A Belated Update!

It is a privilege to be alive and to be able to serve in the Lord’s Kingdom! God has been good to us and has seen us safely into a new year and given us the strength as well as the opportunity to serve on a daily basis. This blog post is long overdue but we hope you enjoy!

Since January 2014, the daycare has been growing! We have had many new admissions for the daycare/preschool Kingdom Kids International Daycare which we began just 16 months ago with one teacher and 10 children.  As of February 2014 we are currently maxed out with 75 kids and now employing 11 teachers and assistants. We have to turn others away or put them onto a waiting list because we do not have enough space to cater for all the children who would like to come. We even raised the fees, haven’t done any advertising, and our signboard was knocked down by a tree yet we still have people coming almost daily to ask about admission!  Truly it seems like God has chosen to bless this Business as Mission project in an amazing way!  It has been exciting to see them come to us with little or no understanding of English and learn so much and make quick progress.  Our hearts get quite attached to them too!  We are even more excited at the opportunities created to help our brethren in Christ with the blessing of jobs in a Christian environment.  Our goal is three-fold: to fill a need in our community for child care that is truly loving and Christ-centered; to help strengthen and bless individuals in the church with employment that is flexible, fair, and family-friendly; and to shine a light for Christ to the non-Christians we come into contact with daily through such a business with the ultimate goal of winning them to Christ.  

Attah keeps Bible tracts/booklets available in his office space

      We believe we are accomplishing these goals and there are many encouraging examples.  Most recently the daycare employed a new teacher, Sherrie. She is  the daughter of Mr. Omane, the evangelist of the church in Akokoaso, and we have known her many years. Her family was all split up while she worked a job in town and her husband in another part of town while their 15 month old daughter was living with her grandparents.  Unhappy with such a situation of family separation, she asked for employment in the daycare and now the whole family has been able to move to an apartment near by and live together again.  They are also now expecting their second baby! 

Daycare kids enjoying break time wrestling with volunteer Dakota

We believe we are shining a light in the community and influencing the non-Christian parents as well. We have one non-Christian lady from a muslim background to help with cleaning. She has come for church meetings a few times and a staff member has given her a Bible and has frequent discussions with her.  Whenever a parent of one of the daycare kids has a new baby we also make a point of going to visit the mother and new baby to show our love and care for them.  Similarly, whenever a child or a parent has been sick for a while with a serious illness then several of the daycare staff members will visit and take a get-well gift to the invalid. 

Zion helping out with the many improvements being made on the daycare/school/church building grounds

GYM

Since January of 2014, the gym has seen an increase in membership mainly due to the influx of new students to the university. We have over 100 registered members and an average of about 30 people training per day. Near the close of the year, we eliminated monthly fees and adopted a pay-as-you-go system which we all like a lot better.

BANQUET
   For many years, Jessica had organized the youth to host a special banquet for married couples with the purpose of encouraging lasting marriages.  This year we were very excited that the youth decided to take on that responsibility and did all the planning and hosting with only minimal assistance from her.  We were blessed to be one of the married couples to attend the banquet this year as attendees instead of hosts!

FAMILY 

Our family continues to serve in the local congregation here.  Jessica and I are currently teaching the men’s and women’s Adult Sunday School classes and continue to help things run smoothly. We’ve been blessed with an opportunity to minister to the single college-aged youth. It has become a great platform to motivate the youth through discussing vital issues and to building faith. We have also been called upon to give counseling to individuals and couples. Jessica has been managing the home and also is a great helpmate in the ministry goals. Apart from cooking, cleaning, keeping house, and overseeing our four children and their individual needs; she also sets schedules, specific learning goals and activities for all five daycare classes. Zion, our first born, recently had his birthday in January. He is now 6 years old and is quite the bookworm already. He reads everything he can get his hands on and has completed the 2nd grade already. Havilah is nearly done with Learning to Read and is starting 1st grade soon. Nile is potty training now and he loves to ride his bicycle or anything with wheels. Gilead is slowly getting on a “normal” sleep schedule and smiling and helping us make friends with everyone we meet.

Zion's birthday party with neighborhood kids he is befriending

We thank God for His blessings and for the many opportunities to serve His kingdom here in Ghana.  We thank you for your support through which He makes it all possible!

God Bless!

Attah Osebreh and Family