winter 2014 Loving NEWSLETTER the Unloved

The gift is renewed everyday ...through our daily life, health, A THANKSGIVING families and what we share with others ...thanks giving is the REFLECTION from Mama Maggie remedy for all heart aches and worries. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father “No gift is without increase except the one with no thanks.” of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. St. Isaac the Syrian James 1:17 So we can stop and cure boredom and discontent by raising the Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honour and power and hymns of thanksgiving and praise. The world is not the same with- strength be to our forever and ever. Amen! out your praising Him.

Revelation 7:12 Finally, as the gifts of love are never ending Our life in Christ is Thanksgiving. The praise will continue eternally ...in heaven Thanks giving is the start, the way, and the reward. We will sing this song astonished in front of His Throne... Lord, make my life a song of Joy. We were granted the eternal new life in Jesus’ name. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

by the numbers EL KHEIMA EVERYDAY

children are nurtured, trained, and equipped in one of 92 Stephen’s Children schools. 18,420 UPPER home visit workers prayerfully enter the slums of Egypt to offer Jesus Christ’s love to 13,410 610 impoverished children and their families. young men from Upper Egypt’s toughest communities are learning to bear spiritual and physical 20 fruit in Christian community on the Desert Farm in Wadi El Natrun. impoverished young people face a hard life with newfound strength due to God’s ministry 32,850 through Stephen’s Children.

NEWS IN BRIEF Egypt Today A new constitution and government - committed to both security and stability - came to Egypt in 2014. This has been a reason for great hope and thanksgiving.

Desert Farm Twenty boys with Stephen’s Children’s Desert Reclamation & Farm Project harvested an abundant date crop this fall. The dates are being donated to more than 3,000 needy families in Cairo.

Home Visitation Food prices soared in 2014. Stephen’s Children decided to pilot a new project as a result. Needy families in our communities were presented with small livestock (goats or chickens) and, with a little instruction from our team, were able to produce their own milk, cheese, eggs, and meat.

Camps 6,762 children attended a Stephen’s Children camp this past summer and, by God’s grace, 2,387 children professed saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. News in Brief continued

Schools Ground has been broken and a foundation laid for Farah School II, which will be the first Stephen’s Children school for children ages 6-18. When the school opens, it will offer students a comprehensive experience emphasizing the English language and preparation for college.

Book In March 2015, the story of Stephen’s Children will be told in a new book, Mama Maggie, by best-selling authors Martin Makary and Ellen Vaughn. This is the first U.S. title about Mama Maggie and Stephen’s Children. Visit mamamaggie.org or amazon.com to pre-order your copy.

PETER’S STORY in Shubra El-Kheima

If you Googled “Shubra El-Kheima” you’d likely see a thick blanket You can probably infer that the prospects for children like Peter are of smog covering a fast-growing industrial suburb along the . bleak. In addition to the smog of nearby power plants, Peter and Shubra El-Kheima used to be Egypt’s fourth largest city, but it has his street friends are exposed to the worst forms of social pollution, since been absorbed into thanks to a three-decade and they are equipped with very little spiritual or moral education population explosion. Unfortunately this rapid growth has fueled to resist its toxic effects. For this reason, desperate slum neighbor- poverty in the city’s outlying areas. The city is now best described as hoods are ideal recruiting grounds for terrorist groups from Sinai, a densely populated, smoggy slum. Gaza, and Syria. The school systems within Shubra El-Kheima have not kept pace Peter’s mother became frustrated with Peter and the trouble he was with they city’s rapid growth, and many children are not enrolled causing in the streets. At the urging of a Stephen’s Children worker, in a formal school. Once such child is three-and-a-half year-old she decided to enroll Peter in Youssef, a Christian Community Peter. Peter spent most of his young life – ever since he could Education Center (CEC) that opened in early 2014. Peter’s mother walk – wandering through the streets with other children. The also began attending the CEC’s weekly gatherings for mothers, streets essentially, became his school, which means he adopted though she often told the workers her son was a “hopeless case.” many vulgar behaviors like those around him. He bullied and often abused smaller children. He also liked to feel powerful, so he began Peter certainly proved difficult, but hope springs eternal in praying like the Muslim boys who made up the majority population Stephen’s Children’s CECs. Though he hit other children, refused in his neighborhood. teachers’ instructions, and ignored Bible stories, Peter’s teachers showered him with love and grace and, gradually, he began to respond with changed behavior.

Today, Peter is memorizing weekly Bible verses and recently completed his first Psalm. He is especially proud to recite the Lord’s Prayer and plays well with other children. His mother has noticed the change, and she has changed too. The mother’s gatherings have taught her the importance of showing attention and affection to her little boy. Far from hopeless, Peter is an example of the transformative power of Christian education in neighborhoods like Shubra El-Kheima. He and his classmates are growing in grace and truth in the safe confines of Youssef. And, by God’s continued grace, the arc of their lives is pointed heavenward – far above the smog of Shubra El-Kheima, yet under the continued love and nurture of their Stephen’s Children teachers and the protection of the Holy Spirit. Each of Stephen’s Children’s 87 CEC’s has a unique name, given through prayer by Mama Maggie and the SC Egypt team. ‘Youssef,’ ‘St. George,’ and ‘Mary’ are just a few.

Stephen’s Children is a Christian ministry that exists to nurture, train and CONTACT US www.stephenschildren.org equip underprivileged children and young people morally, educationally, and spiritually – to help save lives, bring hope, and restore dignity, so that Canadian director of development Christine Henein, they may reach their own people. [email protected] I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Kyle Parrish, U.S. director of development Philippians 4:13 [email protected] 616.723.0601