July 2008

Rahab’s Rope Update

Hello Everyone,

I hope you all had a blessed weekend as we celebrate America. Please take time to remember and thank our Servicemen that have sacrificed and paid a high price or the liberties we enjoy.

Where has the time gone? So much is happening and has been happening with Rahab's Rope I can barely keep up.

The girls are doing great in India. Funding came through for two girls to start Beauty School last month. Thank you so much for giving to the Scholarship Fund! This is truly a dream come true for these girls; they thank you with all that is in them. This would have never been possible for them without your support. Our Scholarship Fund is a standing account we will continue to build on so that more girls can go to school and fulfill an impossible dream. It is so exciting to see this happen for them. I wish you could see their faces when they are told they get to go to school. The girls at the center are making some new items that are incredible: jewelry, diaper bags, gym bags, exercise matt bags, jewelry pouches and so on. Come by the store and see what they are doing, you will be surprised. I wish I could put into words the transformation that takes place among the women we work with as we meet a physical need. The physical change, in the end, becomes the smallest change as we see the transformation of the whole person.

We can see God’s hand and timing in all that is happening and it is truly amazing. I wish space and time would permit me to tell you all the details, come see me when you have a little time. I hope I can put the following timeline of events in an order and manner where you can see God. We currently have about 25 girls working at the center in India and we believe that God has given us a number of 200 within a year. As you can see we have a lot of work to do. We have known from the beginning that the wholesale market is where we would have to be in order to impact the lives of our women in any great number. As you know last January we secured a spot in a permanent showroom at the Atlanta Merchandise Mart with the women’s jewelry and some silk bags. This was our first step and has been a good experience. Their work is in about 20 stores in some 13 States, but still this is not big enough to accomplish the task before us. So we pray, Lord this is your work; we see the vision, help us to discern the way to follow. We now have several people helping us find stores that want to carry the items the women make. If you know of a store that might be interested please let me know. Several weeks ago I spent a few days in Texas with some friends of the ministry. Thanks to their efforts the women’s work is in a few stores there. Also, because of them the name Rahab’s Rope is now trademarked. Yea! We are excited about that. We also met with someone that is very experienced in marketing who is going to help us with the promotion and marketing of the women’s work. We have been praying for sometime to have an American influence at the center in India. We also knew that as soon as the women reached a marketable quality of work and we accomplished a marketing plan on this side an American full-time in India would be an absolute necessity. How would we find someone willing to live in India as a volunteer and have all the necessary skills? We needed someone that could teach our girls English, someone that knew something about shipping, someone that had some understanding of how to work with girls that have been abused. There was no way to find all of this in one person. So, we pray, God this is your work, show us the way. Then in God’s providential sovereign way, she shows up. I wish there were time for the details, a lady that is a retired English and Math teacher as her first career, then the shipping industry as her second career and since retiring has volunteered for CASA for 11 years, Rape Response for 6 years and has been a house mother in a women’s drug and alcohol rehabilitation center. Unbelievable! I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried. On top of her skills she said, I will volunteer for you for 2 years!!! “With God all things are possible”. There are so many opportunities before us right now pray for us as we seek God’s wisdom and discernment. As the opportunities become realities I will keep you posted. >As you know Christmas Celebration is our largest outreach event of the year both in terms of the number of women we reach and the cost associated with this outreach. In the four years we have held the event each year the number of women present has doubled. In 2007 we had over 900 women in attendance. We are a little anxious wondering what 2008 holds. If you would like to be involved with Christmas Celebration you have several options. The cost to sponsor a lady is $15; this purchases her a new dress, an elaborate buffet meal, an item of need and gospel literature. If you are interested in going and personally participating contact me. Last but certainly not least I am excited to share with you another option. The Women’s Ministry of First Baptist Church Gainesville saw our need and has responded in a great way and you can be involved. They will hold their first annual Heart & Hands Emporium this September. They are hoping for 50 vendors to come together for your shopping pleasure. If you have some wares to sell you may want to be a vendor. The vendor fee to participate is $150.00, however the fee is actually a tax-deductible donation to Rahab’s Rope. They are hoping to raise enough money to buy all the dresses for the women for Christmas. Please contact me if you would like to be a vendor. And please come shop September 19th and 20th!

So many things are in the works for the women of Rahab’s Rope. Many of you are involved and I thank you so much. Thank you for getting the women’s products in more stores, thank you for getting me organized, thank you for volunteering at the store, thank you for sharing with others what we are doing, thank you for sending people to the store, thank you for helping raise funds, thank you for giving of your time, talents and finances. >Many people are coming along to get involved and help. Thank you! We can see God weaving a beautiful tapestry and it is amazing. Please pray for us as we move forward that God will give us discernment in when to say yes and when to say no. >If you would like to get involved please call me anytime. Words can never express our thankfulness for your support. Please remember us in prayer.

>“Grace and peace be yours in abundance…” 2 Peter 1:2