Day: July 29, 2008

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Three Students Needing Scholarships

JBI Chapel

Almost all of our JBI students are at school by faith. The school has a policy that students must pay their school bills before they are allowed to take final exams at the end of each term. Recently, three students have been on my heart and I would like to present them to you.

  1. R. is a young lady who comes from a broken home and was raised by her grandparents. Her family grows vegetables to sell at the local market. A few years ago, R. met the Lord and her life was completely changed. Her family has not supported her conversion. R. loves the Lord and two years ago felt God calling her to come to Bible School. She enrolled at JBI and is now in her second year. Coming to Bible school has not been easy because she has no steady income. She comes to school every day on the bus from her village. Every afternoon she returns home to work in her gardens raising vegetables which her grandmother sells to buy food and help pay for R’s schooling. This hardworking young lady also cooks and sells food to help pay her school bill. Unfortunately, all this time spent working in the fields prevents her from having quality study time. Recently, she asked me to pray with her that God would lay it on someone’s heart to help her financially so she could come and stay on campus next term. We would love to see R. get a scholarship and move in to the girl’s dorm for the next term starting August 10th. $450 would pay for tuition, room, board and books for this young lady’s next school term. 
  2. JP pastored an Assemblies of God church on a northern island in Vanuatu before coming to Bible School. For many years he longed to come to Joy Bible Institute for training but his church was not able to sponsor him. Last year he stepped out in faith and came to Bible school anyway. His wife and children are still living on their home island while JP is at school. This separation is very difficult as JP only gets home once a year. JP does not have regular sponsorship and we feel like there can be no better recipient of a scholarship than one of our young pastors. $450 would also fully support JP for this next school term.
  3. J. is another married pastor currently attending at JBI without his family. J. pastors a village church on a large island in northern Vanuatu. His family has remained at home and are also living by faith while he attends Bible school. $450 would also cover J’s expenses for this next school term. A one time gift of $450 or full year scholarship (3x$450) would be such a blessing to any one of these dedicated students. 
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Outdoor Kitchen

Classes are out for two weeks and it is time to tackle the school kitchen problem. We really need a whole new cafeteria and kitchen building but we do not have the funds at this time. So we will begin with a new outdoor cooking area, a more modern version of what is locally known as a “bush kitchen” and eventually we hope to attach a whole new cafeteria to it!

Old outside cooking area Old oven

Students cooking on an open fireThe photos above show the roofed in area where students were preparing and cooking meals. The concrete “oven” at one time was used to bake bread but the interior is rusted out and has not been used for many years. Students have been cooking meals on an open fire on the ground. This situation has led to several problems, too much smoke in nearby residences and classrooms, a continuous search for firewood and a growing rodent problem.

 

 

Firewood Food storage

The photo above is of the kitchen woodpile which is directly across (right photo) from the storage cupboards for the root vegetables that are often donated to the school cafeteria. As you can see only a small part of the area has a concrete floor and it becomes very muddy when it rains.

At this point, we are planning to build a new concrete side wall, a larger concrete floor, a built-in concrete barbecue and cooking area, and an outdoor sink. We have designed a small roof and chimney above the cooking area to capture the smoke and hopefully direct it away from the nearby houses. Job and two other students, Jimmy and Clovis, are going to spend their vacation tearing down this area and building the new structures.

Kitchen roofdoor to inside kitchen 

Original cupboards from 1980 missing their doors new chest freezer in corner, school refrig but no stove In the future we would like to renovate the inside kitchen which has the remains of the original cupboards from 1980! The whole building is in disrepair but a closed in ceiling, fresh paint, new kitchen cupboards and a gas stove would really help!

We are so grateful to Faith Assembly, Orlando, for purchasing the new chest freezer for the kitchen. Thank you so much! All gifts, great and small, are so appreciated! The project number is still 5619!