Levi Benkert's Blog, page 3

February 2022 Trip To Ethiopia

Dear Elevate Family,

I am full of joyful praise after returning today from visiting our children in Addis Ababa.  To summarize my findings, I share with you what one of the wives of a leading political figure in Ethiopia, who met the children at a field trip to a beautiful park outside of Addis, said after meeting them,

“Reuben, are these the children you have been speaking about for the last few years that are from the government orphanage?  They are wonderful….so full of joy and they look so healthy and beautiful!”

When I acknowledged that these were, in fact, the children I had shared with her about in the past, she started to cry.  “This work should be the point of all of our lives!”, she said.  She asked how she and her two teenage daughters could be involved in serving with the children this summer, during our upcoming planned missions trip (I’ll share more on this later).

Indeed, the children are doing very well.  Truly, the only way to really see The Lord’s Handiwork in changing these childrens’ lives is to…well, go see them!  As many of you know who have seen The Lord change lives, there is nothing like witnessing Spirit Life in a follower of Jesus.  Hallelujah, that The Life within the individuals results from The Lord’s work in a ministry that YOU are partnered in.

Thomas, as always, continues to show his gifts as an administrator with great vision, deep understanding and compassionate love for the children.  Brandon Edwards and Mike  Amos from Journey also had the privilege of meeting our new family members, the 13 kids newly adopted in the past 12 months (see photo).  Brandon has been to Ethiopia many times with Journey Church in Bozeman, MT, and knows each child by name.  It was sweet to see him reacquaint himself after 3-4 years of absence due to Covid and the Civil War.  Brandon and Mike spent much of their time obtaining great film and photos for us as we work towards establishing (1) an infrastructure to provide monthly updates from each child to their sponsor to build relationship and (2) the foundation for a documentary that we’d like to prepare for digital distribution of this wonderful work. We believe this is a effective model for serving and building  followers of Jesus from the orphans in 3rd world countries to become contributing/leading members of society in their home countries.  Our next update will be from Brandon Edwards who will share his perspective on this most recent trip to Ethiopia.

My wife and I have had the privilege of serving and supporting many different ministries over the last 25 years.  However, I can truly say that I cannot imagine a more fruitful ministry over time than what we have witnessed with Elevate Orphan.  I cannot share all of the different aspects of what we have learned on this trip with you in one update (which is already long!).  We will share some of the stories in the upcoming updates and work to encourage you on toward “love and good deeds”.

In His Grip,

Dr. Reuben Gobezie
Elevate Orphan

The post February 2022 Trip To Ethiopia first appeared on Elevate Orphan.

Brandon Edwards

The Edwards’ family loves the kids at Elevate Orphan and they are passionate about God’s heart to care for the orphan and widow (James 1:27). Brandon is a worship pastor at Journey Church in Bozeman, Montana. He has had the privilege to oversee Journey’s global outreach for the past 7 years. He has led many short-term missions trips to Ethiopia and has continued to partner with Elevate Orphan in Addis for many years.

The post Brandon Edwards first appeared on Elevate Orphan.

Thomas A

Thomas is a gifted administrator and loves the children passionately and is a brother in Christ of high integrity, profound organizational skills and extreme honesty. Thomas, as a native of Ethiopia, has developed deep relationships within the Ethiopian Government and Orphanages. He has a broad network of relationships that enable him to connect the children with jobs, vocational schools and housing as native born Ethiopians and long-standing residents of Addis Ababa and of The Body of Christ in Addis.

The post Thomas A first appeared on Elevate Orphan.

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Got an old android phone laying around?

Hi there!

We are reaching out with this post to share a need with you with a special request of donations.

7 of our teenagers in our Forever Families at Bring Love In are in need of cell phones. As our budget is pretty tight at the moment, we are finding we do not have the ability to make this purchase to cover these costs. SO we are reaching out to our incredible donor base and community to ask that you consider sending us your used, unlocked android phones if this is an item you have to donate!

We have a team going to Ethiopia in July (leaving July 11th) and they will be taking various donations with them for our Forever Families. If you have an unlocked android you would like to donate, you can ship it to us and our team will take it with them to Addis to be gifted to one of our teenagers to use!

How cool is that??

If you have a phone you would like to donate, please be sure it is an unlocked, android phone in usable condition (and the charger to include with it, if possible), you can mail it to our team in here in the states at:

Bring Love In

PO Box 1063

Cedar Park, TX 78613

 

Have any questions? Please reach out to us at allie@bringlove.in

Thank you!

FINALLY! A way to sponsor an Omo Hope child!