My God Shall Supply All Your Needs--Part 1

Getting Out the Tools!

Raffles

From Jerry, Vicky and Leilani, Australia:

We launched out into a new ministry this month—raffling sets of videos as prizes. We looked into the legalities of it with the appropriate authority and found that as long as the prize is valued below $500, no permit is required. In our witnessing meeting we agreed to draw each prize, a set of six Kiddie Viddies, after the sale of 100 tickets. Each ticket would cost $2. We have so far drawn names for two prizes and have done the presentations to some very excited prize winners who were thrilled to receive their set of Kiddie Viddies. We can follow up on these new Kiddie Viddie recipients, as well as the 200 or so addresses of those who bought tickets.

(Editor's note: God bless you for coming up with new ways to get out the tools! Just be sure that, as this Home in Australia did, you first check on the regulations on raffles in your city.)

From Sue, Abner, Rebecca and Jeremy, Australia:

We have been going to a Sunday "trash and treasure market" (flea market) to get out the videos and tapes, and it's been going well, thank the Lord! We provisioned a video display unit with which to show our videos, as well as a sign that says "Win These Beautiful Videos." To enhance our presentation, we made a large colorful Kiddie Viddie sign, which we put up on our stand along with colorful balloons. It has been fruitful for getting out video raffle tickets. We are able to witness to quite a few people as well as distribute other videos and tapes (besides those raffled).

Libraries

From Aaron, Abi and Angela, Australia:

Starting a "library ministry" to get our videos and tapes put in all the public libraries has been quite inspiring. (Editor's note: In many countries, public libraries now have sections with CDs, video and audio tapes, in addition to books.) We are approaching regular public libraries, not video libraries, and are finding that they are very interested in Christian-based tapes and videos, as they get requests from people for such material. The Christmas videos and tapes, plus all the Word tapes are going real well. Most libraries are also taking a full set of Kiddie Viddies, Treasure Attics and the Fantastic Friends, plus about 9 or 10 audio tapes.

(Editor's note: Be sure to have your local address or phone number on the material you sell to the libraries, so that interested library-goers have a way to contact you to obtain their own copies, additional material, or more information. You may also want to coordinate your efforts along these lines with other Homes in your city.)

Stands at grocery stores!

From Samuel, Serena, and Peter, U.S.A.:

We learned a new fund-raising technique: Set up tables at grocery stores (having first obtained permission from the owners/managers), explaining our work, asking for donations and giving out posters or other tools.

Advertising the tools on TV!

From Andrew, Andrea, Gina and Pablo, Mexico:

Andrew and Andrea, along with our Home's teen singing troupe and the JETT troupe from another Home, performed on two TV shows, in which they were also interviewed. The commentators were very impressed and only had very good things to say about us. In both shows they used live performances as well as excerpts from our videos. It came out beautifully! They were very impressed with the song "All Hail to the Queen" (on the DTD tape), which they played on Mothers' Day. The television station made their own video of the song, showing a mother cooking, ironing, cleaning, being with her family, etc. During the song an advertisement appeared several times across the bottom of the screen which said, "The Family" and gave the name of the song and the tape it is from, as well as advertised our videos and displayed our phone number. Just minutes after the show our phone started ringing. As a result, in just a few days we got out over 40 videos and over 100 tapes! It was very, very fruitful with many people witnessed to and many salvations!

Using the KV curriculum!

From Mideast Pioneer team:

After we did a seminar to present our videos to his English teachers, the principal of a large renowned private boys' school insisted that he would only take the set of 11 videos if the teachers would use them in an educational manner and not "just for entertainment." So we offered him the new KV planners that were developed in our area, which came in real handy. The school took the set and will put the KV/TAs on their next year's curriculum, for one period a week, using ideas from the KV planners' activities! (Editor's note: For those interested in the Kiddie Viddie planner mentioned above, please check with your CRO office.)

Setting goals helps!

From Tamara, India:

At the beginning of this month, the Lord led us to set our goal of videos distributed at 180. We had desperate prayer, kept daily updates of our stats and set our daily goals. Through the month we saw the Lord work miracles in helping us get the tools out. Some days were slow with hardly any tools out and other days the Lord would help us get out 20-25 videos. This kept our faith muscles working and everyone pitched in to help strive for the daily goals. At the end of the month we had one day left and we had 30 more videos to distribute in order to reach our goal.—And that's exactly how many we got out that day! We were all really excited to see how the Lord did the miracle to reward our faith.

This month we also needed to not only raise our next month's budget, but a big portion of our one-year advance rent, which is quite a large sum. In trying to make an extra push on outreach, our weekly "consider the poor" (CTP) ministries seemed like a sacrifice in time and personnel. However, as we went ahead and put our hearts into the CTPs, on our CTP days the Lord blessed the other outreach teams with 35 videos out one day and 20 videos out the following CTP day! A real victory!

Fund-Raising Aids

Listing your accomplishments

From Dust, Rose, Christy, Jason, Allen and Sunny, U.S.A.:

Our outreach teams came up with a really neat idea: In order to present exactly what we do here locally, we have made a list of all the events, projects and ministries that we have been involved with in our city and vicinity this past year, including names of people and places for references. It is a long, exciting list! We also included our outreach stats for the year, which makes it very impressive.

Each person has a copy of this list to use when witnessing, to tell people in detail exactly what we are doing and have done as a Christian outreach group here. This is a help in fund raising, as people usually like to give to a group that is successful in their own community!

This list is also helpful when phone provisioning, as you can just rattle off a list of specific projects on the phone, holding the list in front of you while you are speaking.

(Editor's note: Great idea! And besides having such a list for your reference when witnessing, you can also put together an attractive and attention-grabbing GP version that you can give to your prospective contacts—a great PR tool, along with your photo album, etc.! Just be sure that all of the people from your community whom you name or quote are ready and willing to speak well of you if contacted by others. You may want to get permission from your references before putting their name or the name of their institution in print.)

Request letters

From Sapphire, India:

We have been learning to invest more time in preparing proper request letters and using them to present our needs to people, rather than relying on our own verbal requests, which can sometimes be a bit vague. We discovered that a lot of our friends who own companies and businesses work this way, and we are learning to operate more like they do. Requesting specific amounts in our request letters to our friends has resulted in our friends coming through and donating the amounts that we have asked for.

We are also learning to take it more seriously when someone asks us for a letter or to come back and see them another time. It really pays to follow through with this!

Having an office can be a help

From Jay, Rose, Jonathan and Amos, U.S.A.:

We've opened an office downtown, and it's been a big blessing. We know it may not be viable or profitable in all situations, but it sure has been a blessing in ours.

It's amazing how much credibility having an office has given us in the eyes of the System. Instead of hemming and hawing when people ask us where our center is, we can forthrightly tell them and give them the phone number or our business card. In almost every case, their doubts or questions are alleviated, and we're able to go on with our witness or provisioning or whatever with a much better connection. The cost is relatively small—about $10 a day—and in our case it has been well worth our investment!

(Editor's note: Even if you don't have an office, it is still advisable to be able to forthrightly present a GP phone number or address when requested by prospective contacts, even if only an answering service.)

Donation envelopes

From the Japan Media Home:

We have a donation box in our entrance with envelopes that say "Donation" and a Bible verse about the blessings of giving. Recently I asked one of our new visitors for financial help. I gave her an envelope to put a donation in, and the next time she visited us, she gave me back the envelope with the donation inside. As she was leaving, she asked, "May I take another envelope?" I was encouraged with the results of this approach and we're thinking about using envelopes more when asking for support.

We will be giving envelopes with our address and GP bank account number to our contacts when we go to appointments, or putting "For May," "For June," "For July," etc., on the envelopes for monthly pledges. If they have an empty envelope, maybe it will encourage them to fill it with something, and it will remind them that we need help. I think Japanese people can relate to this envelope method, and for them it's easier than just handing us cash.

