This is an incredible miracle.
In February, we saw Pastor Augustin in Parakou for a few days on our trip from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, down to Cotonou, Benin. He told me (Fred) that an important man in the town, Mr. S., who has been a Christian a long time and has a large amount of land, had a dream around the first of the year. In the dream he was giving some of his land to the work of the Lord, if I remember the dream correctly.
Soon after that, on a Sunday in February, Bill Hoffman went up to Parakou with Augustin to preach in Augustin’s church. (This was on the weekend when we had the team in Cotonou.) At Mr. S.’s house Bill shared about our desire to build an orphanage and talked about the building plans he has been working on. Bill said that our desire was that the land could have enough space for the boys to have a soccer field and land to plant and grow food for the orphanage. This touched him and he said that he wanted to give a large amount of his land for us to do that in Parakou – 10 hectors. (1 Hector = 2.47105 Acres so that means more than 24.7 acres.)
Before we left Parakou on Good Friday morning, March 21st, we went to visit the land. This is the picture you see. Parakou is in the Northern, dry part of Benin. It is not all the way to the Sahara desert by a long shot, but it not in the South in the jungle area either. It is perhaps what we would call the beginning of the Sahel. Here is what impressed me about the land, it has water and is good, fertile land! This man is not just giving something useless to the Lord – he wants to give the best. He has Mango trees on his farm there as well as Cashew nut trees and Eucalyptus trees. It has 2 ponds – the smaller one is in the picture and in rainy season it has a nice flowing stream. The electric and phone lines are nearby. You can almost see the coconut palm trees in this picture. You do see Bill Chapel, Augustin and 2 of the man’s sons.
Debby and I have never been able to raise any money for buildings in Africa. This would mean the beginning of a whole new phase for our ministry here. Bill and Cathy Hoffman have a real heart for the orphans and Bill is a builder who loves missions work. We believe Bill is God’s man for this job! It will involve lots of money to build – but we believe that, “where God guides He provides.” After the orphanage is built we still will have space to build a residential Bible School and conference center. So, please pray about this with us. Mr. S. will be making out the title for the land for us in the very near future and then we will see what God will do.
In February, we saw Pastor Augustin in Parakou for a few days on our trip from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, down to Cotonou, Benin. He told me (Fred) that an important man in the town, Mr. S., who has been a Christian a long time and has a large amount of land, had a dream around the first of the year. In the dream he was giving some of his land to the work of the Lord, if I remember the dream correctly.Soon after that, on a Sunday in February, Bill Hoffman went up to Parakou with Augustin to preach in Augustin’s church. (This was on the weekend when we had the team in Cotonou.) At Mr. S.’s house Bill shared about our desire to build an orphanage and talked about the building plans he has been working on. Bill said that our desire was that the land could have enough space for the boys to have a soccer field and land to plant and grow food for the orphanage. This touched him and he said that he wanted to give a large amount of his land for us to do that in Parakou – 10 hectors. (1 Hector = 2.47105 Acres so that means more than 24.7 acres.)
Before we left Parakou on Good Friday morning, March 21st, we went to visit the land. This is the picture you see. Parakou is in the Northern, dry part of Benin. It is not all the way to the Sahara desert by a long shot, but it not in the South in the jungle area either. It is perhaps what we would call the beginning of the Sahel. Here is what impressed me about the land, it has water and is good, fertile land! This man is not just giving something useless to the Lord – he wants to give the best. He has Mango trees on his farm there as well as Cashew nut trees and Eucalyptus trees. It has 2 ponds – the smaller one is in the picture and in rainy season it has a nice flowing stream. The electric and phone lines are nearby. You can almost see the coconut palm trees in this picture. You do see Bill Chapel, Augustin and 2 of the man’s sons.
Debby and I have never been able to raise any money for buildings in Africa. This would mean the beginning of a whole new phase for our ministry here. Bill and Cathy Hoffman have a real heart for the orphans and Bill is a builder who loves missions work. We believe Bill is God’s man for this job! It will involve lots of money to build – but we believe that, “where God guides He provides.” After the orphanage is built we still will have space to build a residential Bible School and conference center. So, please pray about this with us. Mr. S. will be making out the title for the land for us in the very near future and then we will see what God will do.
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