will not be tax-deductible. Or you can perform a wire transfer.

Direct wire transfer information:

Bank swift number: MEBBOLX

Bank name: Banco Mercantil Santa Cruz

Account number: 4010704272

Name on account: DaRonn Washington

Branch location: Calama esq. Nataniel Aguirre #201 Cochabamba, Bolivia

Angie and I would like to thank you again for choosing to help us financially. We appreciate your willingness to help in a practical way.

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Christ Nation Ministries DaRonn and Angie Washington

U.S.A. ADDRESS: PO BOX 8644 – St. Joseph, MO Telephone: (816) 984-5846

BOLIVIA ADDRESS: Casilla 1835 Cochabamba, Bolivia (591) (4) 428-0801

WWW.CHRISTNATIONMINISTRIES.ORG