(Editor's note: You could even provision the printing of these customized envelopes with "The Family" name and logo on them, as well the other information mentioned above.)

Gift cards

From Clara, Switzerland:

On our recent faith trip we experimented with our new "gift cards" that we had just had printed. These cards have the picture from "What Everybody Needs Is Love" on the front with a caption that says, "The Family—1994. The Year of the Family—I do my part." (Note: 1994 was named "The Year of the Family" by the United Nations.) The card lists pledges for a few different amounts, which people can select from. When we present our work to people and ask if they would like to sponsor any of our projects, at the same time we give them one of these "gift cards" as a certificate for their donation. People were happy to receive this certificate, which doubled as a card of appreciation, and it seemed to make them more willing to give. It was very exciting to pioneer this new way of asking for support!

Stamp sheets and keeping logs

From Andrew and Joan, Scandinavia:

We recently went to the Pakistani quarter of our city, called "Little Karachi" by its inhabitants. Several months ago we had performed at a benefit in honor of a famous Pakistani cricket player, and over Christmas we did many shows at refugee camps for mostly Bosnian Muslims. So with this appeal, we began going shop-to-shop. The response was incredibly favorable, and literally everyone wanted to help in one way or another! We were using "stamp sheets," which each merchant who gave a donation or received our tools stamped with his company stamp. Each time we approached a new contact we were able to show them who else from their business community had already given to our work. Once things started rolling, our sheets filled up very quickly! (Editor's note: If businesses in your area do not use rubber address stamps, you could do essentially the same thing by putting their business card, with their consent, in "clear sheets" designed for that purpose.)

We kept a very detailed log of what each person donated, who asked us to come back, what tools they were given, etc. One shop asked us to return to do a pick-up the following Friday, so we began to suggest the same thing to anyone who wasn't sure if they had anything they could give us. We would just ask them to please look for us and we'd come back on Friday to see. When we went back, they all gave something! Although the trip was mainly for provisioning, we got out 23 videos as well! Praise the Lord!

Teen Fund-Raising Ideas

Car washes

From the Washington, D.C., Home:

We recently had our second round of car washes, which went very well! We have a contact who owns a gas station strategically located in one of the best spots in town. Our Family car-wash team had a large banner out at the car wash which read, "The Family, Making a Better World." This is the same banner which graced our living room during a recent open house. We also had large car-wash signs and banners, and the team strung balloons around the area of the gas station in which the car wash was being held.

The owner of the gas station provided the team with water and free soap. Besides the car washers, we had another team at the car wash equipped with photo albums, posters, tapes, etc., to witness to those who were waiting while their car was being washed. Our team provisioned matching red baseball caps with the inscription "The Family" on the front, and next week we're picking up 15 matching T-shirts which say, "The Family, Making a Better World." (Editor's note: Another idea would be to use the slogan that's on the Family Activity Reports: "The Family: Making a Difference!")

This last Saturday the car-wash team washed a total of 72 cars at an average of $7.50 per car, for a total of close to $500. Rather than asking for a set price for each car wash, the team witnessed to and presented our need to each customer, asking for a donation.

This was part of a three-day push to raise funds for sound equipment for our show troupe. Besides the car wash, another team of posterers distributed some 1,700 posters at well over $1 per poster. Our show troupe performed at a restaurant where we normally just have a small team of buskers, and got out 38 audio tapes after their performance! When the three-day push was over, our Home had reached its goal of raising over $2,500!

From a (large) traveling "MOM Team" in the U.S.:

We took the teens out with us car washing, which was a fun way to raise the funds we needed to get to the next Home we were visiting. This is also a great way to tell others about the Lord and the wonderful Family we belong to. We all had so much fun together! When we had a little break or things would get slow, we'd turn up the volume on our boom-box and the teens would all rock out to "Where Would We Be?" or "Be a Survivor" to draw a crowd. It was a real inspiration to both viewers and performers.

When we went to provision lunch, all that extra practice paid off again. A sweet restaurant manager agreed to give all 13 of us lunch and when we performed for him, he offered us all sundaes! It was just a simple, fun performance, using the BMTs off the tape recorder. You don't need a huge band or "professionals" to have a fun teen dance team—you just have to get out of yourself!

Window washing

From Tim, Joanna and Mercy, U.S.A.:

One of our Homes is doing window-washing witnessing, which the teens like because it's different and fun! The team consists of a small teen singing group and a couple of teen boys with a long squeegee. They explain that they are fund-raising and ask shop managers if they would like the windows of their store washed for a donation for our missionary work. While the boys clean the windows, the other team sings to the shop managers. They win souls, and get out the videos and tapes at the same time! The donations for washing the windows vary from $5.00 to $25.00 at each store and it only takes about 10 minutes to do. The response has been very favorable.

A "hot witness"!

From Josh and Hope, U.S.A.:

A fun witness and fund-raiser was running a hot-dog stand for a day, and the proceeds from the sales went to help our work. Plus, we were able to set up the stand as a witness, with posters and quotes and photos of our outreach. We played our Family music tapes and showed videos too, so that all who came for a hot dog also got a "hot witness"! It was fun and different and raised a couple of hundred dollars that day, praise the Lord!

Raising support by helping out your neighbors

From Cedar Pioneer, U.S.A.:

Doing gardening for some of our neighbors has been a fun way to meet them and introduce our work and witness to them. One neighbor gave us $350 after two of us worked about eight hours in her garden. She also attended our open house and was very touched. She wants us to witness to her son, who has become involved with Buddhism, and in her words, "never caught on to Christianity." She felt that seeing the way that Christianity is a practical way of life for us would really turn his key.

Teen show troupes raise support!

From the Nagoya Home, Japan:

This summer we're hitting the World Expo MIE '94, the largest expo in Japan this year. After talking with the person in charge of some of the events, we were able to book 11 shows for the teens and JETTs to perform at the Expo. They do not get paid for the performances, but they do receive funds for projected transportation and food costs. Since the Lord provided most of the food we needed through provisioning, and we took care of transport with our own bus, we were able to use these funds for our support, thank the Lord! The Lord raised up a campground near Expo that will let up to 35 of us camp and use their facilities for free for the summer!

It's been a great opportunity for the teens to meet and witness to so many different types of people from all over the world, as well as multitudes of Japanese people. The first two days the teens performed, they gave four TV and two radio interviews—three of them live—which were seen or heard by an estimated 18-20 million people!

The teens have discovered a very good way to raise support for this summer's witnessing adventure. Because the teens are doing shows at Expo without getting paid for them (besides transport and food), it is a good appeal that encourages local folks to want to help support our work. We have an appeal letter typed up in Japanese explaining about the show and the names and ages of everyone on the team, and that we are doing this as a volunteer project. We also listed a variety of items that we need. This appeal is working well and the teens have been able to go shop-to-shop in each little town in the area. They introduce themselves and show photos of them performing at Expo and present the pledge form. They also show other forms that have already been filled out by others. Seeing that others in the town have helped encourages new people to give too!

More Teen/Children Singing Troupe Ideas

Possible places teen/children singing groups could perform at:

Universities. (Your teen singing group could combine this with presenting the students with a social studies/religion class or Q/A forum on the Family and our beliefs and lifestyle.)

High-class hotels and restaurants

Churches

Golf clubs and country clubs

Senior citizen social gatherings

Casinos

Cruise ships (while docked in port)

Yacht clubs, sports clubs, and other such establishments at beach resorts

Ski and other vacation resorts. (Witness/make friends with the city tourist department and ask them for referrals or ideas of places to perform at or special events coming up.)

