Changed Lives

The purpose of LOM (Ladies Outreach Ministry) is to change lives, and I want to share with you two lives that have been changed.

As the daughter of a prostitute, Kattia has spent her life trying to rise above the shadow of her past. She is now nearly 40, a single mother of 4, and lives in extreme poverty struggling to provide for her children. At first Kattia´s attendance of the LOM meetings was sporadic at best, but with each meeting she learned a new craft. Being quite creative, she would return home with her new knowledge and put it to use. Now, after nearly a year, Kattia rarely misses a meeting although she must walk several miles round trip to attend. She is excited and eager to learn. Through the crafts taught she regularly makes things to sell and the home situation is slowly beginning to show signs of change for the better. Helping people like Kattia is what this ministry is all about.

Rosa is another example of change. Rosa not only lives in poverty, but under the heavy hand of an abusive, drunken husband. She began attending the meetings in secret, knowing she would be beaten if her husband found out she had left the house and talked with other people. Her initial reason for taking the risk was because she wanted to learn a skill so she could improve the living conditions of her family. However, after a few meetings it was more than knowledge that kept her coming back. Rosa had found a group of women who cared about her and her situation. Women who were not only willing to pray for her, but to act when it proved necessary. Rosa realized she was not alone. Her husband came to one of the meetings with a machete to take her home and teach her a lesson. He seemed to lose all his bluster when 13 women met him out in the street to defend Rosa. Since then Rosa´s home situation has not been perfect, but is has been better. She now freely attends the meetings and is making some extra money by selling items she has learned to make.

Kattia and Rosa are only 2 of the nearly 50 women who are being reached through this ministy of crafts and Bible studies. The amount of poverty and abuse here is unbelievable. There are so many that need help. I ask for your prayers and plead for your help. Funding is in short supply and the needs are great. So many lives here are waiting to be touched and changed.