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THE PRAYER HAVEN

#The God of the impossible

Since September 2021

FOR WHAT MAY SEEM INOPPORTUNE TO US, PROBABLY IS NECESSARY FOR THE LORD.

But there is no time to lose, the Lord has not abandoned us, He does not leave us halfway. He is here in the midst of a world failed by sin. With so many souls perishing without hope, suprised by the epedemic. Children who are being orphaned, families so vulnerable that any difficulty leaves them completely unprotected.

We know some families in our neghbourhoods who are facing this tremendous situation some of whom attend our kids clubs. This leads us to direct our hearts in the love and mercy that Christ had when He died on the Cross to announce salvation to these little ones and their families.

We believe in the GOD OF THE IMPOSSIBLE , we do not know how He will do it, but we do know that the Lord has the power to provide what remains to finish the work in PRAYER HAVEN and that He encourages us to constantly ask HIm in prayer to do so. He can do it even in the midst of the most adverse circumstances.

In the year 1836 amid the recession in the United Kingdom, amid famine and plague, God led George Muller to begin his ministry and open his first orphanage. It all comes down to being in tune with the Lord's Will and believing that He is going to do it. Our faith in the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. Just as God worked the miracle so that we could buy the building, we trust He will continue to work and provide for the building work and we will follow the same steps as we did with the purchase. We need your help, please join us in praying for this project. And if the Lord burdens you to help us financially your support would be a great blessing too.

Our trustees were led to take another step of faith in May this year ...

God burdened the trustees of our association to look into how we could put to use the funds He had provided to that date (28.000€).

God opened doors,the builder was ready to divide the project in different phases starting with the new drains and connecting them to the town sewage system. The first phase would also include extending the existent hydrant pipes and adding a new fire hydrant closer to the property as regulations demand. When we received his estimate for the 1st phase which was 36.932,27€ we had 30.000€ in the associations account. The trustees met and decided to pray for the Lord`s provision feeling that unless the Lord provided more funds shortly, we would have to ask the builder to wait. But God provided more gifts in the short space of five days, raising our funds to 34.000€. At the same time the Lord spoke to one of the trustees though Joshua 3:15-16. She shared it with the rest of the board who unanimously decide that it was time to give the go ahead to the builder because the Lord was leading us to take this step of faith into the Jordan (phase 1) trusting that He would provide.

Praise be to the Lord! For He faithfully did so!

Not only that but He led us to take the next step too!

As the builder was finishing the first phase at the end of October, he recommended we should continue with the second phase immediately. He gave several reasons, first because the excavation machine was on site and it was needed in the second phase too. Secondly, the laying of the foundations for the extension for the toilet block, part of the second phase, involved putting the drains for the toilets and showers in their place and connecting them to the new sewage pipes. That work would be easier now while the connections were still uncovered and the whole net could easily join and the inclinations of the pipes adjusted easily. Thirdly he said that the costs of building materials were soaring and he could only maintain his estimate for one month. Our architect confirmed this to be true. Lastly the builder said that if we completed the second phase, we would have made a huge progress in the project.

We had used all our funds and the trustees decided to share the urgent need with all the churches and believers asking them to pray that our God the God of the impossible would provide what we needed. The estimate for the second phase was 21.899€! The builder required us to pay him 40% in order to start the second phase.

We only had a week to do so!

On the Thursday I received a call from one of the trustees saying that the trustees for a well-established Christian camp facility had met and had prayed for our need and talked about it. And the Lord had put it in their hearts to lend us the 12.899€ to pay the builder the 40% of the second phase. When I shared this with our trustees, they saw the Lord`s gracious hand upon us and decided to go ahead with the second phase trusting that the Lord would continue to provide.

The Lord is providing, we have been able to pay the builder another 40% of the second phase as well as the first 40% we were able to pay with the loan from the “Casa Biblica de Berea”. The builder will finish the second phase this week and we will have to pay the last 20%. We used all the funds we had to pay him the other 40% last week. So, we are praying and trusting in the Lord to provide the 4.365,12€ in time to pay him.

Now (21st December 2021), the second phase is finished, and we need the Lord to provide us with the 4.365,12€ we owe the builder and then we need to return the loan by February.

From May 2020

Since December 2019 we have building permission and since we have builders budget, so we inform you that as of May 2020 ...

ALL IS READY TO START THE BUILDING WORK!

Having tried to be very prudent in the stewardship of the goods that the Lord Jesus Christ has entrusted in our hands, we are faced with the need to provide the kids club children with a camp building where they can have camps and continue listening to the Gospel.

Our aim is ...

#To continue along the road that lies ahead with excellence.

#Walk with safe steps in compliance with current regulations.

#Ensure that the reformed building has all that is necessary, without luxuries, but with the right quality for use and maintenance that guarantees it for many years.

Maybe you ask yourself together with us, "But, why now?" We are engulfed in a situation as unexpected, as unknown. The lives of people and the subsequent consequences point us to a reality and horizon of difficulty. At this time doubts multiply .

