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The Rehoboth Expansion Project Update

July 2007

In March we made the final payment on 2.2 hectares of land located directly across the road from the present facility. This is a very large piece of ground (5 acres) and holds much potential for expanding the services of the Rehoboth Children’s Home. Our first priority is to build Bonnie’s Heart Baby Home so that we can serve more children. Beyond that, we have lots of other ideas as to how this parcel of land could be used. We would like to develop some agricultural and commercial ventures to help the Home develop a degree of self-sufficiency. A clinic, battered women’s shelter and an education/vocational training center are goals for the future in providing support and help to people in the community of Sampaloc. It is very important to us that we be good stewards of what God has provided. Thus, we feel the need to put a great deal of forethought and planning into this project before moving forward. We recently submitted an application to Engineering Ministries International. This organization (EMI) is a non-profit Christian development organization made up of architects, engineers and design professionals who donate their skills to help children and families around the world step out of poverty and into a world of hope. If our application is accepted, we hope to be able to meet with an EMI team sometime next fall in the Philippines. EMI’s team will develop a site plan that will incorporate our ideas and future vision for Rehoboth. The project will be phased so that we have a comprehensive plan for the use of the land but can proceed with small steps as God directs us. Our commitment to EMI will be to provide two weeks of food, lodging and in-country transportation for the team, as well as the cost of one international airfare for the staff project leader. The rest of the project costs (approx imately $55,000 US) are covered by EMI, including salaries, travel, design costs and project overhead. What a blessing this will be to have the help of professionals in translating our ideas into a workable plan at very little cost to us. We will, of course, need to raise the funds for the actual building costs. Please pray with us that EMI will agree to take on our project. Since 1981, they have completed over 500 relief and development projects in nearly 75 countries. From looking at their web site, our project would be their first one in the Philippines!

Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will r idicule him, saying, “This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.” Luke 14: 28 - 30

Schematic Drawing of Bonnie’s Heart Baby Home
by Mike Westfall of Interior Dimensions
Bozeman, MT

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