County fairs

Bingo parlors

Shopping centers and malls

Men's and woman's groups (Lions, Rotary, Kiwanis, Elks, etc.)

Company conventions (held in hotels, they usually have a banquet, a cocktail party or a ball)

Recreation centers for juvenile delinquents (a good place to witness—you could get someone to sponsor the show)

Company Christmas or anniversary parties (10th, 25th, 50th, etc.). The local Chamber of Commerce may be able to help you with referrals to companies looking for entertainment of this kind. These are often arranged six months to a year in advance.

In Western countries, restaurants or cafeterias where church congregations regularly gather after the Sunday church service

In addition to finding places to sing where you will be paid for your performance or where you can ask for donations, you can also get individuals or businesses to sponsor a performance by your troupe at a "consider the poor"-type place (orphanage, senior citizens' home, school, hospital, delinquent home, etc.).

Some companies will agree to sponsor your performance if you do a little "advertising" for them by putting up a big sign that says "this was sponsored by the following companies," or making an announcement to that effect.

Step out on the water!

From Eman (22, of Julia), Europe:

While on a road trip, we passed through Monte Carlo, which is the capital of the tiny principality of Monaco. We were planning on doing some singing, but this was made difficult because there was a big football game going on, so most people were busy watching it on TV. Also we realized that to get into most places to sing we would need a more professional presentation. It was getting late, and we were getting a little discouraged, wondering what we should do. We got together and prayed to ask the Lord if there was anything He wanted us to do before we left, and got the witness to try the yachts.

Down at the dock there were all these big, very fancy, expensive-looking yachts, so we thought we'd try something crazy that none of us had ever done in our lives and just get on one and ask if we could sing or somehow talk with the people aboard. Sharon (YA) and I hopped on one and asked if they would like to hear a song. They were very friendly and invited us all to come in. The owner of the yacht was quite wealthy, but seemed to enjoy our company and simple songs. We talked with him and explained our work, and some of his associates were also interested in us and our beliefs. He gave us an envelope with a large donation and invited us to come back on the weekend when he would take the yacht out to sea for a few hours for a party with his friends.

Upon our arrival that weekend, we found he and his party guests had already sailed on out into the Mediterranean, but he had left the captain with a little speedboat to take us out to join them. As we went out to sea we were able to practice our songs a little more, which was good because as it turned out there were quite a few interesting people there that night. We were treated as guests and had a very nice dinner with them and then got up and sang. Afterwards we were able to mingle and witness to the people there, which went very well. The owner also invited us back whenever we are in the area, thank the Lord! The whole experience taught us not to be afraid to try something new and different, even if it seems a little radical or awkward at first!

Clowning

From John and Beth, Belgium:

One way we've tried fund raising is clowning, which has been real fun and exciting. The first few times we went with a team of about 15 people. We used two guitars and a singing team of teens, JETTs, MCs and YCs. This seems to be a good combination as the big ones have the drive, but the little ones draw the crowd.

We found that it was quickest just to put on the make-up upon arrival at our destination. We had a little show of about 12 songs, including some fun songs such as the "Holy Ghost Boogie," "If I Were a Butterfly," "This Little Light of Mine," etc. We put out a guitar case with a sign saying that the donations are for our missionary work. While the children sang, a couple of people passed out posters to passers-by, and one JETT gave posters to everyone that dropped a donation in the guitar case.

People seem to be very much attracted to the kids "burning free." We were able to pray with some of the people who stopped to listen, several of whom we will be following up on.

One couple heard us and invited us to sing at a small market. We sang and danced and then we went around the whole market doing the "Gospel Express." They were thrilled and want us to come back. During our breaks, the Lord provided some special snacks for the kids—a full pizza meal, ice cream, drinks, etc.

To top off the fun day of singing and clowning, we went for a swim in a nearby lake. Needless to say, the kids were all super inspired after such an exciting day.

Provisioning Ideas

Provisioning from "Claims"

From Steve, David, and Tirzah, U.S.A.:

We had been trying to provision disposable diapers for some time, but with no success. Finally we called a well-known department store in our town and instead of speaking with the manager, as we have in times past, who was only able to give us $10 certificates, we talked to the lady in the customer service department (where customers return items they deem to be of unsatisfactory quality). She said she could help, and asked us to bring in a letter. We did so, and they were able to help us out with more than just diapers, as they have all sorts of slightly damaged merchandise just sitting in the back. She gave us quite a load of all kinds of different things. She told us to leave our phone number with her and she'd call when she had more. Just the very next week she called and there were socks, panties, underwear, T-shirts, baby items and more! Praise the Lord! There was so much, we were able to pass on what we didn't need to the other Homes in the area!

Selling unneeded provisioned goods

From Marie, Jasmin and Free, England:

A contact donated several thousand garments, some to be sent to Bosnia, and some for us to sell to raise support. This took quite a concerted effort on the part of everyone in the Home, organizing, counting, sorting and packing garments, as well as finding transportation to Bosnia for the goods, and finding a buyer for those we sold here. But we felt all along that the Lord was using it to help us financially, and also as a "consider the poor" testimony in helping the Bosnian refugees. The funds we received as a result were a big help in paying off some bills and ordering new tools, etc.

From the HCS, Japan:

One afternoon, out of the blue, someone gave us 140 boxes of expensive imported dog and cat food. Our dear camp managers were a bit at a loss about what to do with it, as we only have one dog and one cat. Ha! The Lord showed us to distribute it to the neighbors, which was great for our local PR, and it has also been a good item to sell at the bazaars (flea markets) which we've been going to, to raise funds.

Our experiment with selling some of our surplus provisioning items at bazaars is turning out to be quite fruitful. The prospects for this are quite encouraging, as we have a warehouse packed with surplus items that have been donated to us but which we are unable to use, many of which seem quite in demand at bazaars. So it looks like this will become a regular activity which will definitely boost our budget if we are able to go two or three days each month. Thank the Lord!

(Editor's note: Please do not sell provisioned items unless you have each donor's permission to do so. We have received other testimonies where selling provisioned items has been a source of income for the Homes, but this should only be done after first receiving the permission [written if possible] from each company that donated the goods.)

Using "Consider the Poor" Ministries to Raise Support

From Moscow Home:

This month we had desperate prayer for financial support, and went on the attack, knocking on business doors, explaining our work and seeking monthly sponsors. In some instances, the companies were not willing to commit themselves to monthly support, but they gave in other ways, which was also a blessing. One company gave over 150 pairs of shoes, which we passed on to a charity group. Another new contact gave us baby bottles and pacifiers, which we gave to a nearby orphanage.

Although we introduce our Home's need to these potential contacts, since we first tell them of our humanitarian aid projects, they sometimes want to give goods for us to distribute to the poor, which we readily accept. What we do is try to get the goods into the hands of the needy right away. We take photos of our Family delivering the goods, which we send to the donors with a thank-you card. This touches their hearts and they usually help again. The next time they help us personally as well, since we showed we were faithful with their first gift.

One new contact, the woman who originally gave the baby bottles, seemed to think we only needed humanitarian aid. We went ahead by faith and boldly explained our need as well, and she has now pledged $100 worth of imported household goods per month. It was a big blessing to see the fruits of this, praise God!

From Enoch and Lily, Denmark:

We started a ministry to the refugee centers near our city, and coupled with our burden to send a team to help reach the people in the former Yugoslavia, we approached several contacts we have been following up on. The response has been quite positive.

One man has a couple of shops on the main walking street here, and he offered to advertise our work with the Bosnian refugees and raise funds for us. He helped us make a poster with an explanation and pictures of our work with the refugees, with a few lines encouraging people to give. A donation can is placed by the counter, where people can put their donations. Also on a certain day, our friend will give us 15% of the income from the sales in his shop on that day. This shop is part of a chain that has special sponsorship programs to help raise funds for organizations such as Amnesty International, etc. God bless our friend, as he's had to fight through red tape and technical details to get this going.

