Dear Hope Church Sisters and Brothers, the Family of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Grace and Peace to You!
We are so thrilled to see the completion of Hope Church’s renovation. Our prayers are with you while you are preparing for the Dedication Ceremony. We can only imagine how beautiful the dedication ceremony is going to be with the Tulip flowers. We are so thankful to God for the beautiful weather of Colorado. In our spare time, we ride our bikes to different parks. Even though we live in a very tense schedule, we keep our faith and unity to encourage each other. Our journey feels lonely; we face a lot of struggle inside and outside. But in these all, God’s love is the source of our strength. Thank you for sharing our hopes and uncertainties. You are our joy and comfort, and we feel blessed to participate with you in God’s mission. I have started my third and last quarter of the year. The courses I am taking are more philosophical than theological, so I am learning how to use my voice with and beyond other voices.
Peace,
~Rode Molla and Endrias Assen
Dear Hope Church,
We at Lighthouse Immigrant Advocates would like to thank you for your extremely generous Easter offering donation. Lighthouse Immigrant Advocates is nonprofit immigration legal services provider located in Holland, serving the entire West Michigan community, from Berrien County to Grand Traverse County. Since we opened our doors in November 2015, we have served over 450 West Michigan families. We provide a variety of direct legal services, such as family reunification, victim services, citizenship, work permit and green card renewal, and Refugee services. We also provide outreach and advocacy services in the form of clinics, educational presentations, collaboration with and support of other agencies serving immigrants and refugees, and many other great services. Because Lighthouse’s programs grew so quickly in so little time, our fundraising efforts have not been able to keep up with demand. As a result, we find ourselves understaffed, underpaid, and overworked (probably true of most all nonprofit organizations!). Hope Church’s generous donation will allow Lighthouse to finally hire a part-time office assistant to provide administration support to our staff. This is something we’ve needed for a very long time and your donation of $4,200 will cover over HALF of the salary for this employee! (We are still seeking to fill the position, so if you know of anyone–must be bilingual in English and Spanish–please refer them to Lighthouse.) So, again, thank you for your generosity, your support, and your desire to serve the least of these.
Best wishes,
~Sarah Yore-Van Oosterhout, Executive Director and Managing Attorney at Lighthouse Immigrant Advocates
Thank you so much for the wonderful reception celebrating the years we have spent together nurturing the children of Hope Church. I appreciated so much the support from those directly involved in my work and the people of this congregation. I will cherish the wooden bowl as a reminder of the all the people and connections I have to Hope Church.
Thank you,
~Jocelyn Van Heest