Dear Beloved Supporters and Friends,
Christmas time often has me admiring Christmas trees. I love that they are green (representing life), in a triangular shape (pointing upward), and often with an angel or star on the very top (very celestial). I love the lights shimmering and glistening off the ornaments, and the great peace and enjoyment that I experience from seeing Christmas trees.
As the Christmas and holiday season are upon us, I, Jesse Rivers, am reflecting on the many incredible blessings from the Lord that we, at Abogar, have seen and received this year! We know His miraculous and faithful hand is upon our ministry, and for that we are so very thankful. We were even able to do two year-end events this year; one with Special Kids School and the other with 35 children from our Vidas Nuevas ministry. Be on the look out for our 4th Quarter ‘Abogar Advances’ newsletter to come out in the next two weeks, for pictures and more information about those amazing events!
As I evaluate Abogar’s current financial situation at this year end though, we are very low in our finances, to the extent that I have received less than half of my pay for November, and have not received any pay for December. I have often been willing (when I was single) to sacrifice my pay (with great faith in God’s faithful provision for all my needs) so that we could see the ministry have an impact amongst the children of Guatemala and Latin America, but professionally it is not the healthiest practice for me or for others not to receive our wages for our work, even when working with a nonprofit ministry. Now having a wife and family for which I am the sole provider, this makes things a bit more challenging! The bible states that a worker is worth his wages in several different passages. We also need to be able to cover all ministry expenses, including (but not limited to) our year-end events. As we desire to grow in effectiveness and ministry output, we also would like to add more members/workers to our team, but this requires sufficient and appropriate funding. I am very hopeful for us to be able to start 2022 off with a good financial base, that will help us to keep building up the team, ministry, and effectiveness of Abogar to bless the children and families of Latin America. Our budget deficit at the end of November, for Abogar to be at a positive and healthy place for the year end, was ~$25,000.
Therefore, the board of directors and I have decided to have a great faith campaign for year end funds. We are doing a Christmas Tree Challenge, in which we are trying to raise, in the month of December, a total of $25,000, to have Abogar meet its budget and ready to start 2022 on a positive note. To date we have raised ~$4,500 of that amount, and are still needing roughly $20,500 to complete the Christmas Tree Challenge! Though just a week and a half remain for this year, we believe that God can guide the right people to invest in our Christmas Tree Challenge, and in the ministry and work of Abogar International Ministries Please prayerfully consider what generous year-end gift you can give, and help us to continue growing and building up families and children of Guatemala and Latin America! We have witnessed many lives of children and families changed by the love and light of Jesus Christ, and the intentional help and presence we have been bringing to their communities. Your gift is an eternal investment in the lives of these precious children and families! Help us to move the star to the top of the Christmas tree, and to light the tree, with your generous support! We thank you for joining with us in this Christmas Tree Challenge, and blessing Abogar and the precious children and families with whom we are blessed to work.