He and his wife also pledged to help with a gift covering the expenses for one of us to go to the former Yugoslavia, and he offered for us to take his video camera on our trip so we can document our work. He is also making T-shirts with the Family logo for all of our team, which was his idea and of his own initiative. (Editor's note: As explained in FSM 265, "Finances and Fund Raising, Part 4," if you are appealing for funds for a specific project, such as sending a team to minister at a refugee camp, it's very important that the funds raised are used for that purpose. You should also make it clear to your donors whether their gift will be used to cover your mission's expenses or will go directly to those you are assisting or ministering to. You should not use these funds for your Home expenses unless your donors gave knowing that some or all of the funds would be used to support your Home.)

From Russian Christina, Russia:

We've been pioneering provisioning here in Moscow, and already have a few steady contacts who help us with many needed food items. Recently we prayed for more of His supply and received the verse, "I will open the windows of Heaven and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it!" Later we noticed an ad with the phone number of a company that sells juice. Upon phoning them, it turned out that they were a big fruit company, and the director was very helpful. He agreed to give us a lot of fruit and vegetables every week, provided that we give most of it to a local orphanage.

We found an orphanage through another friend at the Red Cross, and we went with them in their station wagon to do the pick-up, as we ourselves don't have a vehicle yet. The company wanted to give us at least two or three times as much food as would fit in the vehicle. It certainly was a fulfillment of the verse, that there would not be room enough to receive it! We brought home only about a fifth of what we could fit in the car, but it was plenty for our Home of 12-14 people! The orphanage was also very, very thankful for the fruits and vegetables, and sweetly agreed to drive us to this weekly pickup, drop off our share at our Home, and make a second trip to deliver food from the same company to another nearby orphanage.

From Peter and Tender, Philippines:

The Lord led us to a local city councilwoman who wanted us to help with their day-care center. We found it in very poor condition with a lot of work to do, cleaning, painting, etc.

The Lord provided most everything we needed to do the initial push in renovating this center, which is under the Department of Social Welfare and Development. This councilwoman and the day-care worker told us that the people in their part of town are really thankful for the improvement we've done to the center and asked us to help at the other four day-care centers they have as well. It's been a real good testimony to all, and a good opportunity to witness, praise the Lord!

The Lord has used this to increase our support as well. Two days before we started with this ministry, we met a Korean lady who manages a garment factory/office, who gave a donation. Since the day-care center has a tape player, we decided to use the gift she gave to sponsor children's cassette tapes to give to the center. We asked the day-care worker to write a letter of acknowledgment for the tapes. When we delivered the letter to the lady who made the donation, she was really touched, and it opened the door to witness to her more. We were able to read something with her and pray with her.

This lady was so touched by our work in reaching out to others that she pledged to help us monthly! At first she asked us to come by at the end of next month to pick up her first monthly pledge, but then decided to go ahead and give us her first monthly pledge on the spot!

From Jasper and Love, U.S.A.:

Much of our Christmas push this year was spent ministering to our friends and contacts, as well as performing benefit shows for institutions in the community. As we poured out, ministering to and "considering the poor," the Lord saw fit to foot the bill in His own unusual way. On our first night out caroling, we decided to go to a fairly wealthy area of town. It started out a bit rough, as people were quite snobbish and unreceptive, but the highlight of the evening was when we met and sang for Brenda and her husband, as we had no idea they lived in this neighborhood. We had met Brenda some months earlier while out postering, and had contacted her not long before to see if she could help with girls' clothes, as she owns a consignment (used clothing) shop.

Also, little did we know while caroling for Brenda and her husband, that just before we arrived at their door that evening they had been thinking and praying about who to give their Christmas donation to. The very next day they received our Christmas newsletter in the mail, and that was the confirmation they had been waiting for. A couple of days later they asked us to come by their shop, where they had a $1,000 check waiting for us! Another woman who works in their shop also gave $200! It encouraged us so much that the Lord was blessing our "consider the poor" efforts! "He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that which he hath given will He pay him again" (Pro.19:17).

Follow-Up!

From Isaac and Sarah, South Pacific:

Some of our close friends, a couple, decided to help us by giving us $500 every month and also doing all our shopping! They are so happy now because their lives are really changed. They have three children, and they can see the good effect that the Word has had in their children's lives. They are going to build a house for us on their own land because they don't want us to pay rent, and they want us to be free to do our work for the Lord without having to worry about material things.

Right now, we are trying out a new ministry that is bearing very good fruit. Every weekend, we invite our closest friends and their kids over to our Home from Friday evening till Sunday night. We have 4 groups—adults, teens and JETTs, OCs and younger children. During the weekend we have devotions together, JJT, classes, get-out, and a class about communicating with kids. The parents are really changing, and seeing the change in their kids, and they want to continue to have this kind of fellowship. This is a new ministry for us, and we see it bearing real good fruit. All these friends know about the negative publicity about the Family, but know the allegations are false.

Coming over more regularly like this with their children has inspired the parents to want to support our work more. This month we received almost $2,000 from this ministry. One couple gave us $1,000 for shopping and told us to let them know if we need anything.

Here are some of the reactions from the parents and children to coming over on the weekends:

* "Now my daughter is always asking me to pray before we do something."

* "We stopped watching TV, and instead have Word time together [DFs]."

* "Before, I didn't know how to deal with my kids. But now with the help of the Family, I'm learning to understand them."

* "Before, our three pre-teens didn't have any communication amongst themselves, but now, after the fellowships, they are more open and loving with each other."

* "Seeing the change in our parents is making our home a much happier one!"

* "Now I love my mother a lot more, because she stopped drinking."

Thank You Jesus! All the parents, as well as the kids, say that they can hardly wait for each weekend to come around!

(Editor's note: Since this testimony was written, the house promised by some of the Home's supporters has been built and the Family has moved in, rent free! On the weekends, rather than having all their friends stay over in their house, the Family, together with their closest friends, stay at the more spacious house of one of their kings. As they've continued to minister to their friends and contacts, their Home has continued to bear good fruit, God bless them!)

The importance of pledges!

From Hannah Sunshine, David Chosen, and Crystal Dear, India:

In one of our recent Home follow-up meetings we reviewed all of our contacts, and to our dismay found that very few were giving faithfully. In other words, we couldn't really rely on the majority of our contacts to supply a good percentage of our finances on a monthly basis, even though we had been ministering to or at least had known them for a substantial length of time. We desperately wanted to broaden the base of our financial support and not be solely dependent on the tools, which had been the case for a very long time. In addition to getting the tools out, we felt the need to have a more stable and definite means of support in the event of persecution or other factors which could affect our tool distribution.

After desperate prayer, our DF teams launched a major attack to contact all of our friends and ask for monthly pledges. The result is that many of our friends very willingly pledged to support us! One difficulty that we faced in raising pledges is that people here are not very willing to commit themselves to supporting us on a monthly basis, but rather prefer to give us a lump sum at one time to either cover for a period of six months or in some cases twelve months. So whenever we approach people we keep this principle in mind and present them with the options of supporting our work with pledges on a monthly, semi-annual or annual basis.

This has been a tremendous victory, and most of our friends have come through with either their semi-annual or annual pledges. When receiving such large gifts at once, our Home has decided to spread the gift over six or twelve months, as the case may be, so that we don't end up spending our contacts' six-month or yearly pledges all at once.

(Editor's note: If one of your supporters gives a six-month or one-year pledge at a time, please be faithful to keep a good record of their gift, so that you don't approach them for their next pledge until the time period covered by their last gift has expired. Of course, you may want to approach them for a special need or emergency, but asking them for their next pledge prematurely because of poor record-keeping could offend them. And please remember to regularly follow-up on and minister to them during those months, while awaiting their next gift, just like you would if they were giving monthly.)