Believers in the Church throughout the world are and will be confronted with the mission entrusted by Jesus. The same as before this Pandemic but in very different conditions. We certainly need to share with you that in the face of adversity observed with our human eyes, once again we are called to look at the present and the future with the EYES OF FAITH. This also includes THE PRAYER HAVEN . In the moment of greatest adversity our faith is tested.

From March 2018 to December 2018

This project of faith was confirmed during the hard walk in the preparation, adaptation and presentation of the Basic Project with the architect that the Lord led us to employ to do this work. To comply with all the regulations required by the authorities to convert the house into a camp building. It will have a capacity to sleep 26 people, thus meeting the demand for each kids club. Allowing each kids club to hold their own camp for a week each summer. We thank the Lord for providing great professionals who love the Lord and his Work who have counselled us and invested their time and resources to help us in all these decisions.

From December 2016 to March 2018

God was faithful to His promise providing for us to be able to meet with the commitment to pay for the purchase. And, He did so, three months in advance through His church which He moved to give generously towards the project.

In December 2016

The Lord made it possible after praying for the Payer Haven, to sign the contract for the purchase of a house adjacent to the land we owned, in which reforms could be made so as to meet with the legal requirements for a camp building. We were witnesses of one miracle, where by, the Lord led the owners to reduce by 60% their asking price for the house. We had had the house valued before hand and it was valued at 210.000€, we thought a reasonable price would be 180.000€ and they were now offering to sell it to us, and us alone, for 80.000€!.

How God showed that a camp house is needed for the children of the Esplais

The camps are an extraordinary complement to the Kids clubs (Good News Club,), as they offer the opportunity to live with them and teach them the gospel in more depth, showing with our lives how wonderful it is to know the Lord Jesus Christ. We had been doing camps for 12 years. 90% of the children who attended were from church going families. The few kids club children who could attend were invited by us or other believers who paid their fees for them.

In 2005 God moved the heart of a sister in Christ to give a substantial donation so that the CHILDREN of the kids clubs could attend camp free of charge. We used this gift to its full, so that the maximum of kids club children could attend. Of the 70 children who came, 50% were from the kids clubs. … This was a before and after for us. We understood that this should be our goal, Provide a free camp so that the kids club children could attend.

It was a great joy to be able to receive these children in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and teach them the gospel. They enjoyed it very much, they were very grateful to be able to attend camp and we are sure that God used it in their lives.

So we endevoured to be faithful to the Lord's call and provide for their need of a … FREE CAMP.

In 2003 we began by buying land in the Pyrenees near the town of… NEVÀ in the municipality of Toses in the Ripollés region. We built two cabins and in the Summer 2008 we ran the… first free camps for the kids club children so that they could hear the Word of God and see some of God´s spectacular work in this beautiful location in the Pyrenees mountains. It has impressive views of the mountains, and is well communicated by road and rail. It is a place where God shows His power through His Creation and invites you to pray like our Lord who often retired to the mountain to pray. That's why we gave it the name… “PRAYER HAVEN.” Hoping that all who have the privilege of spending time there, come to the Lord in prayer.

But there wasn´t enough room, so we bought 3 second-hand caravans so that in 2009 we could have up to 20 children every week during the summer. But the facilities had to be improved, toilets and a kitchen had to be built. After consulting with the local authorities, they advised us to prepare a project to make a CAMPGROUND but after consulting an architect he found a problem in the current legislation for campground activities… they have to be more than 3 km from the nearest town… the project WAS NOT LEGALLY POSSIBLE !!! The town (Nevà) is barely 1km away.

Understanding that we could not continue to camp without the proper permits, we had to stop the camps at the PRAYER HAVEN. It was a big setback… !!! having the children from 5 kids clubs counting on attending camp.

Then the Lord led us to take another step of faith… “renting a camp facility” but under the same condition, that the camp would be free for all children. So, by faith, we reserve it with only enough money to pay make the deposit.

God was faithful and provided so that in the summer of 2010 we held our first free camp in a rented camp facility.

In 2011, a kids club proposed that we held a camp at Easter too, in addition to the summer camp. God showed us that, if we did so, it had to be under the same conditions, without exception of persons and that it would be free for all the children. Since then we have continued to run two camps every year, renting different camp facilities and God has been faithful in providing for hundreds of children to attend ... we have been able to teach the Word of God and give testimony of how God loves them, provides for them and gives them these camps.

Meanwhile God has greatly blessed the kids club ministry, adding more children. Opening two new ones. So ... in the summer of 2013 being more than 120 kids who attended the kids clubs each week we no longer fitted in the camp facility and we had to add tents. That camp was tuff, the camp facility being overcrowded and praise be to the Lord that it didn´t rain that week!

It was obvious to all that it wasn´t good practice, and we had to find a solution where we could provide free camps for all the kids club children, in adequate conditions. We prayed that the Lord would give us a camp building of our own. And we were still attentive in case the Lord opened a door for the PRAYER HAVEN.

We have seen how God is sovereign over everything, of time and circumstances. He works in an impressive and unique way.

Then when they least expected it, they received a telephone call in 2015 from the owner, who told them she wanted to sell it to them so that the boys and girls could use it.