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Building a House for Mom

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Our Mother:
Our mother is 60 years old. Her husband died 5 years ago. She is a native of the Lisu Hilltribe, and only knows how to farm and raise children. She has absolutely no formal education.
When she was 35 years old, she had a daughter who was very sick with pneumonia. She had already had one child die to this disease. She could tell the symptoms of death on her child's face. So her and her husband performed the native religious rituals of the Lisu Hilltribe: ancestor worship. They slaughtered chickens and pigs for sacrifices and sang their ritualistic songs. Over and over they did this, but the ancestors weren't answering their prayers. Another one of their children was going to die. They were desperate.
Someone in her village mentioned that he knew of a God-man who spoke for God in another Lisu village. This man claimed that he knew God and that this God could heal the sick. Our mother brought her daughter to this Christian Pastor, and begged him to pray over her daughter. As the pastor prayed, a miracle happened. Before their very eyes, her daughter was healed, and she believed. This is how our mother became a Christian.
This is the kind of woman we are talking about. A woman of astounding faith in the midst of a culture that doesn't know Christ. She puts others needs before her own and has lived her life that way. Unfortunately this has led to a dilapidated house, and her taking care of her three grandchildren while her daughters are out working to make only enough for the family to survive.
Yana's mother, Apama, is truly one of the kindest, most caring, and compassionate people I have met.

The Situation:
6 months ago, we heard word that our Mother in Phrao, Thailand, was having trouble with our house. From what we could make of it, her roof had partially collapsed in and the building structure wasn't doing well. We contacted a nazarene missionary in the area who went out to see the damage. What we found out wasn't good. Our mother's house had a plethora of holes in the roof, leading to molding problems all throughout the house. The tin roof was rusted through. The wooden framework of the house was, what the missionary said, the worst termite damage he had ever seen. Literally the wood was not able to withstand its own weight. Portions of this were already collapsed.
The material that the support beams held together wasn't good. It was made of shoddy and cheap material. Without structural support, the missionary said, the house would not last through the rainy season.
And that's exactly what happened. As we were raising money to be able to start construction in the area, my mother's house collapsed, one wall after another. In the wreckage, she salvaged pieces of the old house that she could make a makeshift hut with. This hut, with bits of the old rusted roof, are her living quarters right now.
The roof offers little to no protection from rain or insects. Our mother's face is in almost a constant swollen state due to insect bites while she sleeps. She has been sick at least once a month due to her immune system being down because of the rain.
We are doing everything that we can do, but we can't do it alone. Right now our family is trouble. And the problem is bigger than we are. We are broken and trust in God to provide because our problem is not bigger than God.
If you would like to help us as we rebuild our Mother's house, the cost will be $39,582. It's not a lot for a house, but it is a lot. We need help.
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Donations 

  • Anonymous
    • $10 
    • 10 yrs
  • Trevecca's Boonaroo
    • $125 (Offline)
    • 11 yrs
  • Cash Collection
    • $600 (Offline)
    • 11 yrs
  • Facebook Donations
    • $415 (Offline)
    • 11 yrs
  • Hermitage Church of the Nazarene
    • $2,970 (Offline)
    • 11 yrs
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Organizer

Yana Witkowski
Organizer

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