The Lord has supplied very substantially this month, which has enabled us to get out of debt as well as establish a financial buffer to fall back on! In addition, we were able to tend to pending Home improvement projects and childcare needs, as well as invest in much needed equipment like a new washing machine, an air con for our living room, bedcovers, etc. He never fails!

Mail Ministry Miracles!

From Kristia, Thailand:

Mail Ministry Miracle: With a desperate financial situation on our hands, the Lord led me to call a sweet older lady I've been writing to. I've never met her but she knows my mom, who has highly recommended our work to her. The older lady has faithfully supported the work with a monthly gift, and a couple of years ago she responded to an emergency request with a generous gift. This time we needed a similarly large gift. Our whole financial situation required a miracle, as we were short of our goal by a big margin, and all I had to go by was faith in the Lord to touch her heart. I wasn't sure what to ask her for, but as I was about to call her, the Lord gave me the words "appropriating faith." As we talked on the phone, I felt a rush of faith, and when she asked how much we needed, I told her $1,200. She said that was quite a lot, as she is now also supporting some other missionaries. "However," she added, "I will take it to the Lord and pray about it. I promise I'll do something to help you."

Imagine how thrilled we were when we received a note from her via my mother where she said: "The check is enclosed. Kindly tell Kristia that the request for the project she has in hand is receiving God's blessing. I thank God for the joy of sharing His blessings for the advancement of His kingdom."

From Mercy Tender, Puerto Rico:

This month the Lord answered prayer for new supporters in an interesting way. We received a letter and check from a stranger, who said she is a friend of my sister-in-law, who has been sharing our newsletter with her. In her letter she said she wants to give to a "live hands-on group," instead of the television ministries, and requested more information about our work. The Lord works in mysterious ways! It impressed upon me that we don't always realize how far our witness goes.

More Fund-Raising Ideas

Advertising for contacts in your newsletters

From Gideon, Ana, Stefan, and Peter, India area:

The Lord gave us a new way of raising funds, which is to include a page of "advertisements" on the back page of our newsletter for the many contacts and friends who we have been ministering to. We have found it helpful sometimes when a company doesn't want videos or they are having a hard time releasing funds, to ask them to donate from their advertising budget. This often makes it much easier for them to give, and we can offer them space on the back page of our newsletter. We present it in a way that they can give different donations depending on the size of the ad. For a full-page ad we ask approximately $400, $200 for a half-page ad, etc. One insurance company bought a full-page ad for our coming newsletter this month.

(Editor's note: If your contacts take out ads for several months running, please be sure that you do diligently put out your newsletter monthly, or however often you have promised it to your donors. Don't miss an issue, or it will be a very poor sample and testimony to your donors and could even cause you legal problems. Alternatively, your contacts could take out an ad in a single issue of your newsletter, or one issue at a time, and thus you would avoid locking yourself into a more long-term commitment. If handled properly and diligently, it could be a good way to not only cover the costs of your newsletter, but also bring in extra funds for your Home.)

Requesting donations from companies' advertisement funds

From Gideon, Ana, Stefan and Peter, India area:

We met a bank manager while going door-to-door. He said he thought his bank could help us with a large donation and asked us to meet him at his bank. We came armed with one of our request letters. He said with our letter requesting a "donation" he would be able to give only a hundred dollars or so, but if we would reword it a little, to request funds from their advertising budget, they could help with more than three times as much.

We feel this is a key to helping us receive more and larger donations, by avoiding the formalities of a company taking money out of its "donation funds," but rather from its "advertising funds." In return, when we donate the tools which the company sponsors, and/or do a benefit performance somewhere, we can acknowledge either verbally or with a sign or banner, that our performance and/or the gift of tools was sponsored by that particular business.

When approaching large foreign companies in this way, we saw how it's not always necessary to see the top managing director, as we always have thought we needed to. We found a sweet, interested under-manager can also be very helpful, and can go see the boss himself and convince him to help us quite easily. We had this experience at a large multinational company. An under-manager came to our meeting where we minister to deaf people and was very impressed, and he talked to the managing director where he works and the company was able to give a large donation. A few weeks later they also helped with three motors for our water pumps!

Family birthday services

From a Home in Taiwan:

The Lord used a friend of ours to inspire and launch us into a new fund-raising ministry called "International Family Birthday Services." The location of this service is our Home! It has an extensive outside area where we offer the celebrators several fun activities and services for a pretty reasonable price.

The services that we offer are similar to the things that we did recently for our friend's sister who celebrated her 50th birthday, which is a big event in this country. At that celebration, we had the OC and the teen show teams give an inspired performance outside, complete with stage, equipment and lights. The trees around the grounds had beautiful lights on them (we used Christmas lights), and the grounds were trimmed. Our friend donated colorful beach umbrellas and stands that really spruced up the look of the place. He also bought new flowers for our flower beds and the steak for our Home dinner that night, along with all the drinks, etc.

Besides the shows we had a fun and happy clown, fellowshipping with the visitors, and organized games such as the "Limbo," "Hokey Pokey" dance, and musical chairs. The guests and their children had a blast. We had several of our kids out there too, saying hello and being a good sample. We presented a gift of a video, a tape and a card to the celebrant at the cake-cutting part, during which we also took photos for them.

All in all it was a real success! They gave $2,400 for the occasion, plus they left a lot of the equipment that they had bought for the event, God bless them!

We are now preparing a flyer that can be faxed or given to selected audiences, such as Lions Clubs, Rotary Clubs, etc. We are using our Home phone number on the flyer for the present. We have two different types of parties to offer: A party for children—up to 20 children. The other offer is to family groups and/or older folks. The activities and performances would vary according to the audience. We have certain areas on the grounds of our property that would be off limits to visitors. And we will have a pre-celebration discussion with the people interested to discuss the details. We will charge $1,600 to $2,000 for a three-hour event filled with fun and memories.

Teaching English to company staffs

From Newheart, Sharon, and Joy, Thailand:

A company has started to help us every month with a generous donation, and we will be helping them by teaching their staff English once a week. This first month went real well, and the company gave us a donation of almost $1,000. Thank You Jesus!

"Mother's Day"—a good witnessing/fund-raising opportunity!

From Timoteo, Tiago, Luz, and Rejoice, Brazil:

A friend of ours who owns a pizza restaurant wanted to do something special for his clients on Mother's Day, so he decided to buy 250 GP Daily Mights to give to them on that day. Our teens had a beautiful day of witnessing at the restaurant, as they distributed each Daily Might along with a little card that said, "You are an angel, Mom!" They also got out 300 posters!

Using our years of childcare experience as a fund-raising ministry!

From Mary MOM, Europe:

(Excerpts from a report to Mama:)

The Lord has laid on my heart the burden to share the wealth of education in childcare that we have received over the years with the "outside world," in the form of seminars and IEC-type projects. When I think of how many of our mothers have had years of training in childcare, parent/child relations, marriage counseling, home schooling, etc., it gives me a lot of faith that they could offer needed services, and counsel people on how to take care of their kids in a godly manner—something millions of parents are desperate for!

(Editor's note: The IEC, which stands for "International Educational Correspondence," is an experimental program developed by the Family in Japan with the help and sponsorship of one of their kings. It is a yearly course which parents can subscribe to and receive a monthly magazine full of childcare tips and counsel taken from the Family pubs, majoring on the care of newborns to pre-schoolers, along with a KV or TA video monthly.

(In addition, those subscribing to the IEC club [mostly parents met through the Homes' regular outreach] can attend weekly club meetings where they bring their kids, who are looked after by some Family members, while the parents attend a seminar or open-forum. To encourage people to join the club, the Homes' outreachers distribute a brochure explaining the course and an application form to those they meet while on outreach. The Family in Japan has put together these magazines in Japanese, and hope to work on doing them in English for the Family worldwide, D.V. Please keep this project in your prayers!)

As your Letter "From Poverty to Plenty" brings out, there is plenty of room for not only our YAs and outreachers to get involved in fund raising, but for our mothers also, who may feel there is not much they can do to help with the overall support of their Home. Incorporating childcare counseling services or courses into their outreach could give new and exciting opportunities for those who feel they are "tied" to childcare to contribute to the Home's outreach and support. It could generate a lot of support and open new doors for getting out the videos too!

I have recently met a number of wealthy older women who are involved in many different types of social and charitable work, who would probably be quite happy to support such projects.

During a recent meeting with some of our area MOMs, we discussed all the services our mothers (and fathers) could offer. Here are some ideas: marriage counseling, pre-natal and post-natal care, pre-natal exercises, breast-feeding counsel, home-schooling tips and suggestions, parenting issues, teen/parent relations, child/parent relations, health, hygiene and nutrition counseling. They could print up a brochure offering "phone comfort services," which could even be done by a nursing mom from her bed. These phone comfort services could be offered to the elderly, those going through crises in their lives, or teens calling in for heart-to-heart talks with other teens, answering their many questions about life in general, etc. We are quite excited about offering this phone witnessing service.

The Homes could also hold seminars for parents whom they meet while witnessing. They can find ideas and articles to use for their seminars in the Childcare Handbook #1, Techi's Life Story, Activity Books, Heavenly Helpers #2 and 5, Raise'm Right, Marvellous Marriage, as well as of course the wealth of counsel in the Letters. They could fill up on the subject from the Word beforehand, and have question-and-answer periods where they can give the Lord's answers—out of the abundance of their hearts—this is what would set us apart from other similar counseling services.

These seminars may not initially be on "spiritual" topics, but rather offer practical help and guidance to a troubled world, and to troubled parents in particular. They could, of course, be combined with a witness, or lead to a witness on a personal level as well as through our tools.

It seems that no matter what topic we talk about, people are impressed with what we know, and I imagine it is because of our unique privilege to have received years of input from Dad and you, Mama. For example, I was in a health food store recently asking for some brewer's yeast and said I wanted it to put in milk bottles for my grand-daughter. The clerk lit up and started asking me all sorts of questions. He was very impressed that I would feed a baby brewer's yeast, and even wanted me to do a mini-article for their store's paper.—And basically all I had told him was the counsel about bottle feeding from the Techi book, which I have been following for years.

Another aspect of this ministry is that if our mothers are more involved with the community in this way through seminars, helping at delinquent centers, orphanages, maternity clinics, marriage counseling, etc., we may get to be known more for what we have to offer than for just what we do with our own kids. In smaller Homes our teachers and mothers could be quite active in this type of ministry, which could also involve teens, YAs and even children—teaching other children and being a good sample and witness to them at "Kiddie Viddie parties" and other such events.

(Editor's note: We certainly want to encourage you to find ways to share the wealth of knowledge the Lord has given us on how to raise children, and we hope that you will discuss how the mothers and childcare personnel in your Home can use their skills in outreach and fund raising. At the same time we'd like to caution you that before embarking on projects such as those described above, you take the time to hear from the Lord and carefully counsel together as a Home to make sure you will be able to realistically carry through with any program you start or commitments you make. Such projects require a good deal of time and organization, so be sure this is the direction the Lord is leading you in and that you have the tools and personnel to do it with, and then—go to it! God bless you!)

Miscellaneous Tips/Ideas

Provide a service in which teens/YAs visit and help elderly retirees, ministering to them spiritually with love and encouragement (and salvation, of course), and also helping them in physical ways, such as with their shopping (for the elderly who have a hard time getting about), mowing their lawn, shoveling snow off their driveway, etc. Many people are eager to help financially for such services.

Start a service that provides comfort and encouragement (and the Lord's answers) to those who have just suffered bereavement.

Stage benefit performances at an open house in your Home or a rented facility for your friends or folks in the local community, explaining that the funds raised at that benefit will go to a specific project or need.

Get people to come over to your Home—a sample is worth a thousand words!

View each person you distribute a tape or video to as a potential supporter, and give them a brochure explaining your work and a pledge card.

If you live in a small town, start a community project that you can get your whole community behind to support you.

Freelance professional interpreting (a good way to meet top people and folks to witness to).

Story-telling (for good story-tellers)—at birthdays, parties, etc.

Positiveness and Incentives!

From Giddel, Kumiko, Joan and Christina, Taiwan:

It seems that one of the reasons our Home had not been doing very well financially is that most of us tend to get discouraged with ourselves and with our weaknesses and even failures (like not having a bigger Home financial cushion). Then when things don't change like they should, even after Dad and Mama have admonished us repeatedly on these matters, we can fall prey to more inner discouragement and negative it-can't-be-done thinking, which can seriously hamper our fruitfulness as a Home.—That is unless we as individual Home members strive to keep the vision, don't give up, stay positive and keep fighting.

So this last month we have had a few Home meetings and have tried to encourage everyone with classes on positiveness, faith, and enthusiasm. It is encouraging to see how things are already changing! Financially, things are getting better and the Lord has already supplied all the funds for this month's rent and other bills, so we are now saving towards our next month's budget! Usually, at this time of the month the Home would be way behind on rent money and under a lot of pressure to raise a substantial amount of funds, whereas now we already have the rent a week early and can set aside money for our cushion. Praise the Lord!

In order to encourage everyone, we decided to step out by faith and give some personal funds to each adult and child (given to their parents) in the Home. This seemed to inspire everyone that it can be done and that we are making progress, which encourages us all to do even better.

For the coming month, we have gone a step further and voted in that if any families want to do some outreach or witnessing on family day, they could keep the net funds (after seed corn and tithe) they receive for personal family needs, snacks, and outings. We also extended this to everyone's weekly rest days and now every adult and teen will be able to do outreach and witnessing on their rest days (if they want) with a partner, and be able to keep their net income, which would amount to much more than what we were able to give each adult and child this month.

It already seems to be greatly encouraging everyone to do more, as they have a little more incentive now, which is something we feel has been missing in our Home. Other advantages are that the children in the Home will probably get more opportunities to get out witnessing with their families too; people's needs will be more easily met this way; and more tools will no doubt be distributed than otherwise. Also, if Home members can raise funds for some of their personal needs and "extras" this way (aside from what we are able to provision), then other income from outreach that we start saving can either be added to our Home cushion or go towards general Home needs like a vehicle, etc. Praise the Lord!

Meeting Your Home Members' Personal Needs

—By WS Staff

Thanks to those who wrote the above testimony, and God bless them for looking for ways to make sure the personal needs of those in their Home are met! It's very important that not only the needs of the Home as a whole are met, but also the individual needs of all the adults and children, as the lack of these can leave an avenue for the Enemy to get in with discontentment, lack of inspiration, etc. So any steps in this direction are very commendable and we're sure they're appreciated by all.

In regards to the above testimony, we'd like to mention a couple of points to take into consideration if you decide to implement a similar plan in your Home:

1. a. Not everyone is a good fund-raiser or outreacher. Also, some parents might have a much more difficult time providing their children's needs than others. For example, a single mom with four children would have a harder time than a single or a couple with only one or two children. So deciding that everyone will go out and raise their own funds for their personal needs, and placing the burden of responsibility for acquiring these needs on each individual member or family rather than on the Home as a whole, could result in some Home members having considerably more than others. Those who may be talented and a big blessing in their Home ministries, but not particularly good at raising funds, may be unable to supply their own or their family's personal needs as adequately as others in the Home, and they could become frustrated and discouraged as a result. This could possibly lead to problems with comparing, resentment, and ultimately disunity.
2. b. Word and rest days are primarily for Word and rest, both of which are essential for all adults and teens, as they work so hard and need recuperation and refilling. If that time is often used up with outreach to raise funds (or even personal witnessing), then it defeats the purpose of having Word and rest days. So while it's fine for people to go witnessing on their free days, and particularly parents may want to take their kids out on a witnessing outing on their family day—which can be lots of fun for parents and kids alike—we wouldn't encourage people to use their Word and rest days on a regular basis to raise funds for their personal needs.

At the same time, it is important that people's personal needs be met. Here are some additional ideas on this matter you may want to consider when deciding on a plan to help ensure your Home members' needs are met:

1. As a Home you could set aside a certain percentage of your income towards personal needs or "extras" (special outings or items people would like to buy), which could be divided between all Home members weekly or at the end of the month.

2. You could have one day each month where all able members, including shepherds, parents and children, go on outreach. All the income from that day (minus tithe and seed corn) could be pooled and divided between all the Home members for personal needs or whatever they want to use it for. (They don't have to use it that month, they could save it up for a needed larger purchase several months later.)

3. If your Home receives a large gift or windfall, you may want to consider designating part of it to give to each person for their personal needs.

4. One day each week, you could set aside all the income from one or two outreach teams for personal needs for all Home members or for a particular department. (You may want to divvy it up right away, rather than wait until the end of the month, so it doesn't get spent on anything else in the meantime!)

5. Often it's easier to provision personal needs, "extras" and outings, etc., than it is to raise funds for them, but our Home provisioners usually already have their hands full just trying to provision the Home's needs like food, etc. You could set aside one day a week—or however often you are able to—where one person other than your Home provisioner(s) would take a day off from their regular responsibilities to provision by phone the children's and adults' personal needs. One week they could work on needs for a certain family or age group or department, and then another family or age group or department the following week, etc.

These are just some ideas, and they may or may not work for your Home. But you may find it helpful to discuss together how you can ensure that everyone's needs are met as much as possible, and that the parents and children—and singles—have a little "extra" when possible for special outings or activities they may really want to do, or something they would really like to buy. We know it's not always possible to fulfill everyone's wishes, but it is something worth working towards. As the Home in Japan mentioned in their testimony above, it can help lift the inspirational level in the Home. As you do your best for the Lord and are faithfully pouring out in obedience to the Word, we know that He'll take care of you and provide not only what you need, but even what you want if it's within His will! He's so good to us! Praise the Lord!

The Benefits of Follow-Up!

From Stephen, Gentleness and John, Belgium:

Three days before we had to be out of our temporary housing, the Lord led us to a new house. The only problem was, we hadn't yet gotten back our deposit from our previous house, and so we had no funds towards a new one!—The perfect scenario for a miracle! We had desperate prayer, and John and Stephen went around to try to explain the need to some of the people that we are following up on.

The first day we were out, the Lord supplied more than $1,000 through our follow-up! That was great, but we needed almost $9,000! So before stopping for the evening, the Lord showed us to go to an office of someone we'd been trying to meet for the past year. He had always been abroad, so we had only been sending him DFs by mail, and had never heard a word from him! When we passed by his office, the others there were not very friendly, and said that they were actually closed for the holidays. Then one worker mentioned that our friend was in town! We took this as an answer to prayer, and tried to see him at his house. He was not at home, so we left him a note with the two new Treasure Attic videos.

At 9:30 p.m. we returned to his house. He was very happy to see us, and really liked the note. We explained our situation to him, and asked him if he could help. After thinking about it for a moment, he offered to buy 15 sets of 12 videos each for his friends and business associates, and gave us a $1,000 advance towards this! Boy, were we ever praising the Lord!

At the same time we had contacted one of our other friends, the father of one of the brethren in our Home. He had been praying for us too, as he knew that we were looking desperately for new housing. At first he said he wouldn't be able to help us, but then at the last minute he changed his mind, and called us up to tell us that he had $6,670 worth of shares and stocks that he could put up for the guarantee! God bless him! This was all such an answer to prayer, and would not have been possible without the follow-up vision!

From Joy, Ike and Michael, Taiwan:

In only one month we have been able to go from just a few monthly supporters to twelve monthly supporters, as we have been getting everyone in the Home involved in a follow-up program. It seems the Lord just pours it on as we obey and do the "feeding of the sheep." We have a file on computer for each of our regular sheep, where we keep necessary information about them, days to visit, pubs received, etc., and we're making sure it is regularly updated. We are also organizing all of our follow-up pubs in an easy-access area, photocopied in quantity. This should help those doing follow-up to be able to quickly find just the right material they need to feed the sheep!

From Faithy Newbottle, Hungary:

The other day we followed-up on a man we had met about four years ago while videoing. We went to see him and he asked us how we support ourselves, so we explained to him about the videos. He suggested that we come to a birthday party for an affluent banker and his influential friends. So we went, not really knowing what to expect. The party was being held in a restaurant and our friend suggested that we sing "Happy Birthday" for his friend and some of our other songs, and offered to help us with 10,000 forints ($100) donation for our singing. After we were finished singing, our friend took the microphone and told the audience what our work was and insisted that everyone in the audience give us a donation. He held up 5,000 forints ($50), dropping it in the basket and said, "I want everyone to do this!"—and everyone did!

From Jose, Joy and Mercy, Brazil:

Before our Christmas push last year we established some goals, one of which was to build up a cash buffer. The Lord did miracles as we went to our friends with the new videos in Portuguese, which provided an opportunity for us to also follow-up on and feed these friends. The Lord supplied, and by the end of the month we had gotten out 112 videos and had raised enough for our buffer! Not only that, but 52% of our total income had came from follow-up and not the proceeds from the videos!

From Janek, Poland:

The Lord recently reminded us of a man whom we had met a few years ago while provisioning, and gave us the burden to start following up on him again. We started sending him a few newsletters and some Word, and he remembered us right away. We then decided to phone him to see if he might be able to help us with some support for the summer SWIFT vision, to which he replied without hesitation, "Of course I want to help you! Just give me your bank account number and I'll send you a donation right away!" Praise the Lord! It sure pays to obey the Lord's leading and follow-up!

From Joshua, and Timothy, Russia:

We are learning to be faithful to follow-up on our friends, and visit them even when we don't have anything special. One time we visited our Arab friends just to say hello to them, and at that time we met the father of one of them. When he found out that we are missionaries, he pulled out $100 (a very large sum here!) and said that it was a humble donation towards our work.

From Phil and Sandy, U.S.A.:

We haven't had much experience in fund raising, but this little testimony encouraged us with the possibilities of what the Lord can do! Recently we went to talk to the owner of a nut and bolt company here. He had previously donated some nails and screws to us, and seemed happy to help. It took a few calls to finally secure an appointment with him, but the visit went quite well.

After explaining our work to him, sharing a bit of our personal testimony and showing him our presentation album, he pulled out his checkbook and wrote a check for $250. He said that of course we could count on his financial help, and pledged to help in other ways when possible. He said he felt that was the least that he could do as a businessman to help us. He said we could come back to see him after he watched the Family outreach video and he would see what else he could do to help. It wasn't a super big donation, but it was our first try since Mama's Letter on asking, and it encouraged us that there are many people out there that can and would even like to give to our work if we would just "advertise."

From Johnny, Rebecca and Lily C., Brazil:

The Lord blessed Paul's trip to the States and did so many miracles. He was able to minister to some of our supporters who were very receptive to the Word and eager to be fed. For the first time we let them all know we were the Family, and so they were faced with the decision as to whether they would continue to support us or not. Some were stumbled by little things in the Statements and fell by the wayside, but like Dad says, "Your friends don't need an explanation and your enemies won't believe you anyway." This proved to be so true. Paul handed out a needs list to those he ministered to, so people could pray about what they wanted to help with. One contact bought us a computer, another a printer, another bought us five Thompson Chain Bibles. An Indonesian doctor and his family who we had ministered to while in the States gave us his Hi-8 video camera, while a precious home-schooling couple took Paul to a huge store with their credit card and said, "Get all you need for your upcoming baby!" So even though some fell away, the Lord poured it on through those who are sticking with us!

From Ana, Gabriel and Glory, Brazil:

Five days before our rent was due we still lacked $1,200. We got the whole Home together to cry out to the Lord for this sum. At the time we could only send one faith trip team out on the road. During the week we had prayer vigils for the situation several times a day. On the last day before the rent was due, we still lacked $500. In the meantime, a few days earlier we had attended the funeral of the husband of a friend of ours. We spent a very special afternoon with her, praying and comforting her. The day before the rent was due, she came to visit us. The teens sang some songs to her, and towards the end of her visit she took out her checkbook and gave us $500—exactly what we needed. We had also been praying in our prayer vigils for a washing machine, and without her knowing about this, she asked us to come by her house to pick up a washing machine and a beautiful 12-string guitar. There is no doubt the Lord answers our prayers! Praise the Lord!

From Heidi, Bulgaria:

This month Heidi received $500 from one of her sheep. She hasn't seen this man in years and because of moving she had lost touch with him. Then she wrote to him in Syria, where he's from, and gave him her P.O. box here.

A while later when we picked up the mail, there was a name card from another Syrian man, with an address here in Sofia, asking her to contact him. On the back it had her sheep's name. Heidi went there and they phoned her friend in Syria. He was so happy to hear from her that he asked this other man (whose office Heidi was calling from), to give her a large donation, and said he would pay him back later. Thank You Jesus!

From Trust, Thailand:

One evening, after we had prayed together for increased support, we went to a shop and witnessed to a Muslim lady. She had so many questions, and we were able to give her the answers. She prayed with her family to receive Jesus and then said, "You know, you need someone to help you every month. Would you mind if I started helping your work?" Praise the Lord!

Another new friend is a man that I had intended on asking for regular support. When I went to his office to share some Word with him, he said, "You people need to get organized. You need to get people to help you each month!" I said that was just what we needed and he said he wanted to start with a certain amount and increase it if he could. Wow!

The last person we had been planning to ask for regular support responded before we could say a word. As we entered the office, his wife, who loves us very much, greeted us and asked us to sit down. Her husband said something to her in Chinese and handed her some money and she said, "This is from George. He wants to give you this every month and he hopes it will be enough!" What miracles the Lord can do when put on the spot!

From Peter and Tender, Philippines:

A lady we had met and witnessed to asked us what the Bible said about tithing. On that first visit she proceeded to give us her monthly tithe. But as the months passed, it was very difficult to get to see her again and we thought she had lost interest. However, we continued to keep her in our prayers. The last time we called her she apologized for having been so busy. When we saw her the following day, we had a very fruitful and inspiring meeting where she poured out her heart again and said that we are the only ones she could talk to heart-to-heart. Then before we left, she said, "I owe you something" and proceeded to write a check equivalent to her tithe for four months. It pays to use the Word when ministering to people, and also in inspiring people to give!

From Swiss Cheerful, Thailand:

With the vision of more financial supply in mind, we visited many of our supporters this past week and asked a few of them if they would consider increasing their gift due to the growing need of our Home and expanding ministries. One of them responded on the spot and doubled his already generous gift. This man is also growing in faith and now believes in Heaven, spiritual Bible values, prophecy, etc., which is so encouraging. Before he had gotten saved and filled with the Holy Spirit, he had no Christian beliefs at all and hardly any concept of Christianity. Now he says, "I give this for God!" Praise the Lord!

From Debbie, Hungary:

We met one of the directors of a chain of casinos here in Hungary. He is especially interested in what the Family is doing in ministering to the Bosnian refugees in Hungary, as he himself is a Muslim. We had only met him twice when he pledged to help us with a monthly gift, thank You Jesus!

One thing I learned from this experience was that we should not neglect to follow-up on people when they ask us to call them back. Often people tell us to come back in a few weeks or so, and because of the delay we tend to figure they're putting us off and we don't expect much to happen. But it's so inspiring to see how people are happy to hear from us when we call them back, and they may turn out to be supporters, like this man!

From Phillip and Kasia, Poland:

We had another fruitful meeting with a dear friend of ours. When we first entered his office, he gave us a check. When we looked at it, it was for $2,500! He then told us that he was sorry he wasn't able to give more right then, but that he planned to do so in the future. We were very impressed with his humble attitude towards giving to God's work.

This time we had a chance to talk with him and read the Word, and pray for him and his business. We were very touched by the way he has so much faith in our prayers, always bringing us different prayer requests for his business and workers. He has also been very honest and open with us, asking us for counsel, and even sharing the more confidential side of his plans with us. All in all, he seems to really be drawing closer to the Lord and us, thank You Jesus!

Our vehicle situation is quite desperate, and we had prayed about whether or not we should ask him to help us with either a new vehicle or financial help for repairs. The Lord had showed us that we should not bring up the subject unless he asked about it, so during our meeting with him we didn't mention it. But as we were leaving, he called us back to his desk and asked us, "How are you doing vehicle-wise?" We were very surprised that he had asked, and honestly told him that it's quite a hurdle for us and one that we are having a hard time getting over. To our delight, he said that he wanted to help us with $10,000 to repair our vehicles! What a miracle! We hadn't even asked him, but the Lord had put it in his heart to give.

The man has an amazing story, somewhat like that of Mr. Colgate. He started his business with only $100 and was determined to give to God's work, and the Lord blessed him tremendously! We are so thankful that the Lord put him in our path and has given us a chance to minister to him, as well as receive a very good amount of support from him.

From Stefan, U.S.A.:

Several years ago, while living in Greece, the Lord showed us to go East to India. Our team comprised of three adults and nine kids, with two on the way, and we needed a total of $15,000 to get to India, have flee funds, landing funds, etc. That seemed like a lot to raise while living on the field. We had prayer and the girls both received from the Lord to "go West before you go East." I knew what that meant, that I needed to spend $600 to go to the U.S. to try to raise funds to go to India. It seemed almost like a gamble as we were very short on funds, but we all felt it was the Lord who spoke. By faith we sold our vehicle and bought tickets with the money, basically to show the Lord that we believed He would do it all and provide what we needed.

I stayed 19 days in the States, and rarely have I seen the Lord do what He did for me in those 2-1/2 weeks. I simply went visiting and witnessing to friends. People knew that I was going back to the field, but I virtually never asked for money. Nonetheless, friends would call or visit or have me over and just stuff money in my hands, pockets, etc. It didn't seem necessary to ask at the time, and sometimes they gave me something before I could ask. One man said he would give me $1,000 and asked how would I like it, in 50s or 100s? Then he took me to the bank and gave it to me.

Checks, cash, and items all came in and I brought back about $6,000 to Greece. While in the States I had only asked one person to help, and they had said no. I was even beginning to get condemned about it because I thought I wasn't aggressive enough, but now I can see it was the Lord doing it His way in the Spirit—He wanted to show it was all a miracle of His grace.

Upon my return to Greece, within two weeks we sold all our unneeded belongings, and when it was all over we had almost exactly $15,000, all within just over a month! The Lord showed us what to do, how to do it, virtually did it for us, and got us on our way so easily—plus made it lots of fun! Praise the Lord!

(More testimonies of the Lord's supply coming soon in Part Two of this FSM series, D.V.!)

Copyright 1996 The Family